Getting paid!

[erlkönig]

@GMaq
Same situation here. Most musicians i know further do teaching. Either as freelancers or in their own music schools - and they have almost all studied their instrument. To make a living of musicianship usually means to play some Top40 Cover Bands, mostly on industry events. If one needs to become rich and famous, the chances are probably the same than winning in the lottery.

[j_e_f_f_g]

I've been a contracted music teacher

I was a contracted music teacher, but the pay was terrible. So I quit and joined the mafia. Now I put out contracts on music teachers.

And the pay is much better.

Glen M, this is a nice little music distro you have here. It would be a shame if something bad were to happen to it. For a small sum, I could make sure you never need to worry about a new audio server ever again.

[merlyn]

First of all it's not about who is right. It's about what is right. Here's some data -- for one stream on Spotify a musician gets between $0.003 and $0.005. The situation is so obviously stacked in favour of the streaming services, and against musicians that there was a committee formed by the UK Parliament to look into the situation. If you're struggling with the term QED, it's short for quad erat demonstrandum, which I'm sure you know the meaning of.

In jeff's analysis of the old music industry (pre-streaming) we have musicians starving to death as their royalties are zero. That doesn't really fit with the image of a rich rock star with a fancy car and a mansion. Royalties were actually about 50p per record. What was important to musicians, and their managers, was the advance. With a record deal, a band got an advance, which was usually a lot of money. The contract would specify the number of albums to be produced. It's called 'the hole' in the trade. The record company dig a hole which is then filled up with the 50ps from record sales. The advance is recoupable but not refundable.

There are also performing royalties which go to the songwriter. In the 90s getting played on BBC Radio One was worth £90 per minute. Contrast this with $0.003 from Spotify.

If we take a Spotify subscription at £9.99 a month that's one CD. Our music fan spending £9.99 a month has twelve albums in a year. Or, for the same money, the 1.8 million on Spotify. QED.

[Largos]

To be fair, the advance from record labels system is incredibly corrupt. Musicians that get "Elton John" level of wealthy are outliers not the norm. A lot of these musicians never see hardly any money because any money taken is used to pay back a loan on money that there is not even any control over what is spent. Steve Albini wrote a very famous essay on this.

There is a far more control, reach and better financial cuts available nowadays to musicians. This, however, requires way more effort, brains and more upfront cash. So, a different barrier of entry of sorts.

[merlyn]

I once went to a lecture by Horace Trubridge and he put it like this :

Island Records made so much money from U2 that they could employ people to flush fivers down the toilet all day, every day. Instead of doing that they sign crap bands, in the hope that one of them will be the next U2.

[erlkönig]

@merlyn
...or the intention was to keep potential competitors under control.

[merlyn]

If I didn't know you were both far more intelligent than I I'd be tempted to knock your heads together.

Being intelligent is not a reason not to knock our heads together. I have quite a hard head, and I think jeff would come off worse.

[j_e_f_f_g]

I have quite a hard head, and I think jeff would come off worse.

The reason I lost that hardest head contest is because I wasn't the one relying upon viagra.

This is entrapment. Merlyn painted in bright crayon the words "kick me" on his own back. You're the cruelest person I've ever met, merl..... and I have a twin brother.

[GMaq]

Glen M, this is a nice little music distro you have here. It would be a shame if something bad were to happen to it.

Please, please take it out!!

For a small sum, I could make sure you never need to worry about a new audio server ever again.

Hah! Don't we wish! Better brush up on your omnipotence skills!

[j_e_f_f_g]

Please, please take it out!!

Thank you! What a nice, reaffirming post!

Most of the people I flash in the park scream the opposite.

<Still doing meryln's and largos' job better than them>

[j_e_f_f_g]

For those who were wondering, I don't in fact have a twin brother.

I came out first, so I killed him.

OUTRAGED? Control panel -> Friends and Foes

[j_e_f_f_g]

artix,

May I ask what country you're from?

I think you know that I'm from the usa, although from my grammatical style, sense of humor, idiomatic usage, etc, most people would assume I was british, or australian.

So much of your use of english is unfamiliar to me, so I assume you're from a region where english is rarely ever used. Are you from an arabic
country, or south east asia (maybe maylasia area?)?

Could you tell me how you came to write in english. Do you speak it also?

[sunrat]

I think you know that I'm from the usa, although from my grammatical style, sense of humor, idiomatic usage, etc, most people would assume I was british, or australian.

As an Australian, I am compelled to comment. Nah, mate, you don't sound Australian. I would have guessed American.

[j_e_f_f_g]

Australian humor is strongly centered around sarcasm, and also tends to be a bit baudy. Remember that your ancestors were "abandoned" by the british as "undesirables". Imagine the level of indignation one would feel at being banished to an island teeming with kangaroos, dingos, tasmanian devils, emu, and other silly sounding, ridiculous looking animals. The combination of being mad as hell, as well as unencumbered by the stifliing decorum of somber english "civility", produced a rather abrasive, rowdy demeanor. And there were a limited number of aboriginal australians upon which to take out your frustrations, so eventually that vitriolic spirit enveloped the entire culture. This, as well as the excessive intake of Fosters, produce the familiar australian joie-de-vivre as best exemplified by the Steve Irwin quote: "So you want to fight, stingray?".

Anyway, I'm well-acquainted with the australian sense of humor. But I never had the opportunity to evaluate the comedic sensibilites of New Zealanders. That is, until one day I stumbled across a notice from the New Zealand Office of Tourism. They were conducting a contest for a brand new slogan to promote foreign tourism. The winner would receive a princely sum of 100 dollars. Of course, that was in New Zealand dollars, so it's about 2 dollars american. I decided to enter the contest. Given the tough economic climate of the times, I chose to focus my slogan at the budget-minded traveler, who would be most persuaded by an advertisement stressing the frugality of a vacation in New Zealand
So, I sent in the following submission:

"When you can't afford Australia, there's always New Zealand."

It turns out that the New Zealand sense of humor is not particularly strong. Aside from not winning the grand prize, I never even received a "Thank you for your submission" letter.

[Largos]

Are you really this stupid to be continually trying to lay the blame on other people for not finding your xenophobic boomer bullshit funny? You're the common denominator.