Are Music Lovers Getting Raw Deal From Streaming, Regulator Asks

Hugo Miller, Bloomberg News

The website home screen for Spotify is displayed on a smartphone in an arranged photograph taken in Little Falls, New Jersey, U.S., on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020. Spotify has invested hundreds of millions of dollars acquiring podcast studios such as Gimlet Media and the Ringer, hoping to attract new users and advertisers to what has been a music app. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) --

The U.K.’s music streaming market is facing increased scrutiny from the country’s competition watchdog three months after it first pledged to look into the industry.

The Competition and Markets Authority is beginning a study of how well the market works for audiences with a focus on “potential harm to consumers,” it said in a statement on Thursday.

“A vibrant and competitive music streaming market not only serves the interests of fans and creators but helps support a diverse and dynamic sector, which is of significant cultural and economic value to the U.K.” said CMA’s chief executive Andrea Coscelli.

More than 80% of music is now streamed in the U.K. and the CMA wants to verify whether further measures might be needed to bolster its competitiveness.

If the CMA finds problems, it said it will consider what “action may be necessary.”