Source: Zap2It
Earlier this month, Taylor Swift pulled all of her music from the streaming service, Spotify. Many (Spotify included) were angered by her decision and took to Twitter to express their thoughts.
Swift voiced her opinions in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, saying that artists should value their art and streaming services like Spotify hinder album sales. I agree with Taylor in that artists should value their art, but I disagree with her for blaming Spotify. The overarching problem is much more complex.
Record labels value the bottom line, not art.
Source: TheRoot.com
Some independent labels aside, the majority of record labels are less concerned with nurturing artist creativity and more focused on how they can make money off of them. This is why whenever an artist gets signed, their new stuff sounds like a watered-down, radio-friendly version of their old recordings. Ms. Swift should be more angry with her label for not giving her a bigger slice of the $2 million dollar pie. But instead, she blamed a streaming service that is trying to help artists make more in royalties.
Technology has changed the way our generation listens to music.
Source: Statista.com
Instead of placing the blame on money hungry labels, artists like to blame consumers for illegally downloading music or using streaming services. This is neither of their faults. Spotify explains, "By bringing listeners into our free, ad-supported tier, we migrate them away from piracy and less monetised platforms and allow them to generate far greater royalties than they were before."
Lesser-known artists are giving away their music for free.
I couldn't care less about Ms. Swift getting her hefty paycheck because the majority of bands nowadays distribute their music for free. Not because it is less valuable, but because they know the way they listen to music has changed. Instead of getting upset about it and making their music unavailable, they hand out free CDs and downloads left and right. They understand that people hearing their music is more important than people having to pay to hear their music. "But Rachael, it's the principle of the matter!" Exactly what principle is that? Greed? Big name artists already make a shit ton of money in album/ticket sales, who cares if they aren't making millions in online streaming?
Revenue from touring has replaced record sales.
Source: Statista.com
This is precisely the reason why I do not feel bad for artists like Taylor Swift when it comes to royalties. Forbes reported that her 1989 tour is expected to generate over $200 million dollars in ticket sales. Her average ticket price on the secondary market for her Red tour was $170. Artists have no right to bitch about people not buying their music when they are making up the cost anyway by charging an outrageous amount for tickets. Now, after all of this, do you still feel bad for Taylor?