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I still don't get where the money comes from for "album sales". They talk about "platinum" albums and that apparently still translates to millions for big name stars. What is that, where does that money come from?

Bob


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Originally Posted By: jazzmammal
I still don't get where the money comes from for "album sales". They talk about "platinum" albums and that apparently still translates to millions for big name stars. What is that, where does that money come from?

Bob


As physical product sales have diminished, they've created a hybrid to determine gold/platinum status. Short version is that it's a combination of streams, downloads and physical product sales. Believe it or not, some of the bigger acts still sell a lot of CDs (relatively speaking).

Streaming, being a hybrid, has both a performance and a mechanical (sales) component. They've also lowered the bar for what constitutes gold or platinum status. Back in the day, gold was 500K units and platinum was 1 million. I don't know the exact number, but it's lower than that now.

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Damn, that's bad. The only way that I keep hearing about folks making good money are the performers themselves. They basically use all those millions of various streams and digital platforms like Youtube to leverage their concert ticket sales. That of course, has nothing to do with a non performing song writer.

I sure don't have any answers to this and note where it says that Spotify and others reported major financial losses. It doesn't look like there is any more money available from them.

When I just replayed Bonamassa's vid it got to the end and YT played his very cool song Evil Mama. I looked at the stuff below the video window and it's all about his upcoming shows with links to buy tickets.

Bob


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I also watched again to see if I'd misunderstood the first go around. I don't think I did. Also read the article Bud and Janice posted. Depressing on the face of it, but may also have held the seeds of a new beginning.

Here's a wild thought from just me, here on the far-fringes of the music industry. Seems like now is the perfect storm for a new and stronger "union" to emerge, including the possibility of strike. Why? Because streaming income is so ridiculousness low, what is there to lose?

I'm curious if the same phenomenon has affected writers in the film and TV industries. It seems to me that the proliferation of TV/Video providers has not had the same effect on the creation of product in shows and film as has the ascendance of streaming services for music had for song-writers. With broadband, movies and TV are pretty much equally "download-able/stream-able" and that is the direction that consumption is taking. Aren't DVD/BluRay sales flat or down? I don't really know.

Along those lines, neither mentioned synching rights and payment (the use of music and (I'm guessing?) songs in film and TV productions. How do those people get paid, and what is the state of that? More importantly, WHY is the state of that what it is/is becoming?

As the article pointed out, these industries are unionized. Those unions have struck before. Who is "management"? Well...management is just the working wing of capital. Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and others are now in the business of producing (or at least financing the production of) content, not just streaming what others have produced. MAYBE a way forward for music streaming services is to supplant or partner with record producers.

The public at large basically doesn't even know much of anything about what either the Video or the article are talking about. But sometimes coordinated symbolic action brings on the beginnings of change. Pressure and effective action then have some traction. Think about the possibilities for protest on YouTube comment sections alone.

As for me, I don't have a Spotify account and I will not pay money to a music streaming service unless I have transparent evidence that they are paying song-writers a worthy amount. So far, I don't know of one. And if there is ever a song-writers Union, I'd be prepared to either join or support, even though I have no expectation this will add a dime to my bank account.

I haven't always been so "thoughtful" with other creators of digitizable content, but that's been my "position" concerning songs since the days of Napster. It's only gotten more firm.


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