The transformation of music markets brought by streaming has brought important benefits to music creators. Yet, some features of digital music markets have created additional problems for creators to understand how and under which conditions their works have been used and monetised by platforms and whether they are receiving a fair share of the revenues generated by the exploitation of their works.

The Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (Directive 2019/790) contains provisions on proportionate and adequate remuneration for authors and performers, on enhanced transparency, and on the possibility of adjusting contractual arrangements if an initially agreed payment turns out to be disproportionately low in light of the revenue generated from the exploitation of a work or performance. Yet, studies show that these additional rights fostering fair remuneration have fallen short of generating tangible benefits for creators in the music sector so far.

This presentation seeks to explore whether regulatory frameworks outside the realm of copyright law could help in rendering the rights of music creators to adequate and fair remuneration in digital music markets more effective. In particular, it considers whether various provisions of the DSA, the DMA, and EU competition law could offer tools to reinforce music creators’ rights against music streaming and user-generated content platforms.

It therefore engages first with the DSA’s transparency obligations and DMA provisions applicable to online platforms that could ultimately strengthen the rights of artists vis-a-vis user-generated content platforms. EU Competition law, too, offers mechanisms that could potentially address imbalances in the digital music market despite some challenges to establish dominance and abuse as required by Article 102 TFEU.