The International Music Managers Forum (IMMF), a C4C signatory, addressed an open letter to the European Commission and European Parliament on 21 May on the record label and music publisher deals in the digital market. This letter is a reaction to the reporting by The Verge on a 2011 agreement it obtained between a major record label (Sony Music Entertainment) and a streaming service (Spotify). Please see the IMMF’s website for more information.

The IMMF remarks in its open letter that:

Instead of mystery deals hidden from the artists whose copyrighted creations the deals exploit there should be an obligation for transparency. Digital promises greater transparency than the old physical markets. The artists sign deals with labels and publishers. We don’t just want artists to be paid fairly, we also want them to get the relevant usage data. It is impossible to prove fair remuneration is occurring without transparency. In copyright debates it is important that creators, and their representatives are heard from, labels and publishers are our “partners” but we don’t always have the same interests.