Ed O'Brien gives evidence to MPs on streaming pay

Ed O'Brien gave evidence to MPs on Tuesday 24 November, at the first hearing of the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee's inquiry into the economics of music streaming. He was on the second panel, with Guy Garvey of Elbow and the singer-songwriter Nadine Shah.

Asked how he started, O'Brien went back to 1991, when Radiohead signed a very traditional six-album deal with EMI on a royalty of about 12%, handing the label the copyright for life. They took the best legal advice they could find, having watched other Oxford bands fail without it. They were lucky to have a worldwide hit on the first album, which he called the only one they ever had, and EMI got its money back from that record's sales.

He said he felt embarrassed to be there, an exception who has lived off music for nearly 30 years; the problem is for the young. The three witnesses had met the day before because they were nervous, and Shah told him then that she struggles to support herself, which he called crazy for an artist of her standing. The earnings from my streaming are not significant enough to keep the wolf away from the door.¹

O'Brien did not blame streaming itself. When he helped found the Featured Artists Coalition 12 or 13 years ago, illegal file-sharing was the great problem, and Spotify's paid tier drew people away from it. What is missing is fairness for the artists.

He had meant to tour as a solo artist this year, paying four musicians and a crew of four or five. Their income went overnight, and his bass player is thinking of taking a year out to do an MA. My crew people are not “roadies”; they are proper technicians and engineers and I know that most of them have become delivery drivers³

Musicians are taken advantage of, he said, because they love the work enough to do it for nothing. I am the luckiest bugger on the planet. I would do this for free.³ Playing, for him, is like therapy. I had years of depression and I kept my head above the water because I am in this band with my brothers³