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from-platforms-to-fairness

From Platforms to Fairness: Fair MusE Responds to EU DMA Consultation

October 1, 2025
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NEWS RELEASE

In response to the European Commission’s call for evidence on the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the Fair MusE teams at Central European University and the University of Tartu have submitted a detailed proposal highlighting how current gatekeeper obligations could be refined to better serve music creators. Their contribution underscores the urgent need for greater data access, fairer licensing terms, and tailored dispute resolution mechanisms to rebalance the relationship between digital platforms and rightsholders in the music sector.

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Fair MusE at UACES 2025: Digitalisation, EU Law and the Future of Media Governance

September 17, 2025
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NEWS RELEASE

What does digitalisation mean for EU values, governance and the creative industries? At the UACES 55th Annual Conference in Liverpool, the Fair MusE project joined the debate, highlighting how “platformisation” affects European law, policy and the future of music.

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Mapping innovation in the Music Industry: new business models at a crossroads

August 22, 2025
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NEWS RELEASE

A new research from the Fair MusE project delves into how streaming services and emerging platforms are reshaping the industry, and what this means for fairness, diversity, and innovation. Now available on the project’s website, the slideset offers an overview of this research with a sharp analysis of shifting value networks, platform dynamics, and the future of music monetisation in Europe.

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The Fair MusE podcast episode 4: Metadata – The missing link in music fairness

July 21, 2025
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PODCAST

In its fourth and final episode, the Fair MusE podcast shines a light on an often-overlooked key to fairness in music: metadata. Listeners will hear how this “data about music” influences what songs we discover, how artists get paid, and even cultural policy, and why unlocking this missing link could benefit artists, audiences, and society alike.

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Shaping a fairer digital future: exploring fairness in the European music industry

July 4, 2025
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NEWS RELEASE

As part of its mission to explore fairness in the digital music landscape, the Fair MusE project has released a new report examining how streaming services are transforming the European music industry. The study highlights key challenges around remuneration, transparency, and diversity, offering insights to support a more equitable and inclusive future for artists and stakeholders alike.

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The Fair MusE podcast episode 3: Behind the Music Stream – Who really gets paid?

July 3, 2025
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PODCAST

As streaming giants dominate the global music scene, important questions arise: who actually profits from this model? The third episode of the Fair MusE podcast, “Behind the Music Stream: who really gets paid?”, brings together experts to unpack the complex economics of streaming and its far-reaching impact on artists, intermediaries, and audiences.

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Can platform regulation and competition law level the playing field for creators?

June 6, 2025
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NEWS RELEASE

As streaming and social media platforms tighten their grip on music distribution, a new study from the Fair MusE project asks a timely question: can existing EU laws—like the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, and competition rules—be used to tip the scales toward fairness for creators? The answer, it turns out, may lie not in drafting new rights, but in enforcing the ones already on the books.

what-the-data-reveals

What the Data Reveals: Diversity and Inequality in Music Streaming

May 28, 2025
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NEWS RELEASE

While today’s streaming platforms promise infinite access to music, the reality of what users actually hear tells a more complicated story. As part of the Fair MusE project, researchers analysed millions of listening data points from users across Europe, comparing them with radio playlists to understand the true shape of digital music consumption. Their findings expose significant disparities in exposure, reveal systemic metadata blind spots, and raise urgent questions about how algorithms and platform design influence fairness and diversity in the music we discover.

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Perceptions of Fairness in Music Streaming: Listening to Streaming Users

May 28, 2025
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NEWS RELEASE

In an age where digital platforms dominate how we discover and consume music, the question of fairness is more relevant than ever. Through Work Package 4 of the Fair MusE project, researchers turned to the listeners themselves—those navigating the algorithmic playlists, curated suggestions, and data-driven recommendations—for answers. Their voices reveal a nuanced and often critical view of music streaming: one where fairness is subjective, economic, emotional, and deeply shaped by platform design. From algorithmic manipulation to social lock-in, their testimonies offer a candid snapshot of how it feels to participate in today’s digital music ecosystem—and what still needs to change.

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“Music Creators’ Rights under EU Law”: Fair MusE Publishes Preliminary Results from a Comprehensive EU Copyright Study

May 6, 2025
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NEWS RELEASE

Fair MusE has published a slide set summarising key findings of the study on how EU copyright law is evolving to protect music creators’ rights, offering critical insights into transparency, remuneration, and data governance across Europe’s digital music ecosystem.

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The Fair MusE podcast episode 2: addressing biases and inequality in the streaming era

May 6, 2025
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PODCAST

In its second podcast episode, Fair MusE explores how music streaming platforms use recommendation algorithms to shape our listening habits, influencing music creators and consumers alike.

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Reimagining fairness and innovation: reflections from Fair MusE’s economics and business workshop

April 24, 2025
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NEWS RELEASE

Held on 7 February 2025 at the Fondation Universitaire Stichting in Brussels, Fair MusE’s Economics and Business Workshop provided a timely and critical forum to explore how digital platforms are reshaping value, visibility, and fairness in the music industry. Bringing together leading researchers and an engaged audience, the workshop offered key insights into the perceptions of industry professionals, the structure of platform-driven business models, and the evolving demands for equitable and transparent practices in a data-dominated ecosystem