Apr 27, 2024
Streaming: Popular new artists unable to pay rent due to unfair contracts
The link above is to a PDF transcript from a 2020 UK parliamentary committee hearing on the need for equitable remuneration in the age of streaming services. The committee heard from Elbow's Guy Garvey, Radiohead's Ed O'Brien, Gomez' Tom Gray, leader of the #BrokenRecord campaign, and indie artist Nadine Shah, among others.
Shockingly, a lot of stuff in streaming music contracts has outdated clauses in it like a presumption that 10% of records would get broken in transport, so it claws that revenue back from artists -- even when there are no physical records to break.