Why Do Music Streaming Services Are Keeping Musicians From The Royalties And What They Deserve?

What They Deserve

Music streaming services are keeping musicians from the royalties they deserve. Where does the profit go that these companies are generating off of these artists? Artists spend months, even years, creating their albums it is their profession and they should be compensated for their work. The most popular artists may not need the money, while independent bands that are starting from nothing, do. When a band or musicians, music is put on a streaming app or website the user gets to listen to all the songs free of charge. While there are some apps such as Spotify and Pandora that offer a premium version of their service, where the user is charged a monthly fee. The artists receive no payout from the streaming services.

In the

While a few illegal downloading sites still remained, few were used due to the poor quality of what was being put on them. But now in the age of music streaming, “Streaming has won. Nielsen Music reported that streaming doubled over the past year, from 165 billion songs to 317 billion songs. Digital downloads fell by 12.5 percent. CD sales continued their long decline”(Maney 45). People don’t want to go and seek out music like they used to. As long as they have access to it on their phone through an application then they are satisfied. For the listener it also means not having to pay for an album, they can listen to singular songs for free. So if they don’t like it, they will not feel like it was a waste of money. Leaving the artist with no profit from their

Mainstream artist such as Adele, Ed Sheeran, and Beyonce are the most popular in the world, leaving them with the most hits on streaming services. While they don’t need the money they are standing in the way of independent artists. Currently, Ed Sheeran sits at the top of the Spotify Global Streaming Charts, with 6,133,342 streams of his song “Shape of You”. Not far below him in the number four spot is Drake with his new song “Passionfruit”. As soon as a big artist comes out with new music it shoots to the top of music streaming charts. This makes it harder for unpopular bands who are starting up to get noticed. Artists are always going to be making music, but there will no longer be the Bowie types, who come out of nowhere and speak for generations. Uniqueness is an attribute rarely seen in popular artist in the age of music