A U.K. Parliament committee has issued fresh calls for a “fundamental reform” of music streaming to address what it describes as “pitiful returns” for songwriters and publishing rights holders.

A report from the Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Committee published Wednesday (April 10) calls upon the British government to “do more to make sure music makers are paid fairly” and to press ahead with a package of sweeping copyright reforms.

Those reforms include changing the revenue split between recording and publishing rights from music streaming, currently set at around 55% for recording and 15% for publishing. That weighting “does not reflect the importance of songwriters, composers and publishers in the music streaming process,” says the committee. Its members want government ministers to bring forward a consultation with fans, creators and industry stakeholders to “incentivise an optimal rate” for publishing rights that will “fairly remunerate creators for their work.”

Other recommendations in the CMS report include the introduction of a statutory “private copying” levy like what exists in other European countries such as France, Germany and Italy. That would require a small tax to be charged on the purchase of electronic devices and blank media that can be used to store songs, which is then paid out to artists and songwriters via collecting societies. The introduction of such a scheme would generate between £250 million ($313 million) and £300 million ($376 million) a year, claims the CMS committee, and safeguard reciprocal payments from other markets where private copying mechanisms exist.

“Not only does a lack of such a scheme in the U.K. prevent British creators from receiving payments from the domestic market, but it has also put their payments from abroad under threat,” says the report, calling for the introduction of a private copying levy within the next 12 months. 

On the subject of artificial intelligence, the CMS committee echoed its previous demands for stronger enforcement of creators’ rights against AI developers using copyright-protected works for training purposes without consent or fair compensation.

“We are concerned that the status quo simply favours AI developers, given creators’ concerns that their IP is already being used in AI development without licence or any practical means of recourse,” states the report, which criticizes the government’s lack of progress on establishing a code of practice around the use of AI and intellectual property.

More support also needs to be given to freelancer staff and the self-employed working in creative industries, such as the music business, in response to long-held complaints around contracts and working conditions, say committee members. 

The CMS report is the latest chapter in a long and ongoing series of government-led interventions into the U.K. music industry fueled by artist discontent over low payments from streaming, beginning with a 2020 Parliamentary inquiry into the music streaming business. That probe wrapped the following year by calling into question the major record labels’ dominance of the industry and declaring that the music streaming business “needs a complete reset.”

Numerous government-led working groups, investigations and initiatives followed, including studies looking at “equitable remuneration” and the impact of AI on the music industry. A working group focused on creator remuneration is due to meet for the first time this month.

Despite the progress that has been made, CMS committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage MP said the U.K. government “needs to move further and faster to ensure music makers really are properly rewarded for their work.”

“If creators are no longer to be the poor relations, the government needs to play catch up by plugging the gaps in outdated copyright and intellectual property regulations,” said Dinenage in a statement accompanying Wednesday’s report.

In response, Jo Twist, chief executive of British labels’ trade body BPI, said the committee was right to highlight creators’ concerns around generative AI, which she called “unquestionably the most significant issue facing the creative industries today,” but said the report fails to recognize that, “with the support of their labels, more U.K. artists are succeeding in the streaming economy than ever before.”  

“In an increasingly competitive global industry, their approach risks limiting investment and harming the U.K. talent of the future,” said Twist in a statement.

Umbrella trade group the Council of Music Makers, whose members include the Musicians’ Union and Music Managers Forum, was more positive about the committee’s findings. In a statement, the organization said the report provides a good summary of the issues and some of the proposed solutions to improve creators’ remuneration, but cautioned that for real progress to be made, “we need stakeholders from across the music industry to stop denying reality and to, instead, come to the table with solutions, whether that’s the copyright reforms proposed by MPs or a negotiated agreement.”

Last week, pop star Conan Gray released his vibrant third album Found Heaven — and soon before, he stopped by Billboard News to discuss everything from falling in love for the first time to working with Max Martin to bring that feeling to life.

“It very much affected how I made the music,” says Gray, who also shares that “this whole album is highs and lows.”

He says he started the ideation process during his Superache Tour nearly two years ago. As he recalls, after each performance he would retreat to the basement “because there’s always a piano in the basement of these theaters I was playing… that’s when I would notice these different themes I was writing about.”

He later tapped the MXM songwriting and production crew of Max Martin, ILYA and Oscar Holter to help flesh those various themes out, saying they “really opened up my eyes and wings to all of the different sides of myself that I could try out. … They wanted to push me to do something that was the whole array of me.”

And while Found Heaven does boast power-pop hits like “Never Ending Song” and “Lonely Dancers,” the album also features more intimate songs like “Forever With Me,” album closer “Winner” and standout track “Alley Rose.” As Gray says, “When I first recorded [‘Alley Rose’], I recorded it in the same voice as the rest of the album, a bit more energetically. And then I was like, ‘Wait, I need to not do that. I need to sing it as calm and tender as possible — each song requires a different part of me. … I feel lucky that people give me the space to do both.”

Gray also opened up about the love that inspired much of this album — and the heartbreak he had to process soon after. As he tells it, after flying to London for their scheduled meet-up, he landed to a text ultimately ending the relationship. And yet, he wouldn’t change a thing about his experiences surrounding Found Heaven — and his necklace of a star cutout inside a teardrop is a reminder of exactly that.

“In all the things that make you cry, the happiest moments of your life and the saddest moments of your life, there is a magic in the fact that you even got to experience it at all,” says Gray. “I’ve spent so many years of my life hiding in my room and not doing anything and being so afraid of ever getting hurt or rejected or feeling bad, that I ended up living no life. I kept this on my neck the whole time I was making this album [as a reminder] that I have to live my life.”

To hear what else Gray said of his latest album, watch the full interview above.

Jessica Simpson enjoyed a relaxing beach vacation with her family in Los Cabos, Mexico, and the star took to Instagram on Monday (April 8) to share a photo dump from the trip.

“2024 Spring Breakin’ with the fam was EPIC! Thank you @tinasimpsonofficial for giving these kiddos memorable moments in Cabo that they will hold close to their precious hearts and cherish for a lifetime,” she captioned the snaps, which included glowing selfies, fishing trips on a luxurious boat and overall family fun.

Simpson shares daughters Maxi, 11, and Birdie, 5, as well as son Ace, 10 with husband Eric Johnson, whom she’s been married to since 2014.

It’s looking to be an exciting upcoming 2024 for Simpson, who is in the process of preparing both an album and tour. Speaking with Footwear News, Simpson shared that she’s been working on new material in Nashville after temporarily relocating her family there from Los Angeles last summer. “It’s like a retreat for me,” she told the outlet. “I get to just crawl up inside my head and embrace my heart. I feel so enlightened there. Writing music has become a beautiful therapeutic thing for me that I didn’t know was so natural, but it’s because I haven’t done it in so long. It’s just nice to know that I’m meeting myself back in this place, as a woman, and after going through everything that I’ve been through in my life. There’s a sense of freedom and empowerment.”

The Dukes of Hazzard star’s next album would mark her first in more than 13 years. Her last release, Happy Christmas, was released on Nov. 22, 2010.