Competition

Our observatory is monitoring the certain segments of the European economy, and develops tools for computational antitrust in Europe.

Reprex, a Dutch start-up enterprise formed to utilize open source software and open data in open collaboration with its partners is contesting all three challenges of the EU Datathon 2021 Prizes.

Our paper argues that fair competition in music streaming is restricted by the nature of the remuneration arrangements between creators and the streaming platforms, the role of playlists, and the strong negotiating power of the major labels. It concludes that urgent consideration should be given to a user-centric payment system, as well as greater transparency of the factors underpinning playlist creation and of negotiated agreements.

Our Digital Music Observatory contributed to the Music Creators’ Earnings in the Streaming Era project with understanding the level of justified and unjustified differences in rightsholder earnings, and putting them into a broader music economy context. The entire research paper is published by the UK Intellectual Property office, and we made the details of our analysis available in a joint publication.