Why the Major Labels Love (and Artists Hate) Music Streaming 164
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Jay Frank writes that the big four music distributors and their sister publishers (Sony, Warner, UNI and EMI) make 15% more per year, on average, from paying customers of streaming services like Spotify or Rdio than it does from the average customer who buys downloads, CDs or both. Each label makes 'blanket license' deals with Streaming services with advances in the undisclosed millions, which is virtually the same as selling music in bulk; they receive these healthy licensing fees to cover all activity in a given period rather than allowing Streaming services to 'pay as they go.' 'Artists are up in arms, many are opting out of streaming services,' writes Frank. 'Lost in that noise is a voice that is seldom heard: that of the record companies. There's good reason for that: they're making more money from streaming and the future looks extremely bright for them.' The average 'premium' subscription customer in the U.S. was worth about $16 a year to a major record company, while the average buyer of digital downloads or physical music was worth about $14. Thus, year over year, the premium subscriber was worth nearly 15% more than the person who bought music either digitally or physically."
Say what? (Score:5, Informative)
This must be a report from some other planet, because on the one I live on, the record companies are frequently the only voice that is heard.
Re:Of course... (Score:5, Informative)
The you buy from the next service, when they shut down, repeat.
That's because you don't understand about the storage the OP is talking about. FLAC, extracted from the CD, without DRM. Your service goes bust / stops streaming that band, who cares, you still have your music!