1. Its Where People Listen
Whether you believe streaming services are good or not, it’s where fans are listening to music. You can’t fight this. Streaming services are growing exponentially in popularity and are becoming the primary music consumption source for music consumers. This gives artists the easiest access to get their music to the fans and also gives fans the best access to music.
2. The Answer To Pirating Music
Whether you like it or not, people who want to get music for free are going to. Streaming services offer a solution to pirating music that pays the artists. If people are pirating music, the artist gets paid 0.
3. Easy Distribution
Since iTunes launched in 2002, the music industry has changed drastically. Major labels are no longer the gatekeepers of distribution and pushing out Top 40 music. Distribution used to be extremely expensive, but because artists rely less on labels to produce physical copies of their work, it’s become easier than ever to distribute their music. This also means that it’s easier than ever for people to get music.
4. Getting People to Pay for Music Again
The money for music doesn’t come from the streaming services. It comes from the consumer. Without paying consumers, streaming services won’t have revenue to dish out to rights holders. Streaming services work on artists’ behalf to convert consumers back to paying customers for music. People are able to rent music now and artists are compensated on more of a “pay as you go” plan rather than forcing people to purchase ownership of music. Remember, one single stream of a song to one person one time should provide a very different payment structure than someone purchasing a song to listen to as many times as they want.
5. Analytics
Information is the basis for all decisions. The ability to have such great access to the digital environment allows artists to gain insight into how people interact with their music like never before. Everything is trackable now and streaming services are making big efforts to help artists analyze their music to make better-informed decisions about production and promotion.
