It’s so tempting to make songs that fit neatly into playlists because they drive streams.

Streams equate to exposure which, hopefully, lead to earnings.

This is even more tempting today, because the reality is that it’s never been harder to become an whose art puts food on the table.

I’ve been guilty of this.

Of course the distribution is there (eg Spotify, YouTube) along with discovery tools (TikTok, Reels) but where’s the money?

You could argue that being in front of people 24/7 thanks to a TikTok that blew up is your foot in the door to a career in music.

But that’s not necessarily the case.

Not every artist wants to go viral, and not every artist uses video as a medium for their art.

Or a hit tweet.

Or a monthly paid newsletter.

YouTubers will tell you to make money the way creators do: from affiliate links, selling courses, doing one-on-one lessons, collecting AdSense revenue, setting up a Patreon, crowdfunding, performing live…

So when do we actually get to make money from the music we make? Are we supposed to be happy with the 0.0003 cents per stream that we get?

We’ve got tons of options for creation and distribution, but at the end of the day are artists being paid more now than they were before?

This is the question that needs answering, because if more artists are earning less, then all the distribution in the world won’t change the fact that it’s harder than ever to make a living doing music.

Music has lost its monetary value because, unfortunately, most of the world has come to expect that value to be free.