I usually buy the records of the artists I like. I stopped using spotify for this exact reason, it preys on artists and fattens the rich bastards on top
This. This is why I am in the “I still buy CDs” camp. DL the album and if I’m still listening to it a couple days later I buy the CD, assuming the artist still even releases on CD…
Sure for major artists pulling in millions a year, but at that point fuck em. For indy and unsigned artists, directly buying their media goes basically straight to them and is usually the highest margin item they have. If they are a massive artist sure their merch has economy of scale setup and they rake in money through that but I don’t support massive wealth inequality so they can fuck right off.
Obviously it’s different for unsigned artists who have self published, thought that was pretty self explanatory since they don’t have a record label/publisher/etc that takes the bulk of the money.
I usually buy the records of the artists I like. I stopped using spotify for this exact reason, it preys on artists and fattens the rich bastards on top
This. This is why I am in the “I still buy CDs” camp. DL the album and if I’m still listening to it a couple days later I buy the CD, assuming the artist still even releases on CD…
Even buying the cd only puts a few bucks at best in the artists pockets. 80%+ goes to the publisher/producer/marketing/etc.
If you want to support an artist go see them live and/or buy merch from them directly. Anything what is just supporting publishers.
Sure for major artists pulling in millions a year, but at that point fuck em. For indy and unsigned artists, directly buying their media goes basically straight to them and is usually the highest margin item they have. If they are a massive artist sure their merch has economy of scale setup and they rake in money through that but I don’t support massive wealth inequality so they can fuck right off.
Obviously it’s different for unsigned artists who have self published, thought that was pretty self explanatory since they don’t have a record label/publisher/etc that takes the bulk of the money.
And you can support wonderful, consumer-friendly businesses like TicketMaster at the same time!
Sneak into the show but buy merch?
At that point, just mail them a fucking check.
So do you want to support the artist or not?