One of my favourite bands is Camper Van Beethoven and when they first split up their singer David Lowery started a new band, Cracker and had a minor hit in the early 90s with a song called Low. I say minor hit but, in the States at least, it's one of those 'golden' tracks that seems to get played on the radio forever. Anyway David Lowery has become an eloquent and vocal opponent of artist exploitation and has this website called The Trichordist. I had to laugh when I read this feature in which he shows how his song got played over a million times on US internet radio/streaming site Pandora and he got a cheque for $16.89!
http://thetrichordist.com/2013/06/24/my-song-got-played-on-pandora-1-million-times-and-all-i-got-was-16-89-less-than-what-i-make-from-a-single-t-shirt-sale/I bought the single, the LP and went to see them (I think it was the Camden Underworld?) so I don't feel bad about posting the link to the video.
Comments
I love the Cracker album "Kerosene Hat". Saw them open for Counting Crows when 'Low' was being played a lot (back on Virgin 1215 ;-) )
They only see the distinction between bad (stealing) and good (paying/streaming through legitmate sites). Most people do not care what % the artist receives if they are paying for or using a free legitimate streaming site as they already feel morally justified through that action alone.
Bandcamp
Spotify, Apple et al
Bandcamp
Spotify, Apple et al
I won't pay for streaming services, or even iTunes if I can possibly help it, because they're a legal rip-off. I'll also never pay for a 'premium' download or file-sharing site account, because that's just theft - selling access to something that doesn't belong to you. I only ever download from publicly-posted sources. I'll never upload anything - I know that makes me a freeloader to most torrent site users... tough.
If some people still have a problem with all that, I'm OK with it too - I'm probably doing better than most without cutting off my nose to spite my face. I spend more on music than almost anyone I know other than a friend who collects old vinyl (none of which benefits the artist either obviously) - and it is also true that if I had to buy everything I own at full retail, I simply wouldn't - much of it I don't like enough to really, and I probably couldn't afford it all anyway.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Bandcamp
Spotify, Apple et al
Whats Pandora?
Internet radio. Not available in the UK currently http://www.pandora.com/restricted
Now artists can record and publish material for very little cost and the 'industry' largely get sidelined. In the middle are some who fell down the crack and others who starve to achieve any kind of recognition.
It's a cruel world to be sure.