UK orchestra players and the MU urge the Government to fix lack of streaming royalties

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Players in over 20 orchestras across the UK, alongside the Musicians’ Union, have signed an open letter to call upon the Government to urgently address the lack of streaming royalties for musicians. 

Naomi Pohl, general secretary of the Musicians’ Union, said: ’Streaming platforms have made music more accessible than ever before. They pay out around 70 per cent of their revenues to owners of music rights but the majority of this money never reaches musicians.

’And non-featured musicians, such as orchestral and session players who back featured artists on tracks and play on film and TV soundtracks, don’t receive any royalties. This has to change. It’s an issue that we know our 36,000 members really care about.

’Ensuring a fair share of streaming revenue reaches UK musicians won’t cost the Treasury a penny, but it will help to bolster thousands of careers in music. This is about updating copyright law to ensure it reflects the way people consume music now.’

Orchestral musicians from companies including the Royal Opera House, Scottish Ballet Orchestra and Sinfonia Cymru have signed the open letter, coordinated by the Musicians’ Union, to urge the Minister of State for Media, Tourism and Creative Industries to ’act now’.

The letter stresses how the UK music sector is ’in a real crisis and faces an existential threat,’ calling on the Government to ensure musicians are properly and fairly remunerated for their recorded performances.

With arts funding reduced by 46 per cent in real terms under the Conservative Government, the closure of live performance during the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, it has been a challenging time for musicians across all areas of music. The average musician earns just £20,700 per year from music. 

Royalties from radio play and public performance of music have played their part in sustaining musicians since they were introduced in the UK in 1996. However, music streaming doesn’t pay these royalties, which the Musicians’ Union is campaigning to change.

The open letter, addressed to Chris Bryant – Minister of State for Media, Tourism and Creative Industries – reads as follows:

’We, the musicians of the UK orchestras named below, call upon the Government to urgently address the lack of streaming royalties for musicians.  

’Following over a decade of real-terms Arts Council cuts, the loss of significant parts of our audience because of the fallout from covid; we now have the sting in austerity’s tail: local councils cutting budgets or facing bankruptcy and being forced to slash all arts funding. The music sector in the UK is in a real crisis and facing an existential threat to its existence.  

’Repeatedly, over the last couple of years, orchestras around the country have been reduced to part-time contracts or faced job losses and closure. If we don’t act now, it will be too late and the next generation of audiences will not have access to this form of culture. It’s already almost impossible, due to music education cuts, for a young person from a poor, working class, or ethnically diverse background, to consider a career as a musician in an orchestra, let alone as a musician more generally in this country. Live work and venues are disappearing, the sustainability of musicians’ careers is under threat, and musicians, who study for years and need continual practice to maintain the highest standards, see their income dropping in real terms with many struggling to earn more than £20,000 per year. 

’And yet, music is being consumed and listened to more than ever before. Much of that now happens on streaming platforms and many of those tracks were recorded by us. Yet, despite radio stations paying royalties when they broadcast our music, non-featured performers currently receive no royalties for music streaming (‘making available’). Furthermore, we are aware of the risk that radio listening will move to services that are classified as ‘making available’, not broadcast, and that this will lead to a reduction in royalties payable to us.  

’It is our strongly held view that if musicians create an asset that someone can profit from, then surely we should be properly and fairly remunerated for that in every case.  

’In the long term, if all the profit goes to streaming platforms and record labels, there won’t be a next generation of musicians to record for them.  

’It’s clear that the Government should act to save the very people who make our international industry the success it is – the musicians. 

’With thousands of tracks on Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube, we demand Government action now. A 2021 DCMS Select Committee recommended the Government legislate on this matter so that performers enjoy the right to equitable remuneration for streaming income. We are aware of the ongoing Creator Remuneration Working Group and hope this will provide a solution, either negotiated with the industry or via legislation.  

’A change here won’t cost the Government or the taxpayer a penny. It will, however, go some way to help turn a corner in keeping our incredible musicians financially more secure both now and in the future, as well as providing the next generation of audiences with this remarkable form of culture made right here in the UK. 

’If the Government really is serious about culture, which we can see from commitments made on EU touring and music education, and looking after one of our most valuable export assets, as well as protecting the well-being of its citizens who benefit enormously from a vibrant music sector and which makes our towns and cities worth living in – now is the time to act.’

The full list of signatories include Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Chineke!, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, English Symphony Orchestra, Hallé, Manchester Camerata, Northern Chamber Orchestra and His Honour John Phillips CBE, Chair, Northern Chamber Orchestra, Musicians of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Musicians of the Royal Northern Sinfonia, MU Steward on behalf of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, MU Steward on behalf of the English Touring Opera’s Orchestral Musicians, Northern Ballet Sinfonia, Orchestra of Opera North, Orchestra of Scottish Opera, Orchestra of the Swan, Players of Scottish Ballet Orchestra, MU steward on behalf of players of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Ballet Sinfonia, Sinfonia Cymru, The Hanover Band and Ulster Orchestra.