Spotify makes it easier than ever for an artist to get their work out there, which is great, but it’s similar to the publishing world, where most authors who self publish do so into the void.
Besides, who doesn't love a good tee with your favorite band's lyrics on it?
What I wouldn't give for some of the shirts I've seen my dad wearing in old photos of shows he went to. Grateful Dead, Rolling Stones, etc.
Gettin' old
Gettin' gray
Gettin' ripped off
Underpaid
Gettin' sold
Second-hand
That's how it goes
Playin' in a band
It's a long way to the top
If you wanna rock 'n' roll
What and how has he been doing during lockdown?
Doesn't come from like a super wealthy family, but he'll be fine financially if things never return to normal. We're in our 30s so I do think he's looking for something more structured anyways, this might be a catalyst.
> I don't tour, I don't sell merch and I'm not on a major label. I'm just a small indie artist making music in my evenings— and Spotify is making that possible.
In other words, it's a hobby.
> I earn around $800 / month from music streaming. Spotify is 93% of that income.
> And every month about 65,000 people listen to my music on Spotify.
The number quoted was for listeners, and is correctly 1.23 cents per listener per month. If you want to go by listens, then it's ($800 * 0.93) / (177,000 * 0.96) = 0.44 cents per listen.
The reality for most creators, really. There's way more supply than demand and you have to contend with power laws.
The top ~1% of books, movies, games, music, youtube videos, twitch streams, HN threads, etc, always dominate. Capturing ~80% of attention/money. The distribution falls off rapidly with a long tail, which is unsustainable for most.
But then again, saying the same thing about Youtube doesn’t quite sound the same.