Why most artists won't ever make a living from streaming
Could a new method for calculating streaming royalties for musicians lead to a more level playing field - or is that too much to hope for, asks Will Pritchard.
When lockdown came into force in March, many musicians in the UK saw a huge chunk of their income disappear virtually overnight. The summer’s stacked lineup of festivals fell one by one. The outlook was bleak.
On top of this, the closure of bars, offices, shops, spas, and the many other places left the majority of musicians – who normally earn royalties when their songs are played in public – relying solely on recorded music as their only source of income. Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube already dominated the music industry. Lockdown skewed things even further.
It was around this time that Tom Gray started tweeting with the hashtag #BrokenRecord. A lot. As a working musician (and 1998 Mercury Prize winner with his band, Gomez) and a director at music royalties collection society PRS, he found himself uniquely placed to advocate for change.
The subject of Gray’s ire was the apparent discrepancy between major labels banking upwards of $1 million every hour from streaming, and middle-tier or smaller artists who receive tiny amounts in comparison for their millions of streams... Keep reading on Wired
When lockdown came into force in March, many musicians in the UK saw a huge chunk of their income disappear virtually overnight. The summer’s stacked lineup of festivals fell one by one. The outlook was bleak.
On top of this, the closure of bars, offices, shops, spas, and the many other places left the majority of musicians – who normally earn royalties when their songs are played in public – relying solely on recorded music as their only source of income. Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube already dominated the music industry. Lockdown skewed things even further.
It was around this time that Tom Gray started tweeting with the hashtag #BrokenRecord. A lot. As a working musician (and 1998 Mercury Prize winner with his band, Gomez) and a director at music royalties collection society PRS, he found himself uniquely placed to advocate for change.
The subject of Gray’s ire was the apparent discrepancy between major labels banking upwards of $1 million every hour from streaming, and middle-tier or smaller artists who receive tiny amounts in comparison for their millions of streams... Keep reading on Wired