If letting people listen to your music for three months for free is killing you career, you problem is most definitely not Apple Music.
“Three months is a long time to go unpaid”…I beg to differ on the sentiment expressed.
The problem will not be that you won’t get paid for streams during the 3 month trial periods…the problem is that NO ONE WILL BE LISTENING TO YOUR MUSIC DURING THEIR 3 MONTH TRIAL PERIOD. OR AFTER IT.
You’d be fine if lots of people were listening to your music for the rest of their lives while paying $10 per month for a streaming service. If three months for free is all you had to do in exchange for a life time of monthly royalties…
Taylor Swift is doing this because she can and it doesn’t effect her visibility/discovery/marketing that much…for now. And more power to her. She’s probably one of the few artists who actually know what the breakdown looks like for every half-penny stream that takes place. And she’s willing to roll the dice.
Do you know your breakdown?
No. You don’t. You just complain that you deserve to be paid more money. And maybe you feel empowered by Taylor’s letter to Apple…but do you feel inspired and courageous enough to comb back through your contracts and stare at the hard facts of what you’ve already signed? Do you have the guts and charisma to DO something about it within your own team?
Do you have what it takes to teach and groom your fans for how you want them to consume your music?
Taylor, it’s easy to with hold back from change, to rant and disguise it as a revolution. But the actual revolution comes with offering up a different solution. That’s hard.
For everyone who rails against Spotify or Apple Music, I have never heard an alternative plan offered up that doesn’t involve a time machine taking us back to the 90’s.
Maybe Apple Music will be awesome, maybe Spotify will win out, maybe Google or YouTube or Sony will come up with something better.
But as for you, you just worry about making people like your music. If a lot of people like your music, you’ll be just fine.
p.s. I personally lean pretty heavy on the side that streaming via Spotify, Apple Music, etc, is the solution. It’ll take tweaking, it’ll take time, it’ll take training fans.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com