My technical meanderings and other nonsense. Published since 2002. No, really. I'm *that* internet-old. I remember the days of Derek Webb talks about how iTunes and Spotify don’t forge any connection with listeners:
“And while iTunes is certainly a better financial model and more equitable for artists, it does almost nothing to connect the fans to the artists in a way that yields any long-term benefit. … It’s all short-term money. That might be the last interaction I have with that particular fan.”
And how much Spotify actually pays artists:
“I am paid $0.00029 per stream of a song on Spotify, and even this amount depends on whether the song is being streamed by a paid user or someone using the service for free. This means it will take upwards of 3,500 streams of a single song on Spotify to earn $1.00 versus that same revenue for one iTunes song purchase.”
His idea is to give away his music for free, thus creating a more long-term connection between the artist and listener:
“Music does have monetary value. But more than its monetary value is its emotional value, its relational value, its artistic value, even its spiritual value. When you make meaningful connections with people based on artistic self-expression, I think you’re actually increasing the value of that art based on the many ways it’s valued.”
