Maybe I misunderstand the musician earnings link, but it seems to paint a bleak picture. However, consider that the income listed on that site is passive income. The musician can be playing gigs at the same time (or working a day job). They can also have multiple albums on those sites increasing the volume of their sales. Also, the real value of those sites isn’t in the income, but from the advertising of a national market or broadcast. Enough broadcasts and the sales will rise (maybe from your band’s website even!).
One musician friend of mine once said, “You make them pay you to travel. You make them pay you to set up. Then you play for free.” Passive income connected to something you’re going to do anyway because that’s what you love to do is a boon, no matter its size.
Yes, that’s only part of the picture. I was struck by the contrast between earnings on some of the physical media options and streaming media. I’ve always been a big fan of streaming media and a proponent of keeping fees low to allow for hobbyist streams that introduce new and different music to a wider audience. However, its clear that those music services listed do not compensate artists as well as traditional music outlets.
That graphic originated with an article where the author criticizes the disparity in payout between the various channels. The original author also seems to ignore the promotional value of the various online musical outlets, including streaming services. I can account for spending hundreds of dollars on CD and mp3 sales, concert tickets and t-shirt sales directly from exposure to various types of streaming media. While some of that may have easily gone to other musicians I could have just as easily spent it on other types of entertainment.
There’s also the specter of filesharing. While some musicians value free music as a promotional tool and others have changed their minds, there will always be the threat posed to traditional music industry business models by wholesale downloading. According to one survey filesharing is down over the past few years and some credit is given to the expansion of streaming services.
Maybe I misunderstand the musician earnings link, but it seems to paint a bleak picture. However, consider that the income listed on that site is passive income. The musician can be playing gigs at the same time (or working a day job). They can also have multiple albums on those sites increasing the volume of their sales. Also, the real value of those sites isn’t in the income, but from the advertising of a national market or broadcast. Enough broadcasts and the sales will rise (maybe from your band’s website even!).
One musician friend of mine once said, “You make them pay you to travel. You make them pay you to set up. Then you play for free.” Passive income connected to something you’re going to do anyway because that’s what you love to do is a boon, no matter its size.
Yes, that’s only part of the picture. I was struck by the contrast between earnings on some of the physical media options and streaming media. I’ve always been a big fan of streaming media and a proponent of keeping fees low to allow for hobbyist streams that introduce new and different music to a wider audience. However, its clear that those music services listed do not compensate artists as well as traditional music outlets.
That graphic originated with an article where the author criticizes the disparity in payout between the various channels. The original author also seems to ignore the promotional value of the various online musical outlets, including streaming services. I can account for spending hundreds of dollars on CD and mp3 sales, concert tickets and t-shirt sales directly from exposure to various types of streaming media. While some of that may have easily gone to other musicians I could have just as easily spent it on other types of entertainment.
There’s also the specter of filesharing. While some musicians value free music as a promotional tool and others have changed their minds, there will always be the threat posed to traditional music industry business models by wholesale downloading.
According to one survey filesharing is down over the past few years and some credit is given to the expansion of streaming services.