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Release day economics

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11–20 of 75 posts

Re: Release day economics

#12

If I listen to only non-RIAA signed bands on Spotify (which I do), how exactly am I supporting major record labels?

The implication seems to be that the major labels get some fixed percentage of Spotify's revenues. I have no idea if this is true or not.

Re: Release day economics

#13
"..., it costs us 35 EUR/year to keep an album on iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon"

Why is that? How much do you have to pay Apple, Amazon or Spotify to sell/play your music?

Re: Release day economics

#14

If the band members are also the authors/composers of their recorded material, they will receive slightly more than what is suggested here, since they will also be due mechanical and/or performance royalties from various services. That being said, it's the best/worst time to be a musical artist - you can distribute yourself online (the biggest music marketplace) and receive a MUCH larger chunk of the revenue than eve…

Don't forget the cost of making music is much less than 10 years ago. Virtual samplers, synths, mixers, etc. This means far more people making music.

Re: Release day economics

#15
post #13

"..., it costs us 35 EUR/year to keep an album on iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon" Why is that? How much do you have to pay Apple, Amazon or Spotify to sell/play your music?

Chances are they're using something like Tunecore where you sign up once, and they redistribute to various music services. You still retain whatever rights you have, but you collect your income from Tunecore after they aggregate it from Apple, Amazon, Spotify, et al. IIRC, Tunecore does not take a percentage of each sale, but has a yearly fee to keep your music listed using their services.

Re: Release day economics

#16

If I listen to only non-RIAA signed bands on Spotify (which I do), how exactly am I supporting major record labels?

The implication seems to be that the major labels get some fixed percentage of Spotify's revenues. I have no idea if this is true or not.

Looks like I'm ditching Spotify at the end of this month

Re: Release day economics

#17
post #13

"..., it costs us 35 EUR/year to keep an album on iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon" Why is that? How much do you have to pay Apple, Amazon or Spotify to sell/play your music?

I imagine it's because there is a non-zero cost to hosting music, even if that music is never played by anyone. It also discourages people from spamming the store with junk.

Re: Release day economics

#18

If I listen to only non-RIAA signed bands on Spotify (which I do), how exactly am I supporting major record labels?

The implication seems to be that the major labels get some fixed percentage of Spotify's revenues. I have no idea if this is true or not.

They do indeed: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-14/spotify-wins-over-m...

In addition to the percentage cut, they're also shareholders.

Re: Release day economics

#20
post #9
post #2

Seems like a very tough business to be in. Guess, how do upcoming bands manage to make it through given that most people on the band are pretty much committed to it full time.

I would not consider this a business. In fact, the drive to monetize art is at the root of many problems with copyright expansion, culture privatization, and art quality.

How else would artists get paid?
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