Pharrell Made $2700 on 43 Million Plays of Happy on Spotify

[jobeterob]

http://www.businessinsider.com/pharrell-made-only-2700-in-songwriter-royalties-from-43-million-plays-of-happy-on-pandora-2014-12

[marv2]

Not related in anyway to Motown.

[jobeterob]

It just means they are making nothing at all when their songs are streamed on spotify or anything else

[soulster]

Not related in anyway to Motown. Doesn't have to be. Ralph says it's cool to talk about non-Motown/non-soul/non-Detroit stuff here.

[jobeterob]

It's just very awful that everyone's music is being used and they are being paid pennies for it. For the heritage artists, it is far worse than this.

[supremester]

Just ignore him. It's amazing and sad that the streamers and record companies are getting it all.

[Soul Sister]

Well that sucks BIG TIME and is so wrong!!!! :mad:


S.S.
***

[skooldem1]

In the "Blurred Lines" thread it was mentioned that Taylor Swift was wrong about Spotify, and that artist do make money from people streaming their music. This article here proves that this is wrong. They hardly make any money.

[ralpht]

I can attest that Spotify is nothing more than a rip-off to artists and writers/producers. I think I posted on a different thread that I receive something like $00.00050 cents per stream or down load. Incredible.

And yes, it is perfectly fine to post this subject here.

[ralpht]

For contrast, I think I made about five cents per 45 sale while at Motown. I was able to eat on that kind of money.

[midnightman]

I'll just leave this here [[NSFW warning: adult language):


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpbARVChqt4

[midnightman]

Also we have to understand that Pharrell's contract may have a play in why his money gross was "Happy" was only $2700. Like his publishers get a cut as well. He's also the song's producer so I don't even know if that article is even accurate. He probably earned $2700 alone for being the singer behind it. But I'm guessing this is American centric. Look at this article about Mark Ronson's Uptown Funk: http://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2015/02/12/uptown-funk-is-reportedly-earning-100000-per-week-on-spotify/

It claims that song makes $100,000 weekly on Spotify from Uptown Funk alone and it has been played more than 125 million times. Just 43 million off Spotify, of course it's $2700 but maybe its plays increased SINCE then. When you add Spotify earnings to earnings on digital sales and radio play, that's massive. We shouldn't just take off everything else just to go all "big bad Spotify is ripping people off". The music business is a very complex issue.

[ralpht]

Interesting video, Midnightman.

[skooldem1]

The man in that video is such a whiner. Who is he to tell anyone how much they should earn, and what they should be happy with? He shows so much animosity towards Taylor Swift that his argument can't be taken serious.

[midnightman]

He may come off as a "whiner" but the math is very interesting. It brings something new to this "no one makes money off Spotify" argument. I guess it depends on the artist and who they have in their bankroll or if they're not the publishers of their compositions.

[soulster]

Just ignore him. It's amazing and sad that the streamers and record companies are getting it all.

It's true: the artists are getting royally screwed with the streaming model, and the streaming companies and record labels are making out like bandits.

I respect Taylor Swift, and people like her, for [[having the ability) to stand up for her peers for their rights.

[jobeterob]

It seems in some respects we are back to the 1950's

However I'm sure Pharrell has made a lot of money from Happy in many other ways.

[Bokiluis]

Such a contrast from the peak phyysical CD sales of the late 1990s-2001. And I too applaud Taylor Swift for not allowing Spotify to pimp her music. For all that the Internet has added to our lives, there has been a steep price to pay. I still buy physical CDs because of my desire to be a collector. On a rare occasion if a song or album doesn't resonate deeply with me, I'll buy downloads from Amazon. ITunes owns far too much marketshare and their prices are usually 20-25% higher on hot titles. Of course, the horror stories you hear about how Amazon treats their warehouse staff doesn't make them any better. It becomes the lesser of two evils. [[Exception: iTunes on an exclusive on Beyonce was hard to bypass). Will their ever be another more secure format to outpace downloads or has that ship passed? If not, touring is where the money is for artists. Touring and merchandising. When Mr. Gordy said farewell in the mid 80s, it seemed premature. A couple of decades later and I understand why with the cost of videos, radio promotion, sales/advertising, a record label no longer seems like a wise investment.

[soulster]

Bokiluis, For myself, I will only buy music from Pono, 7-digital, or HD Tracks, and will buy from Quboz when they finally open here in the U.S.. I have ended using iTunes and Amazon for music purchases. Are the record labels gouging us on Pono? You bet! But, what they offer as opposed to the lossy vendors is what I need to be happy. I still buy a CD when I see the need.

If I buy a download, I don't settle for what the record label gives me. I go in and fix the tags to my liking, and embed them with artwork and liner notes. Then, I make copies of it and store them all.

But, we are getting far away from the thread topic. RobertZ has started a thread about streaming, and that may be as good a place to discuss this stuff. If not, perhaps a new thread would suffice.