Music stars take on ‘greedy’ tech giants in fight to protect future of music industry - and accuse YouTube of ‘bulldozing’ creators

06 September 2018 - Press release

Music stars from across the UK are joining forces to take on the “greedy” tech giants that are trying to block EU plans to give everyone in the music industry a fairer deal.
 
Ahead of a crucial EU vote on Copyright Directive next week (September 12), musicians, MPs and music industry leaders are gathering in London to urge Euro MPs to back a crucial copyright change.
 
There will be a photocall for the #LoveMusic campaign on Thursday September 6 at 11am outside Number 2, Pancras Square, Kings Cross, N1C 4AG.
 
The event will include musicians busking to highlight how even the spare change from passers-by brings in more cash than tens of thousands of streams on YouTube.
 
At present, some global tech firms, like the Google-owned video platform YouTube, pay just a tiny amount of their multi-billion pound profits to the creators of the music streamed online by millions of music lovers.
 
Sir Paul McCartney is among the stars who have thrown their support behind the campaign and demanded that artists and creators are fairly paid for their work.
             
Key stats:
 
•           1 million streams on YouTube generates as little as £540 for the artist
•           YouTube pays creators a tiny £0.00054p per stream of music
•           Streaming sites like Apply Music and Spotify pay £4.3 billion for music use – way more than YouTube, even though YouTube is the most popular music service in the world.
•           A song needs to be streamed 51.1 million times on YouTube before the creator can make the average UK annual salary of £27,600.
 
A total of 85% of YouTube’s visitors come to the site for music and YouTube accounts for 84% of video streaming services.  At least £2.33bn of YouTube’s revenue in 2017 was generated by music in 2017, according to MIDiA Research.
 
 
In July, former Beatle Sir Paul called on Euro MPs to back the proposed changes to EU copyright law – specifically Article 13 of the Copyright Directive – which would compel content platforms like YouTube to stop shirking its responsibilities to properly compensate artists for their work.
 
In a heartfelt letter to Euro MPs, Sir Paul warned that without this change the future of the music industry could be put at risk, saying: “We need an internet that is fair and sustainable for all.”
 
Commenting, UK Music CEO Michael Dugher said:
 
“Greedy YouTube have made billions of pounds from sharing music content made by other people.  They are bulldozing the interest of creators who continue to get ripped off.
 
It’s time to save music online and get platforms like YouTube to stop dodging their responsibilities.
 
 “The music industry is a vibrant ecosystem.  Yet some tech firms are just bulldozing their way through the heart of what we do in search of an even fatter profit, regardless of the impact that has on future talent and the ability of people in the music industry to earn a living.
 
“The whole music industry is united on this crucial issue and is determined to bring about these changes and safeguard our industry for the future.”
 
The symbol of our #Love Music campaign is a butterfly incorporating a treble clef to represent the fragility of the music industry.  Like the ecosystem of the Amazon rainforest, the creators of the music industry are like butterflies that are now under threat from the bulldozers of some uncaring tech firms who are interested only in adding to their huge profits.