Today will mark day one for the UK music industry’s Streaming Transparency Code as it comes into effect across the industry. The Code, the development of which was a truly collaborative effort across the music industry, is a landmark agreement which is the first of its kind between streaming platforms, creator and rights-holder communities, representing a positive step towards fostering further transparency across the streaming landscape.

The BPI is delighted that the Code is now in force, seeing it as a valuable guide to good practice on transparency, communication and information-sharing through the music streaming supply chain, that will help artists and their teams to better understand remuneration models as they evolve.

Over the last six months, BPI and AIM (The Association of Independent Music) have been working collaboratively with hundreds of record company, label and distributor members to ensure they are aware of the Code, their commitments within it, and its potential benefits. From today, labels and distributors large and small can check their compliance with the Code using the BPI checklist.

We also recommend labels and distributors review the full text of the Transparency Code, which includes additional provisions beyond the above. This can be found here.

In recent years, all three of the UK’s major record companies and their labels, as well as a significant number of distributors serving independent labels and DIY artists and a few larger independent labels, have invested in sophisticated portals providing artists and their management with detailed royalty information, as well as interactive data and analytics on how every track is performing on each service across all relevant territories. Many of these portals are now being updated with additional information outlined by the Code to help artists better understand the remuneration model underpinning streaming services, and to make it easier for them to ask questions if they need further information.

Links to some of these portals can be found here. Please note that these require a login. Any artists signed to these labels or distributors who do not already have a login should get in touch with them directly.

Over the past six months the BPI and AIM have held a number of sessions with members on the Code, including an online workshop. Over the coming months, the BPI and AIM, together with some of their members and other partners, will be hosting demo days where labels and distributors can showcase and explain their portals, resources and initiatives, and discuss the latest developments in consumption and remuneration models with artists and managers.

Welcoming the initiative, Sophie Jones, BPI Chief Strategy Officer, said: “Music and tech continue to evolve at exhilarating speed. Our ability to navigate that change effectively as a sector requires constant and ongoing communication – which is why we’re delighted that the UK is the first music market in the world to have an industry-wide Code on Transparency, setting out good practice in information sharing and further improves transparency.

We’re pleased to have played a role in bringing this trailblazing Code into fruition alongside government and our industry partners. It’s been encouraging to see so many of our members put the Code into practice in recent months.

We want the UK’s music industry to continue leading from the front when it comes to transparency. As the UK’s recorded music association, we’re here to do our part and facilitate meaningful sharing of information wherever we can. Our first step in this is launching today’s resources: the Code checklist for labels, and a Linktree gathering portals and other key resources into one place. We’re also looking forward to working alongside our members to facilitate in-person sessions to run through these tools and resources, and help share best practices across the ecosystem.”

Gee Davy, AIM Interim Chief Executive Officer, said: “The creation of the Code was a landmark collaborative moment for the music industry, providing a clear pathway to operating transparently in the music streaming space. We hope that the Code coming into full effect this week will promote and improve trust and open communication channels between all participants in music streaming. 

As the representative body for the UK’s independent music community, AIM worked through this process to ensure that the Code is achievable for all, no matter their scale.  For the Code to truly succeed, it is vital that the points it contains are widely understood and adopted. 

In the year since signature of the Code, AIM and BPI have collaborated closely to prepare members for its rollout.  These new tools, developed in response to the Code, will further ensure that all labels and distributors, as well as other music businesses, managers and artists undertaking some of the responsibilities of a label, are empowered to follow the best practices it sets out.”