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

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

#321

Post by throwaway894345 »

Dahoon wrote: post #295
yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's orders of magnitude easier to make working software than it is to make a hit record. True, but hardly apples-to-apples; it's orders of magnitude easier to make music than it is to make a viral app. In either case, the barrier to entry is low, the standard for doing it professionally is surprisingly high, and making a hit is a huge undertaking.

As a musician and programmer I find the bar to make money on apps way way lower than on music. Being a good programmer brings you much closer to making money on an app than being a good musician does to get a record out. For one you don't need luck, money and the right contacts to release an app. It isn't even in the same ballpark IMHO. Pro musician is closer to "race driver" than "viral app creator".

I don't know if it's reasonable to compare apps--which often address economic problems--with music. Probably a more apt comparison would be between music and entertainment apps (games?).

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

#322

Post by jp57 »

jedimastert wrote: post #313
jp57 wrote: post #256

I'm not sure why this is controversial. In the vinyl era, when a single LP was about 40 minutes long, it was pretty normal for artists to release roughly an album a year. (e.g. Led Zeppelin's eight studio albums were released over a span of 10.5 years, but one was a double album and they took a long break when Robert Plant's son died. The first 7 albums were released over 7 years). It seems like it was only when albu…

The idea behind creating an album, a collection of songs behind a theme or era of your creative life, lets you tell more of a story in a cohesive way. It lets you create more interconnected works, rather than one idea per song. Also, it lets you take breaks and lets things breathe. It's really hard to take a song from creation to recording to mastering to releasing without giving yourself a break in the meantime. Als…

But he said 3-4 years.

Also, there's nothing stopping anyone from recording a bunch of work at once and then releasing it over time.

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

#323

Post by egypturnash »

As a visual artist who regularly works on multi-year projects, and happily grabs a new album from bands she's been following for years who only put new work out once in a blue moon, I would like to cordially invite Mr. Ek to fuck himself.

While I am handing out invitations to auto-copulation, I would also like to hand out a large number to every senator and representative who has voted to defund the arts. Making room for people who have learnt creative skills to pursue their craft without having to constantly worry about whether or not this week's piece is gonna make enough money for them to pay their rent is an important part of society.

Finally, I should express my absolute delight that Patreon continues to exist, and that I have enough people willing to spare a few bucks per month that I can pay my rent while continuing to work on my long, slow projects. I keep on worrying that Patreon will fall apart when it becomes clear that their burn rate is higher than their profits, but I will enjoy it while I still can. It's about the closest thing to the NEA I'm likely to experience in my adult life.

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

#324

Post by IncRnd »

xwdv wrote: post #314
alchemyromcom wrote: post #139

I wish more people, especially tech CEOs, could understand the incredible sacrifice of time, money, and energy it takes to make an album people actually enjoy. Everything you listen to, unless you are willing to listen to raw demos, is a miracle. I've worked both as a sound engineer and and a software developer. It's orders of magnitude easier to make working software than it is to make a hit record. The way tech com…

> Have some appreciation--even awe--for the art you enjoy. Haha, no. Artists aren’t some gift from God here to bestow the world with joy from the heavens that we should all marvel at. They are people who chose to learn a skill capable of outputting something suitable for consumption as entertainment. As such, it is their job to be putting out these works regularly, just like everyone else. Appreciation is nice, but d…

Art is the highest pinnacle of human achievement. Perhaps, not everything you call art was made with artistry or is artistic.

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

#325

Post by jimbokun »

quattrofan wrote: post #191
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…

And why most is utter dross. People still buy millions of classic albums from the 70's and 80's, in 30 years time very few artists will have that same comfort.

> People still buy millions of classic albums from the 70's and 80's, in 30 years time very few artists will have that same comfort.

We are only listening to the best stuff from the 70s and 80s, and in 30 years people will only listen to the best stuff from today.

Now, I think a major difference will be the "best" music people will be listening to will be very different from each other. 30+ years ago the popular music people listened to on the radio or MTV was much more broadly known and shared than music today, whereas today different demographics have increasingly siloed music tastes.

I hear a lot of good stuff my teenage sons play on Spotify that I would never hear if it wasn't for them.

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

#326

Post by xvector »

> The artists today that are making it realize that it’s about creating a continuous engagement with their fans. It is about putting the work in, about the storytelling around the album, and about keeping a continuous dialogue with your fans

The CEO shows a concerning misunderstanding. Some music is timeless. Some songs remain landmarks even decades after their release.

I abhor it when people force their own music preferences and beliefs on others. As other people have said, Mr. Ek can go fuck himself.

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

#327

Post by zjaffee »

alchemyromcom wrote: post #139

I wish more people, especially tech CEOs, could understand the incredible sacrifice of time, money, and energy it takes to make an album people actually enjoy. Everything you listen to, unless you are willing to listen to raw demos, is a miracle. I've worked both as a sound engineer and and a software developer. It's orders of magnitude easier to make working software than it is to make a hit record. The way tech com…

I think what the CEO is saying, and it has been an increasing trend in music for a long time now, is moving even further away from large LP releases every few years. The existence of that medium of music doesn't make sense in the current year given how people actually go about consuming music.

The way to keep fans engaged involves releasing EPs and Single on a regular basis, releasing a whole album only really makes sense in the context of trying to produce it for artistic value, not fan engagement value.

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

#329

Post by conradev »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #262
searchableguy wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's market valuing things based on scarcity. Music is in abundance right now due to lower barrier to entry for distributing and producing it than ever before. You have to provide more value than someone producing music as a hobby for free on youtube.

Good music - electrifying, change-your-life music - is still extremely scarce. But Spotify has made it even harder to find by swamping it in mediocre burger+fries music.

On the flip side SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Music and websites like http://everynoise.com have made it even easier to find more obscure music, of which some is electrifying, change-your-life music.

It doesn't follow that "more people making music" means "same amount of good music"

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

#330

Post by atwebb »

jp57 wrote: post #256

I'm not sure why this is controversial. In the vinyl era, when a single LP was about 40 minutes long, it was pretty normal for artists to release roughly an album a year. (e.g. Led Zeppelin's eight studio albums were released over a span of 10.5 years, but one was a double album and they took a long break when Robert Plant's son died. The first 7 albums were released over 7 years). It seems like it was only when albu…

To drag that back even further, albums were named that because 78s were generally held in albums (like photo albums).

78s were an A and a B side, they could be released as singles/one offs and generally weren't cohesive. Eventually you had people releasing related works or having longer recording sessions.

It sounds like a scenario of "What is old is new again", not that singles ever faded but all mediums outside of digital required the same amount of effort from the user for 1 track as it did for an album (put on an LP vs 45, cassettes had singles too but it's the same effort, CD changing would be difficult for a single song).

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