3 ms·

I tend to follow musicians who are outside of the popular mainstream, such as fiddling, chamber music, jazz, etc. Many of the musicians still bring a briefcase

I tend to follow musicians who are outside of the popular mainstream, such as fiddling, chamber music, jazz, etc. Many of the musicians still bring a briefcase full of CDs to each performance. I have asked them the hypothetical: Suppose I want to buy your recording but want you to get the biggest possible cut of the sale. Should I buy the CD or a download? Answer: The CD. It is very hard for them to make money from streaming. Something like that might be happening in other musical genres that I'm not as familiar with. If people are buying vinyl but digital music is effectively free, then of course vinyl will have more sales than digital.

techsupporter 5y ago
> Should I buy the CD or a download? > Answer: The CD. It is very hard for them to make money from streaming. For what it's worth, and I am not a musician and maybe every deal is different, the people I know who earn a living from playing music have told me that buying the physical CD or buying a digital download from an online store like iTunes or HDTracks nets them within a dollar or two of the same payout. There's a substantial, as we all know, earnings difference between buying a CD and streaming the artist on a platform like Spotify or Apple Music. But the difference between buying the CD and buying a set of MP3s or FLACs or the like is, supposedly, far smaller. (If your preferred artist is on BandCamp, I've been told it's even smaller or almost to the point that the CD makes them less money than the download.)
- anyfoo 5y ago
  That's what I heard from a musical artist (who is quite successful in their niche), too: The money from streaming is surprisingly little, so fans who want to support them should buy the music in whatever medium (CD, vinyl, download...). They do put a lot of emphasis on their vinyl records, though. I don't know whether that's because it's also the most popular (you get the big physical disk with artwork and everything and a download code included), or whether that nets them more. I can ask.

techsupporter 5y ago

> Should I buy the CD or a download? > Answer: The CD. It is very hard for them to make money from streaming. For what it's worth, and I am not a musician and maybe every deal is different, the people I know who earn a living from playing music have told me that buying the physical CD or buying a digital download from an online store like iTunes or HDTracks nets them within a dollar or two of the same payout. There's a substantial, as we all know, earnings difference between buying a CD and streaming the artist on a platform like Spotify or Apple Music. But the difference between buying the CD and buying a set of MP3s or FLACs or the like is, supposedly, far smaller. (If your preferred artist is on BandCamp, I've been told it's even smaller or almost to the point that the CD makes them less money than the download.)

anyfoo 5y ago
That's what I heard from a musical artist (who is quite successful in their niche), too: The money from streaming is surprisingly little, so fans who want to support them should buy the music in whatever medium (CD, vinyl, download...). They do put a lot of emphasis on their vinyl records, though. I don't know whether that's because it's also the most popular (you get the big physical disk with artwork and everything and a download code included), or whether that nets them more. I can ask.