Music Creators’ Earnings in the Digital Era

Musicians, their relationships, and their wellbeing: Creative labour, relational work

“…In her study too, we see mention of the tensions which emerged as the lack of material rewards for this help could engender feelings of what is described as "mutual resentment" (ibid). Indeed, musical work, as opposed to other kinds of work, is particularly interesting here; unlike the college students in the work of Stivers and Berman (2020) who hope to go on to earn money to repay their financial debts, musical careers are far less certain with data suggesting much poorer financial outcomes in general (Hesmondhalgh et al, 2021), thus presenting high risks in the consequences for relational work. Interestingly, whilst studies of relational work are often gendered, revealing the emotional labour of women undertaking practices of this work, the finding from this thematic section reveals the impact of these mismatches on men.…”

Songwriters vs. the recording industry: the use and abuse of statistics in UK streaming debates

“…We then need to assess their global earnings. It has been suggested that British music creators generate fourth-fifths of their copyright revenue abroad (Hesmondhalgh et al 2021, p. 202). Consequently, the total earnings for UK songwriters from streaming, downloads and sales can be estimated at £325m in 2019, more than double the figure the Guardian reported.…”

“…This does not represent their total copyright earnings, however. Songwriters also gain revenue from synchronisation, broadcast and public performance licensing, as documented in MCE (Hesmondhalgh et al 2021, figure 4.12) 4 . If we add these sources to those previously accumulated and incorporate revenues from live music that were omitted from MCE , 5 we are left with the following: UK revenue for songwriters was £396m in 2019; British songwriters received approximately £170m of this amount; globally, their copyright earnings were around £850m.…”

“…Concurrent with the DCMS inquiry, I was part of a research team that investigated the earnings of British recording artists and songwriters to see how they were affected by the turn to streaming. This research was funded by the UK's Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and published in the report Music Creators’ Earnings in the Digital Age ( MCE ) (Hesmondhalgh et al 2021). Lobbyists in the streaming debates have used data from MCE in support of their causes.…”

‘Losing Work, Losing Purpose’: Representations of Musicians’ Mental Health in the Time of COVID-19

“…This might include sharing media online via a cultivated social media platform (and if a following is large enough, being paid for posts), running a record label, writing songs for other musicians and/or generating income via streaming. Indeed, streaming income has become a contentious issue in recent music industry scholarship and in the wider music industries vis-à-vis its effectiveness at generating income for artists (Hesmondhalgh, 2020(Hesmondhalgh, , 2021Hesmondhalgh et al, 2021).…”