Notes

Read the “Should Musicians Change Their Tune?” passage set.
Should Musicians Change Their Tune?
Source 1: The Changing Landscape of the
Music Business
by Jacob Carter
The music industry is in the midst of a large upheaval. In decades
past, artists made money through physical sales of records, CDs, and
cassettes. However, those forms of media are quickly fading away. And
while downloading songs from services such as Amazon or iTunes has
become the most common way for people to purchase music in recent
years, the whole idea of buying music to own may be falling by the
wayside. To take its place are Internet services that stream music
directly to listeners on their smartphones, tablets, or computers. These
apps are typically available either as ad-supported free versions or
ad-free monthly subscription services. And while this is great for fans,
who now have access to millions of songs at the flick of a touchscreen,
it has shattered the traditional model of how an artist manages his or
her career.
With music lovers increasingly moving away from making one-time
purchases towards an all-you-can-listen-to service, what is a hardworking
artist to do? The main problem facing many musicians is that
payments-per-stream of a song are much lower than what an artist
would receive from a download. According to data journalist David
McCandless, a signed solo artist would need about 5,478 iTunes
downloads of a song per month versus 4,200,000 YouTube streams per
month just to make the U.S. minimum wage. Some big-name artists
have called attention to the issue. In November of 2014, awardwinning
musician Taylor Swift pulled her entire music catalog from
Spotify, a popular streaming app, claiming that their business model
suggests that music does not hold much worth.
Others have embraced the idea of streaming music, claiming that it
offers smaller artists a chance for their music to get heard by a wider
audience. Zoë Keating, a cellist who describes herself as established
but non-mainstream, suggests that these services should be viewed as
a way for musicians to get their music out there and not as an income