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Management community confirms digital transparency is at the top of its agenda

By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 1 October 2015

Following the news yesterday that the French government has put together a code of conduct in partnership with the music industry which, amongst other things, calls on record companies to be more transparent with artists over their digital deals, today the UK’s Music Managers Forum has also identified transparency as a key priority.

The trade group has revealed that in a recent survey of managers in five different markets, transparency emerged as a priority issue for respondents, with 34% of those surveyed saying the issue would top their personal lists of things government could do to help the music community. Government intervention on ‘safe harbours’ – the issue that the music rights sector is lobbying on hardest just now – came in second at 28%.

The MMF surveyed 50 managers, who between them represent artists signed to all three major music companies and over 100 indie labels, as part of a major research project that has been led by CMU’s consultancy unit CMU Insights. The research, which also involved in-depth interviews with over thirty leading music, legal and digital experts, has fed into a new report called ‘Dissecting The Digital Dollar’, which will be published later this month.

It explains how music licensing works, and explores the new licensing model that has evolved as the music industry has shifted from CD to downloads to streams. The aim is to inform and educate the management and artist community to enable an informed debate with their music business partners around the seven issues the report identifies, in a bid to answer the fifteen question it then poses.

The full report will be published later this month, but today the MMF revealed some other stats from its manager survey. Less than 10% of those surveyed had been told about the key components of the labels’ streaming deals for all their artists, while less than 20% had been briefed by their label partners on how digital deals have been structured. Meanwhile 78% said that automatic ‘equitable remuneration’ for artists, like that paid on broadcast revenue, should also be paid on digital.

Commenting on the report, MMF CEO Jon Webster told reporters: “With streaming services now a key revenue for the music industry, it is time for everyone involved in the creation of music to be involved in the debate around how this market evolves. The way labels and publishers license the streaming platforms is complex, which has hindered that debate to date. Through our new report ‘Dissecting The Digital Dollar’, we hope to educate artists and managers, to inform ongoing discussions and to identify the questions that the industry at large needs to answer”.

Meanwhile high profile artist manager Brain Message, who co-manages Nick Cave, Radiohead and PJ Harvey, backed the call for more transparency. “Having publically supported streaming as a route out of the constraints of physical distribution and digital piracy, I have been somewhat dismayed at how streaming services have been licensed and how creators and their representatives, by and large, have been shut out”, he said.

He added: “The erosion of trust in the chain from creator to consumer lies at the heart of an economic model that should now be flying. I therefore urge labels, publishers, collection societies and the digital platforms to come to the table and discuss their digital deals more openly with us. The industry is changing, it cannot stay the same. Better transparency and an open, collaborative conversation will surely build the trust that can drive forward the music industry economy to benefit us all”.

‘Dissecting The Digital Dollar’ will be published on 13 Oct, and you can order a free digital copy via the MMF website at www.themmf.net/digitaldollar