There is a high price to pay for recording artists who
choose the D.I.Y. route. Websites like Pandora and Spotify offer musicians the opportunity
to have their work played among millions of potential listeners – something that
would have been a dream come true for most artists just ten years ago. However,
that convenience comes with a price. Cellist Zoe Keating explained some of the
struggles that musician’s face when it comes to surviving in a modern day
royalty structure in the digital streaming age.
Keating earned a measly $1,652.74 for over 1.5 million plays
on Pandora over a six month period resulting in about 1.1 hundredths of a penny
per play or about .0011 cents. On Spotify, she earned $547.71 for about 131,000
plays. While a $.99 download on iTues may earn an artist $.07-.10 per sale,
sites that pay royalties based on streaming depend upon constant play which can
be difficult in an environment where the ‘song of the week’ or ‘artist of the
week’ can be fleeting.
Click here to read a full article on the NYT website
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