But in this case it does. The more streaming grows the more physical AND digital content sales shrinks.
This is already happening. And Indies make much more (as you have pointed out) on actual sales. So yes Artists ARE definitely getting screwed and Apple rakes in the big bucks while the Artists get the pennies err I mean two fifths of a penny.
No they aren’t, do you know how much a radio station pays a performer?? ZERO, that’s right, nothing. I was around when Napster and digital downloading was going to be the death of music.
What you have is just another change to an industry brought about by technology, this isn’t anything new, all industries deal with this, and the music industry will as well. The biggest earnings for an artist have ALWAYS been live performances... why do you think bands tour? to sell albums? Not really, that’s why their labels want them to tour, to promote album/song sales, but the reality is nearly all performers make the overwhelming amount of their actual money from touring, this has been true since long long before streaming services.
Streaming is taking the place of radio, which performers never got paid for, the songwriters and producers did, but not the actual performers, radio has always been nothing but a promotional tool for performers.
Streaming is the future, anyone who thinks its not is living in the past... and the reality is, that model means financials have to adjust. This isn’t apple saying , hey Mr. artist we are going to screw you, apple is paying what it realistically can pay and make such an operation profitable. Artists are free to demand more money and they will find they aren’t going to make anything.. this isn’t Apple’s doing, this is financial reality.
Go look at Netflix, for $8 a month its users have instant access to a huge entertainment library... the value of 3 minutes of being entertained for an individual today is not much, and that’s the reality.. Content is ubiquitous.. folks are willing to pay something for it, but they aren’t going to pay a fortune. If you think the artist should get a penny every time one of their songs is streamed you are looking at a model where folks are going to pay $50 a month to have the service, and guess what, not going to happen.
The entire industry is changing, to blame Apple for this is nonsense. Apple will make money, but I guarantee when its all said and done once this service is up and running, their profits per song streamed will be measured as a miniscule amount of their revenue.
This is the new reality, thinking its the 1970s is silly, and blaming some business or another for it being different is equally silly.
artists aren’t screwed by Apple on sales they are screwed by their labels, and that’s been the case sinc day 1. Artists make their money by touring labels make the $$ on song/record sales. That’s been the industry my entire life.
The money the apple is making from the sale of songs is a replacement of the retail channel that no longer exists. They haven’t taken money from any artists via iTunes. The reality is that music, like all entertainment today, is mor fragmented than ever. There will never be another Beatles not because the Beatles were or were not great but because you will never have the consumer base so united to just a handful of genres or artists. That’s not Apple stealing money from artists that’s the natural fragmentation of the consumer base as more and more options became available.
When we were kids how could you have possibly been exposed to a foreign artist with no distribution deal in the states? Blind chance at best, today it’s an Internet search.
Or an indie band with no contract? Unless you were old enough to go to a show and they just happen to come to your town you likely would never hear of them. Today it’s nothing more than an upload of a file to iTunes and the entire world can find and buy your song if they like.
The entire model is different today, that’s not Apple screwing anyone.
As I’ve stated before we are saturated with entertainment content its value intrinsically is worth less today. $8 a month for thousands of on demand films and shows.. Tons of free to the viewer entertainment all over you tube free apps and games etc etc. 3 minutes of entertainment isn’t worth much today.. That’s not apples fault that’s the realities of the world we have more entertainment content than we can possibly consume so its value declines as a whole.