How Musicians Stream Their Stuff
If all Kanye west did was muddy the waters between what constitutes an album and what does nothing of the sort by revising his last “album” The Life Of Pedro, over months, well he is rich and famous so I guess he can afford it. But why would Joanna Newsom refuse to allow her music to be streamed, t least on the pay tiers?
And what is Prince who just removed all his music from Youtube’s, deal?
As everybody from AC/DC to the Beatles have joined the streaming revolution, everybody else is confused how to get more bang for their bucks.
With the exception of the Joanna’s and the Price’s, it seem to works this way.
1 – The majority of artists have essentially just about given up entirely and let their music be streamed. Except for the pop stars, nobody is making any money from it whatsoever. If your song streams a million times, you can enjoy a cup of coffee, from Starbucks no less.
2 – Semi-huge artists like Coldplay and Rihanna, who will hold their music off streaming for a couple of weeks.
3 – Huge artists like Taylor Swift, who will wait three months before allowing her music on streaming services, and balks completely at freemium.
4 – Adele
5 – Boutique labels who just won’t allow it, like EDM guys, because the money ain’t worth it.
6 – Those artists with special relationships , like the way The 1975 gave Apple Music the first two weks exclusive.
So, what appears to have happened is that the distribution is becoming stranger and stranger, with as many ways to release a song as there are bands.
Where doe it all end?
