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Does paying for Spotify actually help any artists meaningfully though? I've been wondering whether paying for a Bandcamp album every so often to match the cost

Does paying for Spotify actually help any artists meaningfully though? I've been wondering whether paying for a Bandcamp album every so often to match the cost of Spotify, and pirating music otherwise would actually benefit artists more. I've read that Spotify pays fractions of a cent per play, where as Bandcamp pays out quite well, better than iTunes and Google Play.

lindner 9y ago
Bandcamp is good if you know what you want and they do pay out really, really well. If you want a streaming service more like Spotify you might also check out Resonate Cooperative https://resonate.is/ https://resonate.is/ which has a stream-to-own model. Discovering new music is low cost, repeated listens double until the ninth, upon which you own the track outright. You can then download or stream that track for free. Still ramping up but I'm excited about their prospects.
- eitland 9y ago
  That's a brilliant idea and a reasonable way to stream and own music IMO. Already signed up.
- jakecopp 9y ago
  Awesome idea - do they have more than a couple of artists though? Personally I like a distinction between looking for music and having it DRM-free offline on my hard drive.
  - lindner 9y ago
    Still early days -- only 2300 artists on 296 labels so far; but growing. It fits somewhere between Soundcloud, Bandcamp and Spotify. https://resonate.is/in-the-details/status/ https://resonate.is/in-the-details/status/
atupis 9y ago
At Sweden 80% all revenue are now from streaming http://www.businessinsider.com/sweden-music-streaming-statistics-2015-2?r=UK&IR=T&IR=T http://www.businessinsider.com/sweden-music-streaming-statis...
einr 9y ago
Does paying for Spotify actually help any artists meaningfully though? No. Your monthly $10, after Spotify and the labels get their majority cut, goes by percentage to the most popular artists on the service, with absolutely no regard to which artists you have personally listened to, so if you have even remotely obscure taste you are effectively not supporting the artists at all. Bandcamp, on the other hand, takes a 15% cut of digital downloads and 10% for physical releases/merch. If you buy an album for $10 on Bandcamp, the artist gets $8.50. If you play an album by an indie artist on Spotify 100 times, they might get $0.0002 or thereabouts¤. ¤ Not actual numbers, but the point is it is effectively zero.
- KozmoNau7 9y ago
  Has this payout structure been conclusively documented? I mean specifically the part about obscure artists getting absolutely nothing. I know a couple of relatively obscure bands personally, and they do get something from Spotify. It's not much, but they do get a little bit. They consider streaming more as advertising that gets their name out there and their music easily accessible, but they make most of the actual money from shows and merch. E: Artists can see their playcount stats and payouts here: https://artists.spotify.com https://artists.spotify.com and as far as I know, even niche artists are paid the $0.006 per song, not just the biggest players. E2: I am a huge fan of the Bandcamp model, though. Most of the time I find music there that isn't on Spotify, and I've also bought albums on there even though they're on Spotify as well, because I want to support the artists directly. I have completely stopped buying physical albums.
  - einr 9y ago
    It's not as simple as I made it out to be, of course, because the music industry is a confusing and terrible thing, but the point basically stands: no one except Spotify and record label execs makes anything more than rounding errors from Spotify streaming. You need millions of plays to make minimum wage. There used to be a FAQ entry on spotifyartists.com about royalties and the complex formulae by which they are divided amongst the various parties entitled to slices of those precious fractions of a cent, but I can't find it now. (That's right: on a promotional site directed towards artists, aimed to encourage people to make their work available on Spotify, there is nothing anywhere about how they intend to pay you. Because honestly, they don't.)

lindner 9y ago

Bandcamp is good if you know what you want and they do pay out really, really well. If you want a streaming service more like Spotify you might also check out Resonate Cooperative https://resonate.is/ https://resonate.is/ which has a stream-to-own model. Discovering new music is low cost, repeated listens double until the ninth, upon which you own the track outright. You can then download or stream that track for free. Still ramping up but I'm excited about their prospects.

eitland 9y ago
That's a brilliant idea and a reasonable way to stream and own music IMO. Already signed up.
jakecopp 9y ago
Awesome idea - do they have more than a couple of artists though? Personally I like a distinction between looking for music and having it DRM-free offline on my hard drive.
- lindner 9y ago
  Still early days -- only 2300 artists on 296 labels so far; but growing. It fits somewhere between Soundcloud, Bandcamp and Spotify. https://resonate.is/in-the-details/status/ https://resonate.is/in-the-details/status/

atupis 9y ago

At Sweden 80% all revenue are now from streaming http://www.businessinsider.com/sweden-music-streaming-statistics-2015-2?r=UK&IR=T&IR=T http://www.businessinsider.com/sweden-music-streaming-statis...

einr 9y ago

Does paying for Spotify actually help any artists meaningfully though? No. Your monthly $10, after Spotify and the labels get their majority cut, goes by percentage to the most popular artists on the service, with absolutely no regard to which artists you have personally listened to, so if you have even remotely obscure taste you are effectively not supporting the artists at all. Bandcamp, on the other hand, takes a 15% cut of digital downloads and 10% for physical releases/merch. If you buy an album for $10 on Bandcamp, the artist gets $8.50. If you play an album by an indie artist on Spotify 100 times, they might get $0.0002 or thereabouts¤. ¤ Not actual numbers, but the point is it is effectively zero.

KozmoNau7 9y ago
Has this payout structure been conclusively documented? I mean specifically the part about obscure artists getting absolutely nothing. I know a couple of relatively obscure bands personally, and they do get something from Spotify. It's not much, but they do get a little bit. They consider streaming more as advertising that gets their name out there and their music easily accessible, but they make most of the actual money from shows and merch. E: Artists can see their playcount stats and payouts here: https://artists.spotify.com https://artists.spotify.com and as far as I know, even niche artists are paid the $0.006 per song, not just the biggest players. E2: I am a huge fan of the Bandcamp model, though. Most of the time I find music there that isn't on Spotify, and I've also bought albums on there even though they're on Spotify as well, because I want to support the artists directly. I have completely stopped buying physical albums.
- einr 9y ago
  It's not as simple as I made it out to be, of course, because the music industry is a confusing and terrible thing, but the point basically stands: no one except Spotify and record label execs makes anything more than rounding errors from Spotify streaming. You need millions of plays to make minimum wage. There used to be a FAQ entry on spotifyartists.com about royalties and the complex formulae by which they are divided amongst the various parties entitled to slices of those precious fractions of a cent, but I can't find it now. (That's right: on a promotional site directed towards artists, aimed to encourage people to make their work available on Spotify, there is nothing anywhere about how they intend to pay you. Because honestly, they don't.)