Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer release music only “once every 3-4 years”

Post by gwd » Fri, Jul 31, 2020, 5:49 PM UTC

quacked wrote: post #12

shakezula wrote: post #4

I used to work in the music industry professionally, on the ground level doing booking and management. This trend has been happening slowly for nearly a decade but it’s finally here. Rap and Hip Hop figured out a long time before most other genres that rapid small releases was a far better way to keep hype and sales up. Before Spotify was a thing, the shift was happening with YouTube but it wasn’t as predominant. Now…

> The music isn’t your product, the music is your marketing. The shows, the merch, your influence - that’s your product. Man, that's depressing.

Post by agumonkey » Fri, Jul 31, 2020, 5:50 PM UTC

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #36

agumonkey wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

people enjoy music for various reasons but there are a few deep ones: beauty and live no system can replace a good live concert, it's a high grade experience (sometimes religious even) if the music industry goes toward absurdism, the "customers" will just find the real drug elsewhere

Gorillaz used to do their shows almost entirely hidden from the audience and the characters would be projected onto screens. If we get to the point where we can generate actual good music we can do it in a live setting with avatars.

Post by mellow2020 » Fri, Jul 31, 2020, 5:50 PM UTC

oconnor663 wrote: post #25

quacked wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The music isn’t your product, the music is your marketing. The shows, the merch, your influence - that’s your product. Man, that's depressing.

I think it could be depressing if we think of "your product" as "the most important part of what you do". But we could also think of it as "the thing that you need to make money from". If the music itself isn't the thing that you need to make money from, then instead of charging a bunch for it, now you want to spread it as widely as possible as cheaply as possible. That's a good thing!

Post by platetone » Fri, Jul 31, 2020, 5:52 PM UTC

Alupis wrote: post #21

unnamed76ri wrote: post #9

Artists to Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer afford to make $0.00174927 per stream.

Let's be honest. The amount Spotify/Pandora/et al pay the majority of musicians per stream is far more than they'd make selling CD's. The overwhelming majority of music is unknown, has few fans, and will never "go platinum" nor sell out stadiums - ie, most musicians are not Taylor Swift. For all those artists... access to millions of potential listeners from around the world is an amazing advancement. The number of a…

Post by jedimastert » Fri, Jul 31, 2020, 5:53 PM UTC

jdoliner wrote: post #86

I prefer the Kanye West model in which every 8 months or so you promise to release an album on a specific date. Then that date comes and you go completely MIA, and pretend you never even announced the album. Then a few weeks later once all the hype has turned to dismay you quietly release the album and the dismay turns back into hype. Maybe that model only works if you're Kanye though.