The U.K. Government has been urged to introduce measures to improve streaming royalty rates and better remunerate creators for private copying. The Culture, Media and Sport Committee spells it out in a new report from.

Creator Remuneration makes a host of recommendations to achieve “fair remuneration” and improve working conditions across the creative industries.

CMS proposes that the U.K. introduce a payment scheme for private copying (where individuals use digital devices to download, store, copy and share content for private use). The lack of it, and existence of such provisions in other countries, means that payments from abroad are under threat due to a lack of reciprocity, argues the report.

The CMS is also asking for a “package of reforms” relating to royalties from music streaming following on from its Economics of Streaming report that demanded a ‘total reset” of the market. Measures to address the “pitiful returns from streaming” that songwriters and publishing rightsholders, in particular, continue to receive are part of this.

Other recommendations span the protection of creators’ rights when works are being used by AI systems and the appointment of a dedicated person to advocate in the interests of freelance workers.

Umbrella creator body The Council of Music Makers welcomed the report, while criticizing the Government for lack of action three years after the publication of the Economics of Streaming report. “None of the issues around music-maker remuneration have been discussed, let alone addressed,” they say.

“This report provides a good summary of the issues and some of the proposed solutions, with MPs stating that they ‘expect to see tangible steps to improve musicians’ remuneration and performer rights in the next 12 months.’ For this to happen we need stakeholders from across the music industry to stop denying reality and to, instead, come to the table with solutions, whether that’s the copyright reforms proposed by MPs or a negotiated agreement.”

Label trade body the BPI is naturally less enthusiastic. Org CEO Dr Jo Twist welcomed the concerns around generative AI but said the report “fails to recognize that, with the support of their labels, more U.K. artists are succeeding in the streaming economy than ever before and that the real challenge facing all of us is how we can enable continued growth so even more creators stand to benefit.”