Stones' record company reports great financial results, and 30+% growth in streaming revenue.


[www.nytimes.com]

No doubt streaming is becoming a great revenue stream for the huge record companies that own the streaming services.

Maybe these companies making Billions of dollars a quarter can start putting money back into long term development of artists like the old days and we will quit getting all these manufactured crap music pop stars and see some more truly creative musicians rising through the ranks.

Hard for me to think of the music industry as saved when I look at the overall quality of the music being produced!

Saving from what? The problem is the quality of the music made by the groups. The future of the music industry is the past (old concerto, deluxe editions and boxes). And it is ok imo.

I'm guessing the music culture has hit a slump. But like everything else it will return, hopefully while we're all young enough to enjoy it. A renaissance of sorts. Hang in there. At least Keith's new one sounds promising, right.

People were stealing music like ravens, and the kids learned that this was all right. It nearly killed the music industry. Streaming subscriptions was a smart way of dealing with the problem.

But it hasn't solved the problem for the musicians, who'll have to work their butts off on the road much more than back in the day.

If you don't have a super mega hit, the income from streaming is a joke.

Streaming has helped but it depends what music "industry" you are dealing with. I work almost exclusively with independent record labels and they find for the most part iTunes/Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora et al pay on time, every time every month unlike a lot of physical distributors. Now the cut isn't as high but it is consistent and digital distribution is definitely helpful to the bottom line. And it is growing in leaps and bounds.

As far as the quality of the music, all I will say is that independent labels are run by passionate fans of music, unlike the majors for the most part. Not being beholden to shareholders makes a hell of a difference. There will always be dross but then again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

One thing I do love is how live performances are again central to a band's income and publicity plans. It seems that video did not kill the radio star after all.....

Mark
The Rock and Roll Report
www.rockandrollreport.com
"Where Rock and Roll is still an adventure!"

That's funny. The medium of the music video is almost completely dead. When they were at their peak in the 80's everyone complained that it was debasing the integrity of the artists and the music industry overall. Now hardly anyone watches music videos.

Digital music turned the industry on it's head with free downloading.

Now streaming music is all the rage and at least someone's getting paid. From what I've heard the artist (or whoever) gets about 1 cent per play. With that model you would have to generate millions of plays to get any real money. So you're right. Only the artists with huge hits are making money. Everyone else is only making beer money at best.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-09-03 21:57 by Bungo.

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Bungo
That's funny. The medium of the music video is almost completely dead. When they were at their peak in the 80's everyone complained that it was debasing the integrity of the artists and the music industry overall. Now hardly anyone watches music videos.

Digital music turned the industry on it's head with free downloading.

Now streaming music is all the rage and at least someone's getting paid. From what I've heard the artist (or whoever) gets about 1 cent per play. With that model you would have to generate millions of plays to get any real money. So you're right. Only the artists with huge hits are making money. Everyone one else is only making beer money at best.

Bands not on the majors are learning to diversify their revenue from as many sources as possible but it definitely is a tough road and a hell of a lot of work but they are surviving and many are thriving.

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DandelionPowderman
People were stealing music like ravens, and the kids learned that this was all right. It nearly killed the music industry. Streaming subscriptions was a smart way of dealing with the problem.

But it hasn't solved the problem for the musicians, who'll have to work their butts off on the road much more than back in the day.

If you don't have a super mega hit, the income from streaming is a joke.

Back in the day when acts were on the road for 300 days a week, often doing 5-6 shows a week, sometimes 2 in a day?



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2015-09-03 19:18 by Turner68.

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Bungo
Only the artists with huge hits are making money. Everyone one else is only making beer money at best.

Which means the industry is still broke, imo. It doesn't have to reach the levels of artist excess it had in the 70's but it would be nice to see better income streams from the delivery of artistic product to the consumers.

As Shantipole points out though, the pure accountability inherent in digital distribution is a good thing. No more sleazy record companies manufacturing extra product in a warehouse somewhere and ripping off the artists by selling product that never really existed on paper and shorting the artists.

But free downloading and digital copying is still rampant and even though the consumer thinks they are getting away with it, the costs to the artist and industry in general are pretty huge.

To use a Jagger line "I shouted out who killed the industry, when after all it was you and me".

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Naturalust

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Bungo
Only the artists with huge hits are making money. Everyone one else is only making beer money at best.

Which means the industry is still broke, imo. It doesn't have to reach the levels of artist excess it had in the 70's but it would be nice to see better income streams from the delivery of artistic product to the consumers.

As Shantipole points out though, the pure accountability inherent in digital distribution is a good thing. No more sleazy record companies manufacturing extra product in a warehouse somewhere and ripping off the artists by selling product that never really existed on paper and shorting the artists.

But free downloading and digital copying is still rampant and even though the consumer thinks they are getting away with it, the costs to the artist and industry in general are pretty huge.

To use a Jagger line "I shouted out who killed the industry, when after all it was you and me".

this is unfortunately how most talent-based industries end up being these days. think about sports, where everyone but the top 0.01% athletes get nothing for their skills, and the ones who are the very best gets 10s of millions a year. or movie stars. or authors. etc.

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Turner68

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DandelionPowderman
People were stealing music like ravens, and the kids learned that this was all right. It nearly killed the music industry. Streaming subscriptions was a smart way of dealing with the problem.

But it hasn't solved the problem for the musicians, who'll have to work their butts off on the road much more than back in the day.

If you don't have a super mega hit, the income from streaming is a joke.

Back in the day when acts were on the road for 300 days a week, often doing 5-6 shows a week, sometimes 2 in a day?

Back then they already had been paid large lumps of money in advance. They don't get that anymore, nor any substantial income from album sales.