According to Björn Ulvaeus, President of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (Cisac), “creators in the world of streaming need reliable metadata”.
The former guitarist and singer of the group ABBA estimates, thanks to the annual study published Thursday, October 27 by this organization bringing together 228 societies of authors and 4 million creators in 119 countries, that “too much of the data needed to identify and remunerate creators is incomplete or missing when works are integrated by streaming services [in their catalog]”.To the point that “hundreds of millions of dollars remain unattributed, instead of returning to the creators”, he assures.
Mr. Ulvaeus is pleased that CISAC has already modernized the identification of musical works in its repertory, while making it available to companies. But « the more widespread adoption of this identifier is still slow », he regrets. He welcomes the first step taken by the British government which, in a campaign in 2021, invited companies and organizations in the sector to commit to ensuring the accuracy and completeness of metadata from the creation of records. A sign that “things are moving seriously, in the right direction”.
The other need for creators is, according to him, « a better sharing of value« . An old claim. CISAC president finds tens of thousands of new titles coming to streaming services every day, which ‘offers wonderful opportunities’ but « nevertheless leaves a taste of unfinished business because [le streaming] has still not resolved the question of its ability to support creators in a fair and equitable way », he underlines.
A report by GEMA (the German equivalent of the Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers) on the music streaming sector across the Rhin provides him with arguments in favor of his fight on the remuneration of authors.
Strong structural growth in digital revenues
The study covering the year 2021 shows a 7.2% increase in global music-related rights collections, to 8.48 billion euros. Better but not yet a return to what prevailed before the Covid-19 pandemic.
