![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/fans-arent-paying_main.jpg?w=980\")
<\/a><\/p>\nJust a few years ago it seemed like every artist was passing around articles chastising fans for illegally downloading music. How it hurts the bands. The producers. The session musicians. The labels (well no fan cares about them). The songwriters. And the industry as a whole. We all remember the \u201cillegally downloading music is the same as stealing a microwave from a store\u201d argument. We all bought it. Well, musicians and the industry that is. Fans? Not so much.<\/p>\n
The RIAA sued over 35,000 fans for illegally downloading music back in the mid 2000s. We heard of 12 year olds being sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Grandmas whose grandsons downloaded music on their computers were taken to court and forced to go bankrupt. A grandfather actually died while in litigation and the RIAA told his family they had 60 days to grieve and then they better pay up!<\/p>\n
Really great way to win over music\u2019s biggest fans. Sue them. That\u2019ll teach em!<\/p>\n
But it didn\u2019t. Sales never went back up. And now\u00a0it\u2019s reported<\/a>\u00a0that iTunes song downloads will drop 39% in five years.<\/p>\n The jury is still out if it will in the long run. But, unfortunately, unlike sales, streaming revenue requires massive numbers to see significant income.<\/p>\n Previously, if an artist had 10,000 fans, she could rely on $70,000 ($10 album less iTunes 30% cut) in sales when a new album was released. However now, even if each fan listens to her (10 song) album on Spotify 10 times in the first few months (1,000,000 plays \u2013 impressive!), that would only earn her about $5,000 (and much much less if those plays were on YouTube). Even if she has 50,000 other fans who listen to the album only twice, that\u2019s just an additional $5,000.<\/p>\n No matter how you slice it, a small to mid level artist is not going to get by with streaming income the way the numbers work out currently. If we were talking about 5 cents a play versus a half a penny, then maybe.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a strong supporter of streaming since its inception. I love that it rewards artist for creating great music that fans want to play over and over. There\u2019s much more potential for the long tail. The more someone likes your album, the more she will play it. And you will get paid for every play. Over time, sure, this could earn the artist much MORE money than sales.<\/p>\n +Why Withholding Your Music From Spotify Only Hurts You<\/a><\/p>\n Only the artists getting millions of plays are seeing significant, livable income solely from streaming. And most of them are with labels who take the majority\u00a0(to all)<\/a>\u00a0of that income.<\/p>\n +How To Steal An Artist\u2019s Streaming Money In 3 Easy Steps<\/a><\/p>\n You could scream about streaming and piracy until you\u2019re red in the face while fans and technology ignore the noise and move forward (this seems like a legitimate solution for quite a few). OR artists could look to diversify their income stream.<\/p>\n Companies are popping up every day that help artists make more money than ever before.<\/p>\n If 1,000 \u201ctrue fans\u201d previously spent $100 a year on an artist through CD\/download sales, concert tickets and t-shirts and earned the artist $100,000 a year, what if, with new models, artists could get their \u201cdie hard\u201d fans to spend $500 a year on them? What if it was a sliding scale? 200 fans at $500, 300 fans at $250, 500 fans at $100? Instead of artists earning about $100,000 a year on 1,000 fans, they could earn $225,000.<\/p>\n It may not be that fans didn\u2019t want to spend more than $100 a year on their favorite artist, it\u2019s just that they didn\u2019t have any attractive options to do so.<\/p>\n Kickstarter, PledgeMusic, Indiegogo and Patreon have allowed artists to offer high priced rewards\/exclusives to die hard fans.\u00a0Patreon\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0model allows artists to monetize these fans on an ongoing basis.\u00a0BandPage<\/a>\u00a0offers experiences enabling artists to monetize their most die hard fans in creative ways while on tour. BandCamp and Loudr allow fans to \u2018name your price\u2019 for lossless (or mp3) downloads.\u00a0Fanswell\u00a0<\/a>allows artists to easily setup house concert tours to make the most money from a small, but dedicated fanbase.<\/p>\n Licensing companies are helping independent artists get high paying syncs on TV and in film and independent admin publishing companies like SongTrust, CD Baby and TuneCore are collecting royalties previously only available to those with publishing deals.<\/p>\n +CD Baby Pro vs. TuneCore Publishing (The Full Report) (Ari\u2019s Take)<\/a><\/p>\n YouTube is now offering\u00a0a tip feature<\/a>\u00a0on channel pages and Spotify\u00a0has integrated<\/a>\u00a0merch to artist profiles (without taking a cut).<\/p>\n We need a new mindset. It\u2019s a new era.\u00a0People ARE valuing artists \u2013 but in the way that makes sense to them (not you).<\/strong>\u00a0What\u2019s wrong with a 23 year old who loves a band paying $250 for a PledgeMusic exclusive, $5 per video released on Patreon, an $18 ticket for their concert, a $25 t-shirt and a backstage \u201cexperience\u201d for $50, but never download an album or buy a CD? What\u2019s wrong with that?<\/p>\n The album gets the fan in the door. Gets her hooked. The album is only the introduction. No longer the end game. The album is the gateway. And the album is found on Spotify, YouTube or ThePirateBay with a couple clicks.<\/p>\n They always had to rely on alternative sources of income (like touring and merch) to offset what their labels didn\u2019t pay them in royalties. Lyle Lovett admitted that after selling over 4.6 million records he has received $0 in record royalties from his label. But he\u2019s had a very successful career. Why are people silent when record companies (legally) steal from artists, but raise hell when fans do it?<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never made a dime from a record sale in the history of my record deal. I\u2019ve been very happy with my sales, and certainly my audience has been very supportive. I make a living going out and playing shows.\u201d \u2013 Lyle Lovett<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n So, your options. You can either bitch about the \u201cdecline of the music industry\u201d, exclaim that fans aren\u2019t true fans if they don\u2019t pay for recorded music, OR you can get creative, embrace the new technologies that build on the artist-fan relationship, and lead the pack in this beautiful new world full of alternative revenue sources. Your choice.<\/p>\n Ari Herstand<\/a>\u00a0is a Los Angeles based musician and the creator of the music biz advice blog\u00a0Ari\u2019s Take<\/a>. Follow him on Twitter:\u00a0@aristake<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s almost a rite of passage every artist goes through in the modern music industry. The moment he accepts that he will not be able to rely on music sales to sustain his career. That people are not buying music like they used to. And never will again. Just a few years ago it seemed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[318,3,9,10],"tags":[400,394,241,397,393,403,230,37,402,399,395,396,398,401],"class_list":["post-740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial","category-general-nonsense","category-music","category-politics","tag-cd-baby","tag-exploitation","tag-indie-music","tag-itunes","tag-labels","tag-monetization","tag-musicians","tag-original-music","tag-pledgemusic","tag-riaa","tag-sony","tag-spotify","tag-streaming","tag-tunecore"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":677,"url":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/2014\/09\/low-music-sales-simply-due-bad-music-hypebot\/","url_meta":{"origin":740,"position":0},"title":"Are Low Music Sales Simply Due To Bad Music? – hypebot","date":"September 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Are Low Music Sales Simply Due To Bad Music? - hypebot. That's been my guess for A LONG time. A LOT of bad music, empty of innovation and creative spark, filled with studio enhancement tricks to make talentless singers sound adequate, being shoved down our throats by the major labels,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "editorial"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13553,"url":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/2017\/06\/when-pop-stars-have-instagram-they-no-longer-need-record-labels\/","url_meta":{"origin":740,"position":1},"title":"When pop stars have Instagram, they no longer need record labels","date":"June 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Nobody needs to be exploited, manipulated and abused by record labels and their bullshit. With help from social networking, maybe musicians can squeeze those greedy suits right the fuck out of the picture. #music #instagram #labelshttp:\/\/bit.ly\/2rvbbXZ","rel":"","context":"In "blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16951,"url":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/2018\/10\/soundclouds-new-artist-contract-is-a-raw-deal-for-musicians\/","url_meta":{"origin":740,"position":2},"title":"SoundCloud\u2019s new artist contract is a raw deal for musicians","date":"October 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"As if musicians EVER get a good deal. Why is the recording and streaming industry such a piece of shit to the artists who make it possible, by creating the music? It's almost like America being a fuckhead to the refugees and immigrants that built it...it makes ZERO sense. That's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "#blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17924,"url":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/2020\/08\/some-of-americas-billionaires-have-been-illegally-profiting-off-the-pandemic-while-rome-burns-clinton-economist\/","url_meta":{"origin":740,"position":3},"title":"Some of America\u2019s billionaires have been illegally profiting off the pandemic while Rome burns: Clinton economist","date":"August 17, 2020","format":"image","excerpt":"This is pretty fucked. These motherfuckers are making BILLIONS on the suffering of Americans during the pandemic. It's unconscionable and disgusting.I Support the #BillionaireTax proposed by Bernie Sanders and friends with a conscience in Congress.Contact your Senators and Representatives, and #VOTE November 3rd. https:\/\/www.rawstory.com\/2020\/08\/some-of-americas-billionaires-have-been-illegally-profiting-off-the-while-rome-burns-clinton-economist\/?fbclid=IwAR2qpdU9WlOK0zP2mGCgaaVwWcUw6yv9pMCZf8aaq54YSQOQxG3SQ0uD8J8","rel":"","context":"In "#blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10068,"url":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/2016\/10\/new-dnc-leak-campaign-bus-illegally-dumps-raw-sewage-on-georgia-street-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":740,"position":4},"title":"New DNC leak: Campaign bus illegally dumps raw sewage on Georgia street (PHOTOS)","date":"October 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Because the Democratic Party is the Party of the Environment. Yeah, right.http:\/\/bit.ly\/2dsF7s8","rel":"","context":"In "blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12973,"url":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/2017\/03\/streaming-music-is-top-music-industry-revenue-generator\/","url_meta":{"origin":740,"position":5},"title":"Streaming Music Is Top Music Industry Revenue Generator","date":"March 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In case you haven't heard, streaming is the new music cash cow...at least for the RIAA backed major labels. Though I have to doubt the live concert is dead, because for most bands, the gigs are still what pays the bills.http:\/\/bit.ly\/2optE3f","rel":"","context":"In "blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Streaming revenue isn\u2019t making up for the loss in sales for musicians.<\/h2>\n
So what are the solutions?<\/h2>\n
We have to start embracing alternative monetization opportunities and accept that the traditional way that fans support artists is over.<\/h2>\n
And major label artists never made much from album sales anyways.<\/h2>\n
\n