- We used to get music from the record store. Then the CD store, then the iTunes store. Now, we stream it online — via YouTube, Spotify or Pandora.
For the artists who record the music, that’s a big problem. Their royalty deals pay best when people buy a CD or download a song. If a song is broadcast on the radio or streamed, they get less. If it’s streamed by a customer who doesn’t pay a subscription fee (like three quarters of Spotify users) the royalty is practically peanuts. And streaming itself may be in trouble; growth is slowing and Sony says it's shutting down its Music Unlimited service.
Recording artists want to get their music to as many listeners as possible. But as technology has made it easier — and cheaper — for consumers, it’s also made it harder for artists to make a buck in the ‘business of pennies.’
"If you look at the history of recorded music from, say, 1900 to now, there was that period where artists did very well but the rest of the time they didn't."
Why not only sell like three or five tickets to your live shows but for like ... 10 million dollars a ticket? Then let those people that can afford tickets legally record and sell copies of the show allowing them both to make shitloads of money. Then all the fans can just rely on the really rich people to distribute it fairly. Actually that isn't all that different from 1900s to now ... just less permanent hearing damage.