The European music streaming market is evolving. Revenues are going up, indicating a proper market scenario, even underlining a prospering consumer climate for recorded music.
What appears on a glance to be solid success story for the music sector, in fact reveal when looking closer a market scenario getting out of tune. More than obvious: Just a few very players control and dominate market settings and conditions for music streaming. On the opposite a vast majority of artists, authors and composers complaining about the imbalance of payments, the lack of transparency, criticize vehemently a business model, where just some winners take it all.
Meanwhile the unequal conflict reached in Europe the political stage. France put on a tax on streaming, Germany works on an investigative research report and even the European Parliament widely agreed on a resolution calling the “EU must ensure just pay for artists and fair algorithms.”
But how do we get there? Can a European Music Observatory be of help? Which solutions apply, when legislative issues matter? How to preserve cultural diversity and cross border-mobility of artists and repertoire against payola-like deals and algorithms?

Moderation: Ivana Dragila & Hannes Tschürtz