If you are a music fan and you want to support your favourite artists, how can you pick a streaming or downloading platform that puts more money in their pocket?
As a musician it is very hard to make money these days unless you are doing a lot of gigs or events and selling a lot of merch. If a musician has their music on streaming apps such as Spotify or Apple music, they receive a pittance. YouTube Music currently pays out roughly $0.00676 per play to the artist and with Apple Music it’s about $.00735 per stream. …mm not going to get rich here unless you are Keith Urban or the Rolling Stones. As an artist, it will take 1000 streams to earn around $4.50 from Spotify. These Apps have stopped a lot of piracy of music on the internet, but instead hold you ransom as you are just paying the intermediaries for use of the platform. Altruism isn’t their primary focus. So, given this, what are the alternatives? How do we know which ones are best for our favourite bands and artists?
This week we are going to explore my view of the best streaming platforms that support musicians and put more money in their pockets. and what they offer for fans.
I have music on Bandcamp under pleiadianstar. As a fan you can buy a whole CD or individual tracksof your favorite artists. You get to listen for free 3 times, which is fair if you want to check out whether you like their creations, then you can purchase direct from there and download as a .wav .mp3, or .flac file depending on your preference. You can also use the app to stream the music you have purchased. There is a separate site for artists and one for fans. I also have a fan site so I can follow my favourite artists and get notifications when they publish something new. As a musician I really like this site. I own all rights to my music, and they only own the right to display it, distribute it – ie play it for fans and purchasers and sell it on my behalf. I can also sell merch on there. Bandcamp waives its artists fees on a Friday, so you can support your favourite artists by purchasing on that day. Artists can also live stream and Bandcamp will give 90% of the ticket income to the artist. You can follow, subscribe to and message the artist.. Interestingly they use the term ‘exploit’ in their T&C, which is rather off putting, but the definition can mean “to make productive use of”. Of course, Bandcamp takes a cut of everything I sell which equates to 10-15%. If I sell a track for $1.50, I get around $1.30. To listen to my creations on Bandcamp for 3 free streams, click here
I also have music on Soundcloud, and can choose to have that as private storage, share it with the public and determine how I want to share my music – eg, if I’m happy for others to modify it, just listen to it, always hacknowledge me as the creator, or how it is shared. Last year, Soundcloud stated that they are working towards artists receiving income based upon the number of listens they have had- which you would think would be a logical thing to have from the beginning… you listen to Whoopie Cat and Whoopie Cat gets your money. I personally don’t find Soundcloud as easy to use as Bandcamp, but it is a good place for me to store my music if I want a copy in cloud form – just in case of computer meltdown. I have also used music from Soundcloud in the past for some other business presentations, that was an open share arrangement with the artist if they were acknowledged.
Some new kids on the block are:
The British company Sonstream is one you may not have heard of. It is a pay as you use platform that has no subscription costs. If you listen to an artist’s song, the money goes direct to them. You pay only for what you listen to. There are no ads. Liking the sound of this? Go check it out. Whilst they don’t have as big a catalogue as the big players like Spotify, You Tube and Apple, with more fan support, they can keep growing. You can listen to the first 30 seconds of a song for free. As an artist you can upload to this site but it must be exclusively – is you cant be streaming your stuff on other apps. The artist will get around 5 cents per stream.
The Icelandic Resonate platform is where its artists are shareholders in a co-op. As an artist I decide how my music is shared and used. As a fan, each time you listen to a track the cost of streaming doubles, but once you have listened to a track 9 times, you own the track and continue to listen for free, which works out at a cost of around $1.50 all up. There are no ads or subscription fees. Any profits the company makes goes to its members – ie the artists are included. As a new member you get up to an hour of free listening to explore the site. You don’t pay when you don’t listen to anything. According to their website, the artist gets paid around twenty times what they’d be paid on the big streaming platforms. The artist gets 70% of the track earnings. The only downside with this platform is currently it doesn’t have an app so you have to stream from your computer. The interface looks similar to Bandcamp, so if you are working at home on your laptop, you can stream in the background- just attach a pair of speakers or headphones are you are right to go. (don’t confuse this with the Apple resonate music sharing app).
So here are a few ideas for you to explore that will help you support your favourite artists so they can keep making more awesome music to share with you. Have a fab week and get in touch if you would like to explore your own music terrain with me in a tailored sonic journey of sound, movement and fun.
Blessings Soleil