| Author | Message | ||
     Ted Pilkington Unregistered guest |
For those of you for whom Spotify is a thing, the room-dividing masterpiece that is 'Springhill Fair' is now streaming on Spotify. This brings to 4 the number of Go-Betweens albums that are currently available on the platform (plus 'Live on Snap'). Hopefully, a sign of things to come but then again ... | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3890 Registered: 03-2005 |
Do they get money from Spotify? It's only good news if they do. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8534 Registered: 05-2005 |
Yes, but very little. It would take thousands of plays before anyone getting royalties would earn enough to buy a sandwich. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3891 Registered: 03-2005 |
I was afraid of that Padraig. I dimly recall reading an article--maybe by David Byrne?--in which he explained how tiny is the royalty for Spotify, Napster and maybe even iTunes. As long as I am able, I will pay for musicians' work. I love Bandcamp, which I intend to explore in earnest once I have the time, because it gives a platform to very obscure people all around the world and it allows me to decide what to pay. I always pay something more than the suggested amount. Maybe someday I won't be able to do that but as long as I can, I will. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3892 Registered: 03-2005 |
Hugh does even better. He finds the direct links to artists and/or their small labels. Then you know nothing is being shaved off. That's something I will emulate, again, once I have the time. | ||
| Ted Pilkington Unregistered guest |
While there is plenty of competition for the mantle of least lucrative streaming service, Spotify reputedly offers a particularly poor return per play/stream/download for the artist. That said, given most of the contributors to this forum would already have multiple copies of Springhill Fair (not to mention a copy of ‘G Stands for Go-Betweens’ to boot) the same people would be entitled to stream away with a clear conscience in my opinion. | ||
| Scott_R Member Username: Scott_r Post Number: 6 Registered: 05-2017 |
Spotify is $0.0038 per stream (US) Which is pitiful, but remember this is theoretically in perpetuity, and accumulates every time you play the song. Compared to buying a CD which is a one off payment regardless of how many times it gets played. | ||
| Andreas Severins Member Username: Andreas_severins Post Number: 406 Registered: 11-2007 |
Hi Scott, that means that you only have to play the song 100x for getting 38 cent  | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8551 Registered: 05-2005 |
Andreas, 100 plays would only get .38 cents. To get 38 cents would need 10,000 plays. To get $3.80 requires 100,000 plays. So, my assertion above of thousands of plays being needed to earn enough for a sandwich wildly underestimated the reality. Depending on how the royalties are subdivided between the record company, the performers, the writers and the collection agency, it looks like about 500,000 plays would be needed to earn enough to buy a very basic cheese and tomato sandwich on white bread. Hopefully Robert, Lindy and the rest have other sources for their nutritional needs. | ||
| Scott_R Member Username: Scott_r Post Number: 7 Registered: 05-2017 |
And several million plays for a stale sandwich at Brisbane Airport! Something will have to give... Especially once physical media are a thing of the past. There are lots of people theorising about the future on this. A good website to subscribe to for those interested is Music Business WorldWide https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/c ategory/news/ | ||
| Scott_R Member Username: Scott_r Post Number: 8 Registered: 05-2017 |
This is also why the music industry is shifting to a live music economy. Live shows used to promote records. Now the opposite is true. Much more money to be made playing live. And why so many old bands are coming out of retirement to tour. McCartney probably made more money at the gig at Suncorp stadium alone than his last couple of albums (which are great BTW) |