This week, asking which advances qualify as genuine progress…
Last Friday, Ben Sisario of the
New York Times laid out some noteworthy developments in the international effort to make the music-streaming economy more equitable to artists. The state of play there underscores how ossified the systems for distributing and compensating visual art remain in 2021. But the comparison also invites a very serious question about whether visual artists are actually worse off as a result as well as whether that question misses the point entirely.
Sisario’s piece largely centers on the U.K., where the British Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Committee began investigating the business of streaming in October 2020. He writes that the group’s “aggressive questioning of tech and record executives” has “riveted the industry” throughout the proceedings, which will end with a formal report likely to be issued “in the coming weeks.”
Musicians say streaming doesn t pay. Can the industry change?
12 minutes to read
By: Ben Sisario
Services like Spotify and Apple Music pulled the business back from the brink. But artists say they can t make a living. And their complaints are getting louder. When the pandemic hit last year, British singer-songwriter Nadine Shah saw her income dry up in an instant. The concert bookings that sustained her vanished and, at age 34, she moved back in with her parents on the northeast coast of England. I was financially crippled, Shah said in an interview.
Like musicians everywhere who were stuck off the road, staring into the abyss of their bank accounts, Shah whose dark alto and eclectic songs have brought her critical acclaim and a niche following began to examine her livelihood as an artist. Money from the streams of her songs on services like Spotify and Apple Music was practically nonexistent, she said, adding up to just a few pounds here and there. S
Ben Sisario, The New York Times
Published: 09 May 2021 12:49 PM BdST
Updated: 09 May 2021 12:49 PM BdST Streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music pulled the business back from the brink. But artists say they can’t make a living. And their complaints are getting louder. (Jon Han/The New York Times)
When the pandemic hit last year, British singer-songwriter Nadine Shah saw her income dry up in an instant. The concert bookings that sustained her vanished and, at age 34, she moved back in with her parents on the northeast coast of England. );
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“I was financially crippled,” Shah said in an interview.
Like musicians everywhere who were stuck off the road, staring into the abyss of their bank accounts, Shah whose dark alto and eclectic songs have brought her critical acclaim and a niche following began to examine her livelihood as an artist. Money from the streams of her songs on services like Spotify and Apple Music was practically nonexistent, she said,
Facebook Accused of Bullying by UK Lawmaker and Publishers Over News Sharing Ban
Facebook has been accused of “bully boy” tactics for blocking its users from seeing or sharing Australian news content on its site.
A senior British lawmaker on Friday told Reuters that the social media company’s action is an attempt to bully a democracy and will stiffen the resolve of legislators across the world to get tough with the big tech companies.
“This action this bully boy action that they’ve undertaken in Australia will, I think, ignite a desire to go further amongst legislators around the world,” Julian Knight, chair of the British Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said.