The ability for anyone to access any music from anywhere has completely revolutionized the music business. Whilst new money is being brought to musicians from these platforms, there are also many challenges that are being faced due to the oversaturated market. The music streaming platforms are calling for longer albums that contain longer songs. These same services are also not paying an adequate amount for these musicians to make a living. Musicians are needing to compete on a level that is too financially stressful for the everyday musician to survive. They are relying heavily on extravagant stage productions and merchandise sales to pay for their new ventures. This takes the focus away from the musical works themselves which could change the listening experience for the worse. What can be done to thrive in such a changing industry?
Remedies
The answer might lie in changing the way music is made. Portable studios and recording software accessibility has now allowed artists to directly release their own music. This is necessary for them to keep up with the competition and demand that streaming services are putting on the musicians. In regards to generating more income for artists, streaming services could begin to make exclusive rights deals with certain artists in order to pay the artists a better compensation. Even though this might upset the utilitarians out there, this would ultimately give musicians the financial gains that they need in order to keep making better and more innovative music instead of putting the main focus on things like merchandise.
Music Made Mania 