Too much music

[NiagaraPete]

Alan Cross a Canadian music freak has this to say.

Here's proof that there's just too much music being made. WAY too much. — Global News

The internet was supposed to have democratized the distribution of music. But things have gone much too far. Something needs to be done to save music from itself.

apple.news

 

[Philbo King]

The law of supply and demand implies that (near) infinite supply drives prices toward zero.

Perhaps this is why music creators have a hard time making a living?
And why Spotify payments are measured in millionths of a penney per playback?

I suspect this to be true.

 

[kemmler3D]

The music business has always been controlled by distributors / labels, and my general impression is that the low- and middle- tier artists are now doing worse than ever. Revenues from recorded music have never recovered from their high in 1999 and are now recovered to where they were in the early 2000s. https://www.statista.com/chart/17244/us-music-revenue-by-format/

This doesn't include concert, merch, etc. revenues. So it's not a complete picture, but as far as selling CDs vs streams go, times were better in the late 90s than they ever were.

Since there are a lot more artists now competing for that (smaller amount of) money, there's some truth to the headline. On the other hand, unless people are making that music with a clear expectation of a big payday, I'm not sure I agree with it.

 

[RayDunzl]

I have a tendency to listen to music that has withstood the test of time.

On the other hand, right now I'm listening to the Monday noon locally DJ'd program on WMNF Non Commercial Community Radio. All volunteer station although there are paid positions where necessary to keep the ship afloat.

I don't do the streaming services, already have what they have I want to hear agian, and as mentioned above, it is a bit tedious to wade through the rest.

 

[FrantzM]

Well, there are more people on earth.. We are past 8 Billions... and, according to Statista.com

As of January 2023, there were 5.16 billion internet users worldwide, which is 64.4 percent of the global population. Of this total, 4.76 billion, or 59.4 percent of the world's population, were social media users.

So much more music and more people to consume it.

Peace.

 

[Blumlein 88]

This was always more or less where things were heading since 25 years ago. If you make a living from music it will be from paid gigs, live performances and concerts. Places where you and merch add value to just music. Because music is essentially almost valueless with near infinite supply. Even the few big artists that make good on streaming make more from concert tours.

 

[RayDunzl]

. If you make a living from music it will be from paid gigs, live performances and concerts.

And scalping tickets, as a tangentially related endeavor...

 

[Philbo King]

And scalping tickets, as a tangentially related endeavor...

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Little of that money reaches the performer. Most goes to the Live Nation crime syndicate, who own both the venues and Ticketron.