It's no secret a lot of musicians aren't exactly thrilled with their paychecks from streaming services. Most recently we got a look at one of the dudes from Darkest Hour's royalty check, which actually surprised from you. We've even covered the topic a little more in-depth to where we explain how streaming services pay musicians whose music is on their websites or applications.
All that being said, Alice In Chains drummer Sean Kinney is taking the side of most musicians here and saying he's not a huge fan of the services.
"You have these Spotifys and Pandoras where you get access to almost every piece of recorded music on the planet. And then that's great for the consumer. But for every person who's ever recorded music, it's a fucking ripoff. Because, I think, I hear people are starting to post their [royalty] checks [online for having their music streamed]. You get 10 million plays of your song, and you get a check for 111 dollars."
He goes on to talk about the rising prices of touring coupled with the fact that bands aren't making much more, which makes a lot of sense. What he doesn't really bring up too much is the idea that maybe because streaming is an availability now people aren't buying too many records anymore (coupled with piracy, of course). I have no idea how much it costs to post your music on sites like Spotify and Pandora, and if that cost is recurring, so I can't really comment on it. I guess if you post your stuff up for a one-time fee and then occasionally get some royalty checks in the mail, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world… and that's pretty damn bleak for optimism.
It's a grey area it seems, but what do you think? Are streaming services killing musicians' wallets or is it a way to get paid instead of having people just steal your record?
[via Blabbermouth]
