- Streaming Service Contracts: Many artists have claimed to get very minimal payment from streaming services, such as Spotify, for their music. This has been due, in part, to deceitful contracts that were worded to be more in favor of the streaming services. This issue has improved quite a bit, especially with the help of Taylor Swift who is a major activist against this problem, but still has a ways to go. (See https://www.forbes.com/sites/legalentertainment/2017/12/08/music-industry-cases-and-issues-to-watch-in-2018/#21eede325066)
- Piracy: It's no secret that many people illegally download various forms of entertainment, including music. Pirating music for free means that the artist doesn't get paid for their music like they should be. Multiple attempts have been made to shut down piracy across the internet, but it still manages to persist nonetheless. (See https://www.ifpi.org/music-piracy.php)
- Songwriting Royalties: Due to laws that were made decades ago, songwriters have a low, fixed rate at which they earn money from the sale of songs they helped write. Recently, the Music Modernization Act was passed on October 11th of this year and will help songwriters to make more of a profit from their work. (See https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/randall-wixen-there-are-an-immense-number-of-songwriters-not-making-enough-money-to-live-on/)
Of all these issues, the one I feel the most strongly about is the second one regarding pirated music. As someone who wants to make music for a living, I completely understand why artists would be against people being able to download their music for free, as digital downloads are a part of how artists make a living. Even though their are laws in place and actions get taken against illegal pirating websites, it still is not enough. I feel like the government needs to do a better job at regulating severely underregulated parts of the internet, such as the parts that enable illegal downloading of music.
Image Credit: https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/8030087/taylor-swift-reputation-tracklist-ed-sheeran-future-end-game Copyright 2015 Kevin Mazur
While piracy is definitely not okay, and I do not condone it, I feel that if music were to become too expensive then large portions of the population would be taken out of the critical conversation regarding music, and musicians who give away their music for free or extremely cheap will be favored over higher quality music, thus lowering the quality of music as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI've heard, and it seems apparent to me, that streaming services are extremely helpful for new bands and artists to get a following. I've definitely found music I would never have found otherwise without Spotify and its playlists. I would be interested to see how helpful streaming services really are for artists and how that compares to what they're paid. Moreover, why are they paid so little? How is their compensation calculated? How have streaming companies used language to deceive artists, and how are people like Taylor Swift using language and rhetoric to combat the companies' injustices?
ReplyDeleteComing from the daughter of a patent paralegal, I can respect your arguments on pirated music. Music is art, certainly, and art is intellectual property. I've never seen the full documentary, but you might like to check this out: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/copyright-criminals/
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