Enjoyable read. I miss some aspects of monoculture, agreed upon stars, a mostly shared agreement of mainstream and others. Think the mega/micro landscape has been never creeping since late 2010s. You’re right, I think it will continue as there’s been a cultural shift in attitudes towards music and it’s inherent/monetary value. Some aspect of super fandom will appear on dsps but it won’t make the dent some think it will as dsps allow people to be super fans of music more generally (at a steal of a price), not necessarily of individuals.
I always view DSPs as just a source of "some music", that is, just a radio-like stream of stuff you like, but without ever providing the 3-D view on that to really bring dimension and subsequent connection. It's just some noise you like that wafts through your transom, before another song comes in that you probably like (or at least don't dislike enough to skip) and so the cycle continues.
I like that description but not sure that view is shared by most. For a lot of people it’s just enough. The 3D dimension you talk about, is that now a part of ‘super fan’ realm now? For some the 3D part is the least enjoyable aspect, they just want music which has what dsps function well enough at but you’re right, it’s far from all music, much like Netflix is far from all tv/film but for some, it’s enough.
Oh I definitely think it's "just enough" - but that's really my point. We've devalued the art form so that a simple stream of music is all people really look for. Without the wider media points to tell the deeper story of the artist, or allow them to voice their message or whatever, music is stripped right back to just the song as a transient thing to enjoy.
It's why I feel we won't see megastars soon; the conditions just aren't there to allow them to occur any more.
And don't get me started on the superfan thing. I get triggered like all hell by that one, heheh. Its like Universal and co have only just discovered the concept when companies like Topspin were speaking to that market a good 14 years ago now.
I hear you man. Again, all of this was easier when there was an agreed way of things, despite them being imperfect. The longer I live with the internet, the more I realise just how much has been lost
To it & technology as a whole. But it’s a great time, because things will change. Thanks for all your work.
I need BandLab to go public so I can really understand what the 100M means. Like is it 100M accounts created? Impressive but if that’s the case I would bet a small percentage are active.
Oh no doubt, but whether it's the 100M on Bandlab or the sheer size of Bandcamp, or SoundCloud etc, the fact remains that IMO there's a vast number of artists essentially "narrowcasting" to much smaller audiences who aren't really represented by any trade bodies, and around whom the majors remain quite sniffy, as if this is all beneath them, which to me a pretty arrogant stance.
Great piece! It feels to me like the music industry, thanks to the attention economy/social media age, is going through the same stages as an evolving capitalist society - if you substitute attention for currency. With ineffective representation of the "small businesses" of the music industry, the massive "corporations" dominate without restriction. The attention-ist economy has no regulating bodies, no "taxes", no anti-monopoly forces, nothing to counteract growth for the sake of growth, so that's what we get. And just like in unconstrained capitalism, the ones who really get taken advantage of are the smaller players, and the "middle class" simply disappears. It's a shame, and an insanely complex web to untangle.
Nice honest analysis. I guess we just have to plough through this as artists. One thing that I think would help is if the public were more aware of how dire things are.
I agree but that's the saddest part of this really; ALL media is dying, meaning the platforms that used to broadcast any message to people are basically falling away in favour of influencers and narrowcasters.
No doubt trade bodies could make a claim here but I've just lost faith in any TBs ability to really effect change now. Harsh, but just calling it as I see it, unfortunately.
I don't think it's harsh, you have to call it how you see it. And I agree.
A lot of journalism has turned into opinion, ideology, and conspiracy. But what do you do? How does the journalist who spends months researching something of incredible value compete with the person who spews out culture war garbage day after day?
How does the band that rehearses and builds their skills over months and years compete with the dude with a sample pack and AI composer companion, and therefore has the rest of the day to spend promoting themselves?
There must be a way. I'm ultimately hopeful. Perhaps it starts with us getting comfortable talking about things in less relativist terms. I'm not quite sure yet.
Great info as ever. I have a question about the streaming changes. Someone said in a video that EVERY track in an artists’s catalogue needs to get over 1,000 streams per year to qualify for payment. Is this correct?
Hi Julia - honest answer is that I don't know, but based on what I've read, that doesn't sound right. I was under the impression artists simply wouldn't receive royalties on anything with less than 1,000 plays. Otherwise, if we applied your model, a band could have 10 *huge* hits streaming billions, then have one lost b-side or whatever sitting there with less than 1,000 plays, and see their entire revenue collapse. That just doesn't seem plausible to me. I'll see if I can confirm though.
Enjoyable read. I miss some aspects of monoculture, agreed upon stars, a mostly shared agreement of mainstream and others. Think the mega/micro landscape has been never creeping since late 2010s. You’re right, I think it will continue as there’s been a cultural shift in attitudes towards music and it’s inherent/monetary value. Some aspect of super fandom will appear on dsps but it won’t make the dent some think it will as dsps allow people to be super fans of music more generally (at a steal of a price), not necessarily of individuals.
I always view DSPs as just a source of "some music", that is, just a radio-like stream of stuff you like, but without ever providing the 3-D view on that to really bring dimension and subsequent connection. It's just some noise you like that wafts through your transom, before another song comes in that you probably like (or at least don't dislike enough to skip) and so the cycle continues.
I like that description but not sure that view is shared by most. For a lot of people it’s just enough. The 3D dimension you talk about, is that now a part of ‘super fan’ realm now? For some the 3D part is the least enjoyable aspect, they just want music which has what dsps function well enough at but you’re right, it’s far from all music, much like Netflix is far from all tv/film but for some, it’s enough.
Oh I definitely think it's "just enough" - but that's really my point. We've devalued the art form so that a simple stream of music is all people really look for. Without the wider media points to tell the deeper story of the artist, or allow them to voice their message or whatever, music is stripped right back to just the song as a transient thing to enjoy.
It's why I feel we won't see megastars soon; the conditions just aren't there to allow them to occur any more.
And don't get me started on the superfan thing. I get triggered like all hell by that one, heheh. Its like Universal and co have only just discovered the concept when companies like Topspin were speaking to that market a good 14 years ago now.
I hear you man. Again, all of this was easier when there was an agreed way of things, despite them being imperfect. The longer I live with the internet, the more I realise just how much has been lost
To it & technology as a whole. But it’s a great time, because things will change. Thanks for all your work.
I need BandLab to go public so I can really understand what the 100M means. Like is it 100M accounts created? Impressive but if that’s the case I would bet a small percentage are active.
Oh no doubt, but whether it's the 100M on Bandlab or the sheer size of Bandcamp, or SoundCloud etc, the fact remains that IMO there's a vast number of artists essentially "narrowcasting" to much smaller audiences who aren't really represented by any trade bodies, and around whom the majors remain quite sniffy, as if this is all beneath them, which to me a pretty arrogant stance.
100%
Great piece! It feels to me like the music industry, thanks to the attention economy/social media age, is going through the same stages as an evolving capitalist society - if you substitute attention for currency. With ineffective representation of the "small businesses" of the music industry, the massive "corporations" dominate without restriction. The attention-ist economy has no regulating bodies, no "taxes", no anti-monopoly forces, nothing to counteract growth for the sake of growth, so that's what we get. And just like in unconstrained capitalism, the ones who really get taken advantage of are the smaller players, and the "middle class" simply disappears. It's a shame, and an insanely complex web to untangle.
Nice honest analysis. I guess we just have to plough through this as artists. One thing that I think would help is if the public were more aware of how dire things are.
I agree but that's the saddest part of this really; ALL media is dying, meaning the platforms that used to broadcast any message to people are basically falling away in favour of influencers and narrowcasters.
No doubt trade bodies could make a claim here but I've just lost faith in any TBs ability to really effect change now. Harsh, but just calling it as I see it, unfortunately.
I don't think it's harsh, you have to call it how you see it. And I agree.
A lot of journalism has turned into opinion, ideology, and conspiracy. But what do you do? How does the journalist who spends months researching something of incredible value compete with the person who spews out culture war garbage day after day?
How does the band that rehearses and builds their skills over months and years compete with the dude with a sample pack and AI composer companion, and therefore has the rest of the day to spend promoting themselves?
There must be a way. I'm ultimately hopeful. Perhaps it starts with us getting comfortable talking about things in less relativist terms. I'm not quite sure yet.
Hey Darren,
Great info as ever. I have a question about the streaming changes. Someone said in a video that EVERY track in an artists’s catalogue needs to get over 1,000 streams per year to qualify for payment. Is this correct?
Hi Julia - honest answer is that I don't know, but based on what I've read, that doesn't sound right. I was under the impression artists simply wouldn't receive royalties on anything with less than 1,000 plays. Otherwise, if we applied your model, a band could have 10 *huge* hits streaming billions, then have one lost b-side or whatever sitting there with less than 1,000 plays, and see their entire revenue collapse. That just doesn't seem plausible to me. I'll see if I can confirm though.
That makes alot of sense, thanks, Darren.