APPJAGis submitting evidence to the inquiry to ensure that musicians and composers achieve equitable payment for their music and to ensure a level playing field through regulation will enable ethical business models to become the norm.

Summary

1. The dominant organisations are the likes of Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music. They are effectively a mass market with millions of subscribers.
2. The payment system used on the major streaming services is the “pro rata” model. With this system, the total revenues are divided and distributed according to the share of total streams for the given payment period.
3. For a jazz musician to earn the average household disposable income (after taxes and benefits) of £30,800 from Spotify for the financial year ending 2020, their music would have to be streamed 10.1 million times.
4. Both jazz and classical music are disadvantaged. On a major streaming service a 10 minute long symphony movement…