Keep in mind that comparisons like this don't take into account that streaming services like Spotify attract a lot of users who would not have spent a dime on music distributed in any other way, so they are effectively useless to compare revenue streams. They are a bit like equating every pirated song to a lost sale.
Myself, I'm just like the guy above me, I literally spent $0 on music for over a decade, until I got a Spotify Premium account about a year ago. I think there are many others like me.
Services like Spotify and Netflix are marginal cost services. Their intent is to monetize the previously non-paying customers like yourself at unheard of low prices.
However, it's not all gravy. Marginal cost services cannibalize a portion of the existing market. The degree to which this happens depends on the popularity of the service. It may a small percentage or in the extreme, every customer.
If Spotify remains relatively small and is kept in check, then it will likely be a net benefit to artists and labels as it costs them little to participate.
However, it's also a disruptive innovation at a radically lower price point. If the lion's share of the music market were to switch to Spotify or a similar service, the drop in revenues would not sustain the market since great content is labour intensive and expensive.
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Keep in mind that comparisons like this don't take into account that streaming services like Spotify attract a lot of users who would not have spent a dime on music distributed in any other way, so they are effectively useless to compare revenue streams. They are a bit like equating every pirated song to a lost sale.
Myself, I'm just like the guy above me, I literally spent $0 on music for over a decade, until I got a Spotify Premium account about a year ago. I think there are many others like me.
Services like Spotify and Netflix are marginal cost services. Their intent is to monetize the previously non-paying customers like yourself at unheard of low prices.
However, it's not all gravy. Marginal cost services cannibalize a portion of the existing market. The degree to which this happens depends on the popularity of the service. It may a small percentage or in the extreme, every customer.
If Spotify remains relatively small and is kept in check, then it will likely be a net benefit to artists and labels as it costs them little to participate.
However, it's also a disruptive innovation at a radically lower price point. If the lion's share of the music market were to switch to Spotify or a similar service, the drop in revenues would not sustain the market since great content is labour intensive and expensive.