Feeling like they’re receiving the shaft, many artists have elected to remove their music from these services entirely, most notably Sir Paul McCartney ³. Swedish artist Magnus Uggla went as far as to say “I’d rather be raped by The Pirate Bay” ⁴.

It’s said that the industry is presently in a transitional hump and it’ll take some time for this new distribution paradigm to be profitable for all parties. True as that may be, having those with the fewest resources available to them bear the burden of an immature business model is clearly unjust. The risks inherent in catalyzing a new distribution paradigm should be borne by the businesses angling to become pillars of the new model.

It’s commonplace for web startups to exist for years on venture capital before they’re able to monetize. Instagram notably went from a being a startup sustained by venture capital with no revenue to be being purchased by Facebook for $1B. Twitter has yet to be profitable. Yet nowhere in the picture are artists, sometimes living day job pay cheque to pay cheque, being expected bear the risk of a new business model that has yet to be profitable.

Why is it like this?

If artists make next to no money from services like Spotify and Rdio, then why are these business models being put in place, and why are they seemingly working (for everyone but the artists)?

You want it to be this way

By and large, consumers don’t want to pay very much for a digital experience. For musicians to be adequately compensated for their work, subscription rates would necessarily be higher, and most consumers are unwilling, or perceived to be unwilling, to pay more.

It’s beneficial to the service.

Commoditizing music benefits distributors greatly. Music is the product, and if prices are lower, profits are higher.

But why is this worse than torrenting?

I hear what you’re saying, musicians aren’t being paid very much by these services, but something has to be better than nothing. Paying must be better than not paying. Right?

Though that would seem to be the case, this isn’t necessarily true. Whereas an underlying feeling of guilt commonly accompanies torrenting somebody’s album, people don’t feel that when they pay for a subscription service. By paying their monthly fees, consumers feel as though they’re doing their part and helping to compensate musicians, even though the amount of money finding its way to musicians is negligible.

In contrast, those that torrent albums will frequently use torrenting as a way to preview an album, and will frequently purchase that album if they find themselves enjoying it. A study from Ipsos MORI found that those who share files spend 75 percent more on music than those that don’t ⁵.

Another common practice amongst file sharers is to see an artist you’ve been listening to live when they come to town. Knowing they’ve been enjoying the artist’s album for free, the file sharer commonly feels behooved to financially support the artist in this way. This isn’t necessarily seen amongst subscribers of streaming service as they’ll feel like they’re already doing their part with their monthly fees, even though those fees don’t go to the artists in a meaningful way.

Why do musicians need album sales revenue?

A common refrain is that although musicians will no longer make much money from album sales, they make up for that in touring revenue. I’ve heard Tom Merritt of Tech News Today express this point of view on numerous occasions. Unfortunately, touring isn’t the cash cow some might think it is. Granted a large band playing stadiums every night does make a lot of money doing so. However, for an independent band like mine (Minto), a successful tour might actually mean that you didn’t lose any money. You’ve achieved a level of success as an indie band when you can do a “break even tour”.

Why do musicians need money anyway?

So when did this become all about the money? Shouldn’t musicians be doing this because they love it? Shouldn’t that be enough? Aren’t you just “playing” after all?

The reality is, trying to make it in music is really hard, and nobody would be going through the difficulties inherent in such an endeavor if they didn’t love music. The unfortunate reality is that being a musician isn’t cheap. Musicians have to pay for their expensive musical instruments and required accompanying gear, maintenance of said gear, usually student loan payments, and often years of music lessons to get to the point where they’re able to perform.

Recording an album is expensive too. You can record an album on the cheap, and low-fi recordings are great, but that doesn’t suit every aesthetic. If a low-fi recording isn’t consistent with your artistic vision, you’re needing to raise a substantial amount of money to record your music. I’ve heard some fantastic, high quality recordings done in at home, but that requires know-how that not everybody has.

Conversely, a low-fi sound doesn’t necessarily mean a low budget ⁶.

Most musicians need to work day jobs in order to pay for all of this, and not everyone’s able to muster the energy required to be creative after a long work day. Allowing musicians to earn an income means that they’re able to spend more time making music, which means they’re able to produce more music for you to enjoy. Denying them that income can compromise their ability to create music.

You should support your favourite artists if for no other reason than because you don’t want them to stop making music because they’re too tired to be creative after working their day job.

From my own experience, I’ve had music that I’ve wanted to record but have been unable to do so due to a lack of funds. And now that it’s a few years later and I’ve moved on from that music to something else, that’s a record that’ll probably never be made, entirely due to my own lack of funds.

Should you put your music on Spotify?

Taking into account everything I’ve said here, you could draw the conclusion that I’m entirely against anybody putting their music on Spotify. However, it isn’t so cut and dried. One thing to take into account is that discovery can take place on services like Spotify. If you feel like letting your recordings be a loss leader for the sake of gaining greater listenership, taking the financial hit might be worthwhile to you. Nobody will buy your music if they don’t know you exist. (Disclaimer: I think the whole “free gig for exposure” thing is totally bullshit and something to avoid, but that’s a separate topic).

Similarly if you don’t rely on recording revenue, you might as well put your music on these services, as you won’t be getting any revenue from them anyways.

What can you do?

As a music listener, what can you do to ensure that the artists you enjoy are compensated for their art, and that they’re able to continue producing music? A few things:

• Go to a show
  If a band you’ve been listening to is coming through town, go see them. Seeing them live will probably heighten your appreciation of that artist, and it’ll help them out.
• Buy a shirt
  While you’re at that show, why not buy a t-shirt? Merch sales help artists a lot, especially when you purchase said merch at a show.
• Buy the album
  Owning a copy of your favourite albums has many advantages. Having a digital copy lets you listen to your favourite albums anytime, even if you’re offline without a network connection. Or if don’t have a connector for your iPod in your car, why not buy a CD for when you’re driving around?

I’d also suggest buying vinyl too, but if you’re into vinyl you’ve probably already done that.

In conclusion, I don’t think you necessarily need to avoid services like Spotify and Rdio altogether. However, if you do use them, try to find other ways to support your favourite artists, because your subscription fees aren’t.

Postscript

I need to preface this piece by saying that I honestly think streaming subscription services like Spotify and Rdio are trying to do a good thing. The distribution model of recorded music has been turned on its head by the web, and really in ernest by the proliferation of mobile devices with a constant network connection. Services like Spotify and Rdio are trying to adapt and create a distribution model that embraces the new paradigm. However, the paradigm that they’re creating is not only unsustainable in the long term, it’s damaging to musicians in the short term.

The following is a list of things I feel venues should keep in mind, and will help make their facilities more musician friendly, and in turn more conducive to creativity. If I’ve missed any that you have noticed in your gigging, add it to the comments bellow this post.

Loading In and Storing Gear

• Provide a parking spot for musicians if possible. Musicians need to bring a lot of gear with them to make a gig happen (drums, amps, guitars, etc). Parking a few blocks away and having to carry heavy gear is a great way to drain creative juices and set a bad tone for the evenings.
• Allow musicians to load in via an alternate entrance if available. If the venue has a back door, don’t force musicians to fight through a crowd with their gear. This is frustrating for musicians, and could cause injury to patrons.
• Plan a path from door to stage. Imagine needing to transport a large bass drum from a van to the stage. Go through this process in your mind. Is the path you’d need to take going to take you through a crowd of patrons? Are you going to get stuck between a narrow doorway?
• Provide a safe place to stash gear that’s out of the way. It should be easy to transport gear to the stage from this place, even when the venue is full.

Sound Check/Sound Person

• Don’t require sound check and load in to be too early in the day. It’s understood that if a venue has a meal service, they don’t want that to be interrupted by musicians loading in gear. However, by providing an easy path for musicians to load in gear, you can greatly mitigate this issue. For musicians, an early load in/sound check can have a serious impact. Most musicians work full time jobs as well as playing music, and leaving work early for load in isn’t always possible. Furthermore, needing to arrive at 4pm to play a 30 minute set at 10:30 is an extremely frustrating and draining experience. For bands on tour, an early load in and sound check could require that the band leave the previous city earlier in the day than they’re comfortable with. Considering that the touring band probably played a show the previous night too, this will cause strain and fatigue, and compromise creativity during the gig as well as road safety.
• If the venue is providing a sound person, make sure that the sound person is present by the time the band is required to show up for sound check, if not earlier. A late sound person can result in a rushed sound check, and poor sound both in the room and on stage.
• Interview your sound person before hiring him/her. If he/she seems like a major dick with an attitude problem, no work ethic and a general lack of concern, you’re probably setting bands up to have a bad night. Sound people that are stoked on good sound and good music help make a great show.

Equipment

• Ensure that you always have an adequate PA for the space, and that the main speakers aren’t distorting from being forced to fill a larger space than they’re able to.
• Ensure that monitors are provided, ideally in ample supply and on separate mixes, but at very least ensure that you have more than one (unless we’re talking about the smallest of cafes), and that they’re powerful enough to facilitate hearing on stage and not distort.
• Ensure that you have enough micrphones, DI boxes, and microphone stands, and that all are in good working order.
• If you frequently have have drums, invest in a set of drum mics. An SM 57 on the kick is never going to sound good. If your venue is of a decent size, also invest in overhead mics for the drums.
• Ensure that ample electrical outlets are available and easily accessible from multiple points on the stage.

Food/Drink

• Don’t be cheap with your food and drink. If not for the band your venue could be empty and nobody would be buying anything, so treat the band right. At least one drink per band member, and don’t limit it to some poor excuse for a beer like Molson Canadian. You’re buying beer in bulk, and it really isn’t costing you that much.
• If you’re a restaurant, slide the band a meal, or a really freaking good deal on one. Giving the band 15% off a meal doesn’t mean you’re still making the 85%, it means the cheap sushi place across the street or the Uncle Fatih’s down the road is making the 100%.

Getting Paid

• NEVER reply on patron donations to pay the band. If music is part of your business, pay for it. Don’t be that venue.
• If you ARE relying on customer donations to pay the band (which you should never, ever do), either have a server collect the donations, or include it in the bill. But don’t force musicians to beg at tables for change. This is humiliating, degrading, and devalues the time and energy that went into becoming a performing musician. Again, don’t be that venue.

What all of this boils down to is that, although playing music is fun, gigs can be a lot of work. Don’t make it harder by having your venue improperly setup for bands. Have respect for musicians. Quite often what a musician brings to the stage is decades of practice on their respective instrument. Most musicians have to work jobs as well, so respect musicians’ time. Remember that although musicians are doing what they love, they’ve put in a lot of hard work to get there, and to continue doing it on a daily basis.

Musicians make sacrifices and put in hard work to be able to perform, and if venues meet those efforts with sacrifices and hard work of their own, a really fantastic musical space in time and in physicality can be created.