It’s Apple’s Fault

Actually, Steve Jobs – but same difference

Remember how exciting it was when Steve Jobs introduced the iPod?

Suddenly, we could put all of our music on a little device, create our own playlists, shuffle songs so they weren’t so predictable, and take thousands of albums with us in our pocket.

Overnight, everyone seemed to have those little white earbuds in, lost in their own music libraries.

iPods seem quaint now, a bit like wrist watches. Do we need a separate device just for music or to tell time?

Well, at least one musician lays the blame for everything bad that’s happened to the music industry over the past two decades right on Apple’s doorstep: Pink Floyd drummer, Nick Mason.

You can read his thoughts HERE.

Clearly, some artists have found a way to make lots of money in the digital age, but not as many as before the digital age.

Pharrell Williams made less than $3,000 in songwriter royalties from 43 MILLION streams of his hugely popular hit, “Happy” on Pandora in the first quarter of 2014 (according to Fusion.net).

According to this article on Digital Music News, John Legend made $3400 in fees for 55 MILLION streams of his hit, “All of Me.”

This article, on Tech Dirt, says the deal Spotify made with the record companies gives the labels 73.1% of generated revenue while the artists manage only 6.8%.

The sense Millenials have that all artistic content should be free doesn’t seem sustainable, not if you’re the one creating the content.

So, what’s the solution? What do you suggest? What’s the path away from the dark side of the digital moon?

Oh, one more thing…

Screen shot 2015-02-07 at 9.32.21 AM
Pandora, STOP SPAMMING ME! I get this crap every single day and cannot find a way to stop it.

 

 

 

 

ps. Thanks to my friend, Allan Hotlen, for forwarding the original article to me.