Danny Michel Hits A Nerve Sharing Frustrations As An Artist
A recent Facebook commentary posted by the Canadian musician has gone viral and beco
By External Source
A recent Facebook commentary posted by the Canadian musician has gone viral and become a touchstone for many of the financial issues beleaguering artists today. In part, he writes: "Social media makes it all worse and, as a fellow musician pointed out, streaming services shame artists with the pressures of how many 'likes', 'streams' and 'followers' they have."
~ A peek behind the curtain: The expiration date on music
I’ve been a full-time musician for 25 years. It’s been nothing but hard work, but I love hard work. My songs paid off my house, my studio, pay the bills and more. Through it all, the conversations backstage with other musicians have always been about music, family, guitars, friends, art etc. But in 2018 that conversation changed. Everywhere I go musicians are quietly talking about one thing: how to survive. And I’ve never worried about it myself UNTIL 2018. What I can tell you is my album sales have held steady for the last decade until dropping by 95% this year due to music streaming services.
Note my earnings for “Purgatory Cove”: this song has been in the TOP 20 charts (CBC Radio 2 & 3) for 10 weeks, climbed to #3. In 2018 that equals $44.99 in sales.
(An artist earns $0.003 per play on Spotify)
I know I’m not alone. As a result, bands/musicians are downsizing, recording at home, cutting corners where ever they can. Studios are losing business. Session musicians, techs, administration, grant writers are all losing work. And with every band in the world back on the road, venues are clogged, and ticket prices have tripled. For me, it means being away from home and taking on more work than I ever have.
A recent post by Unison Benevolent Fund showed “In a study of the music industry labour market, 24% of musical professionals indicated they were considering leaving the music industry”.
From the conversations I’m having I believe that statistic is much, much higher. Over the last few months, I’ve spoken to many brilliant life-long musicians (some you know) who are quietly beginning their exit strategy. I fear musicians are reluctant to admit any of this because so much of this industry is perception; the illusion that an artist’s career is soaring when really, it might not be. Having to be the constant used-car salesman, manager, admin person AND travelling artist (while in survival/panic mode) isn’t healthy. Yet, you can’t afford to hire anyone.
Social media makes it all worse and, as a fellow musician pointed out, streaming services shame artists with the pressures of how many “likes,” “streams” and “followers” they have.
No one need to feel sorry for me. This is what I do. And I’m not scolding anyone or suggesting people stop using these services. I don’t know what the answer is. But I hope musicians speak up about what’s really happening. Music fans deserve to see how this all works and why the artists they love may soon be gone.
This new model of “free music” just can’t last much longer.
Temporarily
Danny Michel
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NOV 22 Amendment
UPDATE: Wow!! The response to my post has been incredible. I’ll be on CBC’s Metro Morning tomorrow (Friday) talking about it with Matt Galloway via Belize (where I am now)
I’m thrilled to see the conversation come forward truthfully and musician’s being real. In a world that is more fake every day. It’s what we need most. The post has been “shared” almost 3500 times with 1000s of “likes” & “comments”. It’s revealing & concerning. I’m also getting constant personal notes from musicians (many you know) sharing their stories. Truthfully, they’re heartbreaking. Some struggling to pay rent, buy food or see a dentist. It’s worse than I suspected. And always hidden. That’s why I decided to reveal MY simple math.
This colossal revenue loss affects all artists at every level, each in different ways. And each has their breaking point. If you’re at the top, you’re at the top. If you are at the bottom struggling, I can’t imagine how you’d survive. Me, I do ok. I’ve worked really hard for a few decades, saved my money, invested, paid off my house… So, no one needs to feel sorry for me. But what it means for ME is having to make up the huge loss in album sales by slugging it out on the road even harder. Never home, always away. The drives, lugging gear, merch, admin, planes, hotels. As I approach 50, I have to admit I find the thought debilitating. Is this my breaking point? How is this sustainable? This is how music streaming is about to affect me. For others it’s much worse.
The comments from all music fans have been supportive, beautiful and kind. To them, thank you for being there with us. You know who you are. To everyone, don’t feel bad about using streaming services. That’s not the issue. How little they compensate the creators of the content is the problem. I have Spotify and use it sometimes, but less all the time. It’s soulless compared to holding a vinyl album lyric sheet in your hands or leafing through the beautiful art/CD package and reading all the albums credits, musicians, studios and artists that worked together to create it.
Again, I don’t pretend to understand the deep mechanisms in the machine, and I don’t know the answer. And shocked that no-one else does. It is a global issue. This is just my prediction…an explanation to why I believe the landscape of the music you know will change soon.
