In re news, rather than Spotify, it seems to me that the Trump assault on the media is either a clever ploy to create just the situation the right claims exists–that the media is biased against them–or an effort so inept that it is actually creating enemies where none existed.
I hear what you are saying but you’re assuming artists get paid a great amount for album sales as well. The issue has always been the costs of distribution taking their huge cut. It is those same distributors that negotiate with Spotify/Pandora, etc. People want an alternative to physical media and radio. Streaming has picked up within that need. It’s here to stay. So something needs to happen to the cost model, or to the distribution model.
I am in no way wanting artists to not get paid, but I’m not pirating music here. I’m paying for streaming from multiple sources. If artists aren’t getting paid, that’s an agreement between their distributor and Spotify or whichever streaming point. They have the power to remove their music, and/or lean on their distributor for a higher payment.
Let’s also be honest about what an artist gets paid per radio play, as that is a much better comparison. I’m not anything close to an expert on royalties, but I would think something between radio (which is bulk) and direct digital track sale would be a good middle ground.
Wasn’t one of the whole reasons for streaming to direct the massive piracy problem to an actual play model and price point that would generate SOME revenue versus NONE?
Yep. Look, I’m sure record companies would love to go back to the day of $10-$15 CDs that had a few good tracks buried in the rest of the dross, but those days are over. With technology came easy piracy, and the business model had to change.
Is too little being paid for music today? Maybe. Maybe we were just paying way too much back then.
It’s costing me $150 to go see Ghost this summer. That’s $150 I wouldn’t have spent if Spotify hadn’t dropped Ghost into my Discover Weekly playlist like a year ago. I also bought a shirt from their online store for $25.
If you want your band to make money, people need to come to shows and buy merch. To make that happen, you need to get people to hear your music. The radio doesn’t work anymore.
I stopped listening to terrestrial music radio a decade ago now. Granted my tastes run a tad more esoteric than most (see the metal thread), but still.
Internet streaming literally changed the way I listen to music. I’ve gone to dozens of shows, bought hundreds of albums I wouldn’t have otherwise. I’m also one of those oddballs who buys all their music on physical media.
Pretty much. 10 or 15 years ago I was perusing internet radio stations via WinAMP. That’s how I discovered Nightwish. I actually wound up buying all their CDs (until Tarja was booted) and going to a bunch of their shows.
I mean, I do kind of miss the days when local radio stations mattered. WBCN still plays clips of their glory days from the mid 90s and early 2000s on some HD radio substation. They used to do an annual battle of the bands here in Boston and some big name acts came out of that. I saw Dresden Dolls at the Middle East win back in the day. That was an amazing set, like you knew they were going to be big.
THISSSSSSS
I specifically wait to purchase albums until I go to the show and get the vinyl there (which usually comes with the mp3s). They make so much more money selling the merch at the show.
You really need to give Endless Forms Most Beautiful a shot.
I liked Floor performing Annette’s songs. I saw the Endless Forms tour and bought the shirt. The album didn’t grab me. I’ll listen to it again.
This is turning into the recommend me metal thread.
I take the chances as I get them ;)
@CraigM and @ArmandoPenblade have turned me into a metal evangelist in meatspace with my friends. I’ll take ten recs that bounce off of me for every Tyr or Amon Amarth I get turned on to.
This Endless Forms song is kinda boring though #realtalk
It’s not my favorite song on the album by a long shot. Elan is. The title track is, ironically, one of the weakest (though one of the best names).
Which was down from the $25 and $30 mark only because of a lawsuit… they lost.
Mark me down as a “funnel money to artists when possible” sort. I moved my enormous mp3 library (which, while pirated a good bit in my wasted youth, also included hundreds upon hundreds of CDs I ripped myself) to Google’s Play Music service a few years ago, and I subscribe to their streaming service and listen to my favorite albums again and again on there. But I still buy lots of physical media, especially at shows.
And oh, do I go to some shows. Schedule for the first half of 2017 is up to about 20; I’ll make it to at least a dozen of those, and buy merch at all of them.
I see that the all access version comes with two complimentary subscriptions. Is anyone interested in getting in on splitting a year’s subscription three ways? I don’t see the Spotify deal anymore. Perhaps that’s done or maybe it’s because my ip is not from the US.
Can you tell me about that some? How does Google Play handle that?
With an account on there and their little software tool (or browser plugin, though I don’t think you can automate that as easily), you can upload up to 50k tracks to Google’s servers. It does a decent job matching them to songs already in their library, but otherwise, you get your very own copy always accessible to you via the app or website from any device. The tracks can be redownloaded for offline play, as well.
So, in essence, you expand the size of their global library for your personal instance of it. You still get access to millions of streaming tracks, but for instance, my favorite band Blind Guardian, only have their albums released since their record label switch in ~2008 on streaming services. With this, my copies of their first 6 albums, along with some assorted live recordings and compilations, all show up seamlessly in line with the stuff Google normally offers.
It can screw up a little sometimes–if you badly mistag your personal mp3s, the matching will sometimes glitch out and you’ll get duplicated tracks, or three copies of the same album with only a few of its actual tracklist “available” within each copy, but you can always retag within Play Music to resort/resolve, or, in cases where your upload is “overriding” a track they’d normally have, just delete your upload entirely to unhide their normal copy.
Excellent info, thanks man. I still have a drive at home with most of my ripped tracks. If I can spin it back up I’ll explore this route, especially as I can have those playable on Google Home I believe.
Thank you @ArmandoPenblade!
Spotify has filed for its IPO. Only it’s not an IPO, just a listing. No shares are actually being offered to the public. Which is pretty groundbreaking.