When you think about it, wouldn’t artist make MORE in the streaming era than the CD era?

[BrothaZay]

the thread of the monthly Spotify listeners got me wondering.


When someone buys a CD it’s just a one time purchase. Not to mention you have ppl who burrow CDs, steal them, burn them etc …

But in the streaming era it’s different. Sure the upfront money probably isn’t the same but the back end seems significantly higher

If you’re a guy like 50, Em, Wayne, Jay who debuted decades ago then your sales may of went way down by now, but your streams are still consistently bringing in $50,000-$100,000 a month

Isn’t that BETTER?

I mean if streaming really wasn’t making money why wouldn’t the labels just collectively get together and stop them

 

[Maximus Rex]

When people big up the CD era they completely forget about how piracy had people saying the music industry was dying.

Streaming saved that shxt and injected a whole lot of money back into music

 

[Reality Check]

If you’re a guy like 50, Em, Wayne, Jay who debuted decades ago then your sales may of went way down by now, but your streams are still consistently bringing in $50,000-$100,000 a month.

How many streams per month off of sites would you need to make 50-100k a month?

 

[Ineedmoney504]

How many streams per month off of sites would you need to make 50-100k a month?

Probably a billion. I think they need like hundreds of mill to get like 50k

 

[Solomon Lurke]

When people big up the CD era they completely forget about how piracy had people saying the music industry was dying.

Streaming saved that shxt and injected a whole lot of money back into music

Also the costs of even releasing a cd. Pressing, artwork, and the time it takes to find a people to even sell a CD to. Don’t let people fool you. These independent dudes are eating. A lot of the bitterness comes from dudes in bad deals to begin with so they seeing fractions of fractions.

 

[BrothaZay]

How many streams per month off of sites would you need to make 50-100k a month?

According to ChatGPT 20,000,000 just off Spotify by itself

 

[Pure Water]

Streaming has been great for mid to high level stars with great catalogs.

 

[Tommy Gibbs]

the thread of the monthly Spotify listeners got me wondering.


When someone buys a CD it’s just a one time purchase. Not to mention you have ppl who burrow CDs, steal them, burn them etc …

But in the streaming era it’s different. Sure the upfront money probably isn’t the same but the back end seems significantly higher

If you’re a guy like 50, Em, Wayne, Jay who debuted decades ago then your sales may of went way down by now, but your streams are still consistently bringing in $50,000-$100,000 a month

Isn’t that BETTER?

I mean if streaming really wasn’t making money why wouldn’t the labels just collectively get together and stop them

no, because there wee no 360 deals. Now labels basically get a piece of everything you do. You could release an album, sell 200k back then, tour, do movies, guest appearances, endorsement deals, and still be rich. Now with these fake ass streaming numbers, you can sell 2 mllion *, tour, guest appearances, movies, write a book and the label is getting a piece of all that. They even give out these huge advances, don't tell artists how to manage the money, a lot of it goes into "recording, promotion, manager, lawyer fees," and taxes and artists are still broke as fukk. Then they have to sell off the little publishing they have just to get more money. No the streaming era isn't better. When artists learned the game, they created more rules. Streaming is great for those streaming millions, but how many artists are doing that?

 

[Tommy Gibbs]

How many streams per month off of sites would you need to make 50-100k a month?

It would take about a million streams to pay out $5k. Then you have to add in producer, samples(writers of the samples) and how many people collaborated on the song. haha.

 

[Solomon Lurke]

no, because there wee no 360 deals. Now labels basically get a piece of everything you do. You could release an album, sell 200k back then, tour, do movies, guest appearances, endorsement deals, and still be rich. Now with these fake ass streaming numbers, you can sell 2 mllion *, tour, guest appearances, movies, write a book and the label is getting a piece of all that. They even give out these huge advances, don't tell artists how to manage the money, a lot of it goes into "recording, promotion, manager, lawyer fees," and taxes and artists are still broke as fukk. Then they have to sell off the little publishing they have just to get more money. No the streaming era isn't better. When artists learned the game, they created more rules. Streaming is great for those streaming millions, but how many artists are doing that?

That’s not really the case. Back then you still were in debt to promotional budgets, videos cost, pressing and distribution cost and so on. Unless you were independent, 200,000 isn’t make you rich. 360 deals is a whole other thing and it all goes back to what an artist owns.

 

[Mac Ten]

If u have a 360 deal, you’re screwed now.. CDs are dead and it’s way too many new rappers coming out… good luck.


In the CD era, u really had to show that u deserved a record deal.

Rappers weren’t making shyt back then either.


Nas is probably one of the few rappers who didn’t get fukked


Being independent is a lot easier now

 

[getmoney310cpt]

15.99 a cd and you sell a million 159,900,00

How many streams to make that much

 

[Tommy Gibbs]

That’s not really the case. Back then you still were in debt to promotional budgets, videos cost, pressing and distribution cost and so on. Unless you were independent, 200,000 isn’t make you rich. 360 deals is a whole other thing and it all goes back to what an artist owns.

you were never going to make money from album sales. It was a scam. De la soul has sold MILLIONS of albums/singles for Tommy Boy since 1989 and was signed for probably $60k. Do you really believe that kkkraker Tom Silverman never recouped anything for 20+ years? You missed the whole point of the post. Most artists weren't making money from sales, but from everything else. The albums itself led to touring and there were no 360 deals back then like there are now.

 

[Solomon Lurke]

you were never going to make money from album sales. It was a scam. De la soul has sold MILLIONS of albums/singles for Tommy Boy since 1989 and was signed for probably $60k. Do you really believe that kkkraker Tom Silverman never recouped anything for 20+ years? You missed the whole point of the post. Most artists weren't making money from sales, but from everything else. The albums itself led to touring and there were no 360 deals back then like there are now.

You’re taking the discussion into a realm that wasn’t even part of the discussion. De La Soul is a poor argument because they were in a very publicly known terrible record deal. The thread is about streaming vs cd sales not about what era people got fxcked more in.

 

[Solomon Lurke]

15.99 a cd and you sell a million 159,900,00

How many streams to make that much

It didn’t work like that though. You have to deduct 3-4 dollars per cd for pressing. Then the distributor got its cut and the store got its cut. And that’s totally independent with no other hands in the mix. Unless you literally sold a million hand to hand.