Music 2025 The Music Data Dilemma: issues facing the music industry in improving data management Research commissioned by the Intellectual Property Office and carried out by Ulster University: Professor Frank Lyons, Dr Hyojung Sun, Dennis Collopy, Paul O’Hagan and Professor Kevin Curran. Findings and opinions are those of the researchers, not necessarily the views of the IPO or the Government. Intellectual Property Office is an operating name of the Patent Office Music 2025 Core Research Team: ISBN: 978-1-910790-40-3 Music 2025: The Music Data Dilemma: issues facing Professor Frank Lyons is Dean of Research and Impact in Arts, Humanities the music industry in improving data management and Social Sciences at Ulster University. He has developed an international profile as a composer and researcher with over 150 performances and Published by The Intellectual Property Office exhibitions of his works in China, Japan, Australia, South Africa, the US, June 2019 Europe, the UK and Ireland and broadcast on BBC, RTE, NPR and ABCFM, performed by some of the world’s leading soloists and ensembles. He has 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 also developed an international network of research collaborations in the field of creative technologies and disability under the ‘Inclusive Creativity’ banner. © Crown Copyright 2019 Professor Lyons is currently Co-Director of Ulster’s Creative Industries Institute and Co-Director (Partnerships) of Future Screens NI, a collaboration with QUB You may re-use this information (excluding logos) and a number of key industrial partners which secured £13million from AHRC free of charge in any format or medium, under the and industry to drive growth in the creative economy in the region. terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov. Dr Hyojung Sun is an interdisciplinary researcher whose work cuts across uk/doc/open-government-licence/ law, social science and cultural studies. She currently works as a Research Associate at Ulster University’s Creative Industries Institute which is a key or email: [email protected] partner in the UK Government-funded, Nesta-led Policy & Evidence Centre. Where we have identified any third party copyright She holds a PhD in Science, Technology and Innovation Studies from the information you will need to obtain permission from University of Edinburgh. She is the author of Digital Revolution Tamed: The Case the copyright holders concerned. of the Recording Industry, Palgrave MacMillan (https://www.palgrave.com/us/ book/9783319930213) and her latest article is Paradox of Celestial Jukebox: Any enquiries regarding this publication should be Resurgence of Market Control, Creative Industries Journal (http://dx.doi.org/10.1 sent to: 080/17510694.2018.1554944). The Intellectual Property Office Dennis Collopy is Senior Research Fellow at the University of Hertfordshire, Concept House specialising in Music and IP related research including various studies for UK Cardiff Road Music and the IPO. He has spent over 4 decades in music working across Newport artist management, record labels and music publishing having been MD of NP10 8QQ Riva Music (signing the Clash and John Mellencamp) BMG Music Publishing ( where he signed Steve Earle and Maria McKee and worked with Eurythmics Tel: 0300 300 2000 Fax: 01633 817 777 and Clannad) EG (working with KLF, the Orb and Robert Fripp) and most recently his own Menace Music Management working mainly in managing e-mail: [email protected] rights for song writers like Matt Aitken, Frankie Miller, Slowdive/Mojave 3’s Neil Halstead, Gary Benson and Steve Edwards. Dennis is a former director This publication is available from our website at of PRS and board member of the MPA. www.gov.uk/ipo Professor Kevin Curran is a Professor of Cyber Security, Executive Co- Director of the Legal innovation Centre and group leader of the Ambient Intelligence & Virtual Worlds Research Group at Ulster University. He is also a senior member of the IEEE. Prof Curran is perhaps most well-known for his work on cyber security, blockchain and location positioning within indoor environments evidenced by over 800 peer review papers. He is one of the most interviewed technology experts in the UK with over 1000+ interviews in recent years https://kevincurran.org/interviews/. Paul O’Hagan is currently working with Ulster University and UKIPO researching music copyright, data registration systems and the impact of digital transformation on the creative economy. Having worked for over 25 years as a performer, songwriter/arranger, studio engineer, producer and music educator, he has consistently been an agitator, instigator and advocate for projects which empower and promote agency across the creative sector. Studying Cultural & Critical Theory at Salford University and Creative & Cultural Entrepreneurship at Goldsmiths College developed into an interest in research with strong socio-political/economic relevance, which is reflected in his current PhD project ‘(Non)Attribution & The Business Of Music’. Paul is also co-founder of Smidj Ltd and is strategic advisor to JadeBlok Ltd, who are currently piloting projects concerned with innovation in cross-sector, cross-border and cross-platform data services. Special thanks to Peter Jenner, Paul Jessop and Ritu Bhatt who were engaged as specialist consultants to support the core team’s research activities. Contents Ambiguous truth - A true story (as far as I can remember it) ..................................................................................................1 1. Executive summary ...........................................................................................................8 1.1 Context .......................................................................................................................8 1.2 Key findings ............................................................................................................. 11 1.2.1 Urgency for change ......................................................................................... 11 1.2.2 Issues with International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) and International Standard Musical Work Code (ISWC) identifiers ........................... 11 1.2.3 Data infrastructure ............................................................................................ 12 1.2.4 The importance of data .................................................................................... 13 1.2.5 Politics and asymmetrical power relations ....................................................... 13 1.2.6 Fragmentation and insufficient collaboration ................................................... 14 1.2.7 Appropriateness of governance ....................................................................... 14 1.2.8 Creators’ earnings on streaming platforms ...................................................... 14 1.3 Key recommendations ............................................................................................ 15 1.3.1 Education ......................................................................................................... 15 1.3.2 Interoperability ................................................................................................. 16 1.3.3 Governance ..................................................................................................... 18 1.3.4 Collaboration .................................................................................................... 18 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. 19 2. Research aims and design .............................................................................................. 20 2.1 Background .............................................................................................................. 20 2.2 Aims and objectives ................................................................................................ 21 2.3 Theoretical approach ............................................................................................... 22 2.3.1 Social shaping of technology ........................................................................... 22 2.3.2 Socio-technical constellation of music data management ............................. 23 2.4 Research design ...................................................................................................... 25 2.4.1 Qualitative research: interviews and data analysis .......................................... 25 Data analysis ....................................................................................................................... 26 3. Existing literature and key findings .................................................................................. 26 3.1 Archaeology of music data - the industry context .................................................. 26 3.1.1 Copyright law ................................................................................................... 27 3.1.2 The music publishing industry ......................................................................... 28 3.1.3 The recording industry ..................................................................................... 29 3.1.4 Collective licensing and market analysis ........................................................ 29 3.1.5 Cultural economics ......................................................................................... 32 3.1.6 Data management