Problems with the Music Industry: Is It On The Edge of a Cliff?

Have you felt like music just isn’t what it used to be?

I don’t mean the beats or the lyrics but the soul of the industry itself.

The music world is facing tough times, and it’s hard not to notice that we’re all in this unsustainable race to the bottom (and I’m not just talking about the bass drops).

In this article, I am going to dive into the major problems in the music industry and how we as artists and fans can put the value back into the art that is music.

Remember when making music meant having a studio, expensive equipment, and a record deal? Those days are gone. Now, anyone with a laptop can make songs in their bedroom. All you need is a computer and some free time.

Too Much of a Good Thing?

Think of it like this: What if every restaurant in your city suddenly started serving pizza? At first, it sounds great – pizza everywhere! But soon there’d be so much pizza that:

• It would be hard to choose where to eat
• Most places would sell cheap pizza to compete
• The special feeling of going out for pizza would fade

That’s what’s happening with music. Every day, thousands of new songs pop up online. It’s awesome that everyone can make music, but it’s also overwhelming. There’s just so much of it.

The Good and Bad

The bad news? Music isn’t as special as it used to be. Songs are often treated like fast food – quickly made, quickly consumed, quickly forgotten. Artists make tiny amounts of money from streaming, sometimes just cents per thousand plays.

But here’s the good news: Amazing songs now come from everywhere. A kid in a small town can make a hit. Musicians mix different styles in new ways. Someone in Brazil can team up with someone in Japan to make something totally new.

Finding the Gold

The trick isn’t making music anymore – it’s finding the good stuff. It’s like having a massive library where anyone can add books. The great ones are still there, but you need help finding them. That’s why playlists, music blogs, and recommendations from friends matter more than ever.

The magic of music isn’t gone. It’s just different. Instead of being amazed that someone could make a song, we’re amazed when we find one that really speaks to us – like finding a treasure in a huge maze.

Let’s talk about how streaming changes the way musicians make money.

Back in the day, buying a CD meant giving artists about $5-7 per album.

Now it’s very different. When you stream a song, the artist gets tiny fractions of pennies. Spotify pays about $0.003 per stream, while Apple Music pays around $0.01.

To put this in real terms: if you play your favorite song 100 times this month, the artist might earn less than 50 cents.

The Hard Truth About Making a Living

Think about what this means for musicians trying to make a living. A musician would need about 400,000 streams per month on Spotify just to earn minimum wage. That’s a lot of plays just to pay basic bills. Musicians have to cover their rent, buy equipment, pay for studio time, and handle marketing costs – all while trying to make new music.

How Musicians Actually Pay Their Bills

Because streaming pays so little, most musicians can’t live on streams alone. They have to find other ways to make money. Many teach music lessons or work regular jobs. Some write songs for other artists. Most rely heavily on live shows and selling merchandise to make ends meet. It’s like having to work three jobs just to keep doing what you love.

The Big Picture

Streaming made music easy to find and play. That’s great for listeners! We can hear any song we want, anytime we want. But this convenience comes at a cost for the people making the music we love. Many talented artists struggle to keep making music because they can’t earn enough from streaming alone.

What We As Fans Can Do About It

We can help change this. When you really love an artist, consider:

• Buying their music directly
• Going to their concerts
• Buying a t-shirt or other merch from their website
• Tell your friends and family about them

Every little bit helps real people keep making the music that moves us. Next time you hit play on your favorite song, remember there’s a person behind that music trying to make ends meet, just like the rest of us.

Music used to be like a good book – something you’d spend time with. People would buy albums and listen from start to finish. Now, it’s more like scrolling through TikTok. Quick hits. Short dopamine bursts. Next, next, next. When did music become fast food?!

The (Crappy) Numbers Game

Today’s music moves at lightning speed. A viral hit might get millions of plays in a week. But next month? Nobody remembers it. It’s like those “popular” dance moves everyone does – hot for a minute, forgotten the next.

Author’s Note: This is where I release my inner grumpy old man and roll my eyes at every stupid fad social media has and ever will dish up.  But I digress…

What We Lost

Remember sitting down with a new album? Looking at the cover art? Reading the lyrics? That’s rare now. Most people just tap “skip” until they hear something catchy. Artists know this, so they focus on making those first 15 seconds grab you. It’s changing how music gets made.

Another thing we lost was how we could listen to a song or album years ago and instantly be transported back to that time the moment we hear it anytime now or in the future. Most songs don’t actually have that magic or power anymore when we live in an instant gratification world where music is merely a footnote.

The (Pointless) Pressure to Go Viral

Musicians face a tough choice. Should they make deeper, more complex music that might never find an audience? Or should they chase trends and try to go viral? Imagine being a chef who loves making complex dishes but only gets paid for making hamburgers.

Quality vs. Quantity

Some great songs need time to grow on you. Think about your favorite albums – often the best songs aren’t the obvious ones. But in today’s world, these “grower” songs might never get a chance. If a song doesn’t hook listeners immediately, they’ll just swipe to the next one.

Finding Balance

Not everything about this is bad. More people can share their music than ever before. But we’re losing something when we treat songs like disposable items. Music can be more than just entertainment – it can be art that stays with us for life. Maybe it’s time we slow down and really listen again.

Now picture being that artist who’s told they’re only as good as their latest hit.

The pressure to churn out new content nonstop is a recipe for burnout.

We’ve all had those crunch times before a deadline, right? Now imagine if that was your life, every day.

Surely, we don’t want our musicians to sacrifice their creativity and mental health for the next trending track.

Being a musician today is like running on a treadmill that never stops. As soon as you release one song, people want another. And another. And another. The internet is hungry for new content every single day.

What Burnout Looks Like

Imagine staying up late every night trying to write the next hit song. Your last track is already “old news” after just two weeks. Your brain is tired. You’re out of ideas. But you can’t stop – bills need to be paid.

The Social Media Game

It’s not enough to just make music anymore. Artists have to be on TikTok, Instagram, and other social platforms. They need to post daily. Show their face. Share their life. Make dance challenges. Record behind-the-scenes content. All while trying to actually make music.

The Human Cost

Musicians are people, not machines. They get tired. They run out of ideas. They need time to live life and find inspiration. But the current system doesn’t give them much breathing room. It’s like trying to squeeze orange juice from oranges that haven’t had time to grow.

Music Quality Suffers

When artists are forced to create constantly, their work suffers. Good songs need time to develop. Great albums need space to breathe. Think about cooking – would you rather eat a meal that’s been slowly simmered or something thrown together in five minutes?

Finding Better Ways

We need to rethink how we consume music. Maybe we don’t need a new song every week from our favorite artists. Maybe it’s okay to let them take time off. Create when they’re ready. Make music that matters, not just music that trends.

Remember when Tool released their album Fear Inoculum? They took 13 years to make it. That’s longer than some fans had been alive!

When it came out, it caused quite a stir. Taylor Swift fans were shocked when this “random band” knocked their favorite artist off the top spot. But Tool fans knew better. They’d been waiting patiently, knowing good things take time.

This shows something important about music. Some artists take years to craft the perfect album. Others release new songs every month. Both can work. But real fans stick around, whether it takes 13 weeks or 13 years for new music. They care more about quality than staying trendy.

What We Can Do As Fans

Next time you find yourself wondering why your favorite artist hasn’t released anything new, remember: good art takes time. Support artists who take breaks. Follow those who prioritize quality over quantity.

Let’s help create a world where musicians can make great music without burning out.

Today’s music success often comes down to simple math: how many likes, shares, and streams you get. Take Billie Eilish – she became a superstar almost overnight because her songs went viral. While she’s incredibly talented, many equally skilled artists never get noticed because they don’t have the same social media buzz. It’s like judging a chef not by how good their food tastes, but by how many Instagram followers they have.

The problem is that this system pushes artists to chase trends instead of making their best music. Musicians now spend hours making TikTok videos when they could be writing songs. They worry more about their Instagram aesthetic than their sound. Some amazing musicians get ignored simply because they’re better at making music than making viral content.

The result? We might be missing out on the next Bob Dylan or Nina Simone because they’re not good at social media dances.

The music industry today feels like a lawless frontier, owned more and more by large tech platform companies and less by actual entertainment professionals.

Big streaming companies make their own rules, while artists scramble to survive. These platforms decide what songs get promoted and how much to pay, often leaving musicians with pennies. It’s like a gold rush where the people mining the gold barely make enough to buy food, while the people selling the shovels get rich.

This system rewards speed over quality and viral hits over artistic growth. A catchy 15-second clip might make more money than a carefully crafted album. Young artists face a tough choice: chase trends and maybe succeed, or stay true to their art and risk being invisible.

We need better rules and fair pay, so all musicians – not just the viral sensations – can make a living from their art.

You know, changing the problems with the music industry isn’t just a track on your playlist; it’s something we can all be a part of.

Imagine if artists got fair pay from streams, reflective of how much their music means to us.

Think about an industry that values the album as art, not just an accessory to singles.

Picture local music scenes thriving, venues buzzing, and a community of music lovers supporting the creators.

To put this into action:

• Fairer streaming royalty rates: Because when a song becomes your anthem, its creator ought to feel the love in more than just likes.
• Album-focused releases: Albums tell stories, not just through individual pieces, but as a collective body of work.
• Support local: Every big star started small. Your local scene is brimming with future hits and shouldn’t be overlooked.
• Enforce fair regulations: There ought to be rules that level the playing field so innovation isn’t drowned out by noise.
• Shift focus back on talent: Not on who’s trending, but who’s trailblazing and transforming the soundscape.
• Educate on direct support: Our favorite acts need more than streams to survive; they need fans who show up in every way.
• Build artist revenue through ownership: Career musicians are small business owners, whether they realize it or not. And they need to own not just their business, but their music, products, and fan data as well (not the labels, streaming platforms, or corporations).

Together, we can riff on these changes. Each one of us plays a part in either perpetuating the cycle or pausing and finding a better way to spin the records.

What’s your take? How are you supporting the tunes that move you?

Drop a comment, share your story, and let’s build a more sustainable foundation for the music industry!

Because in the end, we all want an encore, don’t we?