Streaming services helped the music industry grow 0.7% in 2015 with an over $2 billion profit, even though the music industry shrunk 7% in total that year. In 2016, streaming revenue outdid the sales of CD, vinyl, and digital downloads all combined with a $3.9 billion profit. According to Recode, streaming did $2.5 billion in the first half of 2017 alone, and we're still waiting for the year-end numbers. What I'm getting at here is that streaming is a huge deal, and while artists might be getting screwed out of bigger (or any) paychecks, music fans are still utilizing the service quite a bit… and Crematory might just quit because of it.
Drummer for the band Markus Jüllich calls out fans for not buying the physical version of the band's new album Oblivion, and quite literally threatens to call it quits if sales and concert ticket sales don't start picking up. Crematory has been around since 1991 and Jüllich has been there for the entire ride. So it's not like the guy hasn't seen the twists and turns in the music industry, right? It also seems a little childish to threaten like this. I absolutely agree that streaming should pay more, but it's not like Crematory is the only band suffering from this issue right now. So I get his frustration over having millions of streams and no money, but then he also calls out fans to "get off your lazy asses" because "[tour ticket] presales are horrible and we will cancel the tour completely if the numbers don't increase radically." Yikes.
Read Jüllich's full statement below.
"The end of Crematory? Will Oblivion be the last studio album and the tour in May the final one?
"Crematory's new studio album, Oblivion, will be released on Friday, April 13, 2018. We were planning to promote the album with a tour, starting on April 27, 2018 and running through all of May in Germany. That will only happen [if] you fans get off your lazy asses and start buying tickets for the announced shows. The presales are horrible and we will cancel the tour completely if the numbers don't increase radically.
"The most important thing is that you buy our new CD and double vinyl edition, 'cause when I look at our sales statistics, I could start throwing up! Nowadays we are selling way more downloads and streams than we sell the original products, and this will be the death for all bands, 'cause you hardly get any money from this shit compared to the CD compensation. So as a matter of fact, a band will hardly make enough money to put a good-sounding album on the market.
"The worst is, that streaming on iTunes, Spotify, Deezer, Napster and all the other bullshit platforms doesn't pay out for the band at all. Our last album, 'Monument', had 1.5 million streams and we don't even sell 1% of that in original vinyl or CD products.
"This can't go on like this anymore! It's not only Crematory who is suffering from all that, but only we have the balls to stand up and tell you the truth. Wake up, you metalheads, and start honoring the value of real music and come back to buying the products. We don't want music just getting wasted and being stored on harddrives, USB sticks, SD cards in miserable MP3 quality.
"We hope you understand how important that is to us. Because of this, we will give you something special with the new album, Oblivion, so you think twice before you buy the shitty download or the even worse stream.
"Every CD and vinyl LP comes with a 10 € merchandise voucher that you can use on our concerts or in our merchandise shop at the Crematory website. That makes every CD or LP including the voucher even cheaper than a download and you get a great digipack with booklet, lyrics, pictures and poster.
"So, please dear fans, buy CDs and LPs and forget the downloads, 'cause otherwise there won't be another Crematory album. Don't make Oblivion the final album and give us your support on the tour. Start buying tickets now, so we can have great shows together. Even after 27 years of Crematory, we are still hungry to keep going, but all that is in your hands.
"Believe in you and especially in Crematory!"
