The conference will bring together academics, European policymakers, representatives of musicians and record producers, industry stakeholders, and digital experts to address a question that has become increasingly urgent within Europe’s cultural economy: can streaming services and social media platforms become more transparent and more sustainable for music creators?
Titled “Reclaiming Fairness in Europe’s Digital Music Ecosystem: Creators, Platforms, and Policy Solutions”, the event marks the final public milestone of this Horizon Europe research project. For the first time in the history of this prestigious funding programme, such a project has been coordinated and led by an academic — Giuseppe Mazziotti, Abreu Professor of Law and Innovation — based at a Portuguese law school.
In essence, the project’s final outcomes demonstrate how copyright policy, the governance of music and usage data infrastructures, and platform regulation can reshape power relations, remuneration mechanisms, and transparency in digital music markets.
From Copyright to Algorithms: What Is at Stake
The programme is structured around three thematic sessions, combining research presentations with expert discussion.
- The first session addresses creators’ rights and music copyright infrastructures, including the concept of a Music Copyright Infrastructure. It examines how existing legal frameworks and industry-led data-sharing arrangements operate within contemporary streaming and social media environments.
- The second session focuses on transparency, data, and algorithmic assessment. It introduces two analytical tools developed within Fair MusE: the Music Data Dashboard and the Fairness Score, designed to support systemic, evidence-based evaluation of fairness in digital music ecosystems.
- The final session looks ahead with the presentation of the Fair MusE White Paper, which synthesises the project’s findings and formulates strategic policy recommendations. A roundtable discussion featuring senior representatives of the European Commission, major and independent record labels, composers' collecting societies and performing artists will explore how these results may inform future regulatory approaches, governance models, and industry practices in Europe.
A Key Moment for Europe’s Music Policy Debate
While marking the formal conclusion of the project, the conference is conceived as a platform to extend the impact of its research. It aims to ensure that Fair MusE’s findings, tools, and recommendations continue to contribute to scholarly, policy, and industry debates on fairness, transparency, and sustainability in the digital music ecosystem.
The conference may be attended in person in Brussels (Mundo Madou, Av. des Arts 7/8, 1210 Brussels, Belgium) or online.
Discover the full agenda and register here.
