JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum Difference between Liking and Appreciating

That is all going to change. This stuff is free so they can build an impenetrable brand so big and powerful no one else can compete. Meanwhile they have 100% destroyed the middle class in music and in the wider world as well. Now you can't conduct ANY business online and get significant advertising without using Google in some way just like you must use Amazon if you hope to sell online successfully. No one can compete and next I predict (and I will be right) that the Social media companies will demand HEAVY regulation which will be onerous to them, but will 100% eliminate ANY competition from even starting. This has always been their endgame. They have done it to all music makers. Digital sites have destroyed any ability to make music for a living unless you play ball with the oligarchs. Gone are the days of touring, selling CD's or other forms of your music. They have destroyed most live venues and any left standing will have to partner with larger entities just like they destroyed local and regional banks during Obama's first term. Now only Live Nation venues will be able to exist outside of a coffee shop which can't pay musicians enough for them to live. You can't sell your music as it has no value. There is limitless supplies. It is grim.

Soon, you won't be able to use YouTube unless you pay a netflix like membership fee. Same with having your own channel. That will ALSO cost you. And you'll have no other viable options. Soundclick isn't going to help you make a living in music.

We'll keep fighting the good fight, but for most, be happy making music. Make it for yourself first. Then see if you can find an audience. Build your own small fanbase. 5K fans. I have been pitching the 5000 Fan Theory since the early 90's. People have ripped it off and tried to claim it, but I invented it and have pushed artists to take that approach and many have and can STILL make a living because of it. I see no other pathway to make a living outside a partnership with a major corporation unless you are already famous.

Brian