NY Times: Artists Not Benefiting From Streaming Music

Artists Not Seeing Much From Streaming

Webcasting may be popular with listeners, but streaming music isn't making artists particularly rich, reports THE NEW YORK TIMES.

"From 78 r.p.m. records to the age of iTUNES," writes THE TIMES, "artists' record royalties have been counted as a percentage of a sale price. On a 99-cent download, a typical artist may earn 7 to 10 cents after deductions for the retailer, the record company and the songwriter, music executives say. One industry joke calls the flow of these royalties a 'river of nickels.' In the new economics of streaming music, however, the river of nickels looks more like a torrent of micropennies."

Regarding webcasters, THE TIMES notes, "SPOTIFY, PANDORA and others like them pay fractions of a cent to record companies and publishers each time a song is played, some portion of which goes to performers and songwriters as royalties. Unlike the royalties from a sale, these payments accrue every time a listener clicks on a song, year after year."

Read the full report here.

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