​MPs call for musicians to earn 50% of their share in royalties with a “complete reset” on music streaming

MPs have called for UK artists to earn their fair share of royalties by completely resetting the music streaming system.

Currently, UK record labels generate £736.5 million from streaming, while artists only see around 16% of that.

Streaming has now far surpassed any other mode of music listening, now weightily above downloading and buying physical copies.

The BBC reported that while Spotify pays between just £0.002 and £0.0038 per stream, Apple Music pays around £0.0059. That means that per 100,000 streams, an artist only sees about £300 on average. YouTube pays the least at around 0.05 pence per stream.

Read this next: Former Spotify executive calls musicians "entitled" for wanting better streaming royalties

Now, MPs are calling for a change that will re-disperse the money generated by record labels around the UK, giving artists a more fair share of their cut with a 50/50 split.

MP Julian Knight stated, ”while streaming has brought significant profits to the recorded music industry, the talent behind it - performers, songwriters and composers - are losing out. Only a complete reset of streaming that enshrines in law their rights to a fair share of the earnings will do."

The change follows a campaign started by musician Tom Gray named #BrokenRecord, which prompted a discussion by the government. Many musicians have since spoken out about the “shameful” earnings.

Read this next: Spotify files patent to introduce karaoke to the platform

Chic's Nile Rodgers said that streaming numbers are meaningless, stating: "we don't even know what a stream is worth and there's no way you could even find out what a stream is worth, and that's not a good relationship."

Artists such as Paul McCartney, Jessie Ware, Mick Jagger and Wolf Alice have all recently called on the Prime Minister to bring forward a change in the way musicians are paid for streaming.

[Via BBC]

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter