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Author: Paganizer
Date: 12-07-11 14:17
The value is in getting artists paid something.
YouTube has created this bullshit where just the audio is uploaded - there actually is no vid. Artists don't get paid when 1 million people stream an audio-only track on YouTube.
Spotify is looking healthy because it's been difficult for someone to find a business model that can break the iTunes competition stranglehold. This means iTunes has no incentive to share more of its millions with the artists.
Any situation where the artists are allowed a bargaining chip or more tools is healthy from a musician's point of view. It may not be the ideal tool for Trouserian demographics but indicators are strong that it will be successful in this country. With online services, the interface alone can be make/break but Spotify has already had many of its difficulties worked out during its Euro run.
A fraction of a cent is considerable for just a stream-listen - especially for the mainstream. (I don't recall Sir Branson creating a classic album when he launched Virgin megastores. I walked in once and that was enough).
Post Edited (12-22-11 01:24)
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Author: breno
Date: 12-07-11 15:08
I'm generally a grouchy Luddite who usually is snarling and spitting venom about this here online music stuff and how I soon won't be able to waste Saturday afternoons in record stores and will have to find something constructive to do with my time, but I have to concede that Spotify has one hell of a Triffids archive. Stuff I wasn't even aware existed - epic amounts of early stuff. I've been swimming in Triffids over the last couple of days.
So I've been loving that.
Of course, it also makes me want to buy physical copies of all of it, too. Not sure if I'll ever make a transition to being a fully digital being until I'm forced to kicking and screaming.
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Author: Paganizer
Date: 12-07-11 15:24
Physical copies will always be around and the now direct connection to the bands is nice (cf ex recent exchange with a couple kiwi greats), without even mentioning the great (albeit pricey) vinyl resurgence. Remember, Luddites amongst us were once convinced theaters would disappear ca. the Betamax/VCR war.
The titles I've purchased and burnt with print-your-own booklets are cherished as much and blanks will be around as long as me.
I've too have raved - at how much I hate shopping (shoes, grox, CDs, it's all the same to me - though seems all my S.O.s have fucking loved it) but some of that is because I've never lived near a decent record store and have only been in a couple that I liked [I think one was on Burnside in Portland, the one in Hoboken was okay (though that whole day was a freak fest), one in Soho, one in Paris]. The whole attitude in the indie stores sucked and it was just a time-hog chore. You had to go alone cuz no one else could stand the amount of time it took. That time today is spent hearing the music instead. The idea of ordering a physical copy and getting a download in the meantime is fucking brilliant as can be. It's like the dude who first put cream cheese on a bagel.
(Crash Test dummies reference fully implied)
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Audiophiles listen to stereos.
Technophiles listen to formats.
Consumers listen to products.
Music lovers listen to music.
Post Edited (12-22-11 01:29)
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Author: Jermoe
Date: 12-09-11 10:00
While I agree Spotify is preferable to out-and-out stealing, Ek dismisses the whole "5,000 streams=$6 revenue" argument, which bothers me. Unless I missed something, there hasn't been an outcry from artists and labels about compensation from other services like MOG and Rhapsody.
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Author: breno
Date: 12-09-11 11:24
Eek. Reading Rosenthal's post made me shut off what I was listening to on Spotify and shove the program aside for now. (Even though it was a Cocteau Twins album that I've owned for years and just don't have on my work computer.)
Until I see an argument that Spotify improves an artist's chance to make a living by playing music that's as equally compelling to me as Rosenthal's argument that it doesn't, I'm not sure I'll continue my couple of weeks dalliance with it.
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Author: Michael Toland
Date: 12-09-11 11:34
I showed this article to some work colleagues a few weeks ago. One of them argued that what the artist lost in revenue s/he would make up in exposure. That strikes me as untrue, though. There are thousands and thousands of songs on Spotify - unless an artist is properly promoted, your average listener won't know those even exist, much less give them a spin. And for musical omnivores like those of us on this board, we're unlikely to listen to the same 2-3 albums for weeks, which would be more likely to give an artist enough spins to give them that measly royalty.
I use Mog instead of Spotify, and god knows I like the convenience (even if it doesn't have everything I might want). I would assume its royalty structure is similar to Spotify's, though Prosthetic still has its catalog on it. But I feel the same way - it may be convenient for me, but is it really helping the artist?
The battle over digital royalties may already be lost, though, as I hear more and more artists claiming that they no longer look to music sales as a source of income.
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Author: breno
Date: 12-09-11 13:35
Sigh. At least in the olden days, I could pretend the artist was making a nice living when I bought CDs, even though I knew they were seeing a shiny nickel at most out of the $14 I was paying for it. And it never bothered me to buy used CDs because most of the time when a band was in town chances are I'd see them in the used store with an armload themselves and aside from Garth Brooks I never heard anyone, musicians or industry types, howling about it. Now I never know what to do.
Except go to concerts - everyone agrees now that that's the only way musicians can make a living. But I'm a stodgy old fart pushing 50 now and these days going to concerts just pisses me off more than anything else and really all I look forward to in life anymore is sleep. Precious, precious sleep.
I just wasn't made for these times.
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Author: MrFab
Date: 12-09-11 17:52
Lots of artists have that ubiquitous PayPal thing on their websites - you could just give money directly. Kinda like an on-line tip jar. That might be the way of the future.
Or movies, commercials, etc. - that's probably where the real money's at.
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