[TomSwirly]

If you're under the impression that your average musician gets any significant money on streaming, this is not so.

I know a lot of professional musicians who make a living from their craft. Their income sources are touring, Patreon (or the like), Bandcamp, and then streaming.

Oh, people at the top rake in big bucks, but most of the money that streaming distributes comes from people who play music all day long based on recommendations, or tags.

I met one person who makes a living on Spotify. He has literally thousands of tracks labelled "smooth jazz" and makes a steady income entirely from people who type "smooth jazz" into Spotify and then leave the program running. He isn't ripping anyone off - his tracks are unmemorable but competent and fit the bill. But this isn't really doable for people who think of their music as creation and not a commodity.

If I like an artist, I buy their tracks outright, often on Bandcamp. Quite often I buy their whole catalogue. Thing is, if I buy a $10, 10-track album on Bandcamp, the musician gets between $8.50 and $10, almost immediately. But if I play that same album 10 times on Spotify, they get $0.30, eventually. I'd have to play that album 300 times to get the same payout to the artist, and it's extremely rare for me to play albums that often, and never in one year.

[ghaff]

>most of the money that streaming distributes comes from people who play music all day long based on recommendations, or tags.

I don't usually care much for background sound. But my brother, like many people, does and he has either the TV or streaming music on as background pretty much all the time.

[edu]

I'm doing the same. Still use Spotify to discover music and "test" it, and if I like the album I buy it from bandcamp.