A 16 Year Old's Views on Music Streaming & Digital Downloads

Today I wanted to write a post about something that I personally am extremely passionate about and have increasingly heard more and more about it throughout the past couple of years. This is of course digital downloads, online music streaming and music being posted to the internet illegally. I feel that this subject has been covered A LOT in the media however as a sixteen (seventeen on Tuesday) year old girl I thought I might use this blog to give my unique perspective on this particular subject. I haven’t come across anything about this subject from the perspective of a teenager girl such as myself, so I thought I’d be the one to change that and write about it from my point of view. A lot of what am I about to write is personal opinion and any facts/figures that I include have come from an extensive amount of research that I have conducted over the past number of months. As time goes on I will continue to keep up to date on this subject due to personal interest and if I feel necessary may even write a follow up post. But that will very much depend on how this subject develops in future.

The subject of online music steaming has been highlighted a lot in the media particularly in the past year or so due to a number of famous singers sharing their thoughts and opinions and of course taking a stance. Music being posted illegally on the internet and music downloads perhaps haven't had as much of an emphasis in the media as streaming has however these three things all walk in hand in hand in many respects and affect artists in similar ways. Two artists that have caught my attention regarding this subject are from two different generations but both have had a massive influence in the music industry. This is of course Taylor Swift and a personal favourite of mine Prince.

I'm sure most of you will be aware of issues recently highlighted by Taylor Swift regarding one global brand in particular who had planned to create a music streaming service of which users could subscribe to a free three month trial period before paying $9.99 per month subscription fee following the trial. Fair enough some may say; however the free trial period meant that artists contributing music to this particular streaming service would not be paid a single penny until the trial period was over and users began paying a subscription fee. Rightly so, Taylor decided to take a stance and refused to allow her music catalogue to be included in the service due to the fact that she strongly opposed the company’s decision not to pay artists during the trial period. On her Tumblr account Taylor wrote an open letter about her reasoning to take these actions. In the post she states "This is not about me. Thankfully I am on my fifth album and can support myself, my band, crew, and entire management team by playing live shows. This is about the new artist or band that has just released their first single and will not be paid for its success. This is about the young songwriter who just got his or her first cut and thought that the royalties from that would get them out of debt. This is about the producer who works tirelessly to innovate and create". Just a short period of time later the company reverted from their initial idea and agreed to pay all artists for their music contributed to the service. Thankfully, there are people like Taylor out there who are not afraid to stand up for what is right and look what happened? She was listened to and changes were made! If it weren't for Taylor taking a stance, indie artists wouldn't be paid for all the heart and soul that they put into their music.

Like I said earlier in this post Prince is another artist who has spoken out and taken action against music distribution on the internet. Recently, Prince had his entire catalogue of music removed from all streaming services apart from a site named Tidal which he has exclusively posted his latest album "HitNRun" on. I recently stumbled upon an article about Prince and online music streaming services and according to this article, the reason Prince had his music catalogue removed from streaming services was that like Taylor Swift, he feels that the digital music industry are making it difficult for artists to make a living off of.

Just like any normal person both musicians and singers need to make a living. They work extremely hard and tirelessly to create the music that each and every one of us love to listen too. Would you like to work for hours on end and then for your boss to turn round at the end of the day and tell you that they're not paying you for all your hard work and effort? Of course not! Why should musicians, bands and singers be treated any differently?

Despite the fact that I'm only sixteen years old and have no experience of being a full-time singer/musician for a living I can still see just how much of a struggle it is for young, indie artists to make a career for themselves in the music industry today. In many respects the digital era is definitely killing off the music industry or at least that's how I see it.

As you'll now realise I am extremely passionate about this subject and have done a lot of reading and research on it. Being the curious person that I am, I decided to conduct a little research into the figures and percentages that artists are paid through various revenues and was absolutely shocked by just how much of a pittance it actually is! I actually considered listing the figures here on my blog but it varies slightly on different websites and I don't want to provide incorrect information. Considering the fact that the internet is such a big place, this information is extremely easy to come by so take my advice, look it up because like me I'm sure you’ll be shocked.

Personally speaking, I refuse to join/subscribe to any music streaming sites and don't intend to anytime in the near future. I do however; confess to downloading music from the iTunes store although I even try to keep that to an absolute minimum. In every instance possible I buy a physical copy of any albums I want from one of my local music stores/record fairs. I prefer to support my local music stores rather than go to the dark side and download music. It really hit me a couple of years ago when HMV went into administration and it looked as if my local branch was going to close down meaning that there'd be no music shops whatsoever in my area. Despite the fact that many of the major HMV stores in the big cities like Glasgow and Edinburgh were shut down, my local HMV was one of the fortunate few to remain open and since then my town has even welcomed an independent music/record shop to the area. That's almost unheard of in today's society. Around the time when HMV in my local town was saved I vowed to myself to support it in every way that I possibly could. I wasn't prepared to face the possibility of it closing down again. And I am extremely proud to say that I have in fact kept to the bargain. If there's a local music store around; I’ll do everything I can to support it!

I say the exact same thing when it comes to books but seriously, there is nothing better than going out to a book store or in this instance a music store and leisurely wandering round looking for your next purchase. I love owning a physical copy of an album and being able to flick through and enjoy looking at the accompanying booklets. What if you meet the band or singer? You can't exactly get a download signed, can you? Most importantly if you buy a physical copy of an album from a local music shop; you're supporting your local music store and the artists who created the music rather than them being paid a pittance for a download or in some instances nothing at all when music is downloaded illegally!

So I'll keep this post to a minimum as I'm sure you'll get my point by now. But seriously next time you go to download a song or use a streaming service, think about how it impacts upon the music industry. Let's get the music industry growing again rather than it sinking down the plughole! To be honest I don't think I'd even mind if the prices of albums were raised a little as long as I knew the extra money I paid was going to the artist. Please do your bit to support musicians by supporting your local music store and purchasing physical copies of an album! You're small contribution over a period of time will make a huge difference and perhaps even give up and coming artists a chance in the music industry!