James Blake has shared some thoughts on streaming, going viral, and effectively rewarding musicians for their craft – sparking a broader conversation in the process.
The English songwriter is an incredible artist, but he’s also a potent voice in sharing his experiences navigating the industry. Spotting recent comments on virality in music being shared by a news account, James Blake noted that becoming a trending ‘sound’ on TikTok doesn’t actually increase your income as a musician – those plays aren’t remunerated.
It’s worth noting this is just an example I used in a post talking about the wider effect of TikTok on music. Just seeing this part makes it seem navel gazing but I’m speaking on a thing that’s affecting artists all over the world. https://t.co/4pd2iRuNlB
— James Blake (@jamesblake) March 3, 2024
With fans asking questions, James Blake shared further thoughts in a series of tweets, opening with:
Something I keep seeing is ‘if you’re lucky enough to go viral, just use the exposure to generate income some other way’. Musicians should be able to generate income via their music. Do you want good music or do you want what you paid for?
Continuing, he pinned down the dichotomy facing many musicians in the current streaming era:
If we want quality music somebody is gonna have to pay for it. Streaming services don’t pay properly, labels want a bigger cut than ever and just sit and wait for you to go viral, TikTok doesn’t pay properly, and touring is getting prohibitively expensive for most artists.
He’s not alone here – the debate around payments to musicians from streaming giants even reached the UK parliament last year.
James Blake continued:
The brainwashing worked and now people think music is free.
He added:
And by the way, since it’s cheaper to produce fast, synthetic music to drop on streaming every week to capitalize on the strengths of the model, watch how the model is preparing you for AI generated music that pays musicians nothing at all.
Related: Right Amount Of Power – James Blake Interviewed
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