MMF Statement on Today’s DCMS Select Committee
Annabella Coldrick, CEO, Music Managers Forum:
Today, the DCMS Select Committee’s inquiry heard from the CEOs of PPL and PRS for Music, and the three heads of the UK major labels.
Time was short and the session covered so much ground, and we look forward to further written answers to some of the many unanswered questions. We were also pleased that the major label representatives acknowledged the need for refinement and evolution in how digital services are licensed and how streaming revenues are distributed. The shortcomings in these areas have been well documented in the MMF’s Dissecting The Digital Dollar publications.
Now this conversation has started, we urge the major music companies to make good on their words and engage in an open dialogue with artists and their representatives about how licensing practices can be made more efficient, more equitable and, most importantly, updated, to ensure streaming and other online music services deliver in full on their potential.