The SPS/TEA Problem
I created a similar thread a while back, but I still keep seeing people discrediting streaming and clearly, if they do so, they know nothing about the music industry. I did some research for y'all. I know most of us discredit it if our faves aren't streaming forces, but take a look at receipts and tell me why you still discredit it:
First of all, for those who didn't know, the accepted industry benchmarks that Billboard and the RIAA also uses on their charts and certifications is 1500 streams = 1 album equivalent. Spotify on average pays an artist between $0.007 and $0.0084 per stream, depending on the country and deal they have. Bigger artists get paid closer to $0.008 as they bring in the subscribers. So if we take the average, $0.0077 per stream, and 1500 streams is an album equivalent, that equals $11.55, and most albums today are between $7.99 and $11.99, meaning some artists actually get paid more through streaming than through pure sales.
For SPS for singles, the accepted formula is 150 streams = 1 pure sale track. If you do the math, that'll be just around $1.29, which is the full price of a track on iTunes. Also, streaming guarantees the artist a set revenue. When the artist discounts a track on iTunes, they'll still be getting as much through streaming platforms.
For those of you who love to argue that some album sales are inflated because of hit singles, the industry's answer to you and my answer to you is that it doesn't matter if you have a hit with 50m streams instead of a 12 track album with 4.1m streams per track, actually a hit single would be preferred as it markets the album.
Now for TEA (Track equivalents) haters, it's as simple as this: 10 track sales = 1 album sale. 10x1.29= $12.90 . This is more than most albums are today, so why wouldn't it count? Doesn't matter if they're buying a hit single, the artist and label are getting the same amount of money regardless of which track you're buying.
Also, if you're about to comment that this is only for the US, you're wrong, this is everywhere in the world. Let's take the UK for example, where Apple Music and Spotify pay artists between £0.0085 and £0.0095 per stream, and the equivalent over there is 100 streams = 1 track pure sale. Doing the math, this is the average price of a track in the UK (£0.99).
Spotify is $9.99 a month, so stop saying fans aren't willing to buy their albums because in a year, that's almost the equivalent of 12 albums bought, and my faves combined do not release even close 10 albums a year. Only 7. Also, doesn't matter if it's free users or not, because Spotify uses the money from advertisements to pay the artist. No matter who streams from their platform, the artist will get the same they've always gotten.
Labels have pushed for SPS, artists themselves have pushed, the RIAA, the BPI, managers and retailers. All of them have pushed. It's helped the music industry as a whole, because more people are paying for their music than ever. If you're still discrediting streaming, then you're clearly just pressed about the fact that you've been wrong this whole time and that the whole industry has moved on and you're stuck in the past.
sources:
http://www.billboard.com/articles/bu...on-methodology
http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-...st-time__4245/