The Difference Between Music & Coffee
By Steve Wiest
Mmmmm…smooth foamy latte, iced nitro Colombian bean goodness, a perky large helping of caramel with cappuccino, some seasonal pumpkin spice or peppermint mocha! And when one tosses some coins into Rome’s Trevi fountain and sits down to relax on an epic early autumn day, a nice hot espresso is of course called for. What’s not to like?
Well, howz about some speaker-splitting Celtic love-mythology from Led Zeppelin? Want some life-affirming perfectly orchestrated angst and hope from Gustav Mahler, or heartbreakingly beautiful Americana from Aaron Copland? Or perhaps a nice plate of righteous street grit by the likes of Cardi B or Snoop Dog? While we’re at it, how about recharging with Cannonball Adderley, Gil Evans and Miles Davis with a generous side of Hank Williams or Carrie Underwood? Paul McCartney or Jacob Collier anyone? What’s not to like?
The answer of course is that music and coffee (unless you prefer tea, I actually do at 4pm on a good day, Earl Grey specifically) are loved by one-and-all and are a couple of the best things in life. Here is the only difference, and it is a BIG one: we PAY for coffee and expect our music for FREE.
Wait, what?
Yes, you might argue that big time folks such as Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Drake, and a few others are doing quite well financially. And you would be correct. But incredibly, those super talented and rightfully financially fit artists are in the minority of what is laughingly called the music business these days. I say “laughingly” because as a creator, composer, and performer myself I can tell you that recorded music as a viable revenue stream is dead for 97% (or more) of all musicians on the planet. Yikes! Say it ain’t so! (I wish I could)
But what about all of those great streaming services like Spotify or Amazon Music? We all sing the praises of the incredible deal it is to pay a small monthly fee ($10.00 or less!) to have access to ALL of recorded music! And you know what? For consumers that IS an incredible deal, but it is a deal with the Devil for most musicians. (At this point Robert Johnson feels better about his ancient mythical agreement no doubt) But don’t musicians get paid to have their music on the streaming sites? What about royalties or mechanical licenses? Well, as it turns out…not so much. (Here is a great article by audio reviewer Jefri Yonada that spells out all the facts and figures)
Let’s look at some stats from the article I referenced above. Check out this frightening chart that shows how much creators and performers get paid on the top streaming services. Notice that there is a column that shows how many streams it takes to reach $1,000.00. (Insert wide-eyed scared emoji face here) Plus, I didn’t know that a penny could be split that many times! Micro economy indeed:
So, Amazon Music takes 250,000 streams to make $1,000.00. In today’s world I can tell you folks that 250K streams is tough to get to if not impossible. But a fair amount of today’s artists DO get that many streams. How does all of that add up as far as making a viable living then? Sounds like the poverty level at best to me. Well, the good folks at ASPE (The U.S. Government-associated Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation) gives us this lovely chart that defines the poverty level in the U.S.
This means that the typical musician with a family of four would need to get 8,181,810. streams on Spotify just to make the poverty level. And, uh WOWZA! Not the best business model. If said artist lived alone in a nice cardboard box down by the river, then it would be somewhat more feasible…but I digress.
Well, what are we all supposed to do? We love our music streaming services, and I personally use YouTube all the time to hear something quickly (including my own music!) and YouTube pays creators $0.00 for their music! There IS a magic algorithm that begins to pay creators on YouTube at some point, but since I don’t make ultra-cute videos about dogs, I have yet to find out about it. And here’s another fun fact: YouTube IS making money off of my music by running ads. I personally see ZERO from whatever fractions of a penny THAT brings in. Are we supposed to boycott these wonderfully convenient services? Personally, I don’t think that is a good idea either. The Genie is out of the bottle. Don’t kill the Genie.
But something needs to be done or we will soon be looking at a scenario where a dozen or so chosen ones are making sustainable money as artists, creators of original music will not be able to continue creating art, and artificial intelligence will step right in to fill in the gaps. I love science fiction, but that scenario is NOT a wild sci-fi trope, it is hard-cold reality.
It has been said that to understand the health of one’s society as a whole, one needs to look no further than how that society supports their arts. Using that metric, I believe that it is time to call 911, ASAP!
The only people that can make a real difference are the big time movers-and-shakers in this “industry” and they need to hook up with an army of brilliant entertainment and copyright lawyers who in turn must partner with like-minded souls in government. If that sounds far-fetched and unlikely, that’s simply because it IS. But a boy can dream…
Therefore, I suggest that at least the next time we pay $4.85 for a large latte as I did today, that we all come right home and purchase one of our favorite artist’s albums. Just go to iTunes or Amazon and buy an album’s worth. Individually, it won’t make that much of a difference, but collectively it will SHO NUFF make that coffee taste even better!
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Steve Wiest is a multiple Grammy-nominated composer, trombonist, author, and cartoonist. He makes his home in Chicago with his wonderful fiancé Deborah and continues his creative endeavors on a daily basis. To learn more, visit his website at steve-wiest.com
