One of my favorites:
Lie #9: Spotify is your friend.
The Lie: Streaming on Spotify will make artists money, if they just wait long enough.
The Truth: Spotify will make Spotify and Wall Street tons of money, if they’re really lucky. And they’ve already made tons of money for major labels, not artists.
And even superfans rarely stream enough to equal the nice, upfront, transparent royalty offered by an iTunes Store download.
Keeping in mind, of course, that iTunes royalties are also very poor.
Much of the music business conversation centers around middle-to-major league artists, but I'm more interested in recovering a viable artistic working class, or lower-middle class— how those people can make a living wage.
Lie #7: There’s an emerging middle class artist.
The Lie: Internet-powered disintermediation would create a burgeoning ‘middle class’ of artists. Not the limousine, Bono-style outrageous superstars, but good musicians that could support families and pay their bills.
The Truth: There is no musician middle class. Instead, the music industry has devolved into a third world country, with a wide gulf between the rich and struggling/starving poor.
And, those ambitious middle-class artists that try to make ends meet by spending 350 days on the road are probably not raising very good families.
Well, there is an emerging middle class artist. Unfortunately, it consists of the people who would've been the upper class a couple of decades ago.
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