Singing Under Contract, Streaming Under Pressure: The Performer's Right to Be Paid in a Post-Spotify World

Abstract

This paper critically examines whether existing international, EU, and UK legal frameworks, together with standard music industry contracts, adequately protect performers’ rights to fair remuneration in the age of streaming. It analyses the Rome Convention, the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, and the EU Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive, focusing on provisions for equitable remuneration, contract adjustment, and revocation. The discussion then turns to UK law, highlighting gaps in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the findings of the UK Streaming Market Study on underpayment of performers. The paper evaluates how traditional recording contracts, recoupment clauses, and opaque royalty accounting interact with pro-rata streaming payment models to disadvantage independent and emerging artists. It concludes by proposing reforms including a statutory right to remuneration, enhanced transparency obligations, promotion of user-centric payment models, and expansion of equitable remuneration to streaming, aiming to create a more balanced and sustainable digital music economy.