RE: Streaming Pays

You are absolutely right on this. My indie label has artists who we pay over a million dollars a year in streaming royalties. But more importantly, we have artists who we pay over $100,000 per year in streaming royalties….AS OPPOSED TO THE $5000 THAT I COULD PAY THEM ON CD SALES CAUSE THERE JUST WASN’T ROOM IN STORES FOR DEEP CATALOGUE. 

That is a really important point because if the music resonates, despite the genre, streaming allows folks to find it, save it and share it. So artists whose music couldn’t find an audience when limited to physical formats, now have a chance to find new fans!  And some, but not all of the DSPs offer tools to allow us to build those audiences.

I sympathize with artists who can’t get traction in the streaming world. But we spend every single day looking for and exploiting opportunities which we find at the DSPs (or in social media). It’s really hard for folks (artists) who aren’t following every single change at every DSP to keep up.  And there will always be some indie artists whose music resonates quickly and get success. But for the most part, it comes down to what record companies/artist managers always did: artist development.