They Pay You a Third of a Penny

David Peel — Street Corner Rant

You want to know the biggest hustle in the music business? It's not the managers. It's not the labels. It's the streaming. A million people listen to your song and you get paid thirty-eight hundred dollars. You know what that is per listen? A third of a penny. Not a penny. A third of a penny.

I used to play in the park with a hat on the ground. You know what I made? More than a third of a penny per person. A drunk guy throwing a nickel in my hat was fifteen times more generous than Spotify.

And the guys who own Spotify? Billionaires. Private jets. Houses in seven countries. Built their fortune on your music for a third of a penny a play.

They told us it was the future. "Get your music out there! Reach a global audience!" Yeah, I reached them. They listened. They liked it. And I got a third of a penny. You know what you can buy for a third of a penny? Nothing. You can't buy nothing for a third of a penny. You can't even find a third of a penny on the sidewalk.

The hat in Washington Square Park was a better deal. At least the drunk guy looked at me while he paid.

See also: The Original Algorithm — the street was the first recommendation engine. They Put Music in a Phone — the letter to Lennon about what streaming did. A Machine Writes Songs Now — they replaced the musician next. Washington Square — where the hat paid better than Spotify. The Algorithm Cops — who decides which third of a penny you get. The Nickel — the drunk guy’s nickel was the honest metric. The Royalty — a toll booth on a road nobody built. The Tour — no van, no rider, no barricade.

David Peel

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