Updates
3.20.2025 : Hello World
My name is Matt Mills. I'm an independent artist.
I have spent a lot of time considering art, artists, time, and compensation and I have concluded that making a career out of art, under the current incentive structure, is nearly impossible. I believe that's because we have not created a system that can support artists and their creativity. Only recently have humans discovered the ability to record music. For thousands of years, the only way to hear music was to listen to a real life human play in a room to other real life humans. Thanks to Edison, we removed the: "real life human playing in a room" part. We live in a world where we can listen to the best musicians, the best song writers - anywhere and any time. We can even listen to the music of the dead. Truly pretty amazing (especially considering we all take this for granted - none of us lived in the 'pre-recorded music' epoch).
So, how do musicians make money?
The typical strategy is to sell albums and songs. Couple that with touring and merch revenue. Maybe some extra cash from streams. Unfortunately, there are problems with the current model. Let's look at streaming.
Here is the pay scale for streaming music apps:
| Platform | Pay per Stream |
|---|---|
| Pandora | $0.00133 |
| Spotify | $0.00318 |
| Amazon Music | $0.00402 |
| Deezer | $0.0011 |
| YouTube Music | $0.002 |
| Apple Music | $0.008 |
| Tidal | $0.01284 |
As you can see - it takes a lot of streams before an artist can make money off their art.
But - what about record labels?
Record labels aren't inherently bad. They can be great! But, there are a lot of horror stories about artists that get into debt with the label. Usually, the artist loses control of their work, too.
Touring can also be a great source of revenue. Unfortunately, without the support of a label - the artist is responsible for negotiating, scheduling, marketing, and public relations. That is a lot of effort. That effort takes time. Time that could be spent on making new music.
So, what can we do?
Thanks for asking! I want to experiment with a novel approach. You see - in the traditional system - musicians make an album. Then they tour to support that album. In effect, this asks listeners to pay for work that has been complete. I want to flip the question. Instead of asking: will you buy my album for $20.00? I want to give away the music I make, for free. If you like the music - tell your friends! Pass it around! If you listen and you think: "I'd really like some more of this." If you happen to find yourself thinking that, my suggestion is that you try to coerce my future time.
Coerce your time?
Yes! Donate money to me. If enough folks coerce my future time, I can make more free music. Don't have the cash; but, you want to help? Contact me regarding booking shows! Share the music with your friends. Bring some folks to a show!
Wait. If you give away the music for free, won't folks just listen to the music and not pay?
Absolutely! But, I make music because I like it. If you like it - and want more - you know what to do! Without financial support, I need to use my time making money, instead of making music. Ergo, less music is made.