KVR Audio

herodotus · Post by **herodotus** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 4:56 pm

Sparky77 wrote:NPR did a report on what musicians are making on streaming sites.
The tiny percentage the artist gets is disturbing when compared to what everyone else gets.

The lawyers seem to be working for the wrong side.

As always...

The lawyers are working for the same side they always do, their own.

SuitcaseOfLizards · Post by **SuitcaseOfLizards** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 5:35 pm

Codestation wrote:I can respect that. I truly hope you have success.

It's not the route I will be taking. The world no longer values music recordings. People value a celebrity image and a concert, and associated merchandise. They value "hype" and "spin" and drama. Speaking generally, of course there are exceptions.

Sometimes I wonder what percentage of people actually lie still and do nothing but listen to music for any period of time anymore? Everyone I know who does not make music considers such an act a waste of time.

Music is a ringtone. It's background. It's that (free) catchy bit that runs in your currently favored commercial.

I take your point in general. HOWEVER (you knew that was coming, right?) I work exclusively in the ambient/dark ambient/cinematic/soundscape worlds and my fellow ambientheads will sit and listen to a track that's 15 minutes long and love it!

But I know you're not talking about specialized genres.. for pop music, yeah, I watch how people use their iPods etc. - nothing over 4 minutes, typically broken up by phone calls, arguments, getting bored and playing a game.. listening is no longer a thing in itself, it's mostly background noise.

I'll my album done in a month. It'll be streamable via Bandcamp. If I make enough off sales to buy a six pack, I'll call that success.

Put tons of hours into it, bought a pile of specialized VST/VSTi, and there's no way I'll ever make back 1/100th. of the investment.. but that's not my goal.

It amazes me that anyone not a national act makes enough to live on. Everyone in the bands I know here in Tulsa have day gigs...

SuitcaseOfLizards · Post by **SuitcaseOfLizards** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 5:42 pm

mutantdog wrote:Jay-Z is gonna feel like such a fool when tedinmexico's predictions come true.

Jay-Z, he's got 99 problems, but the streamin' ain't one!

Katelyn · Post by **Katelyn** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 9:59 am

Codestation wrote:Sometimes I wonder what percentage of people actually lie still and do nothing but listen to music for any period of time anymore? Everyone I know who does not make music considers such an act a waste of time.

I thought that was just a weird thing I did when I was bored >.>

telecode · Post by **telecode** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 11:20 am

Katelyn wrote:
Codestation wrote:Sometimes I wonder what percentage of people actually lie still and do nothing but listen to music for any period of time anymore? Everyone I know who does not make music considers such an act a waste of time.
I thought that was just a weird thing I did when I was bored >.>

I still do that. But I find a lot of todays new music isnt really made for that. I will lie still and listen with full focus on classical works or some of the older concept records from the 70s.

Re; streaming -- its peanuts. I have a good friend who is a lot more successful than me. She does arab word music stuff and does the summer cultural festivals e.t.c for a living. They have their stuff on Spotify and Pandora and all the streaming sites. When I spoke to her, its pathetically ridiculous how little they make off those sites. Barely to buy a six pack of beer for the band. They make more selling one CD at their show that they do all year on Spotify. (Maybe its also a thing where those platforms arent meant for their type of music)

tedinmexico · Post by **tedinmexico** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 2:57 pm

My thinking now is that I will introduce my album in stages, and extremely slowly. I will start marketing the CD. Months later, I may try selling thru downloads on my own web site, and the new download sites that pop up. I don't see ITunes giving musicians the choice to opt out of streaming in June. Right now computer geeks run the music business. I'd rather sell 100 CD albums and get paid, rather than 20,000 streaming hits and get $50 bucks. That's just stupid to me. As for Tidal, I can't be a part owner and get equity in the experiment like the start artists, so I am not interested in that at all. Right now the music industry is kind of in the toilet. I will stick to my guns. I will not be played by the industry hucksters and fast buck artists. I own all my copyrights and am in the driver's seat. Ultimately, if very talented musicians across the world introduce their music only through normal selling channels, customers will be forced to compenstate them fairly for their work. It's up to each musician. For me, streaming is DOA: worthless.

cnt · Post by **cnt** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 3:56 pm

Ask yourself some questions. Do you want to make a living out of selling your album or touring the world?

I don't have a dream of making enough money out of my own music, so I give it away for free (more or less).
I have sold my album myself via CD and Downloads. I sold under 100 copies. But the album got quite famous because of someone making warezed MP3 release. At first I was pretty angry, but when I started to get e-mail from around the world asking me to play live... I changed my mind.

Technically, streaming is the same thing as "listening while downloading". This has been possible since the early 90's. It has nothing to do with how much you get paid or not.

The big record labels actually owns Spotify since a couple of years back. So, blame them for the low pay checks you get as a new/small artist. The big record labels have secret special deals with Spotify. We - the mortals - just get the low-low rate..... which is f***cked up. I rather give away my albums for FREE than give Spotify/record labels my money. Problem is. 98% of the people listening to music today uses Spotify (at least in Sweden). So if I want to reach people, I HAVE to be on Spotify with atleast some tracks.

On the other hand. I got my music played on the radio on the biggest channel in my country. I got about 35 dollars for that. Now, how many listeners heard my song at that time? 10000? 50000? 100000? I don't know. How many taped it/recorded it? Fact is: the money is the same as I would get from Spotify, ie nothing I could ever make a living out of so why even bother about the money?

99% of the money that actually ends up in actual artists pockets, goes to the already established multi million dollar rich artists. That is how the world works today unfortunatelly. It is emberassing to see these rich artists, who earns millions after millions, complaining about not getting paid enough...... Why don't the already famous artists give the new artists a chance then by PAYING via their own record labels/streaming services?

Good luck and keep us posted how many albums you will sell on your website.

debra1rlo · Post by **debra1rlo** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 8:17 pm

tedinmexico wrote:My thinking now is that I will introduce my album in stages, and extremely slowly. I will start marketing the CD. Months later, I may try selling thru downloads on my own web site, and the new download sites that pop up. I don't see ITunes giving musicians the choice to opt out of streaming in June. Right now computer geeks run the music business. I'd rather sell 100 CD albums and get paid, rather than 20,000 streaming hits and get $50 bucks. That's just stupid to me. As for Tidal, I can't be a part owner and get equity in the experiment like the start artists, so I am not interested in that at all. Right now the music industry is kind of in the toilet. I will stick to my guns. I will not be played by the industry hucksters and fast buck artists. I own all my copyrights and am in the driver's seat. Ultimately, if very talented musicians across the world introduce their music only through normal selling channels, customers will be forced to compenstate them fairly for their work. It's up to each musician. For me, streaming is DOA: worthless.

What I'm wondering is, are all your songs about your obsession with music streaming, just like all your posts on KVR?

Katelyn · Post by **Katelyn** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 9:44 pm

tedinmexico wrote:My thinking now is that I will introduce my album in stages, and extremely slowly. I will start marketing the CD. Months later, I may try selling thru downloads on my own web site, and the new download sites that pop up. I don't see ITunes giving musicians the choice to opt out of streaming in June. Right now computer geeks run the music business. I'd rather sell 100 CD albums and get paid, rather than 20,000 streaming hits and get $50 bucks. That's just stupid to me. As for Tidal, I can't be a part owner and get equity in the experiment like the start artists, so I am not interested in that at all. Right now the music industry is kind of in the toilet. I will stick to my guns. I will not be played by the industry hucksters and fast buck artists. I own all my copyrights and am in the driver's seat. Ultimately, if very talented musicians across the world introduce their music only through normal selling channels, customers will be forced to compenstate them fairly for their work. It's up to each musician. For me, streaming is DOA: worthless.

You could spam links to your site/album on all the forums, message boards, youtube videos, and chatrooms you come across if you want to boost your sales xD

But not, spam would be evil.

Chapelle · Post by **Chapelle** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 9:57 pm

telecode · Post by **telecode** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 11:20 pm

debra1rlo wrote: What I'm wondering is, are all your songs about your obsession with music streaming,

Hey!! I am obsessed with the music streaming too !!

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 11:37 pm

Chapelle wrote:
tedinmexico wrote:I may try selling thru downloads on my own web site, and the new download sites that pop up.
You also have to take piracy into account. If your album is going to be popular it will almost certainly appear on dodgy sites. A lot of people don't buy CDs anymore and if there's no legal way to obtain your music via download some of them will revert to just download them illegally for free in which case you don't get anything at all.

LOL! If your album EXISTS it is probably going to be ripped from Soundcloud and copies of it will appear all over the world. Every single thing I put on my old [/band name] account has been slapped up all over the place. Not that I activate downloads, it's ripped and in nearly every case anyone has brought up to me in social media about seeing their tracks up for free, there is every single thing from my page. I had a seriously worshipful fan contact me with mixtapes at 128kbps of shit he never bought. I guess 'Why buy it?' is the m.o. I assure you it's not popular or selling particularly. It's that cutthroat out there.

The entire exercise is just silly. The big-name artists that make a stand are marketing by talking about it. They make their money elsewhere. You'd rather sell 100 copies than get fifty bucks for 20k hits. The 20k hits is part of even selling 100 copies. They may not ever need to be 'Spotify' hits, but a belief about marketing that is above streaming for free is trippin'. If you expect to make money in music, you need backing, you need the industry; and by this you'll learn your place in the world, dude. To be in it for the money is to be looking for every chance.

Chapelle · Post by **Chapelle** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 11:58 pm

RunBeerRun · Post by **RunBeerRun** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 12:15 am

It's a new age. You can record streaming audio with Audacity/Wasapi, or the free VB cable.

It's harsh.

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 10:38 am

debra1rlo wrote:
tedinmexico wrote:My thinking now is that I will introduce my album in stages, and extremely slowly. I will start marketing the CD. Months later, I may try selling thru downloads on my own web site, and the new download sites that pop up. I don't see ITunes giving musicians the choice to opt out of streaming in June. Right now computer geeks run the music business. I'd rather sell 100 CD albums and get paid, rather than 20,000 streaming hits and get $50 bucks. That's just stupid to me. As for Tidal, I can't be a part owner and get equity in the experiment like the start artists, so I am not interested in that at all. Right now the music industry is kind of in the toilet. I will stick to my guns. I will not be played by the industry hucksters and fast buck artists. I own all my copyrights and am in the driver's seat. Ultimately, if very talented musicians across the world introduce their music only through normal selling channels, customers will be forced to compenstate them fairly for their work. It's up to each musician. For me, streaming is DOA: worthless.
What I'm wondering is, are all your songs about your obsession with music streaming, just like all your posts on KVR?

ooh i enjoy a good concept album

Selling your new album without getting involved in Streaming