21–30 of 163 posts
I can't speak as to the other platforms, but spotify's revenue sharing model really sucks for small artists. For example, if someone signs up for Spotify to listen to exclusively songs by one artist, that artist is not getting that user's monthly fee... they're probably getting a couple pennies tops, if that.
> How will I be able to support my gift? In the end what we are seeing is that that golden era of creators making a living (and much much more) was an anomaly. Control of new types of distribution created scarcity and new forms of expression and shifting norms jacked up demand. But now distribution is free, instant and global. Demand has flatlined and production has exploded. The hard question a creator needs to ask…
Well, I thought this was going to be about JB screwing over a writer... so at least it wasn't that. Pretty low numbers though. I wonder what Spotify would have looked like if it were on the list...
When they offered this songwriter some % of song royalties, they knew ahead of time that it wasn't going to be a whole lot of money.
Solution? Songwriters need a new metric to charge by.
One problem, though, is that perhaps songwriting isn't actually worth that much. When you look at a performer like Justin Beiber, how much of his income depends on specific songs that he's putting out? I'm not sure, but I don't necessarily think it's a large amount.
I can't speak as to the other platforms, but spotify's revenue sharing model really sucks for small artists. For example, if someone signs up for Spotify to listen to exclusively songs by one artist, that artist is not getting that user's monthly fee... they're probably getting a couple pennies tops, if that.
I pay GBP10 a month for Spotify. I've never listened to Justin Bieber on Spotify, but lots of other people (who don't pay) do. As a percentage of my cash, how much goes to Justin Bieber vs how much to the bands I've actually listened to who have many less total plays? Or - do neither of them get anything?
Economically speaking, you can imagine if Spotify had 100 users paying 10 GBP each; 99 listened exclusively to Justin Bieber, and 1 to 'Band.' All users listen to music in equal frequency. Though 99% of the pooled money — and if divvied up equally, 99% of 'Band' fan's money — goes to Justin Bieber, 'Band' fan's listening weight results in ~10 GBP of the total pool being pulled towards 'Band.' So, in effect, all of 'Band' fan's money could be classified as going towards 'Band.'
Also, as a couple side notes in Spotify's revenue structure:
1. 70% goes to artists, 30% goes to Spotify.
2. Over 70% of Spotify users become paying subscribers iirc, so there's not much of a problem with listening weight being pulled by free users.
What I find intriguing are the genres where producers are arguably MORE important than the artist (think trap music). Some producers in that space are circumventing this problem by starting their own labels and signing artists under them. This is essentially what Mike Will Made It has done with Rae Sremmurd. As the music industry evolves, people participating in it have to continually think outside the box and innovate to maintain revenue streams.
> How will I be able to support my gift? In the end what we are seeing is that that golden era of creators making a living (and much much more) was an anomaly. Control of new types of distribution created scarcity and new forms of expression and shifting norms jacked up demand. But now distribution is free, instant and global. Demand has flatlined and production has exploded. The hard question a creator needs to ask…
BTW the father of one reality show host is alledged to have done this to a famous British musician back in the day.
I pay GBP10 a month for Spotify. I've never listened to Justin Bieber on Spotify, but lots of other people (who don't pay) do. As a percentage of my cash, how much goes to Justin Bieber vs how much to the bands I've actually listened to who have many less total plays? Or - do neither of them get anything?
A fair chunk would go to Bieber, almost nothing would go to the band you listened to exclusively. It's because Spotify pools all the subscription money earmarked for artists into one great pool then divvies it up based on number of plays or play-time or some weird proxy measurement.