In this digital age, nobody wants to own books, DVDs, CDs, or photos. Better to have it all on an external hard drive that might erase it all. Put it on discs that could scratch or rot.
Creative people are told that they are better off without greedy companies that take a huge percentage and give only a small royalty. Ah yes, powerful monopolies like Google and Amazon are MUCH better. Aren't they?
I know someone who was getting a lot of blog hits and figured "monetization" would make some money. "OK, Google, put a banner ad on my blog and let's see the money roll in..."
Yes, Google spent a penny on him.
Google owns YouTube. On YouTube if an upload goes "viral" and gets 100,000 hits (which is very rare) you might get $50. Depends on algorhythms. You spent hours on the project. Maybe you rehearsed from a script. Maybe you waited all day to record an event. Maybe a lot of editing was required. If you only spent ONE DAY on it, you didn't make minimum wage. Many don't make anything because they do work "on spec," and wait for Google to say, "OK, you have 4,000 subscribers and over 50,000 hits a month on what you've posted. You're eligible for monetization." That can be a long wait. Like, forever. They might NEVER monetize you and will NOT tell you why or what you can do about it. Google is also notorious for DEMONETIZING accounts for no reason. You have NO access to a phone number and if you do have an e-mail contact with an assigned advisor, that person will stop responding to you after sending a form letter.
As for established professional musicians who think streaming will compensate for what they've lost through piracy and the death of CD sales, CNBC recently pointed out the bad news. "The new paradigm" isn't working and it isn't fair:
I know plenty of musicians who have seen their royalties shrink over the years, as vinyl gave way to CD, and CD gave way to mp3 downloads, and then to streaming. Most now agree that not only is climate change real, so is the damage from PIRACY. An ordinary blogger is committing grand larceny with the number of downloads and "hits" from what's posted on Zippyshare or Imagenetz. Some bloggers use Rapidgator (which pays a percentage on 1,000 or more downloads) or Paypal donation banners to actively compete with the artist for royalties. Only these weasels are getting a percentage they are not entitled to. Some singers and songwriters now get a royalty check that might allow for dinner out once a week, or maybe enough to pay the monthly grocery bill...but NOT the RENT.
Photography? Everyone has a cellphone now. Everyone is a paparazzi, seeing a celeb and snapping away. The price goes down because everyone has that shot of the star at the airport, or the star taking out the garbage. Even an upskirt or some other scandalous photo won't get big money because once it appears, everyone copies it and uses it.
Back in the day, a big photo agency would assign you to events and market your images, and keep them in a library. You'd get surprise checks in the mail all the time: Oh, TV Guide bought an image. Oh, a book company is using my photo. Hmm, NBC ran my photo in the background illustrating a piece on a star in the news.
Not anymore. Magazines are dead. TV stations get sent free photos taken with cellphones and all they do is say "we'll give you a photo credit." The world is loaded with unintentional scabs who will happily work for FREE just for the ego of it.
Most photo agencies have gone under, and the big ones on the Internet, like Getty, are notorious for NOT wanting to acquire a photographer's portfolio, and NOT paying much for anything. A typical website admonishment:
The book world is the same. Back when I was an acquisitions editor, I was told to offer the lowest advance possible, because "half of list price goes to the distributor, and from there we have printing costs, office expenses..." So if the author gets two bucks on a $20 book, and the book company itself might get four bucks, things are going WELL? Better than now!
Book stores are disappearing and people only want to spend a few dollars on a download Kindle/Nook version. They can get plenty of books free off torrents, or for a few dollars from eBay bootleggers. So? Most authors keep their day job. They hide in Academia and their students might be impressed with having a digital copy on their cellphone. The line between professional and amateur is blurred...somebody using Amazon's CreateSpace can say "I'm an AUTHOR," the same way off-key amateurs can brag "I'm a musician. You can listen to my songs on Spotify."
As the author of 19 books, a photographer with major credits, a BMI songwriter, someone involved with award winning radio shows and voice-over work, and the editor of three national magazines, I know how difficult things used to be and ARE. I suppose the creative arts I've not been a part of, such as dance, acting or oil painting, are no better. Oh, acting. Yeah, I did get paid once to be a movie extra for a major studio. It was an experience, but not one I felt was worth exploring further. And no, I'm not even visible in the finished film.
People talk about how the minimum wage should go up. For creative people who write books, take photos, make music, act, dance or paint, they have no minimum wage, are mere freelancers, and are told to go find a day job and accept that they are entertaining people for nearly nothing.
Corporations still make all the money. The "viral" YouTube video, the unknown with a hit song, the freak luck of pudgy E.L. James and her badly written drivel...these are very rare exceptions. Creative people get little money, but are supposed to be compensated by bragging rights: "I have a YouTube video that 50,000 people saw." "I have a book you can download on Amazon, so that makes me an AUTHOR." "I'm on iTunes, so instead of streaming Taylor Swift...stream me singing that old classic...PENNIES FROM HEAVEN..."
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