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

[Cladyclad]

No

one cd sale from 1 fan you get some type of $

in 2025 you need hundreds if not thousands of fans just to make 1 dollar

 

[Solomon Lurke]

No

one cd sale from 1 fan you get some type of $

in 2025 you hundreds if not thousands of fans just to make 1 dollar

But those fans are reoccurring. A cd sells just once. In the streaming era ever time that same album is played it makes money. A cd collection doesn’t make an artist any more money after the purchase.

 

[Tommy Gibbs]

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.

still no one is making a lot of money unless you're streaming millions and millions. And even then, it's about $5k per million steams split by however many people. Both streaming and cd sales are designed to fukk artists. That shyt aint no better unless the label is buying bots to promote you.

 

[Cladyclad]

But those fans are reoccurring. A cd sells just once. In the streaming era ever time that same album is played it makes money. A cd collection doesn’t make an artist any more money after the purchase.

I have to listen to a album hundreds of times to equal 1 sale

i ain’t doin that shyt for anyone

the best thing about streaming is now you have hate listeners

drake has a billion of ‘em on the Coli. They help him keep his numbers up

 

[Solomon Lurke]

I have to listen to a album hundreds of times to equal 1 sale

i ain’t doin that shyt for anyone

the best thing about streaming is not you have hate listeners

drake has a billion of ‘em on the Coli. They help him keep his numbers up

I get that but let’s use Supreme Clientele as an example. It’s my favorite album of all time. I’ve only purchased it once on CD and once on Vinyl in like 25 years, but I play it like 2-3 times a month as a whole and songs individually even more. No way my two purchases over 25 years makes more money. And this doesn’t stop. As I continue to play it, it continues to make more money. The CD era is very overhyped and that’s coming from someone who worked behind the scenes during that time. Of course everything is way more nuanced, but there is much more room for the low to mid tier artists to make money off steaming now days then before.

 

[Cladyclad]

I get that but let’s use Supreme Clientele as an example. It’s my favorite album of all time. I’ve only purchased it once on CD and once on Vinyl in like 25 years, but I play it like 2-3 times a month as a whole and songs individually even more. No way my two purchases over 25 years makes more money. And this doesn’t stop. As I continue to play it, it continues to make more money. The CD era is very overhyped and that’s coming from someone who worked behind the scenes during that time. Of course everything is way more nuanced, but there is much more room for the low to mid tier artists to make money off steaming now days then before.

He was able to get other major label albums because enough of y’all copped his album. In this era his fanbase would never stream enough to push him to gold

so y’all would be getting some bs production. Cheap videos and a shotty ass tour in this era

 

[Solomon Lurke]

He was able to get other major label albums because enough of y’all copped his album. In this era his fanbase would never stream enough to push him to gold

so y’all would be getting some bs production. Cheap videos and a shotty ass tour in this era

What would happen in this era is a whole other discussion. You all keep bringing up things that aren’t streaming income vs cd income. I guarantee there are hip hop artists from this artists with way less of a catalog then ghost making way more money in the streaming era than ghost did.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Most rappers didn't make any money off CDs cuz budgets were out of control. Producers were charging crazy amounts and they were sampling, then Hype Williams was eating your budget with a video, then magazines and BET were running ads nonstop. Rappers might not make shyt off music sales these days but they make way more off appearances, merch, endorsements etc.

 

[Cladyclad]

What would happen in this era is a whole other discussion. You all keep bringing up things that aren’t streaming income vs cd income. I guarantee there are hip hop artists from this artists with way less of a catalog then ghost making way more money in the streaming era than ghost did.

Breh Ghost ain’t getting enough streams from his base to matter breh

yall got to just support him in any way y’all can

nas sold 200 copies in week 5 with magic 3

wtf he gonna do with that

 

[Solomon Lurke]

Breh Ghost ain’t getting enough streams from his base to matter breh

yall got to just support him in any way y’all can

nas sold 200 copies in week 5 with magic 3

wtf he gonna do with that

I understand what your saying. All I’m saying is the streams are ongoing. Yes first week it might not be what it was but for the next how ever many years it will continue to make money unlike a CD which was only a one time purchase. That’s my only point here.

 

[Cladyclad]

I understand what your saying. All I’m saying is the streams are ongoing. Yes first week it might not be what it was but for the next how ever many years it will continue to make money unless a CD which was only a one time purchase. That’s my only point here.

Breh by the time Magic 3 sell 200k

destiny Grandkids would be be great great great great grandparents

4 generation of people not born yet lol

 

[Playaz Eyez]

It’s takes far too many streams to make actual profit, to the point where even the big artists are getting screwed.

 

[BrothaZay]

It’s takes far too many streams to make actual profit, to the point where even the big artists are getting screwed.

Have you done the math yourself or are you just regurgitating flabby head talcn points?

all the evidence points to music being significantly cheaper to produce and release compared to the CD era(meaning far easier to make a profit) while having more streams of income. I’m sure guys with timeless records make more from streaming in 2025 than they would make if streaming wasn’t a thing and they were just relying on ppl to buy their 25-35 year old records…

 

[Playaz Eyez]

Have you done the math yourself or are you just regurgitating flabby head talcn points?

all the evidence points to music being significantly cheaper to produce and release compared to the CD era(meaning far easier to make a profit) while having more streams of income. I’m sure guys with timeless records make more from streaming in 2025 than they would make if streaming wasn’t a thing and they were just relying on ppl to buy their 25-35 year old records…

You can easily look it up yourself, but to entertain you, on average, it takes 1500 spins of a song to equal 1 “album sale”. But every streaming service has their own payout calculations. Here’s some payout numbers of various streaming services:

• Apple Music: Pays artists $0.01 per stream.
  
  
• Amazon Music: Presents a payout rate of $0.00402 per stream.
• Spotify: Offers a rate of approximately $0.00437 per stream.
• YouTube: Pays around $0.00069 per view.

So let’s so your favorite song by Playboi Carti gets 10,000,000 streams on YouTube. That’s $690. So again, just like I said, even the big artists that are getting billions of streams (like Drake and Taylor Swift) are getting screwed over.

 

[BuddahMAC]

Plus you're negating the shady label deals of the past...

An artist would get a huge advance on an album, which would be instant cash to use at their discretion, that would later be negated by the net sales and recoup-ability of the advance.