…are probably not what you expect.
I seem to be an outlier among independent artists when it comes to streaming my music versus the purchase thereof in that I WANT you to stream my music more than I want you to download it. To my fellow independent musicians whose hackles are immediately raised by that statement: please let me mollify you by saying I’m only talking about my music. I’m not at all invested in trying to convince you what to do with yours.
Feel free to stop here. Keep reading if you have the time and inclination but I warn you that I get wordy.
I recognize that streaming rates are abysmal and that corporate greed abounds – he says, glancing sideways at a certain DSP who shall not be named – but in my opinion the model itself is sound. I did “the math” once long ago … and I’m sure the numbers have shifted slightly since then … but when I last wrote at length about this subject I directly earned about as much from a single download of one of my original tunes as I did 71 streams of the same song. Still, I would prefer that 71 people streamed my music – or the same person streamed it 71 times – than a single person downloaded it.
You might well ask “Why?”
A simple answer, but not the only one, is the maintenance of an online presence, a continued existence in the personified eyes of the almighty algorithms. If you were to purchase a download or physical CD of my music it would be deeply appreciated but it’s a one-time thing that you could listen to multiple times daily but would be a single brief blip that barely registers on the algorithmic radar before quietly retiring to gather digital dust in some quiet corner of the Internet no matter how many times you’ve popped it into your personal player at home. And, let’s face it, once there’s a copy of it floating out there in cyberspace there is an infinite number of possible additional copies extant, copies made without any additional sonic degradation and freely available to anyone with the slightest bit of online competence. I can tell you from experience that there is a multitude of sketchy sites that offer those same exact songs, pirated, for a pittance and the artist never sees a penny of those sales. The streaming business model actually helps put a damper on such piratical sites. That said, I’m well aware that it costs more per click to advertise digital music than it pays for streams of digital music – so repeat listeners are an absolute must – but this also goes back to my remarks about a brief blip on the algorithmic radar.
Another thing that seems to get seldom mention is every stream of a song on one of the DSPs also carries with it the possibility of additional royalties for the same streams from such entities as The Mechanical Licensing Collective and SoundExchange as well as songwriting and publishing royalties from your performing rights organizations (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, etc.) Yet many independent musicians among my friends and acquaintances refer to such organizations as being “too much trouble.” These accounts are not all that high maintenance and are pretty much “fire and forget” except for registering the new tunes as they come up. Granted, none of these royalties amount to very much separately (unless you hit the magic “viral” button) but it astounds me that people can conflate getting more money with musical success while at the same time leaving money on the figurative table. I also suggest that if it’s “too much trouble” to claim what’s yours in terms of royalties but it’s not too much trouble for you to complain about not getting those royalties then perhaps remaining “independent” isn’t your best course of action as a musician.
This seems like a good time to segue into the subject of engagement. This information was presented to me by MS’s “Copilot” AI but I just wanted a quick snapshot of the current stats and I’ve no reason to doubt its veracity: “On average, people worldwide spend 18.4 hours per week listening to music through subscription audio streaming services . . . 82.1 million Americans are paid subscribers to on-demand music streaming services . . . Americans stream an average of 75 minutes of music per day . . . Gen Z (age 13 to 23) is the most likely age group to use music streaming services globally . . . In the U.S. 52% of 18 to 24-year-olds and 40% of 25 to 34-year-olds enjoy streaming music and podcasts . . . The age group that enjoys audio content the least is 55 years and older, with only 31% saying they enjoy online music or podcasts…” I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (yes, I am quoting myself): “One can’t legitimately complain about the musical tastes of the younger generations while simultaneously refusing to engage them on their preferred platforms.”
Additionally, one’s musical purchases are delimited by one’s disposable income. It’s always been that way for some of us; many of us can remember our younger selves standing at the record bin with only enough money to afford a single album and agonizing over which one to choose as we flipped through the seemingly endless possibilities. So, sure, vinyl is indeed making a comeback in a lot of ways but it is still only a one-time payment to the artist – as I mentioned above – limited by the amount of money people are willing and able to spend on music, and a minor ephemeral blip in cyberspace when the UPC is scanned. Furthermore, I’ll bet most vinyl purchases today follow on the heels of the music being previewed by the prospective buyer on a digital streaming service anyway, perhaps music they first heard on a streaming service in the same manner that we older folks heard something on the radio that caught our attention in the previous century.
“Begin the day with a friendly voice, a companion unobtrusive…”
The video content below offers some interesting counterpoints – and I actually agree with much of it – but I am unswayed in my assertion that I’d actually prefer my music was often streamed in a manner analogous to radio airplay.
Also seemingly contradictory to my assertions, one of my favorite quotes follows and it bears reflection:
“We say music is important but we circulate it for free, accord it no significance, fail to listen to it when we are in its presence, and ignore it in a century which, paradoxically, there has never been more of the stuff on tap … Music is now everywhere . . . Maybe this sheer profligacy has dulled our senses . . . No longer an event, it may exist only as background music. It is increasingly moving from foreground to background by dint of the sheer density, the sheer volume of material . . . Music abounds. Everyone can now make a CD in his bedroom, and the problem is, everyone does. With no quality control, conscience, or suffering, the stuff oozes out from under the bedroom door; a blind slime looking for approval . . . the entire system is constipated, overfed, and unloved.”
– Bill Bruford, The Autobiography
…but, again, it’s really always been that way. The gatekeepers and tastemakers of years past have morphed into influencers; artists and artisans must adapt to an ever-shifting digital environment.