The Decline of Musician Compensation: How Streaming Changed the Industry

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the current environment of the music industry to determine and explain why music distribution is becoming increasingly less lucrative for musicians and to promote possible solutions to the problem. We have seen music become more accessible to consumers, but as my paper points out, as accessibility increased, musician compensation decreased. Using both qualitative and quantitative research, as well as personal interviews, I paint a picture of the current musical landscape and the things musicians do to circumvent this drop in distribution revenue such as music licensing, an increased focus on touring, and DIY production setups. Along with these possible solutions on the musicians' end, I introduce a solution on the industry's end called fan-powered royalties. This new business model would drastically improve the financial positions of those musicians on streaming platforms as my research has found that, when correctly implemented, musicians could see a 2x-10x increase in music distribution revenue.