Economics of Streaming & the Rise of the Music Artists’ Rights and Compensation

Afzana Anwer, Head of IP, Britishvolt, UK

As the big era of buying CDs and vinyl records has mostly passed, music streaming continues to hit the music industry by storm. It is a market estimated at $153 Billion [1] with no signs of saturation. Nearly 2 billion music discoveries happen on Spotify every day. Headlines continue to sweep across the news media and this month the FT reports [2] ’Universal music strikes deal to reshape streaming economics”. Broad industry alignment is required to re-monetise the music making lifecycle to benefit artists, limit non-artist noise, and ensure a better-quality user experience. This is particularly challenging where current fragmented and inconsistent regulations across different jurisdictions are struggling to keep pace with technology developments.

Dr Afzana Anwer is an experienced IP lawyer, leading on the IP front to capture, protect, defend, enforce, and exploit IP, in a broad range of multiple industry sectors for different sized companies, from the entrepreneurial start-ups, SMEs, to the multinationals and universities. She has advanced science degrees (University of Cambridge/Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and legal qualifications in the U.S/Massachusetts and in the U.K (Roll of Solicitors).

Consulting at the moment