4 ms·

I have friends that love pottery, knitting, photography, painting, and a million other creative pursuits. But they also have day jobs because it's difficult to

I have friends that love pottery, knitting, photography, painting, and a million other creative pursuits. But they also have day jobs because it's difficult to make money in the arts unless you have millions of fans. With any other job we would say, "well, if you're only making £200 a year, maybe you should get a better-paying job." I'm not sure why this is different.

munificent 6y ago
> I'm not sure why this is different. There isn't an industry with a handful of corporations like Spotify making billions of dollars off your friends' pottery while millions of people spend hours gazing at it.
- 542458 6y ago
  Spotify has never posted an annual net profit. If you want to blame somebody, I’d say you should blame the listeners who overwhelmingly listen to a small number of popular artists. Alternatively, blame the record labels who contribute less and less value while still skimming massive amounts of money. See: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110707/03264014993/riaa-accounting-how-to-sell-1-million-albums-still-owe-500000.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110707/03264014993/riaa-...
  - munificent 6y ago
    > Spotify has never posted an annual net profit. Because a company choose to roll all of its revenue into growth does not mean that somehow that money doesn't exist and couldn't have instead gone into musicians' pockets. Spotify made $7.4 billion in 2019. Imagine a world where Spotify had only made, say $1 billion, and all of the world's streaming musicians had made $6.4 billion more, distributed among them. Call me crazy, but that latter world sounds more like the one I'd prefer to live in.
    - Negitivefrags 6y ago
      What do you think they spent that 7.4 billion on exactly? They literally did give it to the artists, or at least, the record companies.
    - 542458 6y ago
      I’m confused as to what your second paragraph is trying to say. Spotify made 6.7B In revenue last year - not profit. Of that about 5B is paid out to the world’s musicians and record labels (technically bandwidth is probably in that number too, but it’s likely not a huge factor). The remaining 1.7B is marketing, R&D, and admin. In other words, Spotify’s 1.7B cut is about 25%. For comparison, in 1995 if you bought a CD the record store would take a ~35% cut. https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/05/arts/pennies-that-add-up-to-16.98-why-cd-s-cost-so-much.html https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/05/arts/pennies-that-add-up-...
- drusepth 6y ago
  >There isn't an industry with a handful of corporations like Spotify making billions of dollars off your friends' pottery while millions of people spend hours gazing at it. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Etsy...? What are social media sites if not just the Spotify for your eyes? Every time you post anything about your pottery to try to drive a sale (or not), the platform gets more free content that directly influences literally billions of their own profits -- and all you get are people spending hours (if you're lucky) gazing at it.
  - munificent 6y ago
    > Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Etsy...? Yes, I would lump all of those in the same general category. (Though the effort it takes to post something on Facebook is much less than the effort to write, perform, and record a song.)
    - mulmen 6y ago
      The effort to post a song is the same as it is to post anything else. The creation of the song is what takes time. But then it also takes time to create a painting or vase or quilt or whatever else.
- cgh 6y ago
  Etsy is like the Spotify of pottery and other crafts. Most people on there make very little, some make a lot.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

munificent 6y ago

> I'm not sure why this is different. There isn't an industry with a handful of corporations like Spotify making billions of dollars off your friends' pottery while millions of people spend hours gazing at it.

542458 6y ago
Spotify has never posted an annual net profit. If you want to blame somebody, I’d say you should blame the listeners who overwhelmingly listen to a small number of popular artists. Alternatively, blame the record labels who contribute less and less value while still skimming massive amounts of money. See: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110707/03264014993/riaa-accounting-how-to-sell-1-million-albums-still-owe-500000.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110707/03264014993/riaa-...
- munificent 6y ago
  > Spotify has never posted an annual net profit. Because a company choose to roll all of its revenue into growth does not mean that somehow that money doesn't exist and couldn't have instead gone into musicians' pockets. Spotify made $7.4 billion in 2019. Imagine a world where Spotify had only made, say $1 billion, and all of the world's streaming musicians had made $6.4 billion more, distributed among them. Call me crazy, but that latter world sounds more like the one I'd prefer to live in.
  - Negitivefrags 6y ago
    What do you think they spent that 7.4 billion on exactly? They literally did give it to the artists, or at least, the record companies.
  - 542458 6y ago
    I’m confused as to what your second paragraph is trying to say. Spotify made 6.7B In revenue last year - not profit. Of that about 5B is paid out to the world’s musicians and record labels (technically bandwidth is probably in that number too, but it’s likely not a huge factor). The remaining 1.7B is marketing, R&D, and admin. In other words, Spotify’s 1.7B cut is about 25%. For comparison, in 1995 if you bought a CD the record store would take a ~35% cut. https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/05/arts/pennies-that-add-up-to-16.98-why-cd-s-cost-so-much.html https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/05/arts/pennies-that-add-up-...
drusepth 6y ago
>There isn't an industry with a handful of corporations like Spotify making billions of dollars off your friends' pottery while millions of people spend hours gazing at it. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Etsy...? What are social media sites if not just the Spotify for your eyes? Every time you post anything about your pottery to try to drive a sale (or not), the platform gets more free content that directly influences literally billions of their own profits -- and all you get are people spending hours (if you're lucky) gazing at it.
- munificent 6y ago
  > Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Etsy...? Yes, I would lump all of those in the same general category. (Though the effort it takes to post something on Facebook is much less than the effort to write, perform, and record a song.)
  - mulmen 6y ago
    The effort to post a song is the same as it is to post anything else. The creation of the song is what takes time. But then it also takes time to create a painting or vase or quilt or whatever else.
cgh 6y ago
Etsy is like the Spotify of pottery and other crafts. Most people on there make very little, some make a lot.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]