Things are starting to change rapidly aren’t they? Today two different companies have release press releases about their music business model. Seems everyone is looking to be the change, unfortunately it’s becoming destruction. Last.fm has announced a free music model wherein the artist will likely make about $0.0005 per listen/download/stream. That’s right, a musician’s hard sweat, blood and tears is worth about 1/20th of a cent to them. Thus it would take 20,000 plays/downloads to get $10 (of course if signed to a label, an artist likely would make even less). Wow. Next up we have Qtrax. Qtrax will also give you free music provided you sit through their advertisements. I don’t have details on how much they pay the artist. Anyone out there know?
Why do I write music and pursue it as a full time job? Because I’m delusional enough to believe that I write something good that makes people feel good about something in their life.
The drawback on the Qtrax model for me is that I do a great deal of things to avoid advertising as much as possible. I don’t own a TV. There’s a huge way to avoid it. I purchase TV shows on iTunes if I really like a show. It’s worth it to me to not have commercials. I’m very close to creating widgets to get my news off my favorite sites as I’m tired of seeing the blinking and flashing ads while reading news. Thus if I’m on advertising overload and I’m already at a reduced rate, how far along will it be before even more people begin to revolt?
Good question.
I think Faith No More must have been a bit before their time. Today’s selection was very likely right for the time it came out, but it’s now even more appropriate for musicians and many others. “It’s in your face and you can’t grab it.” What is it? It’s it. We all want things, many of us want everything and right now. Very few of us are willing to put forth the effort to actually get it by ethical means. At the very least to pay for it.
Here’s to looking more positively at the future and that people will still purchase music. Start right here by supporting the artists that grace Single of the Day’s pages. They put out the blood, sweat and tears to make you feel something. Unless you’re willing to give artists your service for free, don’t take their service for nothing.