Mastodon guitarist thinks streaming will make bands disappear.
Mastodon guitarist Bill Kelliher stated in an interview with Let There Be Talk that bands will disappear unless a fair share of streaming revenue starts being passed on to the artists.
In 2016, a song had to be played 288 million times to generate revenue for the composer equivalent to the average salary of a Spotify employee.
"I use Spotify all the time. It's so simple, so easy, you can download as many songs as you want to your phone and listen anywhere."
Kelliher continues, “But the problem is that there has never been any legislation to adequately compensate the artist since 1972. That’s why Brann Dailor – being members of The Recording Academy and The Grammy Academy – are working on the Music Modernization Act.” Dailor is the drummer for Mastodon.
The law, which paves the way for fairer digital royalties to be paid to composers and artists, was approved last week by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. It will now proceed to the Senate for consideration.
Kelliher warns: "In my opinion, if everything continues as it is, the artist will disappear, because we won't be able to survive financially."
"The record label advances the money for recording the album, but once it's on the internet, where is the revenue generated to repay that advance? It's impossible to generate that money."
Bill Kelliher adds: “I could live for thousands of years and if Spotify played my music all day, I’d make about $2,000 or $3,000. It’s tiny. The only way to make any money is to go on the road and tour constantly, which is impossible for most bands.”
"The record labels are desperate. They don't know what to do because they gave the keys to the kingdom to Apple, Spotify, and Pandora," concludes the worried Mastodon guitarist.
Mastodon recently released an animated video for the song "Clandestiney ," a track from their latest album, Emperor Of Sand .