It’s a fine morning for fans of 337-page studies on the discoverability of diverse European cultural content in the digital environment. One has just been published by the European Commission!

Stay with us: this research is interesting. The report has a particular focus on music and books – how these are discovered, recommended and curated on digital services. Which for music means streaming.

Among the findings: in European countries, 38% of songs in the top streaming services are from European artists – including 24% from “domestic” artists in each country.

While the research found that “exposure is still concentrated around superstar artists” there were some bright spots. “Younger listeners emerge as key drivers of diversity, showing greater openness to new genres and emerging artists”.

The report identifies some big challenges too. A mountain of new releases – “worsened by streaming fraud and the rapid proliferation of AI-generated music” – as well as the claim that in playlists and recommendation algorithms “popularity bias entrenches dominance of mainstream and non-EU content”.

Passive listening habits “leading to repetitive recommendations”; missing metadata; and market concentration where “major labels dominate digital royalties and influence playlisting priorities” are also cited.

Another issue is “digital capacity gaps” for independent artists and labels as well as smaller publishers, according to the report, which suggests many “lack the digital skills, data literacy, and resources needed to promote their work effectively online”.


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