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Instagram helps top artists boost earnings
The money that artists receive when their tracks get played has just hit a record high.
In 2018 £746 million was paid out - a rise of 4% on 2017.
PRS for music, which collects the royalties for artists, counted songs used on Facebook and Instagram Stories for the first time.
But according to singer-songwriter Ruth-Anne Cunningham, "a lot of songwriters are making less than minimum wage".
Ruth-Anne, who's worked with Avicii, JoJo and John Legend, says "it's great everything is starting to get monetised" but adds, "unless you have a top 40 radio hit you don't make a substantial income".
The boss of PRS says the rise of streaming has made it harder for them to monitor what's being played - and agrees that those trying to earn a living from music are losing out.
"The very successful people are doing extremely well," Robert Ashcroft tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.
"The challenge is, if you're trying to make a living and you're not a performer it's getting more difficult."
Ruth-Anne says that despite performing as well as writing, that's something she's got experience of: "I've had that where I've had massive hits and made money, but then had to be a vocal coach too.
"Back in the day you could make money from being on an album, now people see streams and people see 10 million and think that's a lot - but a songwriter might make £400 from that."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bradley13 on Friday May 03 2019, @10:33AM (2 children)
"a lot of songwriters are making less than minimum wage"
Lots of people want to make a living off of art, music, theater, etc.. More people than the market will support. "Starving artist" is a cliché for a reason.
Seriously, art makes a great hobby, but generally a lousy profession. I've seen (and occasionally talked to) a few too many artists who think their internal obsession must somehow entitle them to make a living. They would be better off working an actual job, and enjoying their art on the side. Yet somehow the idea of working for a living is beneath their artistic dignity. So they starve, and whine about how unfair life is...
"The challenge is, if you're trying to make a living and you're not a performer it's getting more difficult."
Yes, well, it doesn't help that the music industry is dominated by a few large leeches. Excepting the few annointed bands, the musicians who make a living tend to be independent, or else they publish through very small, indie-friendly music houses. Mostly, they sell CDs and stuff at their live performances. This can work: I know a couple of musicians who pull it off. But they don't get rich, and for every one of them that does manage to make a living, there are probably a hundred starving dreamers...
I'll say it again: art makes a great hobby, but a lousy profession.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by aiwarrior on Friday May 03 2019, @04:15PM (1 child)
Agree. Even self developed software falls into this and it is has far less performers. I really like developing on a given field but my bills are payed with business software. I set up a company for the side job part and treat it as my savings account. Maybe one day it will work out but the threshold of profitability to get me to my current salary safely for a course of 5 or 10 years is very hard to achieve
Being an artist is for those who can afford not for those who want. If you disagree the body pays. It is a noble profession the one of the artist.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Saturday May 04 2019, @04:44PM
There are massive imbalances between value and revenue. Stories abound of the valuable songs or books that generated embarrassingly small amounts of revenue for the artists, or did generate lots of revenue but somehow 99% of it was siphoned off by middlemen. Hollywood Accounting, you know.
Obviously, the system is not working well. The entrenched interests who are opposed to real reform have had entirely too much success, though you wouldn't know it from the whining and bellyaching they make over piracy. I keep wondering when the dam will burst and sweep the current system away.