Songwriters need ‘a stronger voice’ to ensure they receive a fairer share of revenue from digital music services, according to BASCA’s CEO Vick Bain.
Vick made the comments during the Digital Pie Debate at The Great Escape festival in Brighton. The panel saw many key players from the music industry discussing the split of revenue from streaming services.
Commenting, Vick said: ‘The songwriting community need to do something about this right now - we need to have a stronger voice and need to educate the services on the reality of the people who only survive on royalties.’
The comments follow the launch of BASCA’s The Day the Music Died campaign earlier in the year, an initiative calling for greater transparency with digital deals and a 50/50 split of gross digital royalty income.
Vick staed: ‘Our new campaign really reflects that if the situation doesn’t improve, then the ability to earn a full time living out of writing will disappear, therefore putting the future of the industry at risk.
‘Songwriters can’t tour or sell merchandise so are totally reliant on their PRS royalty stream.’
The campaign also calls for the removal of safe harbour for content platforms such as YouTube and for advertising income from all streaming services to be paid to creators for all usage.
Robert Ashcroft, PRS for Music chief executive, recently named current ‘safe harbour’ hosting provisions within EU copyright legislation as the music industry’s ‘elephant in the room’.
Check out our previous news story.
Vick made the comments during the Digital Pie Debate at The Great Escape festival in Brighton. The panel saw many key players from the music industry discussing the split of revenue from streaming services.
Commenting, Vick said: ‘The songwriting community need to do something about this right now - we need to have a stronger voice and need to educate the services on the reality of the people who only survive on royalties.’
The comments follow the launch of BASCA’s The Day the Music Died campaign earlier in the year, an initiative calling for greater transparency with digital deals and a 50/50 split of gross digital royalty income.
Vick staed: ‘Our new campaign really reflects that if the situation doesn’t improve, then the ability to earn a full time living out of writing will disappear, therefore putting the future of the industry at risk.
‘Songwriters can’t tour or sell merchandise so are totally reliant on their PRS royalty stream.’
The campaign also calls for the removal of safe harbour for content platforms such as YouTube and for advertising income from all streaming services to be paid to creators for all usage.
Robert Ashcroft, PRS for Music chief executive, recently named current ‘safe harbour’ hosting provisions within EU copyright legislation as the music industry’s ‘elephant in the room’.
Check out our previous news story.
