The chairman of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) has criticised Google and SoundCloud – by clear reference, if not by name – in a speech at its Ivor Novello Awards.
Delivering the introductory speech at the event, Simon Darlow focused on the licensing arguments around streaming music, and specifically on companies that he feels are not respecting songwriters.
“We are all well aware that streaming is becoming the dominant means of listening to music, as ownership dwindles. But streaming has not yet proven that it can provide a viable income for future generations for songwriters and composers,” said Darlow.
“This is largely because some companies exploit safe harbour legislation to avoid paying fair value for music and thereby compete unfairly with those that do.”
With a number of technology companies present at the awards in London, Darlow addressed the next section of his speech directly to them.
“For those of you here today whose search engines provide links to software that enable people to steal songs from a service which is only licensed to stream, you are undermining the value of our music.
For any of you whose company maintains that it has to pay only if it monetises our works, you too are undermining the value of our music. For any others out there who remain unlicensed and rely on notice and takedown, you are accessories to the theft of our music.
All of you are making it virtually impossible for fully-licensed businesses to thrive and grow. All of you are helping to kill songwriting and composition.”
The mention of “search engines” was aimed squarely at Google, and software that can rip audio from its YouTube video service. Meanwhile, “pay only if it monetises our works” was just as clear a reference to SoundCloud.
The latter service has historically not paid royalties out to performers or songwriters, but in August 2014 launched its “On SoundCloud” initiative to sell advertisements on its service and share the revenues with musicians.
That has since paid out more than $2m in royalties, while SoundCloud has also been negotiating licensing deals with music labels, as well as publishers and collecting societies who act on behalf of songwriters.
Darlow’s criticism came shortly after major label Sony Music began removing its catalogue from SoundCloud after a breakdown in licensing negotiations between the two companies, with Sony having cited a “lack of monetisation opportunities” as the key factor.
The money earned by songwriters from streaming music is currently a hot topic within the music industry, separate from – although closely related to – the debate around how much performers make from services like YouTube and Spotify.
Bodies representing songwriters and music publishers are speaking up much more about digital music and streaming in 2015, including voicing their unhappiness with the fact that labels get a much bigger share of the royalties paid out by streaming firms.
SoundCloud is one of the companies caught in the middle of these rows, although it is striking some deals. For example, in May, it signed a licensing deal with the US National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), while in November 2014 it reached an agreement with major label Warner Music Group.
