The European Parliament is vocation for new rules to bring more fairness and transparency to music streaming across the bloc, including proposals for a new bill to force streaming platforms to open up their recommendation algorithms.
The bill would also require Spotify et al to make it clear where a song has been generated using artificial intelligence (ai).
Although Europe has been moving in this direction for a while nowmembers of the European Parliament (MEPs) today voted to adopt a new resolution by 532 to 61, with 33 MPs abstaining from the vote which, if a bill ultimately comes to fruition, will see a wide range of changes made to music streaming in the region.
At the center of this push is a desire to ensure that European artists receive fairer visibility and prominence on music streaming platforms, similar to efforts in other markets such as Canada, which has surpassed the Online transmission law to support Canadian artists. While final details are far from set in stone, this could eventually include setting quotas to exhibit a certain amount of work by European artists.
On this basis, the new EU bill could also “oblige” streaming platforms to help prevent unfair practices by making their algorithms and recommendation engine more transparent; This, they say, will help prevent manipulation of streaming figures that could be used to reduce artist fees. .
Additionally, with more music generated by ai systems, including so-called “deepfakes” that seek to imitate established artists, Europe could also require music streaming platforms to correctly label music as such, similar to what ai-made-music-explodes-deezer-lays-out-strategy-to-identify-ai-tracks-and-weed-out-illegal-and-fraudulent-content-on-its-platform/”>France's Deezer went live last year..
Income distribution
Europe's plans also include provisions to ensure broader distribution of streaming revenue to all artists involved in a recording, not just the “named” lead artist.
This is somewhat in line with ongoing efforts in Uruguay, where the government introduced a new law promising “fair and equitable” remuneration for all artists in a broadcast work; In that case, Spotify argued that the law would effectively mean it would have to pay rights holders twice for the same tracks, leading the music streaming giant to start relaxing in the country in December. However, the company did an U-turn when the government assured that music streaming platforms would not be expected to cover the additional costs resulting from the law.
Similarly, France recently introduced a new tax which will impose a tax of between 1.5 and 1.75% on all streaming music services for finance a new body created in 2020 that supports the French music sector. In response, Spotify promised to cut its investment in the French market, starting by withdrawing support for two music festivals.
This latest measure by the European Parliament seeks to address similar concerns on a bloc-wide scale: face to facean income from music streaming iimbalance that “leaves the majority of authors and performers with very low remuneration.”
Spanish politician and MEP Iban García del Blanco He said Parliament is “giving voice to the concerns of European creators.”
“Our priority has always been cultural diversity and ensuring authors are credited and paid fairly; That's why we're calling for rules that ensure the algorithms and recommendation tools used by music streaming services are transparent, as well as the use of artificial intelligence tools. putting European authors at the center,” del Blanco said in a statement.
