We live in a world now that places streaming at the centre of music consumption. We look on as
passive consumers as the digital and analogue giants that used to be at the centre of the music
industry crumble into pop-culture relics and myths. CDs have all but died now. And while things like
vinyl are making a ÔÇÿretroÔÇÖ comeback, tape machines are confined to 80s nostalgia movies like
MarvelÔÇÖs Guardians of the Galaxy or SpielbergÔÇÖs Ready Player One. Even iTunes, the previous jewel in
AppleÔÇÖs digital crown, has officially been killed by the company in favour of streaming services. All
the ways we could claim to own our music, make the artistÔÇÖs work count as part of our identity have
become extinct and obsolete in favour of sparing a few coins. Which is one of the ways streaming
harms the artist, they lose the connection with the listener that ownership gave. Therefore, music
isnÔÇÖt made with the consumer in mind because it isnÔÇÖt the music they are consuming.

So, musicians donÔÇÖt make any money off of music, spare the tiny royalties Spotify and the like give
them per stream, So where do they make it? To argue that many of these millionaire artists suffer
financially because of streaming is just silly. An example of that would be Taylor SwiftÔÇÖs boycott of
Spotify in 2014 over the lack of royalties she was given for her music. She eventually backed down
from this in 2017, putting up her entire back catalogue just as Spotify was becoming almost like a
massive advertising force for artistÔÇÖs shows. No, a lot of artists are still well off because they replaced
album sales with the never ending tour. A sparse string of live shows used to be a rare occasion
when your favourite band would finally release an album after a 10 year hiatus or something. Now,
artists tour constantly for the money ticket revenues give them. They donÔÇÖt even have to release
new music nowadays. The Wombats have played Reading and Leeds festival three of the last four
years only releasing one album in that time.

This is the real sufferer of streaming. ItÔÇÖs the art of music itself. Albums are made as occasional
passing thoughts in order to keep on touring as long as possible. Therefore, their quality and
originality are often low. It makes listeners suffer because they have to hear it and makes
established artists suffer by ruining their discographies. What will likely happen more in the future,
as streaming continues to rise, is youÔÇÖll get more bands acting like Catfish and the Bottlemen. Three
albums in and honestly, itÔÇÖs thirty of the same song with a different one word title. The music isnÔÇÖt
offensive, its just standard meat and potatoes indie rock. In an interview with Beats 1 in February of
this year they recognised that ÔÇ£music is consumed differentlyÔÇØ but the ÔÇ£one thing thatÔÇÖs solid is the
showÔÇØ. Therefore, they make playing the best ÔÇ£big showsÔÇØ their main goal. Because shows make the
money the show becomes the priority and not the music. The artists suffer as they are no longer
musicians first.

By Craig Strachan

The way of consuming music has been changed with improved technology. People used to consume music with LP or CD. After that period, people started to download music file with computer and save music on their mp3 or mobile. However, with this phenomenon, people managed to get an illegal download of music files. It was really easy to download and bring the idea to the people that ÔÇ£music is free, you donÔÇÖt have to pay for listeningÔÇØ. The ‘Streaming’┬ásystem was a sensational idea to the music industry. It was the combination of music with the internet which gives consumers the right to ÔÇ£borrowingÔÇØ music instead of ÔÇ£possessingÔÇØ. Spotify can be the best example of showing how many people have chosen to consume music with streaming service. In 2019, Spotify announced that they have more than 200 million users*. Besides that, AppleÔÇÖs decision on changing focus from iTunes to streaming service also shows the music industry system well.

 

I do agree that streaming service is not the best way of consuming music for the artists as it gives a really small portion to the artists which are not enough for the artistsÔÇÖ work. But I think it is much better than an illegal download. If the streaming service did not come out, I think there will be a lot of people download music illegally. The streaming service indeed has to improve some systems to respect artistsÔÇÖ work. People have brought some ideas to help this situation. For instance, Korea has brought the amount of streaming as part of the ranking resource. At the music show programme, singers can be on the ranking with the combination of the number of CDs, number of streaming, and sending a voting message with some charge. On the other hand, YouTube can be also an example of a new way of consuming music. It seems like streaming service but people do not pay for watching YouTube. So YouTube adds some advertisers on the video so artists can get the profit by that. Subscription is also another way of consuming music. In this way, people are trying to figure out a new way of consuming music with respecting artists. I think with the digital era, streaming was an essential solution for avoiding illegal download. Streaming service indeed has to improve profit paying for artists but I think streaming helped artists a lot.

 

* Shotwell, J. (2019) 50 million US consumers paid for streaming music last year, RIAA says https://haulixdaily.com/2019/03/streaming-music-subscribers-2019

By Yeon Su Cho