Public engagement with IP issues through digital activism and Select Committees: a case study on the #BrokenRecord campaigns on music streaming

Changes in technology, including digitization, the rise of the internet and AI, create challenges for copyright law, with one of these being the extent to which creator rights can and should be protected. This concern was raised by the UK #BrokenRecord Twitter (now X) campaigns on music streaming and its related DCMS (now CMS) Committee inquiry, which focused on whether musicians receive adequate and fair remuneration from streaming. This article takes an empirical case study approach to evaluate how the public engaged with these IP issues using digital activism through Twitter and Select Committees in Parliament. The key questions addressed are as follows: How did the public use digital activism to engage with current IP issues on music streaming? How did the DCMS Committee draw on digital activism as forums to increase public engagement with current IP issues? What is the impact of these public engagement mechanisms on actual legal and policy change, and what implications can be drawn for the future?