Well I don't think £20 per month is nothing actually, and don't forget you never own it. The modern trend is to rent music, rent cars (lease) rent disability scooters, we rent phones with a contract.
It is a tide that we can't stop, and the younger audience will never go buy CDs like the 50 somethings did IMO. Yes, a cluster of interest and some vinyl buyers, but it is tiny. The record charts is a joke, number one in the pop charts can be had for pitifully low sales of physical media, that is why they now take into account downloads.
Back to artists not getting as much money, that is not always the case. Many small bands have deals direct for downloads, no physical media or record company ripping them off.
I think Apple are the big ripp off with iTunes, selling MP3s for CD money. They have zero interest in selling full res or high res, and in fact have the high res files ready, just pump out 256k mp3s or apple compressed formats.
Hi astrostar59,
I concur with a lot of what you've said.
It's why I continue to buy physical media (vinyl, CD) and download stuff I like from Bandcamp where I have a choice of WAV, AIFF, and sometimes, cassette. I never use iTunes.
I do stream, but only from Spotify, and mainly to find music I like which I then purchase (Presto Classical for classical, Bandcamp, Boomkat and Bleep for most others - though this is obviously a reflection of my own music tastes). In terms of artists receiving a fairer share of profits, Bandcamp by far exceeds streaming services, excepting major label artists who own their own masters (U2, Metallica, Mariah Carey, Rhianna, Prince's estate, etc), and in any case, they can derive income from a wider range of ventures (touring, merchandise, licensing).
For a lot of the lesser-known artists I like (again, a reflection of my music preferences), Bandcamp, Boomkat and Bleep are my go-to. In terms of discovering new artists or releases, they do a better job of curating and introducing me to similar artists than Spotify (or Tidal), whose algorithms have proven to be heavily biased to a limited number of artists. Again, this works for me because of my music preferences, so it may not be the case for those with different taste.
For what it might be worth, Bandcamp is also profitable (1). Can't say that about Spotify or Tidal.
Best,
853guy
(1) "2017 was another stellar year for Bandcamp, with double digit growth in every aspect of the business. Digital album sales were up 16%, tracks 33%, and merch 36%. Growth in physical sales was led by vinyl (up 54%), CDs (up 18%), and cassettes (up 41%). Revenue from the 3,500 independent labels on Bandcamp grew 73%, and more than 600,000 artists have now sold something through the site. Our publication, Bandcamp Daily, grew its audience by 84%, and all-time payments to artists through Bandcamp reached $270 million. We launched a new app for artists and labels, added gift cards, improved fan collections, held successful fundraisers for the ACLU and TLC, and we’ll soon mark six straight years as a profitable company that only makes money when artists make a lot more money."
https://daily.bandcamp.com/2018/02/12/the-bandcamp-2017-year-in-review/
