Originally Posted by
Cilvaringz
I think both camps here make a good point. You can look at it from a general perspective, but in this particular case of LAD, previous figures show sales within the range of 250-300 copies at $30 rate, on average. Spotify numbers don't bode well. There's a total of 125k streams at the moment, everyone can do the math there. Same at YouTube.
Best case scenario, you'd be looking at 300 copies x 25 USD net profit per record = $7500. That's what an independent artist would keep, out of which he/she would have to pay studio, producers, mixing, mastering, design, and eventually the rest could be seen as salary for the time it took to make the record.
It would be fair to say, and conclude, that the music we want from our hero artists simply wouldn't make economic sense in the slightest.
That doesn't take away from the consumer who for the most part has a family to take care of in a particularly difficult time in the world right now where everything is ridiculously expensive. That will always come first. And I don't think any consumer wants to see their favorite artists underpaid or out of pocket neither.
So it's a balance to be achieved which frankly is very difficult at this time.
The artists I work with simply do not push those numbers anymore. Our audience is very limited.
So in the end it becomes an economic decision where I will calculate a fair wage for my time away from my family to make music, my talent, and the value the end product can retain for the consumer.
And the general pool of our audience will likely not be able to afford such releases.
So in the end, I don't think there's wrong or right here, it is an individual calculation the supply chain makes that works for some and doesn't for others.
And as long as it's a non basic necessity such as exclusive music, it will likely go this way the harder it becomes to make economic sense of making music.
Happy to hear yall thoughts if you feel different or feel I missed something essential.