Thanks to Dave Chappell for taping my rainy Ann Arbor Summer Festival set!
Photo Credits: Dave Chappell
June 14, 2015 @ Ann Arbor’s Summer Fest: Top of the Park
Youtube videos taped by Dave Chappell:
Protected: Streaming numbers: How many people does it take? (AKA Wonky Wonk Wonk)
Apple Stream went live today.
NPR’s article didn’t report two important facts, so here they are: Apple did agree to pay artists during the three month free trial period, after T-Swift’s blog; they agreed to pay $0.002 per stream.
In sale terms that’s 495 streams to equal one $0.99 sale on iTunes.
Also, comps to company employees won’t be paid (DigitalMusicNews’s article) so when rich Apple execs is stream music off an iPhone, artists have to give that stream up for free!
(That’s such a ridiculously perfect example of income inequality in America, I have to stop typing to chuckle!)
I’m on the fence here.
I want the public to embrace a streaming platform like I have, as a consumer. I’ve been paying for Spotify since it’s USA launch in July of 2011. As a consumer of music, it’s awesome; however, for artists, it’s really not awesome yet.
Hopefully, Apple can convince 3x as many folks to pay $10 a month as Spotify has been able to accomplish over four years. Even after the free trial period, I estimate that it will take 200+ stream to equal one song sale on iTunes.
Sadly, most artists like myself will still make more money busking at a farmer’s market than anything streaming will offer.
PS: My appearance at the Ann Arbor Art Fair on Sunday–that I did for fun–would be worth 27625 streams during the Apple free trial!
Jackson Coffee Co. – Bookends Setlist
I’m making my first appearance at the wonderful Jackson Coffee Company this Friday!
Jackson Coffee Company – 7 PM
201 S Mechanic St, Jackson, MI 49201
no cover
June 2015 also highlights my fourth year of full-time music. It feels like I’ve graudated my senior year! In reflection, I’m going to play all of the songs from Burning the Boats & Where the Sand Meets the Tide releases in succession for one of the sets.
I left my teaching job at Holly in 2011, and these two EPs bookend that decision. Burning the Boats was release in Sept. 2010, the start of my last year teaching; and Where the Sand Meets the Tide was recorded and released in the fall of 2011, the start of my first year full-time.
