Several years ago, when singer T-Pain posted this tweet on social media, it went viral. In a clear and straightforward manner, the artist made clear what songwriters and performers were up against in the streaming service era. (Rapper Ice-T also called out sites like Spotify even earlier.)
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But since T-Pain shared his thoughts in December 2021, some might wonder if anything has changed in the two years since? That’s why we tracked down some successful artists to see their thoughts. Is streaming helping or hurting their careers? And is the topic still work debating?
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For Chris Ballew, the frontman for the popular rock group The Presidents of the United States of America, and who later started beloved projects like Caspar Babypants and others, streaming revenue is a small part of his income, just as it is for most artists. The good news for Ballew is that he has a backlog of music that made him money prior to streaming ever existing.
“I’m in a great position these days, because I have created a giant catalog of music between the Presidents and Caspar Babypants that generates income for me without me doing anything to promote it,” Ballew tells American Songwriter. “With that in mind, I release my new solo albums on streaming services from the perspective of a hobbyist these days, rather than someone who is trying to make a living from streaming my music.”
It’s ironic—streaming services are the easiest and most prevalent ways for people to listen to music. They garner billions of streams monthly, but they also make music seem worthless. Ballew has noticed this of late, too.
“I think that most streaming services promote an unfortunate attitude toward music that it should be free, and that the artists who make it should not be fairly compensated,” Ballew says. “Musicians will always choose to release their music, no matter how difficult it is to make a living from it, and the streaming services take advantage of this hopeful perspective to consistently devalue musician’s creative output.”
But Ballew has a solution. If given the chance to waive a wand, the songwriter says, he would change up the economic structure of streaming services like Spotify.
“I would modify all streaming services to distribute subscription dollars based on what the user listened to that month,” he says, “rather than throwing the money into a giant pot, and then distributing the money based on each artist’s percentage of plays relative to all the other artists on the streaming services. In other words, if you subscribe to Spotify and only listen to Caspar Babypants, then all of your subscription dollars that month should go to Caspar Babypants.”
When it comes to his actual sales from streaming services, Ballew says he has “no idea” how much money he generates from them—meaning, likely not very much. In this way, Ballew puts his music on there despite the fact the services don’t treat musicians very well. These sites take advantage of this fact. In some way you’re not a “real” artist if you don’t have a presence on the platforms. But if you do, then you subject yourself to a feeling next to worthlessness.
“I just do it because I figure having some people listen to the music I’m making now is better than having nobody listen to the music I’m making now,” Ballew says.
Rapper Gifted Gab, who has gone viral on the internet as part of her partnership with rapper Blimes Brixton—together, they are the dynamic pair B.A.G.—says the internet and streaming services create a lack of accountability for artists, on top of not paying them.
“Hand-to-hand music sales is essentially a thing of the past and we’re slaves to the streaming sites,” Gab tells American Songwriter. “Some [are] better than others—Bandcamp definitely being the most artist-centered—but other than that, they pimp the fuck out of you and unless you’re, like, Drake, your streaming money is nothing more than a little passive income. That’s why shows and merch are so important to artists. That’s how we make our money.”
Financially, Gab says, streaming services “don’t make shit.” Yet, she adds, just because one novice artist can put their song on YouTube or Spotify, they think they’re an artist. Not only do these services not pay, but they empower people for the wrong reasons and in the wrong ways, she says.
“Even then, someone like me with a discography of music isn’t as enticing to an industry exec as an artist with one singular song to their name and it’s viral on TikTok,” says Gab. “It’s sad and dumb.”
She adds, “I wish we went back to gatekeeping the hip-hop culture. Too many undeveloped, under-performing artists [treat] the landscape like a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s ruined the sanctity of being an artist. You go to a motherfucker’s Twitter and in their bio they have ‘singer, songwriter’ [but] they literally have eight minutes of music and have never wrote a song for anyone, but they’ve adopted that title.
“It’s like you can do whatever you want and nobody is going to check you. It didn’t used to be cool to be a rapper or artist. Now literally everybody and they grandma got a track and video out. Because of that, it’s oversaturated the market and makes it hard for the real creatives—the ones that would do it for free or it’s not a choice … to stand out and [be] given a chance.”
On the other side of the coin, there’s also those like Neil Young, who famously gave up (at least for a time) being on the popular streaming service Spotify. Others like India.Arie, Joni Mitchell and Graham Nash followed suit, each for their own reason, from misinformation to small sales to racist behavior from podcasters on the platform. But what would happen if a rising artist left? Would they be left behind in the process?
“Streaming services do serve as a vital tool for independent artists, enabling access to a broader audience,” says burgeoning country artist Ashlie Amber, who was recently featured on the television show My Kind of Country. “The goal often revolves around amassing enough streams to attract the attention of bigger management or labels. These days it serves as the digital music business card, a stepping stone in the journey towards wider recognition.”
She adds, “So far as an artist of my level, streaming services have only provided me a resume boost and a slow but steady organic fan base.”
But it takes time and resources to build even that, Amber adds. “However, for those of us building towards this,” she says, “it can feel like an endless money hole as most artists aren’t earning enough to cover the initial expense of all the resources that go into releasing a song after producer, distribution, manager, and any other cuts that are paid out prior to the artist’s true net income.”
If she could change the business, Amber says, “It would definitely be nice to earn more than five cents per stream and for labels to loosen their grip on editorials, giving independent artists a broader platform. However, considering the staggering 40,000-plus songs uploaded daily, some level of separation seems necessary. These platforms ultimately operate within the music business—business being the key word.”
In one sense, having the freedom to write, record and release music on your own terms seems supremely valuable. No longer do musicians have to grovel to companies to get the smallest chance. But what is the flip side of that? If you ask Gab, it’s something akin to anarchy. Maybe there’s a better way. A happier medium. But in the end, if the world wants music, it has to create something of a more sustainable model, Ballew says.
“This is a very democratic time for independent musicians to be heard,” Ballew says. “I think the advantage of streaming services is that people will hear your music rather than not hear it, and that can translate to successful touring experiences for the musicians.
“[But] it seems to be yet another example of corporate America exhibiting the kind of greed that has traditionally separated the haves and have-nots on opposite sides of a wall,” he continued. “Tearing down that wall and treating creative people with respect and not viewing their music as a commodified unit would be a beautiful goal to achieve.
“It will take a revolution and thoughts from the people holding the keys to the kingdom, which may be too much to ask for.”
