Ivors Academy backs artists calling for music industry to protect creatives
US pop star Chappell Roan urged record labels to provide a ‘liveable wage and healthcare’ for rising stars during her Grammy Award speech.
The Ivors Academy has supported calls for the music industry to protect the future of artists after Chappell Roan delivered an impassioned speech at the Grammys.
US pop star Roan, 26, urged record labels to provide a “liveable wage and healthcare” for rising stars after winning the best new artist award at the ceremony last Sunday.
Ahead of meeting with the minister for the creative industries and arts on Monday, The Ivors Academy has proposed fairer pay and protection measures for songwriters and composers.
The proposals include calling for labels to introduce a minimum daily allowance for songwriters’ expenses when working with artists.
They will also request streaming services to negotiate with publishers and labels to ensure songs are being fairly valued and to introduce means that reward composers who produce longer works.
The academy, which is a not-for-profit professional association for songwriters and composers, will also urge the government to introduce mechanisms to adjust contracts, in line with EU law.
The academy has said that basic workers’ rights are “urgently needed to address an imbalance that has persisted for decades”.
Ivors Academy chairman Tom Gray and chief executive Roberto Neri will highlight the issues affecting songwriters and composers, from declining revenues to the increasing costs they have to bear, at a government-chaired session of the Creators Remuneration Working Group on Monday.
Mr Gray said: “MPs, peers, independent research, the public, songwriters and composers all see the problem.
“Without urgent reform, earning a living from making music will become the privilege of the wealthy, rather than a possible career for all.
“This is a serious threat to the UK’s music industry and creative industries.”
Mr Neri said their proposed reforms “offer practical solutions to redress this historic imbalance, made worse by the economics of streaming”.
“A daily allowance, points on the master, fairer rewards for long-form music, a stronger voice in negotiations, and the ability to adjust contracts from coercive buyouts: these are the steps needed to secure the future of songwriting”, he added.
The Ivors Academy is advocating for the reforms with the Council of Music Makers, which includes the Featured Artists Coalition, Music Managers Forum, Music Producers Guild and the Musicians’ Union.
It comes after Roan, whose real name is Kayleigh Amstutz, received a standing ovation from many artists at the Grammy Awards when she said she had told herself she would demand that labels and the industry protect artists more if she ever won.
She recalled feeling “betrayed” and “dehumanised” when she struggled to find work and afford health care during the pandemic after getting dropped by her first label as a young artist when she had “given everything” to them.
The singer added: “If my label would have prioritised artist’s health, I could have been provided care by a company I was giving everything to.
“So record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a liveable wage and health insurance, and protection. Labels, we got you, but do you got us?”
Her comments sparked praise as well as some criticism including from music executive Jeff Rabhan who wrote in an opinion piece for the Hollywood Reporter that Roan’s speech was “noble, but also wildly misinformed”.
He added that she should “do something about” the issues for rising stars in the industry, instead of just talking about the problem.
In response, the singer urged Mr Rabhan to match her in donating 25,000 US dollars (£20,166) to a “struggling dropped artist” in an Instagram story.
Last year, British singer Raye used her Ivor Novello Awards speech for songwriter of the year to call on labels to allocate songwriters a share of master recording revenues and a minimum daily allowance to cover travel and expenses when working with artists.
According to a census from the charity Help Musicians and the Musicians’ Union (MU) published in 2023, about half of British musicians are earning less than £14,000 a year from music, and 43% of respondents said they earn less than that figure.
It also disclosed that the average annual income from music is reported at £20,700, which is based on all respondents earning any percentage of their total income from music.
