GovWire

The music industry and UK government are seeking views to help shape the future of music streaming services.

As part of a project following the UK Industry Agreement on Music Streaming Metadata in May, players from across the music industry committed to improve metadata on music streaming services in the UK.

Improving metadata on streaming services will ultimately improve how creators are paid and credited for their tracks.

To understand current use of metadata, stakeholders including music makers, labels and publishers are invited to take part in a short interview.

Interviews will be completed by 30 November 2023.

The interviews will be conducted by consultants on behalf of the IPO and the Technical Solutions Group (TSG) comprised of industry experts, who will help bring about improvements as part the metadata agreement.

Areas for discussion include:

• what identifiers?are used for works,?recordings,?writers and performers?

• what problems exist when dealing with incoming metadata?

• what works and what does not? This could include examples of missing/incorrect metadata, problems with cowritten works, and incorrect shares

Your answers will help develop new proposals for the music streaming industry and ensure these support the industry effectively.

The Technical Solutions Group wants to hear from anyone in the music industry involved with music metadata.

Interviews can be in person, virtually, or by correspondence. The results will be anonymised.

If you would like to take part in the interviews, please contact us at musicstreaming@ipo.gov.uk

Notes to editors:

• music streaming metadata is information which describes who contributed to a tracks creation, and how - such as who wrote a song, who performed on a recording, and who owns it
• the UK industry agreement on music streaming metadata sets out a positive commitment from players across the music streaming industry to improve metadata on music streaming services in the UK
• the Technical Solutions Group (TSG) includes a range of industry metadata experts. The group will explore current workflows, standards and technologies and recommend how to improve them to enable delivery of the core data set as specified in the