Once upon a time in Melodia, one would dream of putting together a band, playing somewhere that would get you noticed by someone who would call up someone else to come see you play elsewhere, and suddenly you had a contract with a record label, a musical industry conglomerate who would promise you fame and fortune. Maybe something would come of the radio airplay you gained from it, or the tours you would go on, or your second or third album, but eventually you’d be known from London to Topeka, Tokyo to Sydney, or so the dream went. The labels were happy to sop up as much of that money as their deceptive contracts allowed them to, of course, and if you never got signed, you likely wound up working in an office somewhere while your guitar made friends with the spiders in the attic. Things often didn’t end up rosy.
Now, you don’t have to rely on the labels! You can make your music at home and stream it on Spotify, create a little YouTube video to go with it and get the ad revenue from the views – an exciting prospect to be sure. That is, until you find out how many thousands or even millions of times your music can be heard/seen without you seeing any notable income at all! We examine the history of the music industry, its transformation into the streaming era, and how many new musicians are feeling swept… downstream! All this and more on TMI for Friday March 26, 2021 – listen in for YOUR Cure for the Common Media!
