Hello and welcome to the final Advice column of the week. We did not set out to run a series of in-depth editorials over the last few days, but sometimes content develops in ways you never expected. For this particular piece, we became fascinated with the struggles of signed bands and wanted to shed a light on their troubles to help developing artists prepare for the realities of life in the music industry. If you have any questions about the content in this article, or if you have an artist you would like to see featured on this blog, please contact james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.
Today I was scrolling through the latest music headlines when I stumbled across a post from my friends at Indie Vision Music that captured my imagination. I Am Empire, a relatively popular rock band signed with Solid State Records, shared a photo on their Facebook page showing a quarterly streaming royalties statement. The image, which you can view below, was not exactly the kind of thing rock and roll dreams are made of:
The band offered an explanation for the image on the original post:
“A glimpse into being an indie artist on an indie label. This I Am Empire royalty statement shows nearly 500,000 internet radio streams/plays on one quarterly statement. Total royalty paid from this portion. $.58 per band member. Spotify streams.. nearly 50,000 streams.. paid $3.35.”
Anyone who keeps an eye on industry news knows that photos of royalty payments like this are nothing new in the world of music, especially in the realm of hard rock. In January of this very year, Darkest Hour guitarist Mike Schleibaum shared a photo of a check for $0.01. “This is what we call, “BIG TIME!,” he wrote on Facebook. "Don’t worry..big news is coming but for now..we got to spend all this cash!”
Here are six more examples for those who love tiny checks.
If you’re an artist dreaming on one day making music your full time career, seeing images like this being shared by some of the biggest people in your preferred genre of music can be incredibly disheartening. People have been saying for years that the music industry is either dead or dying, but it’s a lot harder to brush off as nonsense when you see the types of payouts headline artists are being given on a regular basis. Life should never be about the money, of course, but people must be able to make a living in order to provide for their own basic needs (not to mention the needs of their family).
There is not a lot you can do in the immediate future to change the tide of streaming payouts, but I do believe that we will see that area of the business undergo several more evolutions before it’s more or less ‘figured out. The give and take between the companies responsible for the platform, the labels who signed the talent, and the talent themselves needs to be addressed in a big bad way. Again, that’s nothing you haven’t heard before, but that does not mean it will never happen at all. It will, but things like this take time. You must be patiently pro-active, or in other words doing whatever you can to make the best of things while the powers that be workout the ‘big idea’ stuff for the rest of us. Even if you’re not giving part of your proceeds to a label, the amount of money you’re earning off each stream is a fraction of what you deserve. You have a voice, so the I advice that you put it to use and make your frustrations known. Things won’t change over night, but every bit of fight certainly helps move things along.
You are not helpless or alone in the war against streaming payouts and the ever-shrinking revenue streams made available to artists. The struggle to make a living in music is as real for you as it is for your favorite musicians and the professionals who work with them (most of the time). You cannot change things right away, but you can promote the continued support of live music and ask fans to buy your music whenever possible. Most people do not understand the way streaming payouts work, and because of that fact they sometimes see no difference between buying a single on iTunes for a dollar or streaming that same song through their premium Spotify account. Be honest with them about the realities of streaming and some will come around to the notion it might not be the ‘industry savior’ so many have made it out to be. They will remember your message and make it a point to financially support you whenever possible. Others will never listen, but that’s just life.
The best thing you can do for yourself in this situation is to set an example for others to follow. Support music. Go to shows, buy albums, share photos of your vinyl, tweet at musicians, and do whatever else you can think of to get the point across that you not only love music, but you care about those responsible for making it. Others will notice your efforts and follow suit. If you’re in a band, this means they will follow and support you. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it may work wonders for your career.
