First off, before we get an army of Swifties hating on us, we need to say we love you Taylor. However, this letter is not meant for you because you are literally the only one who makes meaningful money from streaming.
For everyone else, creating music has become a necessary evil to make money through touring and merch. How screwed up is that?
For the music fans out there reading this you should know that almost all the Artists you know and love make about 3/10 of a penny from a single stream. But, you may say, a lot of Artists have one million streams. Well, that's about $3,000. Yeah, we're not impressed either.
What's worse than that? If the song only streams for 29 seconds, or if the Artist doesn't have 1,000 streams for any single song, the Artist doesn't get paid at all.
We think that Sarah McLachlan said it best, "It's sad that Artists have to write songs to please the streaming services' algorithm."
These algorithms often favor shorter songs with catchy hooks, which can lead to Artists feeling pressured to write songs that fit this formula, rather than songs that are true to their own artistic vision.
For nearly three years we have been working to solve this problem, and this past October we started with an invite-only launch that has already helped Artists make months of streaming income, in hours. Yes, hours.
So how does it work?
Simple, Artists create an EP or Album for sale through our GoodTunes Store and fans who purchase them, actually own them. Meaning they are provided proof of ownership and can do the same things with it that they could do with a physical album they purchased - gift it, will it and even offer it for resale – we call it a Cloud Collectible™.
What works best is if the EP or Album you offer for sale is in some way collectible whether that be making it an early release or containing tracks or versions that are not readily available. You are the Artist, you decide!
Does this mean we hate streaming? Not at all. We think it has a purpose. However, we would encourage Artists to release their EPs and Albums to their Superfans early through GoodTunes. Then, release to streaming services for the casual fans on the traditional “release-a-track-every–few-weeks-streaming-strategy” and earn money over the long haul.
So, what's it cost? Well, for Artists there's no cost to get started. Plus we give you 70% of the proceeds of the sale. Meaning, if you sell an album for $20, you will make $14 right away. That's the equivalent income of waiting for 4,667 streams, from one sale.
Plus, with a fan's permission, we'll connect Artists with them. We don't believe in only providing generic stats. After all, they’re YOUR fans.
This is early days, we have some great things planned to help Artists make a fair wage for their music. If you’d like to be a part of what we’re doing, we’d love to hear from you by reaching out to us at goodtunesstore.com
(Even you, Tay Tay!)
Bill
Founder / CEO
