Streaming Music Pt. 1

Ahoy!

With the popularity of free and cheap streaming services like YouTube, Spotify, iTunes/Apple Music and Pandora, few people are actually paying for music these days. As a result I’ve noticed two main camps of people: those who no longer pay for music at all (except their subscription fee to one of these services) and music elitists who begrudgingly use these services and blame them for the decline of the music industry. The Music Bowl asks: is there a middle ground? Can you be a musician and morally feel comfortable using these services?

It’s easy to see how these two opposing views arise. People tend to want money for services provided, and musicians are no exception. Highly skilled musicians train for years honing their craft to bring you the best possible product. Remember that it takes thousands of hours of practice leading up to the writing and arranging process of any given album. Then, add all the time in the studio it takes recording the album. It’s natural for artists to say “Hey, this is really worth something. It took a lot of time and effort for me to put out this album. It only seems fair that you should pay $10 for it.” However, as a result of free and cheap streaming services, people are no longer willing to pay that $10. Why pay for something that you can get for free, right? Furthermore, is money the only thing to be gained from an artist using these services to promote their music?

The largest complaint I hear from musicians is how little money they make from streaming services. And it’s a fair point; if a song is played 250,000 times the artist will make roughly $9. However, this complaint doesn’t hold much weight with me. If you’re a mega star, you’ll get that number of plays quite easily. Granted, they still aren’t making large sums of money every day, but it’s safe to say that it’s a substantial income. Most of a mega star's income will come from extensive touring, merchandise sold at shows, and whatever other public engagements they book.

Smaller artist aren’t seeing 250,000 plays in a day, week, month, or even a year. But keep this in mind: before the days of free streaming, you, as a smaller artist, couldn’t have put out any product because record companies controlled all of the content and studios were too expensive to use. The fact that you can now record in your home with the same software as pro studios is a HUGE step forward from where the industry was. For some time now, the power has been in the hands of the artist. You can record whatever, whenever, and build your community of followers as you want to, not as a label dictates.

This is no small matter. The fact that we as musicians are no longer constrained by record companies should feel liberating to us. Sure, we aren’t making the money on recordings, but we can slowly build our own following of people who genuinely like and care about the music we produce. Additionally, with the ability to book your own shows and promote yourself as an artist, it means that you can play your music when and where you want. All of that is worth making less money in record sales for me.

Next week I'll continue the discussion with a few more positive aspects of streaming.

Until next time,
Heard

HAVE YOU HEARD?
Brad Mehldau- Elegiac Cycle

This album is a solo piano recording that blurs the line between classical and jazz and has been a staple in my collection since I discovered it several years ago. For my college readers, it's perfect to put on in the background while you write papers. It's what I do, and when the album is done, I take a break and restart. For the trained active listener this album also has incredible musical depth and will provide many hours of stellar listening. Elegiac Cycle is definitely one to have on the shelf.