Comments on: How little musicians earn online

By: Moving Beyond Digital Sales « Mokhov

Moving Beyond Digital Sales « Mokhov — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 01:22:27 +0000

[...] FlowingData writer Nathan Yau recently covered how little musicians earn online, and the infographic is very telling (click through that link to see [...]

By: Steal This Music: Some Thoughts on Piracy | Ranting About Music!

Steal This Music: Some Thoughts on Piracy | Ranting About Music! — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 03:34:21 +0000

[...] touring” is the argument pro-piracy people make all the time, but after taking a look at this, I was surprised by exactly how little they get. Once you get down past iTunes, apparently things [...]

By: tripper4

tripper4 — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:24:38 +0000

like any thing else,if your in it for the money……….you probably wont make any.

By: Duncan Hackett

Duncan Hackett — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 04:13:13 +0000

I was misled by the title “How little musicians earn online”. I thought it was going to tell me how small people manage to make money from the intenet.

By: Ali Reid

Ali Reid — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:21:46 +0000

That guy alex….

you weren’t ‘swindled’. You presumably made a rational decision to exchange money for a product.

We live in virtual global meritocracy. the models of distribution have changed rapidly, and intellectual property laws are as they are. you need to read more about those things before spouting absurd arguments.

Think about journalism for a minute, for instance. people can now set up a magazine or blog for virtually no cost, and this has put pressure on some revenue models of journalism. The question then becomes ‘how do we ensure a high standard of journalism if full-time journalists don’t get paid enough?’

The ‘love’ has nothing to do with it. We should all seek employment in something we find fulfilling. If we can’t make a living from being musicians, we will have to relegate it to a hobby – but then we can never reach the level we might have reached if we could do it full time.

By: desy b

desy b — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:26:44 +0000

to sell 12 thousand MP3s per month would be amazing. I have two labels that dont sell that amount per year all in. Gigs is where artists are making money and remember even when sales were good in 70s, 80s etc bands still toured, they still sold merchandise. Online sales is merely advertising tool. sad but true. worryingly though is the lack of royalty and income from no tradition radio, like the streaming. this should be looked at. If radio did not pay people they’d be in trouble but once its online people dont have a clue or dont care. its as bad as file sharing

By: Simon

Simon — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 08:42:21 +0000

It’s interesting that you start by saying that you’re not aware of the mindset that musicians should become rich, then you immediately after prove my point. Should you really be paid for how many people you “touch” with your art? That sounds absurd. Why is art of more value than the output of a teacher for example? I’d say that then a fantastic teacher who influence generations and generations of kids is more important than any musicians who has written a song that people like to smoke weed to or decide to put on a mixtape to a girl/boy they fancy. How about scientists who develop vaccines? Musicians’ output look pretty bleak compared to them, but still a lot of those scientists do not earn nearly enough as many musicians who have found success. I’m just saying it’s odd to look at a monetary reward as the given reward for touching lots of people with your art, surely the biggest part of the reward should be to do just that and not the financial gain.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:07:24 +0000

Ha ha, thanks Sean, your comments did provide me with entertainment. I hope you put as much passion into your music. As for the other people’s comments, I think they are well made and they make some good points, I agree that I would not work for the love of it. I think Simon on the 10 of June also makes a good point. Maybe it’s not the music artists that have swindleled me of my cash over the years but more the “music industry”, record companies, whose job is just to make money rather than make music. Like the film industry, they copy formats for success, churning out safe, bland, copies of previous winning formulas and don’t take risks on new and different ideas but manufacture pop stars and songs and covers of old songs but with new young sexy singers. I don’t feel bad that free music is affecting their pockets. Maybe Spottify will bring about a renaissance of live inventive bands?

By: SirKingLordHighness

SirKingLordHighness — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 09:39:42 +0000

That’s because your region has the worst music piracy in the world.

By: Sean

Sean — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 18:16:16 +0000

Simon, where in the name of all that is holy did you ever get the impression that musicians have a “mindset” that they are entitled to become millionaires?! I have spent my entire life around musicians, and never met one with that mindset.

A lot of musicians would indeed be very happy to make a decent living by working at their craft. I can guarantee you there are far more musicians living below, at or near the poverty line than there are plumbers or teachers doing the same.

If a song is loved by enough people, then musicians ARE worth more than a plumber or teacher, because they will touch many more people with their art. Why shouldn’t they reap the rewards? If you were willing to pay as much for the enjoyment of a song as you were for a daily cup of coffee, more people WOULD be able to make a decent living out of making music for your enjoyment.

Furthermore, given the TRUE mindset of most musicians I know, I would be willing to bet more of it would make it back to the community in charitable donations and time than it would in the pockets of the same plumbers and teachers you cite.