Spotify CEO Daniel Ek says working musicians can no longer release music only “once every three to four years.” Spotify's stock value hit all-time highs of $50 billion this summer.

[EdamAnchorman]

59 minutes ago, ghsotword said:

It seems to me that the current state of things is that people whose main output is hot air (middlemen, managers, marketers, speculators, frauds, politicians) tend to get paid well and people who actually produce anything don't usually get paid as much

Agree.  It's the same when you take a step back and look at corporations in general.  Financial corporations can make tons of money with very little overhead, and contribute very little to the betterment of society as a whole, whereas manufacturing takes real investment (capital and human), time, and volume to make a modest profit.  In today's world where every business is so focused on the short-term and on shareholder returns, nobody wants to take the time to invest in long-term anymore even if it betters society as a whole.

[dingformung]

^Yeah, that's another reason a financial transaction tax would be helpful. It would target the finance economy much more than the real economy. Giving that money to the people would probably make them put it back into the real economy rather than buying financial products.

[President Squidward]

Damn, this makes me feel even more guilty on streaming the music on there when I already do. This pisses me off. Need that SSI backpay to come sooner so I can actually buy all my fav artist's discographies. But I shouldn't be surprised that a big name streaming service doesn't give a fuck about the artist.

[chenGOD]

I stream through Apple Music and purchase off Bandcamp/Warp/planet mu etc. So artists are really double dipping off me. 
I used to be all about physical objects, but lugging record/CD collections around the world lost its lustre in a hurry. 

[Braintree]

14 hours ago, Candiru said:

Maybe it’s making new music less exciting. Looking at the Pfork cover what seems like this week’s latest high school talent show doesn’t seem as substantial as watching a non canonized band’s new music video in 1997. There will be no stars, no one will seem very important. 

No one is.

[ignatius]

1 hour ago, chenGOD said:

I stream through Apple Music and purchase off Bandcamp/Warp/planet mu etc. So artists are really double dipping off me. 
I used to be all about physical objects, but lugging record/CD collections around the world lost its lustre in a hurry. 

i don't know if i'd call it double dipping.  it's more like 1.003 dipping   

apple is the one you're paying for the streaming engine. the artists just get that slight quarterly bonus or however the royalty is set up w/their aggregator.

i buy from bandcamp, bleep and sometimes label direct if their site is set up for it. usually just files but sometimes vinyl and files. 

[chenGOD]

32 minutes ago, ignatius said:

don't know if i'd call it double dipping.  it's more like 1.003 dipping  

touche. lol

 

I feel slightly less shitty about using apple, as they actually argued for a direct payout per stream as opposed to the current revenue based format (which dis-incentivizes companies from making revenue). Yes don't know how I forgot to list bleep, but I think that's what I meant when I said warp. One of these days I'll get around to purchasing all of the AtomTM Audio Archive, but for now most of my listens to Mr. Schmidt are through Apple Music...

[luke viia]

thought this article was interesting (not an opinion piece): https://soundcharts.com/blog/music-streaming-rates-payouts

[ignatius]

57 minutes ago, luke viia said:

thought this article was interesting (not an opinion piece): https://soundcharts.com/blog/music-streaming-rates-payouts

whoa. fuck'n lawyers came up w/this shit ya know. all the various  royalties payouts from the dawn of the industry were cocked up by some lawyers and accountants.. digital even more so it seems. what a racket.

[chim]

Holy hell, that hurts my brain 

[picklish]

I've got a few people off Spotify recently and onto bandcamp with the following chat - tenner a month is probably two albums a month off bandcamp, 24 albums is plenty to care about in a year and you get the warm fuzzies from buying direct and feel like you're sidestepping the horrorshow of the industry.

Sure, stream or steal stuff from old rich dead musicians, (or keep second hand record shops open) but buy stuff from the young poor and alive

[qualitycontrol]

Free market capitalism brought us here folks-

It's true.

*We* are all a bit skewed because we all love music here. 

But the largely uneducated, non-critical thinking masses have decided that music is something you drive to, fuck to, make narcissistic  video clips with, and it should just magically float thru the air with yr cell phone subscription.

Just support the underground with money as much as you can. Enjoy it. That's the real shit.

 

 

 

[Diurn]

Just note how digital market has changed musical revenues in last 20 years.

Somebody remember Napster/Emule/Torrent? Traditional artists were forced to adapt as others started doing their own things, then some oldies were forgotten and others peaked fame as always has been. I think that a good pedagogy in musical culture is key to get people into jazz, tribal, classical, funk, psychedelia or minor styles, each one of us will spend money based on our knowledge.

Artists should be payed more by streaming platforms, but yo kno who owns the infrastructure has the powa

see ya

Edited August 15, 2020 by Diurn

[mause]

On 8/2/2020 at 8:59 PM, ghsotword said:

It seems to me that the current state of things is that people whose main output is hot air (middlemen, managers, marketers, speculators, frauds, politicians) tend to get paid well and people who actually produce anything don't usually get paid as much

in big bucks music world, words speak volumes louder than actions..fake it till ya make it and all that...

Edited August 8, 2020 by mause

[zero]

16 hours ago, chenGOD said:

I used to be all about physical objects, but lugging record/CD collections around the world lost its lustre in a hurry. 

can totally relate to that, as I'm sure a lot of folks here can as well. books, cds, vinyl, musical instruments, photos, and clothes are the constants I've been dragging around with me for 20+ years.

[whosebrian]

Anyone using Tidal, they're higher up on the payout chart than Spoonfied.

[goDel]

2 hours ago, qualitycontrol said:

Free market capitalism brought us here folks-

It's true.

*We* are all a bit skewed because we all love music here. 

But the largely uneducated, non-critical thinking masses have decided that music is something you drive to, fuck to, make narcissistic  video clips with, and it should just magically float thru the air with yr cell phone subscription.

Just support the underground with money as much as you can. Enjoy it. That's the real shit.

The moral of the story: make more music people would like to fuck to.

[marf]

On 7/30/2020 at 10:51 PM, vkxwz said:

Mate what are you on about, the average listener wouldn't even be able to tell the difference between high quality flacs and what spotify streams. In their eyes it's just a pain in the ass and more expensive for literally no change to buy hq stuff from artists and put in on their phones. Hate steaming services all you want but you have to be braindead to think it's just "laziness".

 

Everyone's always crying about how the music industry is ruined thanks to streaming services, piracy, whatever the fuck. Just sounds like excuses for why they aren't making bank. In the music industry where these issues didn't exist the barrier to entry was way higher AND you were completely at the mercy of record labels to pick up your stuff anyway.

yeah, but that barrier gave you better artists. You had to work very hard to be great. We have more noise and less quality and poorer artists. Things are not better now. Not at all for musicians.  You must be really young. 

Horse has left the barn now, but to say things are better cause you can get a few thousand plays on band camp versus what we had in the past.  

 

Edited August 3, 2020 by marf

[marf]

But the strange thing is there is a ton of money in the recording industry. Gear is more expensive than ever. It keeps going up. Studios drop serious money on gear. Then the artists shows up with fruit loops to contribute to the noise

[EdamAnchorman]

4 hours ago, qualitycontrol said:

Free market capitalism brought us here folks-

It's true.

*We* are all a bit skewed because we all love music here. 

But the largely uneducated, non-critical thinking masses have decided that music is something you drive to, fuck to, make narcissistic  video clips with, and it should just magically float thru the air with yr cell phone subscription.

Just support the underground with money as much as you can. Enjoy it. That's the real shit.

 

 

 

edit:  stupid youtube won't embed

Edited August 3, 2020 by randomsummer

[cichlisuite]

7 hours ago, qualitycontrol said:

Just support the underground with money as much as you can. Enjoy it. That's the real shit.

Good thing I'm not wealthy, because underground would turn to pop

[chim]

19 hours ago, marf said:

But the strange thing is there is a ton of money in the recording industry. Gear is more expensive than ever. It keeps going up. Studios drop serious money on gear. Then the artists shows up with fruit loops to contribute to the noise

Big players don't need Spotify plays, they get radio royalties, big tours etc. Gear is also a volatile investment for sellers. Undesirable items hog up space in stores/inventory and will have to drop in price just to leave room for new stuff. The used vintage market is undergoing a huge speculation bubble waiting to burst.

Edited August 4, 2020 by chim

[exitonly]

20 hours ago, marf said:

But the strange thing is there is a ton of money in the recording industry. Gear is more expensive than ever. It keeps going up. Studios drop serious money on gear. Then the artists shows up with fruit loops to contribute to the noise

Maybe vintage gear, however the cost you need to run a decent sounding home studio has never been cheaper.  For the amount that it used to cost you to rent a week in a studio, you can build a decent home recording setup. As a result, people are spending less time/money in recording studios. Most recording studios have gone under, and the ones that still exist struggle and have to diversify their business quite a bit. 

[zkom]

In the past you got shafted by record companies and now you get shafted by streaming services. Now at least you can release whatever the fuck you want, when you want and globally.

I remember the days when I had to first order a paper catalog, wait for it to arrive by mail, choose what CD I wanted, then pay 20€ and wait for the CD to arrive by mail only to realize it was complete shit. Fuck them days. You guys that had decent record stores near you were very lucky.

[milkface]

gonna get shat on for this but i love spotify simply cause its cheap. i cant afford to buy music all the time, i'll buy a cd/ vinyl for an artist i REALLY like. are there streaming services that aren't as bad?

Edited August 4, 2020 by milkface