> “Spotify killed revenue flow for anyone outside of the publishers and big artists/ players. Spotify basically killed any money coming from the physical distribution”
To the contrary, physical distribution was only available to big artists/players. There was mostly no way for independent artists to get into the record stores.
Streaming (via distributors like DistroKid) made it possible for millions of independent artists to make money from their music.
Yes, Pud, I'm aware of Lucee. I still have CF running in one legacy app but it's been sunset and not being updated. 100% on customers not caring. They don't. Ever. The stack wars are purely for our own benefit. We trump our own trumpet or however that saying goes...
Now,
I have to diverge here, and say that I'm a fan since F-Company days (which was ColdFusion wasn't it?), and a customer of DistroKid (well, my own kid took over the subscription and I need to get another one now).
I think most people don’t know this (I didn’t until recently) but you can upload documents to ChatGPT if you’re a paying member:
https://chat.openai.com
Choose GPT4 and Code Interpreter (you have to turn it on in your Settings).
Incentives in the music industry are setup such that any company offering promotional services to artists (ad agency, PR firm, promoter, radio promo, marketing department, etc) can quietly go to fiverr.com, buy 100,000 bot streams for $20, then take credit for their client’s rise in popularity—-getting the artist to pay again.
Which, because of how streaming services pay, steals from artists who have real/organic streams.
I'd like fixed price per play to get replaced by something closer to splitting a users subscription fees based on the time they spent listening to a particular song/artist.
It's weird to me that a large share of my spotify monthly fees go to Ed Sheeran and Drake and Taylor Swift even though I literally have never streamed them, and almost none of my monthly fee goes towards the artist that I stream all the time.
Are there any music curating channels on YT or elsewhere that can filter through that mess? I guess the challenge there is keeping the curator honest and not 'sponsored'
I was living in San Francisco when Fucked Company was very relevant. Was a regular reader (unpaid, sorry). I'd say these days there is a place for a comeback...
Honestly I don't feel that Fandalism (which is also a one-man biz, too, I spose) added that much to DistroKid's growth. It was mostly some press, some blogs, and a good product. But yes- having a built-in user base with Fandalism didn't hurt.
In hindsight, the other distributors are so clunky and expensive, the bar is super low. Like, if you wanted to compete with Google search it would be hard. But if you wanted to compete with something moderately terrible (with all due respect. i do respect my elder competitors and are thankful for the road they've paved) -- it's much easier to grow.
Yes we provide lots of stats to artists. No, we're not planning on a recommendation system (plenty of online radio thingy thangies that are already great!)
To the contrary, physical distribution was only available to big artists/players. There was mostly no way for independent artists to get into the record stores.
Streaming (via distributors like DistroKid) made it possible for millions of independent artists to make money from their music.
Source: DistroKid founder here. Hi.