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\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n
\n\t\u201cPersonally, I would say it\u2019s a positive in terms of fans hearing music in-store,\u201d says Say, who opened his Ventura Blvd. store in 2003, right as the digital revolution was in full swing. \u201cWe don\u2019t get promos for new releases anymore. So, unless I want to open every record I want to hear, this is the only way to listen to new music. The biggest downside seems to be the inequity about what the artist earns from his work. Certainly a $15 a month subscription is a lot cheaper than buying two or three albums.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tFor that subscription, you\u2019re getting the world\u2019s music library, but does it make sense that the company that rents music to you is worth more than the one creating it? Say what you will about a giant like Universal Music Group (which accounts for two-thirds of music consumption), but they\u2019re the home and primary financial backer of once-in-a-generation artists like Lady Gaga, Eminem, Billie Eilish, and Chappell Roan, to say nothing of licensing partnerships with superstars including Taylor Swift, Rihanna, and Kendrick Lamar. Those are are big success stories. So how is it that everyone in this industry feels somewhat cheated?<\/p>\n
\n\tDr. Richard James Burgess is the outgoing head of A2IM (American Association of Independent Music), a post he has occupied for the better part of a decade, having worn any number of hats in the industry, including singer, songwriter, producer, composer, manager, marketer, and inventor. He points to Spotify as a missed opportunity for the music business, explaining how that industry has ceded both distribution and pricing to its tech partner.<\/p>\n
\n\tBurgess explains that the recording industry\u2019s sin was not going digital after the introduction of MP3 in the U.S. in 1996 (and the subsequent launch of mp3.com in 1997), a full two years before Shawn Fanning co-founded Napster with Sean Parker. At that point, the business forfeited its future to tech interlopers.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s no question Spotify has been a major transformative force in how the industry operates, as much as I insist it still isn\u2019t paying enough to artists,\u201d he says, pointing out that today\u2019s $17.7 billion in overall music-business revenue, compared to 1999\u2019s $14.6 billion, is still substantially down in adjusted dollars for inflation.<\/p>\n
\n\tSpotify has also hastened the demise of the album, as well as a world where the final product is used to promote the tour, rather than vice versa, alongside other pieces of merchandise like a T-shirt or poster. With less money being invested by record labels into touring, that has created a top-heavy artist hierarchy, with the rich getting richer and the poor and middle class falling by the wayside.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cSpotify has helped the recording side become a securitize-able asset,\u201d says Burgess. \u201cMany people have benefited from it. It\u2019s difficult to separate the good and bad effects, considering the circumstances under which it was born when things looked grim. I don\u2019t necessarily believe it\u2019s grown the value of the business, but it did offer a solution to the piracy problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tRecords have become a loss leader for a variety of different ancillary and touring opportunities, a tenuous situation for the traditional music business, which has seen its age-old model of providing tour support to promote music sales turned on its head.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a conundrum the labels are currently facing,\u201d says Burgess. \u201cWhen I was a musician, I made most of my money from records, not touring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n
\n\tIn the end, it took a Swedish entrepreneur to hijack the worldwide record business, and the industry only has itself to blame.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe can\u2019t go back, we must continue moving forward,\u201d Burgess concludes, looking at this brave new Spotify-led streaming world. \u201cWe should have gone digital when we had the chance, but the industry continues to be technophobic. We just missed the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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