Anyone who has not lived under a rock for the past year and a half has no doubt already heard the increasingly louder criticism of streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music or Deezer. Now that artists have seen their income from touring go up in smoke, it’s a hotter topic than ever. So during the next KU Leuven x AB Talk, on 25 October, we will be looking for an answer to the question: ‘Is music streaming fair?’

Did you know that huge profits are made from streaming, but that the artists rarely seen any of it? Or that the current pro-rata streaming model of Spotify, for example, is disadvantageous for certain genres? Classical music bears the brunt, while hip-hop and rap have an advantage. In other words, the streaming model is a bit broken, but how the hell do you change the status quo?

On October 25, we will search for an answer to (among other things) that exact question. You can expect a very interesting introduction to the lay of the land in the music streaming world. You will discover the mechanism behind your favourite streaming platform and how artists earn their living. After that, there will be an animated panel discussion with the likes of Michel Van Buyten (Music Manager at Tomorrowland), Jan Pauly (Music business & legal advice at VI.BE) en Jozefien Van Herpe (KU Leuven, CITIP, Consumer Competition Market, PhD researcher).

This Talk is entirely free of charge, but register in time if you want to be sure of a spot. More info? Registration? Here’s where you want to be.