Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1514625
11 EUROPE 18.01.2024 ON Wednesday, the European Par- liament called for EU rules to ensure the music streaming sector is fair and sustainable, and to promote cultural diversity. In a resolution adopted by 532 votes to 61 and 33 abstentions, MEPs have asked for the imbalance in revenue allocation from the music streaming market to be addressed, as it currently leaves a majority of authors and per- formers with very low compensation. They insist on a new EU legal frame- work for the sector, for which cur- rently no European Union rules apply, even though streaming services are the main way that people access mu- sic. Digital music platforms and music sharing services currently provide ac- cess to up to 100 million tracks either for free or for a comparatively low monthly subscription fee. Streaming represents 67% of the music sector's global revenue, with an annual reve- nue of 22.6 billion USD. Fair pay for authors The "pre-digital royalty rates" cur- rently applied must be revised, they say, condemning the payola schemes that force authors to accept lower or no revenues in exchange for greater visibility. EU action is needed to guarantee European musical works are visible, prominent and accessible, among the "overwhelming amount" of constant- ly growing content on music stream- ing platforms, says the text. MEPs propose to "reflect on the possibili- ty" of imposing concrete measures, such as quotas for European musical works. Transparency of AI tools The EU bill should oblige platforms to make their algorithms and recom- mendation tools transparent, to pre- vent unfair practices, such as manip- ulation of streaming figures, allegedly used to reduce artists' fees. MEPs suggest introducing a label to inform the public when the songs they listen to have been generated by Ar- tificial Intelligence (AI) and urge for deep fakes on music streaming plat- forms (that use identities, voices and likenesses of authors without their consent) to be tackled. The rules should also oblige stream- ing platforms to identify right-hold- ers by correctly allocating metadata to make their works more visible, they add. Support for musical diversity Finally, MEPs point to studies indi- cating that revenues in the streaming market go primarily to major labels and a few most popular artists, while the less popular styles and less com- mon languages are played less fre- quently. EU legislation should include diver- sity indicators to assess the array of genres and languages available and the presence of independent authors, and a European industrial strategy for music should promote the diversity of the European music sector, boosting smaller players. Rapporteur Ibán García Del Blan- co (S&D, Spain) said: "The Parlia- ment is giving voice to the concerns of European creators, who are at the heart of the music streaming market. Cultural diversity and ensuring that authors are credited and fairly paid has always been our priority; this is why we ask for rules that ensure al- gorithms and recommendation tools used by music streaming services are transparent as well as in their use of AI tools, placing European authors at the centre." Music streaming sector: EU must ensure just pay for artists and fair algorithms ON Wednesday, MEPs decided to open talks with Council on new eco- nomic governance rules, prioritising investment and national ownership and improving the system's credibility. e text, adopted by MEPs with 431 votes in favour, 172 against and 4 ab- stentions, constitutes Parliament's mandate for negotiations with mem- ber states on the final shape of the law, which will start today at 13.00. It replaces the regulation on multilateral budgetary surveillance, the so-called 'preventive arm of the Stability and Growth Pact' and contains substantial changes to the Commission's original proposal. e mandate was prepared by the co-rapporteurs Esther De Lange (EPP, NL) and Margarida Marques (S&D, PT). During the debate on Wednesday, De Lange said, "You cannot escape re- sponsibility for tomorrow by escaping it today. e text we are voting on does introduce some room for flexibility, notably to allow for necessary climate investments, but it is also based on sus- tainable finances to prevent burdening future generations with excessive debt." Marques said, "We are proud of our proposal that delivers a strong social dimension, more flexibility in manag- ing debt, and incentives to invest in the EU's main priorities such as climate, digital, defence, and social sectors. Our priority is now to reach a final agree- ment in time to avoid reverting to the current and inefficient fiscal rules and to implement a new framework that prevents the return of austerity poli- cies." e preventive arm of the Stability and Growth Pact aims to ensure sound budgetary policies over the medium term by setting parameters for mem- ber states' fiscal planning and policies during normal economic times. Two other texts complete the over- haul of the framework of the EU's eco- nomic governance. e position of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Com- mittee on these texts was, however, not presented to the plenary at this stage since they do not fall under the ordi- nary legislative procedure and plena- ry's consent on them is not required for negotiations with the member states to begin. e other two texts are: e corrective arm of the Stability and Growth Pact ensures that mem- ber states adopt appropriate policy responses to correct excessive deficits (and/or debts) by implementing the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP). e Directive on budgetary frame- works lays down detailed rules for na- tional budgets. ese are necessary to ensure EU governments respect the requirements of economic and mon- etary union and do not run excessive deficits. Economic governance reform: improving credibility, ownership and scope to invest