Frequently Asked Questions
If you don’t find an answer for your question below, please contact the Fair MusE team at https://portal.fairmuse.eu/contact/
Why should I share my music streaming data?
Your music listening data helps Fair MusE in analyzing how platforms and their algorithms work and how they influence consumers. This analysis is done with the goal to help create a fairer music industry in Europe through policies involving the governance of streaming platforms and copyright laws set by the EU.
Read our Research Manifesto and visit our website fairmuse.eu for more details.
When a sufficient number of users have shared their data, we will publish our Fairness Score, a tool that provides a visualisation of the fairness of the different streaming services. We will also publish a Music Dashboard, a portal providing statistical indicators on the economic and societal value of the European music sector.
What do I get out of sharing my data with the project?
Firstly, you help the process of creating fairer conditions for music creators. Our project focuses on providing new insights and numbers on ‘fairness’ – or the lack of it – within the EU music industry. Secondly, we need to find out what different people understand by ‘fairness’. As we are also organising interviews with users, you can participate in the interviews (through portal.fairmuse.eu/interview) to provide your perspective on what ‘fairness’ means for music listeners in Europe.
Finally, when you have uploaded your music, we also give you the possibility to study your own data. At portal.fairmuse.eu/music-profile you will be able to visualise your use of music, and compare it with the other users of Fair MusE. Through these statistics and data visualisations, we give you useful feedback and we provide you with possible interpretations of your data.
What is the Fair MusE project about?
Fair MusE is a Horizon Europe research project (Grant number 101095088) that aims to make the music sector in Europe more efficient, more competitive, and more sustainable. The Fair MusE project seeks to shed light on how music algorithms, data collection, and exploitation models of social media and streaming platforms influence music creators and audiences. For more information, visit the homepage of our project.
The project started in March 2023 and lasts for three years. The first two years are dedicated to the studies of 1) copyright legislation, 2) the economy of the music industry, and 3) algorithmic recommendation of music at streaming platforms. In the last year of the project we will find a synthesis between the three fields.
How is my data being processed and protected?
We do not show or share your music streaming data with anyone outside the Fair MusE project. We do not look into your data; we merely analyse it with different software tools that we build ourselves to find patterns in how algorithms recommend music.
Since your data is personal, we handle it under the GDPR’s rules at secured servers. The GDPR gives you data autonomy, allowing you to edit, request, and delete your uploaded data. Visit portal.fairmuse.eu/user-consent for more details.
Which users are we looking for?
We are looking for as many, and as diverse users of music streaming services, they just need to live in an EU country. If you know someone how would like to participate, please share portal.fairmuse.eu with them!
How can I participate in an interview?
We want to know what your understanding of fairness is – and if fairness is relevant in music streaming services.
Therefore, we encourage you to sign up for an online interview with one of our researchers. We aim to have the interview in your language. The interview will take 20-30 minutes, and your answers will be anonymous.
Visit portal.fairmuse.eu/interview to sign up for an interview. The Fair MusE team will contact you to coordinate a time and platform of choice for the online interview.
Where and when can I see the outcome of the Fair MusE project?