Well, piss streams, too. And it peters out. And it's flushed down the drain.
The reality is that there's SO MUCH OUT THERE, the average singer/songwriter is lucky to be noticed at all. This includes the artist who re-issues out of print material, and once-known artists with new material to offer.
All things must pass, eh? "Everything Passes" is a song on the comeback album from Gunhill Road. In two years, only 50 people have bothered to stream it free:
One thing most people know about me, is that I always championed unique artists. When I was the editor at ROCKET, I had 100 pages to play with, so aside from talking to Billy Joel or Gene Simmons, I put in a page or two for Katy Moffatt, Andy Pratt or Andy Bown. The first time the rock group City Boy saw their name on a cover of a magazine...it was ROCKET.
When I was music editor at OUI, and wherever else I freelanced, I liked to give space to deserving talent. When I had my own radio show, I played tracks by Ron Nagle and Sarah Kernochan alongside somewhat better known performers such as Curved Air and Fanny. (I said SOMEWHAT better known). If I played a rocking Rolling Stones track, I might follow it with "Snowblind" from Judy Henske. If I played James Taylor, maybe the next segue would be an even more sensitive number from Phil Ochs.
I played Randy Newman when he wasn't wasn't known. After two albums tanked, Reprise sent DJ's a live album to promote him. It ended up being released. One track "Lonely at the Top," was so ironic, Randy chuckled as he sang, "all the money that I have made." And now? No publicity machines anymore. No record stores. And a lot of artists don't quit their day jobs. Maybe Kanye will tell you it's lonely at the top. I can tell you it's NOT lonely at the bottom; there's LOTS of people down her with me! GUNHILL ROAD, who once had a Top 20 hit, is on MY label, CD Baby. In two years, songs on their new album have barely averaged 50 hits? Then I don't feel so bad that in a year, songs on MY album have averaged maybe 25.
Nothing will change Gunhill Road's numbers or mine. Being a networking pest? No, that does not work. I'm not even on FACEBOOK pestering people with links to my YouTube songs. Gunhill Road is on FACEBOOK and they don't "network" that way. They know the futility of it, and the embarrassment. Martin Briley is on FACEBOOK and he'd rather post some Anti-Trump meme than a plug for the last album of originals he did. 135 views in TWO YEARS? On a Martin Briley song??
Briley, or Gunhill Road, could sell out The Bitter End if they bothered. They might break even doing it. That's about it. Most artists of the same age, even higher up on the chain, don't do much better. Donovan was at The Cutting Room. Dave Davies and Nick Lowe were at City Winery. These are not large venues. Many reputable performers such as Lowe, Andy Bown or Genya Ravan are on an indie label if they're releasing new material at all.
I've had well known artists grumble that they wish they weren't on SPOTIFY at all; they get THOUSANDS of hits, but a royalty check that barely gives them dinner for two. YOUTUBE is even more humiliating, because everyone can see the small number of hits. I didn't put out major label vinyl. Andy Pratt, Raun MacKinnon, Nannette Natal and Sarah Kernochan did. Anyone curious about their work, or want to hear rare demos? Apparently not.
Pratt...208, Raun...18. Sarah...8. Nanette...1. These are on YOU TUBE videos that have been up longer than mine. In one case, 3 years. Do I feel better about myself? I suppose. Misery loves company.
One might argue that a major interest at YOUTUBE would be bootlegs. Well, how many blurry Bob Dylan or Neil Young videos do you want to see? They don't even get a penny from them. As for the uploaders, they don't do that well either. If a video gets 1,000 hits, that might equal lunch...at Burger King. Somebody doesn't really enjoy the show because he's peering through a camcorder and periodically checking to see if anyone's coming after him, and shielding the viewing screen from people around him who don't like the distraction...and he gets a few nickels and dimes and a few LIKES on YOUTUBE.
When my label put my album on YOUTUBE, I wondered what the point was. To get publicity? To snag some streaming income? It seems to me that if your album is easily available on YouTube (or Spotify) there's less reason to buy it. The numbers for streams, at my level, or the level of Van Dyke Parks, is just not worth the effort. I had no idea Parks put out an indie record three years ago. Apparently, few others knew it either. His label has it on YOU TUBE and in three years...about 300 hits per song. Lovely.
For those under 25, who do "cover versions" of hugely popular artists, the reward is maybe ten times the number of views that a geezer gets. That's still a piss-poor number. How long before these dewy-eyed dopes give up? (I borrowed "dewy eyed dopes" from a song with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. I doubt many could identify which song I'm quoting.) Here's a dewy-eyed dope:
Bad news? Oh, it's NICE to tell people, "Yes, I have an album out...you can hear it on Spotify. Just type my name at YouTube." It's NICE but few bother to do it, just as few bother to "network" on Twitter or Facebook to try and get the numbers up.
As is the case in the book world, where the INITIAL BRIGADE (J.K. Rowling, George R.R. Martin, E.L. James) still make money, the big shots do very well on YOU TUBE. An article in TIME magazine listed all the fabulous songs of the summer. No, I never heard of any of 'em, and I wouldn't want to listen to any of 'em. But people did, in droves. Rather than buy singles, or listen to the radio (which is what kids like ME did), Millennials simply stream the songs any time they wanna hear 'em. Maybe they use a gizmo like KeepVid if they get bored with streaming, and download the mp3 portion "illegally."
Wowie. In case you can't read the fine, fine print, in listing the top hits of the summer, TIME did not quote SALES, but instead, YOUTUBE VIDEO VIEWS. Even with the skimpy royalties YOUTUBE pays, if you get millions of views, you DO make good money. Mmm, look at all the shitty, sound-alike, vocoder, crappy "BEATS" and mindless lyric drivel that did so well:
Kendrick Lamar, 284 million hits, Bruno Mars 855 million, French Montana 277 million. Ed Sheeran, 2.1 billion. Luis Fonsi featuring Justin Bieber 3.3 billion.
"It's the new paradigm." And for us older folks, a pair of dimes is about all we get.
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