This changed people’s perception of music’s worth, and the music industry began its steep decline. Piracy ran rampant, music was free, and the industry turned into the Wild West. Then, without warning, Napster came along and free MP3 files were suddenly just a few clicks away. Streaming services are killing digital download sales, with Pandora and Spotify leading the pack.Īs the sun set on the 20th century, there was virtually no viable way to get free music apart from whatever might be proffered by your local radio station. And that tale takes us all the way back to the music industry’s heyday in 1999. The origin of freeīefore we figure out how to fix the system, let’s figure out how we got here. Despite the popular notion that music can be free for everyone, if we want a fresh infusion of original music from artists we don’t even know about yet, we’re going to have to pay for it. That not only has a detrimental effect on today’s up and comers, but could also put up major financial road blocks for tomorrow’s talented artists to come. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), blames streaming services for killing digital download sales, with Pandora and Spotify’s “freemium model” leading the pack.
Today, that number has been cut by more than half. In 1999, the recorded music industry generated $15 billion in annual revenue. While these convenient services attract millions of listeners, they aren’t paying artists nearly enough to compensate for the digital song and album sales they’re cannibalizing.
It may not look it when pop music darlings like Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars regularly make headlines for how much cash they’re raking in, but beneath a thin veneer of wealthy superstars, musicians are hurting.Īnd music fans, with our insatiable appetite for free music from services like Pandora and Spotify, are partially to blame. Fitbit Versa 3ĭenys Prykhodov/ShutterstockThe music industry is in big trouble - and not the fun kind from Little China.
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