By Bob Lefsetz
It’s a racket I tell you. Streaming has ruined the music business. I’m sitting here busting my ass recording and releasing and I’m not making any money. The system is broken. I’ve been screwed. Spotify is the devil.
But the devil is in the details. That 1%? It represents 16,000 artists!
SIXTEEN THOUSAND ARTISTS?
Last I checked, people could only listen to one track at one time. And sure, they’ve made more people since the seventies, but not that many.
In the seventies there was a glut of product, it was the talk of the business, how there were now FIVE THOUSAND ALBUMS A YEAR! Up from 2500-3000. How was anybody supposed to get noticed?
In other words, sixteen thousand artists making money every year sounds pretty good. The cycle in the seventies was one album per year…there weren’t even 16,000 artists making music every year, at least not recorded and distributed to record outlets.
As for the rest of the acts…