The pandemic and streaming caused an “unsustainable” situation for artists

In the report, Ottone adds that it is urgent to “rethink how to build a sustainable and inclusive work environment for culture and art professionals who play a vital role in society, all over the world”. That is, if artists are progressively forced to change jobs to surviveas has been the case since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, the companies that use their works neither will they have new material in the future with which to feed the demand.

Thus, the report asks governments to align the labor protection of artists and cultural professionals with that of workers in generaland suggests a minimum wage for cultural workersas well as better pensions and sickness benefits for the self-employed.

“Even in countries that have social security schemes designed for the self-employed or self-employed (who make up a large part of the workforce in the creative economy), a significant proportion of these workers are often not entitled to them“, he pointed.

Since the pandemic began, “network multinationals consolidated their position, and inequalities in internet access became more significant”he assures himself, and then: “for most artists, the digital environment does not provide enough income to maintain a professional career. It is necessary to act to bridging the streaming value gap”, that is, the disparity between the value that platforms extract from content and the income generated by those who create and invest in creation.

The report estimates that the global gross value of the cultural and creative industries fell by $750 billion in 2020and that the revenues of those industries were reduced between 20% and 40% in the world.

The report gives as an example the case of Zimbabwewhere a third of the population access music through streaming services, but almost 70% of musicians say they do not earn income from streaming. The report cites fingera pan-African music streaming platform created in 2017, which has more than 12 million songs and is accessible in six African countries, as well as France and the United Kingdom. “In four years,” he says, “Deedo has not only become a key player in the African music industry, but has also increased the visibility of African artists.while also offering social engagement through its ‘One Song, One Soul’ initiative (which donates 5% of each subscription to the charity of the user’s choice.”)

Another aspect addressed in the report is the national content quotasnoting that a growing number of countries, such as Canada, Australia and South Africa, are looking at how to make streaming services take responsibility for providing local content. After the European Union addressed a note to its member states in which it stipulated that streaming services such as Netflix must guarantee at least 30% European content in their catalogues, both France and Spain have advanced with even higher odds. Of course, the effects are not the same either by specialty (such as music or cinema) or by territory. In our country, there are not a few actors, screenwriters and directors who stated that the streaming companies were the the only ones that allowed them to continue working during the pandemicwhich caused the closure of movie theaters.

UNESCO also points out that gender equality is “a distant perspective”despite the fact that female workers represent 48.1% of the culture and entertainment sectors. “The data suggests that women continue to be underrepresented in leadership positions, have less access to public funding, and their work is less visible and recognized than that of their male counterparts”to conclude that the pandemic may have disproportionately affected women artists and cultural professionals.