It Is All About Supporting the Musicians

As many readers know, I am much more music-obsessed than TV-oriented. I do watch, but only rarely and for (generally) short times. Music, however, is on from the time I get out of bed until I return to it.

I subscribe to Spotify. I tried Apple Music for a while, being part of the Apple Corps, but I found it not to meet my needs. Spotify, on the other hand, I learned to program so I can hear what I want to hear and ignore the rest. They give me six Daily Mix sessions that change, well, daily, and two weekly mixes that showcase new artists, new music from my chosen artists, and an occasional horrible song; Spotify gives me the option of never hearing the song again.

A reader might also know that sales of physical music media - CDs and records, mostly, though vinyl has seen an increase in sales recently - has plummeted for decades. From the days of music piracy made famous by Napster and other online sites to modern times, the way we listen to music has changed. Only big-name artists now put on expensive concert events. We don't steal music, which is good, and we do not buy much, which is not. We have stopped downloading paid versions of those physical media, too. 

This sea change in how we hear music hurts one group more than any other...the musicians who create the music.

They no longer get a portion of the sales of their discs and downloads and there is much less opportunity for a new artist or band to gain an audience without those sales. The sale of physical media and electronic downloads has been replaced by music streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify, among others.

My membership in Spotify helps pay the artists a bit. Because of the anti-theft laws worldwide, musicians now get paid for their songs, though not much. Before those laws, the membership money went to the service provider, not the record company or the artists themselves. I have spent some time learning how that works; how does the artist in, say Australia, get paid when I listen to a song of hers hooked to a device here in America?

My study has shown that the artists are paid in a very different way than if I was to buy a compact disc or a vinyl record or even to pay for a download. per play, per song. It is a fraction of one U.S. penny, so the importance is the number of plays worldwide. I own nothing, download nothing, and cannot increase my own music library without the actual purchase of a CD or vinyl record or by downloading a file to my computer. Doing so, of course, would be prohibitively expensive; my current CD library has over 2.000 units that I have build up since CDs started being created in 1982.

[An interesting side note: since I got rid of my players and many (most?) computers no longer come with a way to insert one to play, I no longer have a way to play any of those CDs. They have become obsolete! My collection of over 1,000 vinyl records has become relevant again and I do have a way to play them, though I do not have the space to put up my turntable and accessories.]

Here is what I have decided. Since I cannot afford to make a one-time purchase of an artist's production, I stream as much as I can. Mostly, I pick one of the Spotify Daily Mixes - I really dislike hearing the same song over and over, which is one reason I have not listed to broadcast radio for years...listening to commercials is another, something that is also missing on a paid streaming service. Often, I pick one artist and listen to that for hours or days. The artist will be paid a bit more money because more of the songs will be played, thus making Spotify pay a bit more for each.

A couple of weeks ago, it came to me that my e-devices sit unused overnight. I have several and perhaps I could use them to help fill the coffers of a musician while I sleep. So I tried it and it works! Before I go to bed, I pick an artist I want to support - most recently, that has been Shadi Touloui-Wallace (https://www.shaditolouiwallace.com) a young Australian Bahá'í and a very talented musician now living in Vancouver, British Columbia - and put her songs on repeat with the volume down.

I listen to her music for the eight hours I am asleep and she reaps the benefits of those extra payments.

If reading this makes sense to you, doing the same is something you can do if you have Spotify - I do not know if it works with any of the other streaming services like Apple Music. Pick your favorite artist, choose the songs by that artist, put them on random and repeat, and go to bed. 

When you get up next, you will have helped a struggling artist make a few pennies just by sleeping. If many of us do it, think of how rich we can make our faves. Heck, maybe one day, they can put together an arena tour!