The Time For Action is Now
The music industry has become monopolized by major record companies, resulting in the exploitation of recording artists. The shift from physical music distribution to streaming has exacerbated exploitative practices, such as "360 Deals," which give record labels near-total control over artists' careers. The monopolized labor market means that artists are forced to conform to labels' expectations or risk their careers. In addition to exploitation, record labels also limit artists' creative development and identity by controlling their public persona. The legal arrangements that determine ownership play a significant role in perpetuating this exploitation. Though artists are responsible for the creation of released music, their share of the proceeds does not reflect the necessity of their role, as demonstrated in the figure below.
Though artists have always seen a disproportionately small share of the revenue generated by their work the streaming revolution and subsequent establishment of “streaming service” business models have been detrimental to artists’ royalty payments, heightening this discrepancy as labels scramble to recuperate costs at the expense of their artists. Current copyright law provisions require distributors such as Spotify to pay based on a hybrid calculation that accounts for the increased volume of music consumption caused by streaming, resulting in discrepancies between the popular and commercial success of songs. Starved of bargaining power, labels force their artists to agree to unfavorable terms.