The CMA concludes its independent study into the music streaming market

On 29 November 2022, the UK Competition Market Authority (“CMA”) has concluded its independent study into the music streaming market. The CMA has decided to end the market study and concluded that, while many artists and songwriters across the UK reported to be struggling to make a decent living from these services, these are not the result of ineffective competition, and an intervention by the CMA would not release more money into the system that would help artists or songwriters. CMA’s analysis found that neither record labels nor streaming services are likely to be making significant excess profits that could be shared with creators. The CMA also acknowledged that consumers have benefited from digitalisation and competition between music streaming services with prices for consumers in real terms falling between 2009 and 2021 and with average royalty rates in major deals with artists increasing between 2012 and 2021.

CRA has advised Sony Music Entertainment throughout the CMA’s market study process. A CRA team including Mikaël Hervé, Matthew Bennett, Mariam Arutyunyan, John Liu, and Caspar Mueller worked to provide economic support to Sony Music Entertainment and their legal counsel.

Additional details are available on the CMA’s case page: https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/music-and-streaming-market-study