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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”

#761

Post by Renaud »

Traster wrote: post #750
swinglock wrote: post #719

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They could stop paying out flat per listen. If I pay $10 and listen to 50 tracks, I want $10 (minus the provides fee) to be split among precisely those 50 tracks. The difference is if you only listed to 50 tracks your listens are worth more that someone that diluted their listens over 5000. Throwing everyone's fees into one big vat and dividing that according to the total listens, is bullshit. I want my favorite arti…

That doesn't take into account the spotify cut. What would you propose? Right now spotify pays a certain amount per song played, and covers this cost by charging $10 of whatever, and hoping the average user doesn't listen to more than song_cost*songs_listened. In your scenario, suddenly spotify's business risk has been transferred over to the artists themselves - if your songs get listened to by people who listen to…

>if your songs get listened to by people who listen to a lot of music, you're going to get paid less per listen.

That still would be fairer than the current system and that edge case would be rare.

As it stands today, we're all heavily subsidising the most popular (and well marketed) bands -not just their fans- leaving crumbs for other artists who end up having very little chance to see their lot improve at all.

I'm paying Spotify to listen to the artists I like, hoping to support them so they can make more music I like. Instead, nearly everything I pay ends up in the pockets of artist I have no affinity for.

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

#762

Post by goto11 »

apocalypstyx wrote: post #288
lux wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Musician and software developer here, and I'm calling BS on that. Here's a transcript of a talk I gave last year on "code as art" (apologies if this sounds like self-promo). You can skip the first half and scroll down to where it says "Which leads me back to code as an artform". There are a lot of ways to demonstrate that code IS art, and this was just a quick 5-minute overview of the subject. Cheers! https://www.joh…

As an acquaintance of mine put it the other day on this exact topic (who happens to be a writer/graphic artist/programmer): "First STEM says that the humanities are worthless. Then they say how, really, STEM should get all that glory too because, really, it's the same thing -- but better." Or this quote: "Great paintings, for example, get you laid in a way that great computer programs never do. Even not-so-great pain…

I'm often amazed by the negative attitude towards humanities and artists seen in this community. It it not that people hate art or culture, they just really hate the humanities department, art students and artists! (But at the same time they want to be recognized as great artists for writing a neat one-liner in Perl.)

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

#763

Post by HeadsUpHigh »

hunter2_ wrote: post #371
commandlinefan wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wish more people, especially tech CEOs Well, you can't really blame the tech CEO here... Spotify charges people what they're willing to pay to listen to music. I think it's a minor miracle that they've worked out a way to get people to pay anything for music considering how easy music piracy has been since the internet came along. (Not taking a moral stance, just stating a fact).

Speaking as another sound engineer and software engineer: I believe the effort and risks involved with piracy are -- on average in well-off places -- simply "worth it" compared to owning physical media and "not worth it" compared to paid streaming subscriptions. It's not just about dollars, but the value proposition of the total experience. The average pirate doesn't streamline their rig with all sorts of automation…

For me the time sink for finding new music is enjoyable. Listening to something that I've put a minimal amount of effort on acquiring makes the experience worth more. That's in comparison to letting algorithms play one song after another( which most likely will either repeat the same songs or just play top hits which are boring to me).

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

#764

Post by rikroots »

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.

Ah. So Mr West is following a more impatient version of the My Bloody Valentine model, yes?

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

#765

Post by ryder9 »

feanaro wrote: post #729
PierceJoy wrote: post #711

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I prefer good lyrics over mumble rap, but music is entirely subjective. You think it's a step backwards, but young people think it's a step forwards. Mumble rap is essentially just natural selection. Some random rapper started doing it, people liked it, and so it propagated. If people didn't like it, it would have died out quickly. You just aren't one of those people. > It's samey as hell and stagnant and lacks innov…

Everything is natural selection, so that isn't necessarily very insightful.

this comment isn't insightful at all, unneeded snark

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

#766

Post by grasshopperpurp »

AniseAbyss wrote: post #735
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 1970s golden age of making a concept album in a French villa doing drugs for two years on the record label's dime are long gone.

The only album that comes to mind is Exile on Main Street, but I'm not particularly into back stories. Were a lot of people doing this in the 70s?

I'm D'Angelo is as good as it gets. Voodoo and Black Messiah are two of my absolute favorite albums, and they're the only two albums he's put out in the last 20 years. Other than it being a long process, I don't know a lot about the Black Messiah recording process, but Voodoo was multiple years of jamming with super-talented musicians then condensing that material into an album. They'd listen to classics like There's a Riot Going On then use that inspiration to guide the jam sessions. I think this approach is pretty similar to what you're referring to. On the other hand, look at how quickly acts like The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and the Stones put out music in the 60s. The Beatles released two albums in '67 then a double-album in '68; Dylan released two albums in '65 then a double-album in '66 - then recorded all the Basement Tapes material in '67 and released another album that same year.

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

#768

Post by d12345m »

dsabanin wrote: post #673
carlinmack wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

every generation has older people thinking the new generation of music is bad :)

Well, maybe they had a point. We went from Bach to 50 cent…

You’re not from the generation that produced Bach though.

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

#769

Post by panchicore3 »

drdeca wrote: post #726
PierceJoy wrote: post #711

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I prefer good lyrics over mumble rap, but music is entirely subjective. You think it's a step backwards, but young people think it's a step forwards. Mumble rap is essentially just natural selection. Some random rapper started doing it, people liked it, and so it propagated. If people didn't like it, it would have died out quickly. You just aren't one of those people. > It's samey as hell and stagnant and lacks innov…

I don’t know what mumble rap is, so I’m not commenting on that in particular. But, something being selected for doesn’t imply that it isn’t a bad thing. Even if we assume that “how much the typical person likes it” or “how many people like to listen to it” or something along those lines is a good measure of goodness, those are not the only things involved in the selection pressure. Things like cost to produce, discov…

re: mumble rap ~ have you heard trap?

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

#770

Post by mlthoughts2018 »

I don’t think this is true remotely. In the last few years my only music purchases have been album releases on Bandcamp or independent record label sites, for musical acts like The Field, Swans and Nation of Language.

They release every 3-4 years and I buy albums. Works great.

I don’t have any streaming music service.

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