EU Parliament Takes a Stand: New Regulations to Shake Up Music Streaming Industry!

The European Parliament’s Culture Committee recently voted to push for new regulations around the music streaming industry in the EU. This vote has reignited the debate around how involved politicians and regulators should be in shaping the business operations of music streaming companies.

Through this vote, the committee members are advocating for new EU legislation that would impose several requirements on streaming services. One proposal is to mandate services disclose how their algorithms and recommendation tools function to ensure European music is prominently featured. Another is to develop a “diversity indicator” analyzing the genres, languages, and presence of independent artists available on each platform.

Services would also need to correctly label tracks with identifying metadata to aid discovery of songs and their creators. Any artificially generated music would need to be labelled as such. Additionally, streaming revenue would help increase funding for local and niche European musicians plus vulnerable communities, broadening the diversity of music offered.

Some proposed actions are already underway, like tackling metadata issues and planning for AI-generated content. However, guaranteed promotion of European music like in Canada’s recent Bill C-11 risks backlash from companies claiming it hinders rather than helps domestic artists.

Nonetheless, the vote has gained support from certain music bodies. Composer and songwriter groups see it as crucial progress towards fair compensation from the services profiting off creative content. Collecting societies also praised the potential regulatory oversight of recommendation algorithms and cultural diversity commitments.

Whether this report spurs actual legislation remains uncertain. Even if a bill moves forward, a lengthy approval and implementation process across EU members lies ahead. For now, the debate reignited on balancing business interests with cultural policy goals in the booming streaming sphere.