Don't Cross The Streams: Music For The Spotify Generation

Music streaming sites have changed my life. I now listen to more new music than ever before and will happily explore the latest fads and trends at length, often deciding that it’s all bollocks anyway and going back to some classic 90’s grunge.

But I’m barely paying for any of this.

I get Deezer Premium free as part of my phone contract and I pay £9.99 a month for Spotify Premium. So for less than a tenner a month I can stream pretty much every song ever written. Rare Smiths B-sides from 1985? Had it playing on my laptop earlier. The latest EP from punk pioneers Dog Muck? Got it saved on my playlist. That song you’ve just written in your head?  Already synced on my phone.

For music consumers it’s like getting the keys to Willy Wonka’s factory, Gene Wilder’s one obviously. But without having to hold hands with your screffy Granddad while he leaps round like a tramp who’s out of ritalin. (If you haven’t seen the Directors Cut where poor Granddad is exposed in the Daily Mail and subsequently prosecuted for incapacity benefit fraud, you’re missing out.)

“Yeah, but not every band are on these sites.”

The Beatles aren’t on there but I live in Liverpool so if I wish to listen to The Fab Four I’ll open a window. Pink Floyd don’t feature either but that’s because the Internet is only big enough to fit 4 of their songs at any one time. And if you want to enjoy the entire back catalogue of AD/DC just buy one of their songs and listen to it at slightly different angles. Job done.

Without questions, these sites are great for the consumer.  But what of the artists themselves? How can anyone possibly be making money from this? Not every band can afford to sneak their album into everyone’s iTunes while they sleep, like some nefarious, billionaire, Irish tooth-fairies. People often use the example of Lady Gaga only getting £108 per 1 million plays of her tracks but is anyone really concerned about Miss Gaga’s next mortgage payment? Even if she did hit the skids she could probably eat most of her wardrobe.  I’m much more worried for the thousands of musicians at the bottom of the ladder who are getting royally shafted out of their royalties.

Having dabbled in the music industry as a teenager I have the upmost respect for anyone still writing, creating and performing music past the age of 25 because there is ZERO money in it. I realize that money isn’t everything but it doesn’t half help when you want to buy food or put the heating on. I remember speaking to the singer of a very successful band that were huge in Japan in the late 90’s but had to fly home mid-tour to sign on.

Unless you’re pretty massive it’s a struggle. This struggle has been conveniently romanticized since the middle ages but it gets to a point when you have to consider jacking it in and doing something that can put food on the table. For 99% of artists the closest they’ll get to a tax haven is doing their self-assessment on a caravan park.  When asking for a bit more money to pay bills, a record label executive once told my band that he ‘wanted us to be hungry and desperate because it’ll make us more creative.’ It didn’t – I left and got a job in a bank.

Some clever labels will allow their artist’s tracks on streaming sites for a short period before removing it, hopefully encouraging listeners to make a purchase.  When Palma Violets* removed their album I just muttered ‘spoilsports’ under my breath and moved on to the next band, such is the embarrassment of riches on these sites. (*I had to Google this bands name as they had dropped off my horizon so dramatically I’d forgotten what they were called.)

Because whenever you give something away for free for long enough, it’s impossible to suddenly apply a charge. I went to a wedding that had a free bar from midday to midnight. Everyone was having a lovely time, sampling cocktails that we wouldn’t normally bother with and ordering expensive whiskeys.  If you looked around the room at all the half-finished drinks, it was clear that nobody valued what they were getting at all.

Then at ten-past-midnight I went to get a round in and was informed very politely that the free bar had now expired and the drinks would cost me actual money.  You’d think I’d been asked to whip out a kidney. I was outraged. Never mind the 12 hours of cash-free boozing that had gone on before, they wanted money? For drinks? Fuck this shit. I went home.

So where does it end? David Byrne wrote a great piece about his concerns (Read it here ) likening the current situation with music streaming to the other examples of the human race mining resources till it’s bone dry.

And despite agreeing with a lot of his points, I can’t stop myself from being part of the problem. I didn’t mind paying between £6-10 for albums in the past. It doesn’t seem like a high price for something that might just change your life, or at the very least relieve some of the tedium of a long car journey.

But if something is nearly free then it’s always going to prevail. And in 2024 when there’s no music to be found in the whole world and all we can do for kicks is huddle round in car parks dancing to the Nokia ring tone on the last dregs of battery left on our retro mobile phones, we’ll look at each other and say, ‘BUT WHO NEEDS MUSIC WHEN I CAN STREAM ALMOST-FREE PASTIES FROM THE GREGGS THE BAKERS ONLINE SERVICE?’

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