Thanks to streaming sites, musicians, especially smaller, less well known bands, are suffering & my soon have to simply jack it in completely. Here's a really good thread from Tom Gray to explain what the issue is. & just look at what an artist makes per stream
Typically, smaller acts make most of their money from playing gigs & selling merch. But, given the situation we are in right now, that's become much harder to do & so puts their futures at huge risk. The Musician's Union has set up a petition to try to get this changed
I'm not telling anyone to sign it, but please do if you want to. Also, please spread this message as far and wide as you can & use the hash tags #brokenrecord & #keepmusicalive.
We all have our favourite smaller artists & I daresay we'd hate for them to just disappear so whatever you can do would be a huge help. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Post by nothingleftbutfaith on May 13, 2020 11:43:48 GMT 1
Probably the primary reason I still collect music in physical format. Don't remember the exact number, but one of the smaller bands I listen to said that to earn as much as they do from one sold self-released vinyl the album would have to be streamed in its entirety about 1500 times
Probably the primary reason I still collect music in physical format. Don't remember the exact number, but one of the smaller bands I listen to said that to earn as much as they do from one sold self-released vinyl the album would have to be streamed in its entirety about 1500 times
More if they use spotify or youtube. It's astonishing how it's all set up & right now, bands have limited options to get their product "out there". Add to that the culture today is to stream stuff, the whole thing becomes a tragedy.
Historically, the artists have generally always been the losers when it comes to the financial arrangements of the music world. The trend continues.
That's true to an extent, but new models where bands resort to "DIY" methods give artists a lot more control of their content. & that's not even really new. Buzzcocks started that off with Spiral Scratch which launched a plethora of independent releases whereby bands would record, order pressing & sleeve printing, put the records in the sleeves & take them to independent record stores themselves. If you can find it, watch a docco called Music For Misfits. Today bands are able to run fund raiser campaigns to finance recording & opt to sell their product on places like bandcamp or boomkat or similar. They take a much bigger slice of the pie that way. With streaming, all the payments go into a central pot where it is then split between the most-streamed songs on a percentage basis & you can see just how much the artist sees out of that from the twitter thread in the first post. You might pay your $10/ month & only listen to a handful of your preferred bands. But that money you pay goes to the likes of the soulless ginger leprechaun, taylor swift et al rather than say the twiglet sad (for example). To the bigger acts, it makes precious little difference. They have their mansions & swimming pools & one of the big 3 record companies more than happy to finance & promote their next song(s) & that financing is partly sourced from the revenue they take from streaming revenues including those of smaller artists. Yes, the industry was already inherently crooked, but it's reached the point where less well known bands will simply cease to exist if this carries on. If I knew my $10/ month was going to the bands I listened to, I would be more inclined to subscribe. But I don't want to finance another POS from the likes of Madonna
I don't buy anywhere near as much as I used to and I do use streaming. Primarily for the ease of accessing stuff I've already bought though. If I buy new stuff now, it's typically direct from the artist - a tangible physical release does affect how I listen to and enjoy music.
What does piss me off is artists returning to multi-formatting and creating extra content vinyl-only releases etc. No need...
What does piss me off is artists returning to multi-formatting and creating extra content vinyl-only releases etc. No need...
I hear you. But I am wondering if that is a by-product of the streaming rip off? They seem to want to maximise revenue any way they can I suppose. It's counter-productive though. It only leads to more piracy
What does piss me off is artists returning to multi-formatting and creating extra content vinyl-only releases etc. No need...
I hear you. But I am wondering if that is a by-product of the streaming rip off? They seem to want to maximise revenue any way they can I suppose. It's counter-productive though. It only leads to more piracy
Off the top of my head, recentish releases:
Pixies - new album, buy it on CD get a fancy sleeve. Buy it on vinyl get a bonus album of demos
Furs - vinyl, signed. CD, not.
Just today, new Jim Bob album - buy both vinyl and cd, get a bonus covers EP.
etc. I've pledged for stuff, paid what I want on Bandcamp (and paid ) but the vinyl fetish actually makes product unavailable, is it really worth the sales?
I don't buy anywhere near as much as I used to and I do use streaming. Primarily for the ease of accessing stuff I've already bought though. If I buy new stuff now, it's typically direct from the artist - a tangible physical release does affect how I listen to and enjoy music.
What does piss me off is artists returning to multi-formatting and creating extra content vinyl-only releases etc. No need...
But aren't those superfluous releases / material sort of a product of streaming replacing tangible media? They are a way to get music consumers to spend rather than just stream by providing something that is "above and beyond" (hardly) the common version of streamed material. People can feel like special collectors if they cough up $ for all the extra sh!t, like colored vinyl, lol.
We are a strict "buy" household when it comes to music. It's something we've talked about and we feel the same way about it. I guess it just means we're really old and stodgy...
What does piss me off is artists returning to multi-formatting and creating extra content vinyl-only releases etc. No need...
I hear you. But I am wondering if that is a by-product of the streaming rip off? They seem to want to maximise revenue any way they can I suppose. It's counter-productive though. It only leads to more piracy
I hear you. But I am wondering if that is a by-product of the streaming rip off? They seem to want to maximise revenue any way they can I suppose. It's counter-productive though. It only leads to more piracy
but the vinyl fetish actually makes product unavailable, is it really worth the sales?
I like the fetish description there. & that's another thing that is killing smaller bands off. Getting pressing capacity for them often takes a back seat to a massive run for a new Bob Dildo album or a re-issue of Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms so bands are almost rail roaded into streaming as one of the only ways to get their music heard. It's about time people woke up & saw the vinyl con is just that. A con. If you like a band's work, then buy it & if a band wants their audience to hear it, then release it so that their fans can actually listen to it & get remunerated accordingly.
I don't buy anywhere near as much as I used to and I do use streaming. Primarily for the ease of accessing stuff I've already bought though. If I buy new stuff now, it's typically direct from the artist - a tangible physical release does affect how I listen to and enjoy music.
What does piss me off is artists returning to multi-formatting and creating extra content vinyl-only releases etc. No need...
But aren't those superfluous releases / material sort of a product of streaming replacing tangible media? They are a way to get music consumers to spend rather than just stream by providing something that is "above and beyond" (hardly) the common version of streamed material. People can feel like special collectors if they cough up $ for all the extra sh!t, like colored vinyl, lol.
We are a strict "buy" household when it comes to music. It's something we've talked about and we feel the same way about it. I guess it just means we're really old and stodgy...
I can do digital films, that's OK. I can't stand reading anything digital - kindles or whatever. Music straddles the middle ground. I do quite often buy something, rip it and then stream it myself. And then wonder why I spent the money cos we're already paying a streaming subscription. Some of my favourite bands are getting there stuff onto Spotify just to make life easier for their fans - they know they're not going to make a penny from it...