Can online music platforms be fair?

• Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
• CDS: The Centre for a Digital Society
• Tech

Join this CDS talk where Professor Giuseppe Mazziotti will present an interdisciplinary research manifesto to approach cultural and industrial policies in the European music sector.

This talk is based on a research manifesto that advocates a new, interdisciplinary research approach that can remedy the shortcomings of a purely doctrinal and scientifically segregated analysis of EU cultural and industrial policies in today’s platform- and algorithm-dominated economy. The talk (and the manifesto) draw upon a research proposal focusing on the European music sector, where the exponential growth of social media and music streaming services, and the fast-growing influence of their algorithms and data infrastructures, raised open questions for policymakers and stakeholders.

In this session, Professor Giuseppe Mazziotti will explain why only a well-designed combination of distinct and complementary disciplines can test methodologically and verify empirically whether the recent EU’s policy changes in copyright law and EU regulations such as the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act - which are seeking to curb the exceptional power of very large online platforms and gatekeepers - are justified and suitable in today’s digital economy.

The research proposal this talk is based on is currently being implemented by a group of academics and industry partners whose consortium - named ‘Fair MusE’ (Promoting Fairness of the Music Ecosystem in a Platform-Dominated and Post-Pandemic Europe) - received funding from the European Commission’s Horizon Europe program.