Really sad: I’m a Grammy Nominated Artist. Want to See My Royalty Statements?

Anything about MUSIC but doesn't fit into the forums above.
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I only write music im commissioned to. Nothing gets switched on until my solicitor shows me the signatures.

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Old news IMO. It's well known that the income from streaming providers is very low. That's why very often people say that this business model is only good for the providers and not for the artists.
For the artist it's more some kind of promotion and it can help to grow the fanbase instead of a platform to sell music.
iTunes, Amazon but also Bandcamp are better options for artists to generate some income.

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Hink wrote:I know why I dont make music for money too...I would surely question anyone who would pay me to play for them :shrug:
No sh*t, Hink. My wife can't even stand MY music. Hell, our cats don't even like it! Plus, my Grammies passed away long ago. :(

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I think the only money out there these days is made by being a "DJ"

peace
expert only on what it feels like to be me
https://soundcloud.com/mrnatural-1/tracks

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Mister Natural wrote:I think the only money out there these days is made by being a "DJ"

peace
DJs, along with the top-of-the-chart type of artists. I think more is to be made doing shows (and then merch), assuming the right level of popularity.

Certainly illegal downloading is to blame. Spotify and other "pay fixed amount for the world" services are hardly the 'right' answer, due in part to what they pay artists.

The way I see it, there's a few courses of action one can take:

1. Attempt to fix the industry.
2. Recognize the 'new paradigm', as crappy as it is, and work the system properly.
3. If shooting for the stars, write like one. Roll the dice.
4. Write whatever you love the most, enjoy.

Pick any/all you'd like.

Thoughts?

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The model has changed. Probably going to be stuck putting blatant Coke and Verizon adds in the middle of our tits and ass music videos. Why? Because those companies have product people will pay for, and music "acts" that can gain viewership and project a certain marketable image can sell product that people know they can't get for free. They know they can get music for free. Most people won't buy the average tv show, but they will still watch it, it's free. But those shows are making money from the advertisers, who are making money from the people watching the free show. That's kinda how music radio worked too, only the musician's had a product of value that people would buy, now they don't.

Music used to have a value of some sort. I could sell a record or cd for 1/2 to 1/3 of what I paid for it new. Now, I could go spend $5,000 on mp3 albums, and would be hard pressed to find anyone who would buy it off of me for 1/1000th of that. There will always be a small segment of society that feels they should pay, or there's a convenience in paying, or they want to pay or whatever, but that's a very limited pot of pennies. Seems that's the little pot everyone's on the corner is begging for scraps from.

There's that little pot of money to be tapped into by a very small number of artists, but there's a much larger pot that we havn't tapped into yet. If we can't sell our worthless product, maybe we can still sell cars and cereal. There's no easy solution until a new model is thought up and executed.

(Submitted while texting naked in the bathtub, please send tips of odd appreciation @ paypal nakedmusicsoftwareforumchat.com)

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toine6 wrote:The model has changed. Probably going to be stuck putting blatant Coke and Verizon adds in the middle of our tits and ass music videos. Why? Because those companies have product people will pay for, and music "acts" that can gain viewership and project a certain marketable image can sell product that people know they can't get for free. They know they can get music for free. Most people won't buy the average tv show, but they will still watch it, it's free. But those shows are making money from the advertisers, who are making money from the people watching the free show. That's kinda how music radio worked too, only the musician's had a product of value that people would buy, now they don't.

Music used to have a value of some sort. I could sell a record or cd for 1/2 to 1/3 of what I paid for it new. Now, I could go spend $5,000 on mp3 albums, and would be hard pressed to find anyone who would buy it off of me for 1/1000th of that. There will always be a small segment of society that feels they should pay, or there's a convenience in paying, or they want to pay or whatever, but that's a very limited pot of pennies. Seems that's the little pot everyone's on the corner is begging for scraps from.

There's that little pot of money to be tapped into by a very small number of artists, but there's a much larger pot that we havn't tapped into yet. If we can't sell our worthless product, maybe we can still sell cars and cereal. There's no easy solution until a new model is thought up and executed.

(Submitted while texting while naked in the bathtub, please send tips od appreciation @ paypal nakedmusicsoftwareforumchat.com)
I'll say it again, in life we change a lot...people will change careers more than once typically speaking. We live in a world where celebrities are glorified and everyone wants to be them. So somehow there has been this notion that success in the arts means fame and fortune, imho this notion is a notion many of us get when we are quite young and that should be taken into consideration. Like I said in that drop out thread, making huge life decisions when we are still children is fraught with pitfalls. It may work for some, but not all.

Of course I was the same way, I was gonna be a rock star and before that I was going to be a pro baseball player...but then I joined little league baseball :hihi:. Today just a couple of months from 55 I honestly look at my life and think that I was indeed lucky to not have realized that dream but I also learned that money is a terrible motivator for me. I cannot say whether my life would have been better or not had I made it by my childhood definition of making it but I can see who I am now and I am comfortable with where the artist in me is at and is heading. I can also see areas that may have been disastrous (like addictions). I really wish I didn't have those pipe dream blinders on during my younger years, I gave up many opportunities for the sake of sticking to one drram.

I know people grow tired of hearing me say that but I do because I want people to know that the biggest question I had back then was "what if I dont make it?"

The truth is as I aged my definition of making it changed and in my case anyhow for the better. I have nothing to prove to anyone else because I am happy where I am at and I really wish I knew back then that I would still feel this way because it would have saved me a lot of grief.

So I say (imo, not stated as fact and only based on my experience so take it for what it is worth) to younger artists of all types to really take a look at where your passion lies. (there is no wrong answer, just be honest with yourself and allow yourself to change your course) If your passion is being a star, go for it. If your passion is making money, maybe music isn't the best way to go (or the arts for that matter), but that is not mine or anyone elses to say. If your passion is your art, you might want to find a middle ground. IME the passion does not go away, instead you become more acutely aware of what your true passions are as you mature.

As I see history (which could be very wrong), artists and wealth didn't always seem to be partners. It seems to be that way now again, I think TV and Radio brought the whole fame thing more into our living rooms fostering dreams of grandeur and for years there was more to dream for if you will. I think today it's going back to the days of the starving artists as things have changed again. If you are going to go for a career in the arts you need to be prepared for a lot of let downs and the road is not an easy one to travel. Those who are tough enough, ingenious enough to find new angles and have the patience to work hard toward that goal stand a chance. However, do not close the door on other things that come along because ime the passion still grows and I firmly believe that it's not always good for your passion to be your occupation...but again that's on a case by case basis and how it is for me. Others are the exact opposite.

Not to sound like my father (which in fact would be a good thing), dont put all your eggs in one basket and enjoy the gift of having such a passion...at least that works for me.

Technology is always going to change the playing field, but that's good...there would not be an industry providing the gear for us to enjoy our passions without those who go for the brass ring as it were. However not all of us are cut out for that, but that does not diminish the passion nor the drive unless you allow it :)
The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. It requires profound, purpose‐larger‐than‐the‐self kind of understanding.

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Hink - brilliant post - thanks for that. :clap:

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thank you :)
The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. It requires profound, purpose‐larger‐than‐the‐self kind of understanding.

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It's more economically viable to make cat pictures or terrible let's-plays on Youtube than it is to write music. Clearly, it's it's own reward, but on the other hand, artists need to live, and being good at it requires a lot of time. If we're not willing to let artists be artists, at least with just a part-time job so they have time to devote to their craft, all we'll have left are manufactured rubbish bands and a few very tired, burnt out artistic martyrs.

On the antiques roadshow the other day a guy said "It's de rigeur for an artist, no matter how good they are, to not have their works appreciated (particularly financially) until they die.". Why is that? Why do we treat artists with such scorn?

I honest to god fear a utilitarian age, where people live to work and creativity is shunned. That world doesn't seem very far away at all sometimes.
http://sendy.bandcamp.com/releases < My new album at Bandcamp! Now pay what you like!

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Sendy wrote:I honest to god fear a utilitarian age, where people live to work and creativity is shunned. That world doesn't seem very far away at all sometimes.
Isn't it already there? I know many people who work like dogs and they don't have time for any arts...

(Very sad) reality in Germany is that those people who have a job are working more and more overtime till they collapse and those who don't have any job will never get a job and are unemployed for many years, if not decades...

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Going into college next year, this terrifies me. I'm going to a liberal arts school, with a particularly flexible curriculum, which means I don't need to be ruthlessly career driven. But it's hard, seeing stuff like this, not to be. If I can't do music as a career I could continue doing it on the side. But if it's always a task to find time in high school, I can't imagine what it'd be like in the working world. The whole "new paradigm" thing seems the only way to go; music for media (games, movies, whether indie or corporate) is where it's at.

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nineofkings wrote:Going into college next year, this terrifies me. I'm going to a liberal arts school, with a particularly flexible curriculum, which means I don't need to be ruthlessly career driven. But it's hard, seeing stuff like this, not to be. If I can't do music as a career I could continue doing it on the side. But if it's always a task to find time in high school, I can't imagine what it'd be like in the working world. The whole "new paradigm" thing seems the only way to go; music for media (games, movies, whether indie or corporate) is where it's at.
But even then you're still one of the few lucky people of the world who grew up in wealthy families and are able to be artists (more than I, I always had to justify my interest in music, without getting ANY support from my parents or relatives).

Many people are only slaves of some factory bosses - think of Chinese workers, they work up to 14 hours a day - when they come home, they won't have enough power to occupy with arts. And they don't have much vacation, either, so they're slaves for their whole life! :o

Or look at farmers in Africa (the black ones, not the rich white plant owners) - they're struggling every day to survive! They don't have time to compose songs! :(

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Looking back at my life (whilst I'm approaching 40 in a few years), I always had either a job and enough money but not enough time for arts...

...or I had enough time for arts (when I didn't have any job) but not enough money for the needed equipment...

...but I NEVER had enough money AND enough time!

Sometimes I'm feeling like being in a cage with no way out... :cry:

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Never heard of that guy before, which I suppose is one problem as I am probably representing the vast majority in this respect.
He seems to be making world music, which is a very difficult genre to make ends meet.
Nor does he look cool, so no income from underwear commercials, either :roll:

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