Shady label deals. Resurgent payola. And a brick wall of NDAs that block accountability. Music streaming is fundamentally broken – posing a threat to innovation, choice and quality for consumers and artists alike.

At a time when the music industry is reaching financial heights not seen in three decades, with consumers spending over $12 billion on streaming services, musicians are receiving checks for fractions of pennies, and no one seems to know why. We need legislators to act now to shine a light on the industry's shady practices. 
 

This is a job that calls for the Federal Trade Commission. Section 6(b) of the FTC Act grants the Commission the authority necessary to conduct a wide-ranging study to figure out exactly what's wrong with streaming. This includes allowing for the Commission to pierce NDAs, necessary to gather the relevant data in a highly secretive information environment where not even music managers know the full details of the deals they bring to their artists.

This 6(b) study should focus on:

• Comprehensively understanding the music business
• Non-cash compensation in streaming service/music distributor agreements and its effects on payment for artists
• Concentration among record companies, including on the incentive and ability to self-preference in DSP contracts
• Impact of NDAs in artists' and distributors' contracts
• Anticompetitive behavior by streaming services owned by larger companies, like Amazon, Apple, Google
   

We also call for the FTC to use the 6(b) authority to compel labels to make publicly available annual accounting of all non-cash compensation in streaming licensing deals, so that artists, consumers, and lawmakers alike can ensure the streaming industry remains accountable.

Join us in calling on Congress to tell the FTC to act now. We need more transparency and regulation to protect artists and consumers alike — it's time to figure out what's rotten in streaming.

Check out our explainer video below for more information: