this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2023
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If the option is Spotify or pirating, you're really not hurting indie artists. They don't make shit from streaming.
hey now I make 10 bucks a year from streaming royalties. I can almost buy a fancy coffee with a shot of booze for that. Oh the life of an indie music artist.
There is still a difference between basically nothing and literally nothing. Spotify is better than pirating and CDs/vinyl/digital directly from them is better than Spotify.
That tracks. Every artist who spoke to me about this (I'm kind of a hobby musician) told me a) fuck labels, not worth it, b) Promotion is 95% of the game and you have to master it yourself, c) no money in Spotify except for the top .1% or so percent, the money always comes from gigs or shows so starting live early is a good idea.
Additionally, when you listen to an artist on Spotify or YT Music, it increases the chance of the app promoting that artist to other users.
Remember, we're distinguishing between "basically nothing" and "literally nothing".
Of course the best way to financially support an artist is to buy their merch or buy their music on a store like Bandcamp.
The last album I bought was Ty Segal's latest. I have seen him live at least a dozen times and bought roughly $600 worth of limited releases and shirts at these shows. I "discovered" him thru Spotify's Discover Weekly playlist that automatically puts together music they think I will like.
I think all the free users are the problem. They don't want to pay for the service, they complain about ticket and merch prices at shows and hardly contribute anything to the artists themselves. They blame Spotify when it's Ticketmaster and the labels they should direct their anger towards. Not paying users like me.