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Of course, the solution is to pay the same royalty rates that terrestrial radio is legally required to pay, since people are using streaming services and YT to serve the same function as radio. Artists would then be able to make a living off their music.
As it stands now, for example, YT doesn't pay a cent if your video gets fewer than 300,000 hits in a quarter-- so 299,999 hits, not annually, but per quarter, all of which YT made a profit on, earns the artist zero. Last I checked, their rate was $.17/play. So, 100,000 hits would be enough to fund a record and a national tour, or buy a van. Or pay a mortgage and health insurance for a family. As opposed to $0.00, which buys none of those things, and makes musicians give up out of necessity.
Other streaming services pay much, much worse-- the first cut off of my last record got 75,000 spins on Spotify alone in the first couple months and my pay-out was $1.63. I wouldn't even bother to cross the street for $1.63.
Of course, the giant internet companies are the ones holding the legislative/lobbying hammer here, so there is essentially a zero percent chance that this will change.
Streaming services would be more expensive if they were required to pay fair-use royalties, but the alternative is the current and future situation: plummeting numbers of professional musicians. And let's remember what kind of music amateur musicians make: bad music.
As it stands now, for example, YT doesn't pay a cent if your video gets fewer than 300,000 hits in a quarter-- so 299,999 hits, not annually, but per quarter, all of which YT made a profit on, earns the artist zero. Last I checked, their rate was $.17/play. So, 100,000 hits would be enough to fund a record and a national tour, or buy a van. Or pay a mortgage and health insurance for a family. As opposed to $0.00, which buys none of those things, and makes musicians give up out of necessity.
Other streaming services pay much, much worse-- the first cut off of my last record got 75,000 spins on Spotify alone in the first couple months and my pay-out was $1.63. I wouldn't even bother to cross the street for $1.63.
Of course, the giant internet companies are the ones holding the legislative/lobbying hammer here, so there is essentially a zero percent chance that this will change.
Streaming services would be more expensive if they were required to pay fair-use royalties, but the alternative is the current and future situation: plummeting numbers of professional musicians. And let's remember what kind of music amateur musicians make: bad music.