Earlier this week, Taylor Swift caught some flack after pulling her music from Spotify, comparing people listening to it to people taking pieces of a painting in a museum.
Well, another musician is speaking out now, and that man is singer/songwriter Aloe Blacc. He penned an essay for Wired, where he explained just how little artists actually make from digital streaming services. He wrote:
“Consider the fact that it takes roughly one million spins on Pandora for a songwriter to earn just $90. Avicii’s release “Wake Me Up!” that I co-wrote and sing, for example, was the most streamed song in Spotify history and the 13th most played song on Pandora since its release in 2013, with more than 168 million streams in the US. And yet, that yielded only $12,359 in Pandora domestic royalties├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥ which were then split among three songwriters and our publishers. In return for co-writing a major hit song, I’ve earned less than $4,000 domestically from the largest digital music service.”
Yikes! That’s all they made?!
[ Related: Taylor Swift Or Beyoncé? Who Is The Highest Earning Woman In Music? ]
And Aloe backed up his and Swifty’s stance even further by explaining how laws regarding the payment for use of music haven’t been reviewed since before the iPod was invented, writing:
“Through performing rights societies, this summer songwriters successfully convinced the US Department of Justice to open a formal review of the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees that govern how the vast majority of American songwriters are compensated for our work. The world has changed dramatically since this regulatory framework was first established in 1941, but the consent decrees haven’t been updated since 2001├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥before the iPod even hit stores.”
This is extremely enlightening information, and while people love streaming, artists obviously need their fair share too!
Thoughts???