“The truth is that unless millions of people listen to a song, it makes little to no difference in my life,” said RAC in a recent Facebook post addressing streaming services. Surrounding recent “streaming wars” taking place among companies like Spotify, Soundcloud, and Apple Music, the indie dance producer’s points on the issue are important to take into consideration when examining different sides of the debate.

On one end, artists like Taylor Swift and multiple indie record labels champion for the rights of musicians, denouncing the injustice of these services keeping what rightfully belongs to the artist. On the business side, these companies justify their lack of royalty payments with the fact that they are paying the labels themselves and other entities billions of dollars.

But how crucial is this to the artist? Not very, as noted above. What RAC points out is that royalties are an outdated source of artist income. As music has become more widespread as a result of the internet age, making money purely through song plays has become nearly obsolete as “the product has lost its value.” Instead, RAC argues, “music is objectively a marketing tool to promote tours.”

RAC presents a valid point here: the tour is becoming the new vehicle for artist income. Festivals often determine release dates for tracks and albums, while most people, if they spend money on music at all, is on tickets to live events. Perhaps we should all take RAC’s final words of advice to heart when wanting to actually support musicians – “Come see a show, buy a t-shirt, tell your friends.”

 

 

 

Tags: RAC, streaming war

Categories: News