The Misunderstood Reality of Music Streaming
Dumb Rappers, Madonna, Steve Albini, EU *hearts* TikTok, and More!
The Misunderstood Reality of Music Streaming
“Streaming is not broken… but the narrative around streaming is.”
The Orchard president and COO Colleen Theis
Who said streaming isn't paying off for indie artists?
A stat running circles in my mind: 2,000 acts distributed by The Orchard—a company now wholly owned by Sony—pulled in over $100,000 each from streaming alone last year. 127 artists made upwards of a million, with five hitting the ten million mark.
This flips the script on the prevailing doom and gloom about streaming. We hear cries that the game is rigged, and a few weeks ago, I wrote about ludicrous demands for laws ensuring indie artists can make a living wage. But let’s break it down—if you can't make it on $100,000 a year, you're probably already succeeding in other income streams too. Fact is, if you're raking in that kind of dough from streaming alone, opportunities for additional earnings are knocking at your door.
Consider this: 2,000 successful acts under one indie label's umbrella? Sounds like streaming isn’t the industry's villain after all. Try naming 2,000 artists off the top of your head. Tough, right? That underlines a key point—how many artists can one person realistically support? The music market, like any other, is about supply and demand.
Now, the details are crucial—who are these artists? How much of their earnings actually go into their pockets? How much goes to The Orchard?
Those are valid considerations.
Ever talk to a live music executive? They'll tell you about the vocal minority who complain about ticket prices and expect front-row seats on a budget. This sense of entitlement isn’t isolated to ticket sales—it’s rampant across the music industry. Most people reading this won’t even go to a show if they’re not on the list, and even then they’ll stay home if they don’t have the right access.
Many artists upload their tracks to Spotify and other platforms with dreams of big paydays, but here’s the reality check—there’s no guaranteed income in music. It’s like any other product in any other industry. If there’s no demand, there's little to no money. That's Business 101.
Truth is, the good old days weren't always good for musicians. Sure, they got advances, but those often got chewed up by recording costs. Go read And Party Every Day: The Inside Story Of Casablanca Records and then read Kiss and Sell. It’s amazing KISS had any money left by 1980. Yet, there's this nostalgia for a past that wasn’t really all that great.
In today's world, where emotion often trumps facts, it's no surprise that the successful stories in streaming don’t fit the more popular narrative of despair and difficulty. We’re told we’re either oppressed or we’re the oppressor. After a while, people start to believe it and see everything in binary terms, despite the world being a wonderfully bland shade of gray.
Let’s be real. Music, like news, has become a realm where truths are malleable, and feelings outweigh facts. Some of you will be pissed and tell me the system is failing them. Yet, these complaints often overlook the abovementioned successes because they don’t align with their personal experiences. So, just as many people only follow news sources that align with their political beliefs, they become trapped in a vacuum and lean into their feelings because facts aren’t always comfortable.
Music isn’t just about creating; it’s about connecting. It’s not enough for your music to be good; it has to be necessary and compelling. So compelling that people choose to listen repeatedly. Artists are no different than startups that have a great product, but suck at messaging, or worse — are too lazy to care about perfecting it.
That’s the real challenge. Fail to meet it, and yes, you might need to consider music as a hobby while you slog away during the day.
As Bon, Angus, and Malcolm told us:
If you wanna be a star of stage and screen
Look out, it's rough and mean.
Drake and Kendrick Lamar
I don’t write about rap because the genre has been boring since 2000 in ways I can’t begin articulating. The culture is more derivative than the worst hair metal band.
But I’m all about that sweet SEO, so here we go.
The Kendrick/Drake rap beef has reached its inevitable phase, with Drake’s security guard being shot in a drive-by outside of the rapper’s mansion in the rough and tumble streets of Toronto. Drake’s store in London was also vandalized. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the $100k Drake donated to the National Bailout Fund bails one of those guys out?
I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising that the modern-day version of the Tupac/Biggie rap beef of the 90s has devolved into decentralized QAnon-style mob violence and Lamar accusing Drake of pedophilia and human trafficking.
None of it has compelled me to listen to either artist, but creators are making an incredible amount of money thanks to Kendrick Lamar’s decision not to enforce a copyright.
Violence and viral conspiracies aside, Lamar’s four diss tracks are breaking streaming records. This also means nothing to me because every week, I get a press release about a new streaming record.
A rapper named DuffJuice wrote on X, “This means something. This means A LOT actually.”
No, Mr. DuffJuice, it doesn’t mean anything. Nobody outside the industry besides Swifties and KPop fans cares about charts.
Europe ‘nowhere close’ to banning TikTok
About 25% of my readers are in Europe, so I have to throw them a bone every once in a while.
According to a Politico report, Europe is “nowhere close to banning TikTok,” saying the regulatory “toolbox” doesn’t contain what’s needed for a U.S.-style divest-or-ban bill. The bloc “doesn’t have a formal say over national security concerns,” and member states are sharply divided on the issue.
For those keeping score at home, there’s:
Draconian regulations on U.S. speech platforms
Scam fines on U.S. companies
Anti-AI regulation targeting U.S. tech — because my motherland of Italy certainly isn’t building it
But… hooray for the communist spy app?
What a strange continent, operating not in the interest of its people or its allies but aggressively in the interest of a hostile foreign power. Anyway, you’re welcome for multi-billions used to keep Putin off your doorsteps.
1.6 million DID NOT attend Madonna’s concert
Every media outlet breathlessly reported that 1.6 million people attended Madonna’s free concert in Brazil. The source of that figure? Rio’s bureau of tourism, of course. It’s totally safe here! Ignore all those viral crime videos. Just come party!
Free concerts are notoriously over-reported. Most of you reading this fully understand this because you’re all part of that papering game. But here, no paper to get in the way!
Like many things in life, we can blame this tomfoolery on New York City. They started it with absolutely ridiculous reported crowds in Central Park.
Let’s look back at their lies:
James Taylor’s concert in 1979; NYC reported 250,000 people.
Elton John’s concert in 1980; NYC reported 300,000 people.
Simon and Garfunkel’s concert in 1981; NYC reported 400,000 people.
Paul Simon’s concert in 1991; NYC reported 600,000 people.
Anyone with a brain knew that even with their notoriously terrible taste, 600k NYers didn’t go to a Paul Simon show.
But then NYC unleashed a whopper that made even Donald Trump blush:
Garth Brooks’ 1997 show? NYC reported 750,000 attended!
FUCK YOU.
Their decades-long fairytale began in unravel in 2004. A group opposing the Iraq war was denied a permit to stage a rally of 75,000 protesters on the park’s Great Lawn. The City Parks Department denied the permit because of fears that there would be too many people. The group sued the city, arguing officials had previously permitted concerts with much larger crowds — specifically citing when nearly a million boot-scootin’ NYers saw Garth Brooks.
The city settled the lawsuit by paying $50,000 to the groups and hired a panel of experts to advise the commissioner on just how many people could fit on the Great Lawn.
In the summer of 2008 the lie was laid bare for all to see.
Jon Bon Jovi’s sole contribution to society was helping expose the truth.
The Great Lawn certainly looked packed. But there were only 48,538 people, as counted by workers with clickers at the lawn’s various entrances. A helicopter took photos of the crowd and divided them into quadrants, for later analysis, which revealed “a little less than 50,000 people.”
How did nearly one million concert-goers easily fit into the same space where 50,000 Bon Jovi fans could barely fit? This is no time for NY obesity jokes. I’m here to expose these filthy liars.
City officials admitted they had previously guessed at attendance numbers. The Central Park Commissioner at the time, Adrian Benepe, told the New York Times in 2008: “You look out at the sea of people from the stage, and your mind tells you, ‘That’s what hundreds of thousands of people looks like.’ Now we know it’s 48,500.”
Madonna didn’t play to 1.6 million people.
Steve Albini: 1962 - 2024
We almost bought the house next door to Steve Albini, and I kind of wish we did so that I could have someone to endlessly argue with about my stupid music opinions.
Albini said my friend’s father, Ed Paschke, was a brilliant educator and "one of the only people in college who actually taught me anything.” It’s pretty remarkable that Albini, Liz Phair, and Jeff Koons were all greatly influenced by Paschke. Imagine how annoying Albini would have been had he not been in that class?!
I hate when someone dies, and lots of people pretend to care. Albini didn’t care about you, so why throw around platitudes? A lot of my friends were recorded by or worked with him. The best comment I’ve read came from one of those friends, who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent:
I spent like 45 minutes in the control room discussing Some Kind of Monster as Steve quietly cut tape. He didn’t say anything, didn’t even seem aware of the conversation. Then suddenly, without turning around, with his back to us, he says:
“I just want to know how they made a three hour documentary about the making of that album and never once do they mention the fucked up snare drum.”
Awesome.
Oh look, an email just arrived about Steve… let’s see if it’s from a friend.
Ah yes, so nice of Discogs to tell me about the dead guy’s 10 essential albums and even provide a link to buy them via Discogs.
WTF.
THE NEWS DESK
Music, Media, & Entertainment
Substack launched the Substack Creator Studio, a fellowship program for emerging short video creators. I've lost track of everyone trying to be TikTok. Substack seems to be throwing everything at the wall lately, hoping it will stick. Remember when they did one thing really, really well?
Read More → substackLive Nation had another record quarter, posting its best-ever Q1 with $3.8 billion in revenue (up 21% YOY). You still owe them 30% of your merch, and make sure you clear the hall when they walk through.
Read More → billboardMrBeast, who earned $600 million (what!?) in 2023, has left his long-time management company, Night Media, and will now be self-managed. I’m surprised more huge artists don’t do this. Does Metallica really need QPrime?
Read More → semaforPrince’s house or bedroom or something is for rent on Airbnb. Wendy and Lisa are your hosts. Nothing is sacred. There’s no mystique. Everything is for sale. Vomit. Read More → airbnb
E-Commerce & Retail
Apple released a new iPad and it’s really thin. It was announced with a weird ad that showed pianos, paint cans, cameras, and books being crushed into the iPad itself. Read More → timcook
Food products that came out the year you were born. I’m in the Jelly Belly Army!
Read More → tasteofhomeThe $400 red pineapple. You people have way too much money.
Read More → axios
Tech, Web3, & AI
Pinterest nearly doubled its revenue growth rate last quarter to $740m.
They’re now about to use AI to show users more tailored posts and ads.
Read More → theinformationEngineers developed millimeter-thick fabric capable of suppressing sounds in large rooms or spaces; the electrically active ‘sound suppressing silk’ can reduce ambient noise by up to 75%. I already grabbed a trademark for Silent But Deadly Underwear, suckers! Read More → mit
TikTok sues US government over law forcing Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest or face a US ban; argues video platform should be allowed to operate under First Amendment free speech protections.
Read More → nbcnewsOpenAI also announced that it's building a tool called Media Manager that will allow creators to “opt out” of their works being used to train its AI systems.
Read More → techcrunch
Misc.
33% of content writers and 24% of marketers updated their LinkedIn profiles to add AI to their skills. Imagine interviewing them to discover they actually meant they used Jasper or Canva. Read More → sherwood
1 in 24 New York City residents are now millionaires, some 350K people…more than any other city globally. Or, if you want a less clickbait title, 96% of NYC residents aren’t millionaires. Read More → Bloomberg
Boy Scouts of America announced it would change its name to Scouting America, to be inclusive, allowing ‘all genders’ to join. It marks the first rebrand in its 114-year history. Read More → thehill
The Girl Scouts, meanwhile, proudly announced they have absolutely no plans to bow to weird outrage mobs.
Read More → girlscouts
Deep Reads
The Parents Who Regret Having Children
A deep read on a challenging topic. Unsurprisingly, getting solid data on the number of parents who regret having children is challenging. In 2013, a Gallup poll asked Americans 45 and older how many kids they’d have if they could return in time. Seven percent of the respondents with children said zero. And in 2023, a study estimated that 5% to 14% of parents regret their decision to have children.
Read More → timeMysteries in the Case Against Bryan Kohberger
When four University of Idaho students were killed in 2022, attention turned to doctoral student Bryan Kohberger. Today, the trial is beset by delays, questions over the jury pool, and hints of a mysterious new witness.
Read More → airmailTikTok is Wiring Gen Z’s Money Brain
Americans under 30 get much of their news on TikTok. They hear about money there, too, shaping how they save, spend and view their financial prospects—irrespective of reality.
Read More → WSJA Wild 1970s Hijacking You've Never Heard Of
The late 1960s and early 1970s were sometimes cynically referred to as the "Golden Age of Hijacking," witnessing over 300 hijackings. In one such case, passengers on an Ethiopian Airlines flight experienced a crazy shootout and grenade explosion—but lived to tell the tale.
Read More → narratively
Uh, Okaaaaay….
