This article will discuss why music streaming is bad for artists. This is not a “how-to” article. I won’t discuss the mechanics of why my favorite platform, Pandora, is shitty.

That will be covered in some future posts.

Nor will I discuss the myriad of issues, best practices, best musicians, new artists, and how to use the web to promote yourself. That is a topic for another time.

But, I will be covering how artists can take a stand and do the right thing.

How did we get into this mess??

The internet has no shortage of artists that have made it big and are profiting off of the work of others.

This is just not the case in the real world. I have personally spoken with artists that have been working in and around the music industry for a very long time and have never met another artist in the flesh.

The vast majority of music from the 90s and 2000s came from artists that were always actively touring the world. While the music industry hasn’t been the best place to be a musician for a long time, it was better than it is today.

The truth is that these people were there first. They’ve made it. They don’t need the exposure. These people are part of a much bigger, more thriving music scene that I am not a part of. That’s ok. I could care less.

What about SoundCloud?

I can’t speak too much to SoundCloud as I’m not on SoundCloud, but what I know of it is that the vast majority of music on SoundCloud is garbage.

The thousands of songs on there that make up a good portion of my personal library of music is garbage. I know tons of other people that feel the same way.

For some reason, people love to upload and stream “the new music” on SoundCloud. Every few months, there will be something new on SoundCloud that has some excuse why they should be heard. In most cases, the artists are terrible and nothing that anyone would want to listen to.

It is ruining young musician's careers

I know of a lot of talented people in their 20's and 30's who really do have songs written by the talent themselves at an early age.

It just takes a lot of perseverance and a lot of work. This is a fact.

You are in the prime of your creative career, and yet you don't get the recognition you deserve because you are not big enough to have your music streamed.

Bottom line is that I have written about this issue many times over the years. I still think the system is a mess and that the streaming services just have not learned to be fair to all artists.

These changes may come soon, but they are not coming soon enough for artists who are struggling to make it as songwriters.

Big platforms have a monopoly on an artist's money

Technology and streaming is opening the door to many talented people, from all walks of life, with little to no money.

There are thousands of new artists like this, who just want a shot, an opportunity.

Of the millions of these up-and-coming artists, only a small percentage will actually get rich, compared to what most record labels ask artists to do.

Why do people spend so much money to acquire music if it is not a proper business model?

With the exception of Taylor Swift, who has held on to a dedicated and loyal fan base, most of the artists only get popular enough to be the most popular for one album or track, and are soon forgotten.

This trend is simply a result of the on-demand streaming platform model, as companies such as Spotify and YouTube now earn 70% of their income from advertising and "pirated content," making streaming a space where artists rely on their labels to make their financial goals a reality.

These major labels in particular force their artists to rely on artist-friendly policies and investments in advertising to make a living, at the expense of sales. This is a trap.

Who is really benefiting from this relationship?

As long as there are people who love Taylor Swift and want to listen to her music on repeat, no one can really stop them.

Taylor has just proved that she has a massive fan base and that millions of people are willing to pay for her music. However, without support from the platform itself, and without a way for the music to be listened to over and over again, the streaming experience just becomes one of enjoyment, not a place of acquisition. As is the case with music, so is the case with clothing and groceries.

This is not meant to rain on Taylor's parade. Her music and her fans are fantastic. But her success in this case is both disturbing and ill-timed, as the massive platform she has built is driving more and more people to look at music in the same way. This means that the players at the top will never be able to keep up with the demand. The only way to ensure that artists and listeners are compensated appropriately for their hard work is by having the right policies and funding, such as she does.

Final thoughts on the matter

This idea that music is completely "free," and therefore the streaming platforms can pay artists based off the reach they have (defined by whatever number of streams they've managed to amass), is dangerous for the very thing that makes music valuable.

What is being monetized with this method of marketing is not just audience reach, but also reach within genres, levels of listenership and so on.