Research into the impact of streaming services’ algorithms on music consumption
Research led by the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation into recommendation algorithms used by streaming services
Documents
Details
In July 2021, the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee published its Second Report of Session 2021–22, Economics of music streaming (HC 50). This report included a number of recommendations to the government. Recommendation 18 called for “research into the impact of streaming services’ algorithms on music consumption, including where creators are forgoing royalty payments in exchange for algorithmic promotion.” The government agreed that “there would be value in conducting further research on recommendation algorithms used by streaming services”, and the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) was asked to lead on conducting further research in this area.
The CDEI’s research includes:
- a commissioned academic literature review, into existing academic research in this area
- polling to understand consumer engagement with, and thoughts about, music streaming and music recommendation algorithms
- a survey to understand creator engagement with, and thoughts about, music streaming and music recommendation algorithms
- a report, produced by the CDEI, drawing insights from the above and interviews with stakeholders from across the music ecosystem
About the CDEI
The adoption of data-driven technologies affects every aspect of our society and their use is creating opportunities as well as new ethical challenges.
The CDEI is tasked to investigate and advise on how we maximise the benefits of these technologies. Our goal is to create the conditions in which ethical innovation can thrive: an environment in which the public are confident their values are reflected in the way data-driven technology is developed and deployed; where we can trust that decisions informed by algorithms are fair; and where risks posed by innovation are identified and addressed.
See more information about the CDEI.
Next steps
The CDEI’s report suggests a number of steps that could be taken by streaming services to improve transparency to consumers and creators, and further examine whether recommendation algorithms unfairly disadvantage particular groups.