1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,119 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio. 4 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:21,759 Speaker 1: And how the tech are you. We're going to continue 5 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:28,000 Speaker 1: what I started last Monday, which was an episode about music, 6 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 1: tech and business, and boy howdy does this get complicated? 7 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:36,480 Speaker 1: And before we jump right into streaming, which is kind 8 00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:39,199 Speaker 1: of where I left off in the last episode, there 9 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:42,040 Speaker 1: actually are a few things that I should cover that 10 00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 1: I skipped over in that last episode about how music, 11 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:49,519 Speaker 1: technology and business are all intertwined. They all have a 12 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:54,400 Speaker 1: massive effect on each other. I mentioned the concept of 13 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:56,920 Speaker 1: royalties in the last episode. That is, it's it's a 14 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:00,160 Speaker 1: fee paid to a composer or copyright owner for the 15 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: use or purchase of a work. So if I write 16 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: a song that's included on an album, and presuming I've 17 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:10,240 Speaker 1: got a contract that guarantees me a certain amount of 18 00:01:10,319 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 1: royalties a percentage, then I am owed a bit of 19 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:18,040 Speaker 1: money for every sale of that album. It might actually 20 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: be a very tiny amount of money. And first, you know, 21 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:23,319 Speaker 1: if I were if I was paying advance, that advance 22 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:26,039 Speaker 1: must be paid off before I start getting royalties, But 23 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:31,680 Speaker 1: eventually I do get that cash. But what about public 24 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 1: performances of my song? Like, what about if my song 25 00:01:35,319 --> 00:01:38,400 Speaker 1: is played on the radio, or if it's played on 26 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:40,960 Speaker 1: the sound system of a restaurant or a bar, or 27 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:45,000 Speaker 1: a theater or something like that. Well, technically I mowed 28 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 1: royalties for that as well. This was determined in the 29 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:51,040 Speaker 1: United States way back in nineteen o nine when the 30 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 1: Copyrights Act was signed into law, and in the very 31 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:57,520 Speaker 1: earliest days, it was up to the individual composers and 32 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 1: IP owners to reach out and royalties and licensing fees 33 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: from the parties that were publicly performing those songs. And 34 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 1: as you can imagine, that's time consuming and difficult, especially 35 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 1: if you know you're talking about like a single composer 36 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: reaching out to every radio station that might be playing 37 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:19,760 Speaker 1: your work. That gets really tough. And keeping them honest 38 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:22,400 Speaker 1: and being able to get them to pay the royalty 39 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:25,959 Speaker 1: fees that actually really the licensing fees so that they 40 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:30,400 Speaker 1: can legally play your work on their stuff difficult. Now. Granted, 41 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:32,880 Speaker 1: in the early days of radio we were mostly talking 42 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:36,520 Speaker 1: about live performances anyway, and not recorded once, but you 43 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: get my meaning. So in nineteen fourteen, a whole bunch 44 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,840 Speaker 1: of composers and publishers, led by Victor Herbert, founded an 45 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:47,720 Speaker 1: organization in the US called the American Society of Composers, 46 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 1: Authors and Publishers a k a as CAP, a s 47 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:55,920 Speaker 1: C a P. This organization would perform the services of 48 00:02:56,040 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 1: licensing music on behalf of its members and electing royalties 49 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: on behalf for those members. So, in other words, if 50 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,280 Speaker 1: you if you belong to as CAP, you didn't have 51 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:10,200 Speaker 1: to worry about doing this yourself. So joining the group 52 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,160 Speaker 1: would give the publishers and composers and i P holders 53 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:17,320 Speaker 1: the benefit of not having to go after various public 54 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:20,600 Speaker 1: performance venues, as CAP would do it for them. So 55 00:03:20,639 --> 00:03:22,680 Speaker 1: if you ever hear about as CAP fees, that's what 56 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:26,919 Speaker 1: it refers to. It is just one of many organizations 57 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:29,520 Speaker 1: that performs this task. As CAP is not the only 58 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:32,560 Speaker 1: one by any stretch of the imagination. Now, as time 59 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 1: went on, more groups like as CAP would form. As 60 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:39,240 Speaker 1: KEPT mainly focuses on America, the United States in particular. 61 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:41,920 Speaker 1: It does maintain offices and a couple of other countries 62 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:45,920 Speaker 1: as well, but really it primarily focuses on America and 63 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:51,200 Speaker 1: American artists. Also, as CAP has had a pretty interesting 64 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:53,560 Speaker 1: history itself. I could probably do a full episode just 65 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:57,080 Speaker 1: about as CAP. Prior to nineteen forty, as KEPT would 66 00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:00,280 Speaker 1: demand a five percent royalty fee for broadcast perform says 67 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 1: of songs. So, in other words, whatever revenue the radio 68 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:08,920 Speaker 1: station was bringing in at that particular time, five percent 69 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:14,080 Speaker 1: of that would go to the license holder because of 70 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:18,239 Speaker 1: that that fee. In nineteen forty, the nonprofit organization increase 71 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:22,680 Speaker 1: that fee up to a staggering fifteen percent. Now, let's 72 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:25,400 Speaker 1: say that you run a radio station. Okay, so you're 73 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:27,600 Speaker 1: on the other side of this. Your job is to 74 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:30,880 Speaker 1: figure out what music you're gonna play in order to 75 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:33,599 Speaker 1: fill up air time, and you happen to see that 76 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:37,080 Speaker 1: any song that's covered by as CAP comes with a 77 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:41,719 Speaker 1: fifteen percent royalty fee for that time that you're actually 78 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:46,000 Speaker 1: broadcasting that that song. You're probably gonna look at music 79 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:50,520 Speaker 1: that's an outside of as CAP, and that that case right, 80 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:52,919 Speaker 1: because it's such a high fee, and a bunch of 81 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:55,840 Speaker 1: broadcasters did just that. The broadcasters did the same thing 82 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:58,680 Speaker 1: that the composers had done back in nineteen fourteen. They 83 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:02,200 Speaker 1: got together and they created a different performing rights organization. 84 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:06,000 Speaker 1: This one was called Broadcast Music Incorporated or b m I. 85 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:08,039 Speaker 1: So if you've heard about as CAB or b m I, 86 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 1: that's where this comes from. Now, upon the formation of 87 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:14,320 Speaker 1: b m I, the members of as CAPS saw a 88 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 1: serious threat here, Like it was very clear that, uh, 89 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:20,400 Speaker 1: those who were covered by b m I were definitely 90 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:22,920 Speaker 1: gonna get radio play and those who are covered by 91 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 1: ASCP definitely were not because of those higher fees. So 92 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:29,599 Speaker 1: as CAP then readjusted their royalty demands all the way 93 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: down to two point eight percent royalty instead of fifteen. 94 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:37,599 Speaker 1: And again, there are tons of other performance rights organizations 95 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:40,200 Speaker 1: out there, you know. One of them is so can 96 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:42,680 Speaker 1: s O c A N that's out of Canada. There's 97 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:45,520 Speaker 1: BOOMA b U m A that's of the Netherlands. But 98 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:49,400 Speaker 1: there are dozens of these and each country pretty much 99 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:51,919 Speaker 1: has its own, and more than one in several cases, 100 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:54,000 Speaker 1: and they all pretty much do the same thing on 101 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:57,680 Speaker 1: behalf of their members. They license music and they collect fees. 102 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:00,520 Speaker 1: And we'll come back to them in a it because 103 00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:05,040 Speaker 1: the way they work with music streaming services matters. It 104 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:08,480 Speaker 1: matters a lot, and it is one of those cases 105 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:12,720 Speaker 1: that we often hear about whenever a music streaming service 106 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:16,920 Speaker 1: is making an argument that the fees they pay out 107 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 1: might be might lead to their destruction. Pandora has had 108 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:24,520 Speaker 1: that argument a couple of times. In fact. All right, now, 109 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:28,320 Speaker 1: let's cover something that a Twitter follower named John Weber 110 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:32,760 Speaker 1: pointed out last week. They pointed out that the changes 111 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:35,839 Speaker 1: in media formats from vinyl to eight track, to cassette 112 00:06:35,839 --> 00:06:38,479 Speaker 1: to c D two, MP three all had an impact 113 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:42,279 Speaker 1: on consumers and the industry, and I didn't really touch 114 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:45,960 Speaker 1: on that how the actual changes in media had an 115 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:49,279 Speaker 1: impact on how the industry made money and how artists 116 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:53,680 Speaker 1: got paid. And the reason I didn't go into it 117 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:57,640 Speaker 1: was largely because it just gets super duper complicated. But 118 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:00,279 Speaker 1: it's a valid thing to point out, so we're gonna 119 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:04,000 Speaker 1: try and cover a little bit of it. Keeping in mind, 120 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:07,680 Speaker 1: like I said, this gets really complex. Now. First, a 121 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:10,480 Speaker 1: really obvious way that the creation of eight tracks and 122 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:13,600 Speaker 1: cassettes would have on the music industry was that, for 123 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:18,040 Speaker 1: the first time, recorded music became really portable. So vinyl 124 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: records are great, and they allow us to listen to 125 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:23,600 Speaker 1: our favorite songs or albums when we're at home or 126 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:26,880 Speaker 1: you know, if there's like a jukebox that has vinyl 127 00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:30,080 Speaker 1: albums in it or something like that, but it's not 128 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:33,480 Speaker 1: typically the kind of format that lends itself to portable listening. 129 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:37,600 Speaker 1: Not that some auto manufacturers didn't give it the old 130 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: college try. There actually are a few different auto mounted 131 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:48,920 Speaker 1: phonograph type devices, and in fact it goes back decades. 132 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:53,720 Speaker 1: Um Chrysler offered a highway high FI baggage on several 133 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:58,960 Speaker 1: car models in the early sixties. The system required proprietary 134 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:02,920 Speaker 1: records that spun at sixteen and two thirds rpm, so 135 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:06,400 Speaker 1: you couldn't just put your own vinyl collection on there. 136 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 1: You had to buy all new records that were designed 137 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:12,880 Speaker 1: to rotate at this particular speed at sixteen and two 138 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:18,440 Speaker 1: thirds revolutions per minute. Only Columbia Records was making those albums, 139 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:22,440 Speaker 1: by the way, so the system wasn't a huge success. 140 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:25,280 Speaker 1: In fact, it was a flop, probably due to it 141 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:29,120 Speaker 1: both being really expensive, like it was a big upgrade too, 142 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:33,280 Speaker 1: you know, have it installed in your new vehicle, and 143 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:36,320 Speaker 1: you were also really limited to just those special records 144 00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:39,720 Speaker 1: that Columbia produced. So not only were you only limited 145 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:44,720 Speaker 1: to artists that were represented by Columbia, uh, it was 146 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:48,559 Speaker 1: the subset of those artists that Columbia actually made these 147 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:51,280 Speaker 1: special records for that you could even choose from, so 148 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:55,880 Speaker 1: not great from a consumer standpoint. There were a couple 149 00:08:55,920 --> 00:08:58,880 Speaker 1: of other attempts to bring vinyl albums to cars, and 150 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:01,679 Speaker 1: in fact, you can find an examples of this if 151 00:09:01,679 --> 00:09:03,920 Speaker 1: you look around. In fact, I'm sure there are cars 152 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:05,680 Speaker 1: out there on the market that still have some of 153 00:09:05,679 --> 00:09:10,040 Speaker 1: these things installed, but they typically had really big drawbacks, 154 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:12,160 Speaker 1: like even the ones that were designed in such a 155 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:15,680 Speaker 1: way where you wouldn't get skipping with the needle, because 156 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:17,640 Speaker 1: you know, you would think, like, if you're driving down, 157 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:20,040 Speaker 1: say a bumpy road, then the needle is going to 158 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:22,840 Speaker 1: skip around on your record. That's gonna be terrible. Well, 159 00:09:23,559 --> 00:09:25,720 Speaker 1: they found ways of making sure that the needle would 160 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:29,000 Speaker 1: stay connected to the album even if you went down 161 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:31,760 Speaker 1: a bumpy road. However, that also meant the needle would 162 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:35,120 Speaker 1: wear out the album faster. So in other words, the 163 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:38,400 Speaker 1: more you listen to a particular record, the more you 164 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:40,440 Speaker 1: were wearing it out and you would eventually have to 165 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:46,559 Speaker 1: replace it. So this really made way for the birth 166 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:50,320 Speaker 1: of cartridge and cassette technologies, which would store music on 167 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:54,520 Speaker 1: magnetic tape rather than in grooves on a disk. So 168 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:57,600 Speaker 1: in the early nineteen sixties, you got the cassette tape, 169 00:09:57,640 --> 00:10:01,240 Speaker 1: but the original cassette tape was terrible and so it 170 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:05,800 Speaker 1: really didn't take off. Like in the early sixties, the 171 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:08,560 Speaker 1: cassette tape tried to make a dent, but the audio 172 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:10,880 Speaker 1: quality was so bad that no one really wanted it. 173 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:14,920 Speaker 1: But then the Ampex Magnetic Company partnered with our Cia Records, 174 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:18,640 Speaker 1: the Lear Jet Company, and the Ford Motor Company, and 175 00:10:18,679 --> 00:10:22,200 Speaker 1: collectively they designed the eight track tape specifically for the 176 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:25,760 Speaker 1: purposes of having an in car audio system where drivers 177 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:28,679 Speaker 1: could bring along their own music and not depend upon 178 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:32,920 Speaker 1: radio broadcast casts. Now, at this time, really most cars 179 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:36,560 Speaker 1: only had an AM radio. FM had not made a 180 00:10:36,559 --> 00:10:40,400 Speaker 1: lot of penetration yet, and so a M was pretty limited. 181 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:43,079 Speaker 1: And this was considered to be a big, big boost, 182 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:45,720 Speaker 1: and the technology began to make its way into vehicles 183 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:48,320 Speaker 1: in nineteen and by the end of sixty five there 184 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:51,199 Speaker 1: were more than sixty thousand four vehicles that had an 185 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:55,040 Speaker 1: eight track player installed in them. Now, eight tracks had 186 00:10:55,120 --> 00:10:58,959 Speaker 1: some big advantages over vinyl, particularly the systems that had 187 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:02,040 Speaker 1: been developed for car. For one thing, the audio quality 188 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:06,000 Speaker 1: was really good, at least at first. For another, they 189 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:10,079 Speaker 1: were far more portable than vinyl, albums and and vinyl players. 190 00:11:10,679 --> 00:11:13,800 Speaker 1: The exteriors of these cartridges were pretty durable, so you 191 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:15,360 Speaker 1: didn't have to worry about getting you know, like a 192 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:18,080 Speaker 1: scratch on your cartridge and then your music is gonna skip. 193 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:21,439 Speaker 1: But these eight tracks also had some big downsides too. 194 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:23,960 Speaker 1: One is that the eight track had a sort of 195 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:27,040 Speaker 1: never ending loop inside it, which was one way only, 196 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:30,360 Speaker 1: so you couldn't rewind to listen to an earlier song. 197 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:32,160 Speaker 1: You had to go around the horn, You had to 198 00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:34,040 Speaker 1: go through the entire length of the tape to come 199 00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:37,160 Speaker 1: back around to the song again. I think, In fact, 200 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:39,480 Speaker 1: I know several times in the past I've talked about 201 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:41,800 Speaker 1: turning over an eight track. That's not right. No, it's 202 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:45,160 Speaker 1: that there's a never ending loop inside the eight tracks. 203 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:48,520 Speaker 1: So eventually the loop comes back round again and you're 204 00:11:48,559 --> 00:11:51,120 Speaker 1: able to listen to the music that's on that part 205 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:54,160 Speaker 1: of the loop. Um, but you can't rewind, you can't 206 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:59,559 Speaker 1: go backward. Um. You. Another big down downside two eight 207 00:11:59,559 --> 00:12:01,960 Speaker 1: tracks was at the capacity of your average eight track 208 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:05,079 Speaker 1: tape was less than what you could fit on a 209 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 1: full vinyl album, So the eight track would not be 210 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:11,160 Speaker 1: able to hold all the songs that you would find 211 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:14,439 Speaker 1: on the full vinyl album version of whatever you were buying. 212 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:17,560 Speaker 1: So if you went out and bought UH the vinyl 213 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:20,920 Speaker 1: and the eight track of the same artists album, the 214 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:24,840 Speaker 1: eight track would be missing a few tracks. Typically. Also, 215 00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:27,480 Speaker 1: the magnetic tape and the eight track would degrade over time, 216 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:30,800 Speaker 1: so one common issue was that sound from one track 217 00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:33,640 Speaker 1: would start to bleed into the next track, kind of 218 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:36,960 Speaker 1: like what happens when UH you are listening to a 219 00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:40,319 Speaker 1: radio station and you start moving into another radio station's 220 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:43,960 Speaker 1: broadcast range and they start to mesh with each other. 221 00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:48,800 Speaker 1: Very disconcerting. Also, the tape was pretty flimsy, so if 222 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:51,400 Speaker 1: it caught on stuff, it could easily break, and that 223 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:56,800 Speaker 1: was another big downside to them. They did have at 224 00:12:56,840 --> 00:13:01,320 Speaker 1: home eight track players, which helped the medium quite a bit, 225 00:13:01,679 --> 00:13:04,680 Speaker 1: so it wasn't just in cars. Cars are are where 226 00:13:04,679 --> 00:13:07,320 Speaker 1: it got its start, but they were at home versions 227 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:11,319 Speaker 1: of eight track players too. Now, eight tracks had a 228 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:13,679 Speaker 1: bit of a heyday in the nineteen seventies. They kind 229 00:13:13,679 --> 00:13:16,600 Speaker 1: of peaked at around nineteen seventy eight, but even at 230 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:19,440 Speaker 1: their peak they were still just a fraction of the 231 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:23,040 Speaker 1: market of vinyl, and then cassettes were catching up. When 232 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:25,600 Speaker 1: eight tracks first arrived on the scene. The cassette tape 233 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:28,319 Speaker 1: already had existed, like I mentioned, but was, for lack 234 00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:31,960 Speaker 1: of a better word, total pants Uh. They were just 235 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:34,760 Speaker 1: awful with terrible sound quality. But that would change, and 236 00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:38,040 Speaker 1: ultimately the smaller form factor of the cassette and the 237 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:40,960 Speaker 1: greater capacity that cassette tapes had, like they could hold 238 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:45,040 Speaker 1: more material, that would spell doom for the eight track 239 00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:48,040 Speaker 1: in the long run. Anyway, even when eight tracks were 240 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:50,600 Speaker 1: at their peak, they were at about four billion dollars 241 00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:54,840 Speaker 1: in revenue, and vinyl was still at around sixteen billion dollars. 242 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:57,480 Speaker 1: This is adjusting for inflation, by the way, so vinyl 243 00:13:57,520 --> 00:14:00,880 Speaker 1: was about four times more successful in turn of revenue 244 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:05,840 Speaker 1: then eight tracks. Eight tracks would never overtake vinyl, but 245 00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:09,400 Speaker 1: cassettes would, and the cassette was doing pretty well by 246 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:12,800 Speaker 1: the late seventies. They overtook vinyl in nineteen eighty three, 247 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:16,240 Speaker 1: and then cassettes hit their peak as late as nineteen 248 00:14:16,679 --> 00:14:19,280 Speaker 1: nine and around twenty two billion dollars in revenue. Again 249 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:23,520 Speaker 1: we're talking about by revenue here, um, But the compact 250 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:25,920 Speaker 1: disc was a big thing and had overtaken cassettes way 251 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:28,840 Speaker 1: back in ninety two. This was also when we started 252 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:31,680 Speaker 1: to see a decline in music sales. This would also 253 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:34,240 Speaker 1: be around the time when Napster was really active, and 254 00:14:34,280 --> 00:14:37,440 Speaker 1: so the industry pretty much pounced on piracy as being 255 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:43,400 Speaker 1: the reason why music sales took a downturn, and that's 256 00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:48,120 Speaker 1: when we got all these massive and um overenthusiastic I 257 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:53,040 Speaker 1: think is a good word over enthusiastic lawsuits against napster 258 00:14:53,160 --> 00:14:58,040 Speaker 1: itself and then specifically users of Napster really meant to 259 00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:02,640 Speaker 1: terrify users so that they wouldn't pirate music, and it 260 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:07,400 Speaker 1: was insane. Some of the damages that they sought against 261 00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:12,960 Speaker 1: various users of the platforms really painted the music industry 262 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:16,600 Speaker 1: in a bad light at the time. All Right, we're 263 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:19,160 Speaker 1: gonna take a quick break. When we come back, we 264 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:23,720 Speaker 1: will continue to talk about cassettes and then we'll get 265 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 1: into some of the complicated issues when it comes to 266 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:30,920 Speaker 1: trying to figure out what these different forms of media, 267 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:33,120 Speaker 1: what kind of impact they had on consumers and the 268 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:44,120 Speaker 1: music industry in general. But first let's take this quick break. Okay, 269 00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:48,520 Speaker 1: So cassettes could fit an entire album on them, unlike 270 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:50,960 Speaker 1: an eight track, So that was one bonus for cassettes. 271 00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:54,240 Speaker 1: They could be rewound. There was another big bonus. They 272 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:56,920 Speaker 1: were more portable than eight tracks, and the magnetic tape 273 00:15:56,920 --> 00:15:59,120 Speaker 1: tended to be a bit sturdier than what you found 274 00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:01,920 Speaker 1: on eight tracks. The quality of a cassette tape could 275 00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:04,760 Speaker 1: degrade over time, so you know, the more you played it, 276 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:09,160 Speaker 1: the less good it would sound. But generally speaking they 277 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:11,640 Speaker 1: were received as being a bit more durable than the 278 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:15,560 Speaker 1: eight track format, and the music industry treated cassettes a 279 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:18,360 Speaker 1: lot like the way they treated vinyl, and that you 280 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:21,760 Speaker 1: could buy full length albums, or you could buy cassette singles, 281 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:25,000 Speaker 1: which would contain a few songs but not a whole album. 282 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:27,600 Speaker 1: This gave customers some options. They could buy just the 283 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:29,680 Speaker 1: singles they liked, or they could get the whole album. 284 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:33,840 Speaker 1: I don't know how popular cassette singles were, Like, I 285 00:16:33,880 --> 00:16:37,640 Speaker 1: have anecdotal things I could talk about, but that's worthless. 286 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:40,440 Speaker 1: Right In my own experience, I almost never bought a single. 287 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:42,840 Speaker 1: I almost always bought an album instead of a single. 288 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:46,000 Speaker 1: But I did have a couple and there were some 289 00:16:46,040 --> 00:16:49,200 Speaker 1: downside succettes, a big one being that the amazing album 290 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:52,200 Speaker 1: art of the vinyl era was reduced to a tiny 291 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:55,160 Speaker 1: fraction of its normal size. That's one of the things 292 00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:59,600 Speaker 1: that vinyl collectors often bemoan is that, uh, the when 293 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:03,000 Speaker 1: vinyl started to have a downturn, we started to see 294 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:06,159 Speaker 1: the end or the perceived end of an era of 295 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:10,679 Speaker 1: amazing cover art. But convenience made up for most of 296 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:14,040 Speaker 1: the downsides for most people. And now when the compact 297 00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:18,080 Speaker 1: disc started to get popular. So the compact disc debuted 298 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:19,720 Speaker 1: all the way back in the early eighties, but took 299 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:22,280 Speaker 1: a while to get popular. Once that happened, things changed 300 00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:26,520 Speaker 1: a bit. Uh. Yes, there are different CD formats out there, 301 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:29,719 Speaker 1: there are CD singles and things, but here in the States, 302 00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:33,000 Speaker 1: the full sized compact disc was pretty much the standard 303 00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:36,359 Speaker 1: and in some markets the only format available. I'm also 304 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:38,480 Speaker 1: not going to go into stuff like digital tape because 305 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:43,160 Speaker 1: going through all the other, at least in the US, 306 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:48,159 Speaker 1: the other minor media formats would just be overkill. Anyway, 307 00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:51,680 Speaker 1: the music industry was really focused more on selling full 308 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:55,080 Speaker 1: albums at this point and not singles. That meant, if 309 00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:57,560 Speaker 1: you wanted to get that hit song that you really liked, 310 00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:00,280 Speaker 1: you had to buy the whole dang album if you 311 00:18:00,359 --> 00:18:03,960 Speaker 1: were determined to get CD quality that is, and c 312 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:07,520 Speaker 1: d s are an optical format, meaning CD players use 313 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:11,080 Speaker 1: lasers and the lasers read little pits and lands that 314 00:18:11,119 --> 00:18:13,479 Speaker 1: are on the surface of the c D lands. By 315 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:16,520 Speaker 1: the way, that's just a word. That means the span 316 00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:21,600 Speaker 1: between pits and the pits and lands correspond with bits. 317 00:18:21,640 --> 00:18:25,880 Speaker 1: That is, zeros and ones and songs are represented as 318 00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:31,040 Speaker 1: digital data. So unlike vinyl eight tracks and four tracks 319 00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:35,560 Speaker 1: and cassettes, those are all analog formats, right, those are 320 00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:39,200 Speaker 1: not digital. C d s are digital. Now, I'm not 321 00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:42,560 Speaker 1: going to go into the long debate between digital versus 322 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:46,040 Speaker 1: analog because I've talked about it in previous podcasts and 323 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:49,000 Speaker 1: they would push this episode into truly epic length. So 324 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,680 Speaker 1: we're gonna leave that debate behind. It's not really important 325 00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:55,760 Speaker 1: for the purposes of our discussion anyway. So, by the 326 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:59,760 Speaker 1: average music customer was spending around sixty four dollars on 327 00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:03,800 Speaker 1: music per year, so assuming you're buying CD s, that's 328 00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:07,200 Speaker 1: somewhere between three to five CDs per year roughly. Now, 329 00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:10,640 Speaker 1: all through this time, the music industry was making huge 330 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:14,399 Speaker 1: amounts of money. We're talking like around forty billion dollars 331 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:18,040 Speaker 1: in nine in the United States, and much of that 332 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:22,520 Speaker 1: was due to the packaging of music the bundling of music. 333 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:25,480 Speaker 1: Like I said, CDs pretty much forced people into buying 334 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:28,359 Speaker 1: whole albums even if they only wanted a single song. 335 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:32,639 Speaker 1: Even cassettes which did have those cassette singles were priced 336 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:34,119 Speaker 1: in such a way that I think a lot of 337 00:19:34,119 --> 00:19:37,040 Speaker 1: folks just elected to buy the whole album rather than 338 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:40,800 Speaker 1: spend more on a per song basis, Like a cassette 339 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:44,359 Speaker 1: single would be less expensive than the full cassette. But 340 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:47,200 Speaker 1: if you were looking at it on a per song basis, 341 00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:50,000 Speaker 1: like like you're looking at it like grocery shopping, like 342 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:52,760 Speaker 1: how much is this per ounce, then a full album 343 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:58,159 Speaker 1: was more economically uh sound, I guess. But in the 344 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:01,480 Speaker 1: late nineties, digital music al formats were poised to make 345 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:04,840 Speaker 1: a huge difference to create the opportunity for consumers to 346 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:09,160 Speaker 1: buy music in a different way, an unbundled way, because 347 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:14,480 Speaker 1: you could start buying songs individually rather than buy full albums. Now, 348 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:16,880 Speaker 1: before I get into that, I need to add that 349 00:20:17,359 --> 00:20:19,800 Speaker 1: the year that recorded music peaked is another one of 350 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:22,560 Speaker 1: those things that I find conflicting information on a lot 351 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:25,879 Speaker 1: of sources suggest that it was ninety nine. That's what 352 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:29,399 Speaker 1: the Recording Industry Association of America says that recorded music, 353 00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:31,560 Speaker 1: as in music, you would go out and purchase a 354 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:34,240 Speaker 1: copy of like a physical copy of peaked in nine 355 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:37,159 Speaker 1: But that's where the United States. If we actually look 356 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:39,480 Speaker 1: at the global market, the peak was even further back 357 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:42,960 Speaker 1: in nine six. That was with a global revenue of 358 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:48,480 Speaker 1: around sixty billion dollars. As for artists cuts of you 359 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:51,040 Speaker 1: know how much did artists get for these different kinds 360 00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:55,000 Speaker 1: of media. Those changed over time too, So back in 361 00:20:55,760 --> 00:20:58,360 Speaker 1: three for example, and artists would get about eight percent 362 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:02,080 Speaker 1: off the sale of an al boom costing eight dollars cents. 363 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:05,520 Speaker 1: This is from a book by Steve Knopper called Appetite 364 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:09,960 Speaker 1: for Self Destruction. Now is the same year that the 365 00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:14,280 Speaker 1: compact disc debuted. It would only only early adopters really 366 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:17,439 Speaker 1: win after CDs that that at that point because they 367 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:19,040 Speaker 1: could only they were the only ones who could afforded 368 00:21:19,359 --> 00:21:21,560 Speaker 1: CD players when they first came out were a couple 369 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:23,920 Speaker 1: of thousand dollars. So it wasn't the sort of thing 370 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:26,480 Speaker 1: that the average teenager could rush out and purchase, at 371 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:31,399 Speaker 1: least I certainly couldn't. And uh, once you get to 372 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:34,000 Speaker 1: the point where c d s were starting to become 373 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:38,800 Speaker 1: the standard, where cassettes were starting to fade away, and 374 00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:43,439 Speaker 1: artists share off a sixteen dollar c D was just five. 375 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,480 Speaker 1: So remember the final album, they were getting an eight 376 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:49,959 Speaker 1: percent cut off of what was like an eight dollars 377 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:55,040 Speaker 1: cents sales price, and with the c D it's a 378 00:21:55,119 --> 00:21:59,080 Speaker 1: five percent cut of sixteen dollars. So the CD cost more, 379 00:21:59,119 --> 00:22:02,280 Speaker 1: but the artists got a smaller percentage of the sale. Now, 380 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:06,320 Speaker 1: gradually CD prices increased and artist shares also increased. They 381 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:09,600 Speaker 1: went up to ten. By the way, when it really 382 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:12,160 Speaker 1: comes to comparing how much artists earned and how much 383 00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:16,400 Speaker 1: music was worth across different formats, it quickly becomes a jumbled, 384 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:20,680 Speaker 1: chaotic mess. It. I mean, it really does become impossible 385 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:23,760 Speaker 1: to talk about in any meaningful way. The fact is 386 00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:26,959 Speaker 1: there's just not really any rhyme or reason to it 387 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:30,480 Speaker 1: when you really look across the years. Pitchfork has a 388 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:33,359 Speaker 1: really great article about this that came out in two 389 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:36,359 Speaker 1: thousand fifteen, so it is dated, but the article is 390 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:40,919 Speaker 1: titled how much is Music Really Worth? I recommend that article. 391 00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:43,280 Speaker 1: That's a good read if you want to learn more 392 00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:45,640 Speaker 1: about this, and it really lays out that the price 393 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:49,160 Speaker 1: of music has gone all over the place over the years, 394 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:52,560 Speaker 1: So Pitchfork adjusts all the prices to match two thousand, 395 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:55,640 Speaker 1: fifteen dollars because that's when the article came out, and 396 00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:59,560 Speaker 1: you see really crazy amounts, like like a an eight 397 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:02,959 Speaker 1: track album of Jimmy Hendricks's Are You Experienced in nineteen 398 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:08,159 Speaker 1: sixty eight cost fifty three dollars ninety six cents for 399 00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:10,280 Speaker 1: for that one album, keeping in mind that eight track 400 00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:14,040 Speaker 1: albums can't hold as much as vinyl. Uh It also 401 00:23:14,080 --> 00:23:16,760 Speaker 1: points out that it would cost forty two dollars forty 402 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:19,159 Speaker 1: three cents to buy a cassette tape of Simon and 403 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:23,600 Speaker 1: Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Waters album in nineteen seventy and 404 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:25,959 Speaker 1: when you look at those prices, coughing up about twenty 405 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:28,159 Speaker 1: five bucks in two thousand two for a CD of 406 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:31,440 Speaker 1: The M and M Show seems quite the bargain. But wait, 407 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:34,840 Speaker 1: it gets more confusing because generally speaking, the price of 408 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:40,000 Speaker 1: an album like a single album, declined between nineteen seventy 409 00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:43,359 Speaker 1: nine and nineteen eighty four. It went from around twenty 410 00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:46,760 Speaker 1: two dollars eighty one cents per album in nineteen seventy 411 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:50,280 Speaker 1: nine to sixteen dollars eighty one cents per album in night. 412 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:54,080 Speaker 1: But then the price of albums began to climb again 413 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:57,480 Speaker 1: up to two thousand four, and by then it was 414 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:00,080 Speaker 1: up to eighteen dollars forty two cents. Remember, all of 415 00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:03,680 Speaker 1: these prices have been adjusted for inflation, so it's not 416 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:06,959 Speaker 1: just that inflation made these go out. The actual cost 417 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:11,840 Speaker 1: was increasing. The cost would drop again to fourteen dollars 418 00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:15,719 Speaker 1: cents by two thousand nine. So Pitchfork came up with 419 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:20,399 Speaker 1: these figures by averaging the per unit sales across all media. 420 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:23,920 Speaker 1: So that's a combination of all the available options for 421 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:26,920 Speaker 1: each album. Right, So in the seventies and eighties, you're 422 00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:30,479 Speaker 1: talking about everything from you know, averaging together the vinyl, 423 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:34,320 Speaker 1: the eight track, the cassette, tape, um, all the different 424 00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:37,439 Speaker 1: versions that you get of that album. That's where that 425 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:41,600 Speaker 1: kind of averages out to, whereas in the more recent 426 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:45,880 Speaker 1: days it would be things like c d s, maybe cassettes, digital, 427 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:49,800 Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. So what I'm getting at is 428 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:52,240 Speaker 1: there is no apples to apples that we can really 429 00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:54,720 Speaker 1: talk about here. In fact, we can't even really do 430 00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:57,919 Speaker 1: apples to oranges. It's more like we're talking I don't know, 431 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:01,800 Speaker 1: apples too. Can openers or something that. But let's let's 432 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:05,520 Speaker 1: get onto downloads and streaming and talk about how that 433 00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:10,240 Speaker 1: disrupted the music industry. We started to see the unbundling 434 00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:14,200 Speaker 1: trend with the rise of digital music stores, primarily iTunes, 435 00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:16,640 Speaker 1: which started in the early two thousands. Two thousand three, 436 00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:19,199 Speaker 1: I think is when the iTunes store launched. Now, at 437 00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:23,280 Speaker 1: that stage, artists were getting about four off a full 438 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:27,359 Speaker 1: album that was purchased off iTunes, and typically and a 439 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:31,560 Speaker 1: full album off iTunes cost about nine dollars cents, that 440 00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:34,840 Speaker 1: is according to David Byrne of The Talking Heads. But 441 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:37,520 Speaker 1: another format was also going to shake things up, and 442 00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:43,200 Speaker 1: that was streaming. So let's talk about streaming. Streaming really 443 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:46,520 Speaker 1: is what it sounds like. You're streaming data from one 444 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 1: source to a destination device. In this case, that data 445 00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:55,919 Speaker 1: represents audio. One group created a streaming audio technology that 446 00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:58,960 Speaker 1: they then incorporated into a music service called tune to 447 00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:02,600 Speaker 1: dot com um that's t U n E t o 448 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:06,600 Speaker 1: dot com. That was an online radio service. They also 449 00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:10,200 Speaker 1: worked with a more on demand streaming audio concept that 450 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:15,720 Speaker 1: they called Aladdin. In two thousand one, Listen dot Com 451 00:26:15,760 --> 00:26:20,919 Speaker 1: purchased tune to dot Com. Listen dot Com meanwhile, also 452 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:26,399 Speaker 1: owned an online music directory. So pairing the Aladdin concept 453 00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:31,400 Speaker 1: of this on demand streaming service with this large music database, 454 00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:36,480 Speaker 1: Listen dot Com created a new service that they called Rhapsody. 455 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:39,600 Speaker 1: This would be the first streaming music service and it 456 00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:42,320 Speaker 1: launched in late two thousand one, so it actually came 457 00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:46,960 Speaker 1: out before the iTunes Music Store did. To Listen to Rhapsody, 458 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:50,000 Speaker 1: customers would have to fork over a monthly subscription fee. 459 00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:53,320 Speaker 1: Over the following year, Rhapsody built out their library further 460 00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:57,240 Speaker 1: by making deals with major music labels. The company Real 461 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:01,359 Speaker 1: Networks are e A l at Works would go on 462 00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:04,639 Speaker 1: to acquire Listen dot Com. This stuff happens all the 463 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:08,520 Speaker 1: time in tech, particularly during this era, because there's always 464 00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:11,320 Speaker 1: a bigger fish, and that happened just as the iTunes 465 00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:15,800 Speaker 1: Music Store launched. And just to bring Napster back into this, 466 00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:19,600 Speaker 1: in two thousand sixteen, Rhapsody, which was by this point 467 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:23,000 Speaker 1: an independent company. In a you know its own history 468 00:27:23,119 --> 00:27:27,720 Speaker 1: is worth an entire episode, Rhapsody would rebrand as Napster. 469 00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:30,960 Speaker 1: There was no real connection to the original peer to 470 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:33,600 Speaker 1: peer network that had caused the music industry so much 471 00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:38,679 Speaker 1: headache back in the two thousand one time, but it 472 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:40,840 Speaker 1: did have the same name. They bought the rights to 473 00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:43,680 Speaker 1: the name, so we could say that streaming really got 474 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:46,800 Speaker 1: started in late two thousand one early two thousand two. 475 00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:51,480 Speaker 1: Also in two thousand two, last dot Fm would introduce 476 00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:54,280 Speaker 1: a feature that would become important for later streaming services 477 00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:58,760 Speaker 1: like Pandora. That feature would track user activity, meaning which 478 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:01,920 Speaker 1: songs the user was gravitating toward, and then use that 479 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:05,480 Speaker 1: information to make recommendations of music that the listener might 480 00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:08,479 Speaker 1: not be aware of, but they could potentially really like 481 00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:11,639 Speaker 1: based on their preferences, Like if you listen to a 482 00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:14,639 Speaker 1: lot of band A, maybe you'd also like band B 483 00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:18,200 Speaker 1: that sounds a bit like band A. Pandora would take 484 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:20,679 Speaker 1: this concept and push it much harder, growing out of 485 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:24,399 Speaker 1: something that was called the Music Genome Project. You've probably 486 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:27,600 Speaker 1: heard me talk about metadata in the past. Metadata is 487 00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:32,680 Speaker 1: information that is about information. For example, for each episode 488 00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:36,400 Speaker 1: of tech Stuff, I create metadata, and the metadata includes 489 00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:40,200 Speaker 1: a brief description of the episode. It also includes keywords 490 00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:42,960 Speaker 1: that relate to the subject matter, so if you're searching 491 00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:48,000 Speaker 1: for a specific tech stuff topic, uh, it's more likely 492 00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:53,440 Speaker 1: to pop up. Metadata helps computers contextualized content in some way, 493 00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:57,600 Speaker 1: because computers aren't natively able to understand what content is. 494 00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:01,600 Speaker 1: So with songs, the Music Genome Project would break down 495 00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:04,000 Speaker 1: a lot of the basic components of the music in 496 00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:07,800 Speaker 1: order to quote unquote understand what that music was. And 497 00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:10,040 Speaker 1: actual human beings were doing this work, by the way. 498 00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:13,320 Speaker 1: It wasn't like the computer was scanning a song and saying, oh, 499 00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:17,479 Speaker 1: this song has you know, a very strong power lead guitar. 500 00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:21,560 Speaker 1: So the Pandora employees would include tags of songs like 501 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:26,800 Speaker 1: female vocalist or up tempo beat or long guitar solo 502 00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:29,400 Speaker 1: or whatever. You know. They'd use different ways to describe 503 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:33,560 Speaker 1: the music, and the Pandora service would later use those 504 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:38,000 Speaker 1: descriptions to create dynamic playlists of music for listeners based 505 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:41,720 Speaker 1: on a seed song or artist. So you might go 506 00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:43,920 Speaker 1: in there and say, like, I want to create a 507 00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:48,120 Speaker 1: Pandora radio station that uses They Might Be Giants as 508 00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:52,160 Speaker 1: the seed band, and it might pull other artists like 509 00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:55,640 Speaker 1: I don't know, bar Naked Ladies, which you know, you 510 00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:57,600 Speaker 1: could argue whether or not that's similar to they Might 511 00:29:57,600 --> 00:29:59,920 Speaker 1: Be Giants, But there's a lot of overlap in the 512 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,240 Speaker 1: listening habits there. That's kind of the idea. So the 513 00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:06,080 Speaker 1: listener puts in the starting point the Music Genome project 514 00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:08,680 Speaker 1: bit says, Okay, what are some of the characteristics of 515 00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:13,560 Speaker 1: the song and or artist and what other similar artists 516 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:15,720 Speaker 1: and songs can I draw from in order to create 517 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:20,400 Speaker 1: a playlist. It was and is pretty darn cool. Well, 518 00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:25,560 Speaker 1: we're gonna talk a bit more about Pandora in particular 519 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:30,560 Speaker 1: and the tribulations that it faced when it came to 520 00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:33,680 Speaker 1: figuring out things like licensing fees after we come back 521 00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:45,680 Speaker 1: from this break. So Pandora's features and similar ones that 522 00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:48,400 Speaker 1: were designed to do, you know, pretty much the same 523 00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:52,600 Speaker 1: thing created the backbone for lots of streaming services. Of course, 524 00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:55,680 Speaker 1: not all streaming services are dynamics. Some follow more of 525 00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:58,160 Speaker 1: a broadcast model. For example, I listened to the I 526 00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:01,760 Speaker 1: Heart Radio broadway station a lot that's more like a 527 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:05,200 Speaker 1: streaming radio station, where they're doing the programming on their 528 00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:08,719 Speaker 1: side ahead of time. It's not like it's just dynamically 529 00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:13,360 Speaker 1: pulling the next song. If I listen to a Pandora station, 530 00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:15,800 Speaker 1: like a Pandora Broadway station, I'm hearing music that is 531 00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:18,720 Speaker 1: at least in part curated based upon whatever I used 532 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:22,760 Speaker 1: two seed that station. Now, when it comes to music streaming, 533 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:25,800 Speaker 1: the music industry would treat that kind of consumption similar 534 00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:30,560 Speaker 1: in a way to radio broadcast, similar but not identical. 535 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:34,080 Speaker 1: In fact, in many cases, the industry would effectively penalize 536 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:38,160 Speaker 1: streaming platforms, and at multiple points companies like Pandora faced 537 00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:42,440 Speaker 1: the possibility of having their entire business model threatened. Alright, 538 00:31:42,480 --> 00:31:44,840 Speaker 1: So this this part the story gets even more messy 539 00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:48,440 Speaker 1: than it already has been previously. I mentioned as CAP 540 00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:52,280 Speaker 1: so as CAP and other performance rights organizations seek out 541 00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:56,280 Speaker 1: licensing fees and royalties, right, and there are certain percentages 542 00:31:56,760 --> 00:31:59,360 Speaker 1: that they seek out for radio broadcast where they will 543 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:04,479 Speaker 1: negotiate a percentage that they'll look to claim for songs 544 00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:07,200 Speaker 1: that are broadcast on radio. In the early days of 545 00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:11,440 Speaker 1: internet radio, there was a real imbalance between what terrestrial 546 00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:14,880 Speaker 1: radio stations were expected to pay and what streaming services 547 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:17,760 Speaker 1: were expected to pay. In some cases, streaming services were 548 00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:21,040 Speaker 1: expected to pay twice as much for streaming a song 549 00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:26,080 Speaker 1: as the radio would be charged for broadcasting a song. 550 00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:30,320 Speaker 1: And you also see like the difference in operation makes 551 00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:37,040 Speaker 1: a huge effect here too, Right, because radio station broadcasts 552 00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:40,480 Speaker 1: a song, they might have to do sort of a 553 00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:43,000 Speaker 1: Nielsen review to figure out how many people are listening 554 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:47,800 Speaker 1: to that radio station, right, But streaming services can theoretically 555 00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:50,880 Speaker 1: anyway track exactly how many people are listening to a 556 00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:56,120 Speaker 1: specific song. And while a song might broadcast over the 557 00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:59,240 Speaker 1: radio three or four times in a day, you know, 558 00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:00,880 Speaker 1: how do you count. Do you count that as a 559 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:04,680 Speaker 1: single performance? Do you count that against the percentage of 560 00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:07,240 Speaker 1: you know, how many people are listening to that radio station. 561 00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:11,240 Speaker 1: With streaming services, there was no limit to how many 562 00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:13,240 Speaker 1: times a song could be streamed in a day. It 563 00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:15,440 Speaker 1: would all depend on how many people were wanting to 564 00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:19,520 Speaker 1: listen to that song. But this got really complex, thanks 565 00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:22,960 Speaker 1: large and largely because the ruling of a a U. 566 00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:26,080 Speaker 1: S agency called the Copyright Royalty Board that formed in 567 00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:28,520 Speaker 1: two thousand four as part of the Copyright Royalty and 568 00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:32,120 Speaker 1: Distribution Reform Act here in the United States. The Board 569 00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:36,520 Speaker 1: includes a panel of three judges who quote oversee the 570 00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:40,959 Speaker 1: copyright laws statutory licenses, which permit qualified parties to use 571 00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:45,400 Speaker 1: multiple copyrighted works without obtaining separate licenses from each copyright 572 00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:49,680 Speaker 1: owner end quote. Because obviously, if you're running a broadcast service, 573 00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:51,600 Speaker 1: it would be impossible to seek out a license for 574 00:33:51,640 --> 00:33:54,800 Speaker 1: each copyright holder. And still, you know, have a service. 575 00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:59,200 Speaker 1: Now in two thousand seven, the CRB created new regulations 576 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:02,240 Speaker 1: for online royal teas, which many platforms claimed would mean 577 00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:05,240 Speaker 1: those platforms would have to pay out more in royalties 578 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:08,680 Speaker 1: than they were making an ad revenue, meaning the royalties 579 00:34:08,680 --> 00:34:12,279 Speaker 1: were actually threatening the very business of internet radio. A 580 00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:15,440 Speaker 1: lot of companies got upset with the CRB, including the 581 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:17,640 Speaker 1: one I worked for. Of course, back in those days, 582 00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:20,200 Speaker 1: it was not known as I Heart Radio. It went 583 00:34:20,239 --> 00:34:24,840 Speaker 1: by the name Clear Channel Communications. Now, the rates for 584 00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:29,960 Speaker 1: streaming started out at point zero zero zero eight dollars 585 00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:33,120 Speaker 1: per play, so not even a penny per play per 586 00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:36,600 Speaker 1: listener back uh or per listener rate, I should say, 587 00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:38,800 Speaker 1: back in two thousand and six, But it would increase 588 00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:41,200 Speaker 1: all the way up to point zero zero one nine 589 00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:45,279 Speaker 1: per play per listener rate in and that's where it 590 00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:48,440 Speaker 1: would stay. Now. Despite the proclamations that this would bring 591 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:52,120 Speaker 1: an into streaming radio online, it didn't. But then it 592 00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:55,000 Speaker 1: was also complicated to just keep track of which tracks 593 00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:58,000 Speaker 1: were playing and how often they were playing on which 594 00:34:58,000 --> 00:34:59,960 Speaker 1: platform they were playing, so it really got hard to 595 00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:03,520 Speaker 1: determinative streaming platforms were actually paying out royalties properly or not. 596 00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:08,560 Speaker 1: In fact, most people guests that they weren't that artists 597 00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:11,680 Speaker 1: weren't getting what they were owed um, and that there 598 00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:13,560 Speaker 1: were a couple of different reasons for this. Some of 599 00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:15,440 Speaker 1: them were kind of honest ones and that it was 600 00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:19,200 Speaker 1: genuinely hard to know whom you were supposed to pay, 601 00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:22,440 Speaker 1: and others were maybe that some of these platforms were 602 00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:25,120 Speaker 1: lying on the fact that it was so complicated and 603 00:35:25,239 --> 00:35:27,840 Speaker 1: opaque that they could kind of get away with not 604 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:31,719 Speaker 1: paying Now. In two thousand eighteen, US Congress passed the 605 00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:34,720 Speaker 1: Music Modernization Act in an effort to get a handle 606 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:38,200 Speaker 1: on this problem. This set up a nonprofit agency called 607 00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:42,520 Speaker 1: the Mechanical License Collective or MLC. Starts to sound like 608 00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:46,800 Speaker 1: a dystopian science fiction novel, anyway, the MLC is responsible 609 00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:50,560 Speaker 1: for maintaining a database of the owners of mechanical licenses 610 00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:54,680 Speaker 1: for copyrighted works. The MLC collects licensing fees from music 611 00:35:54,719 --> 00:35:57,600 Speaker 1: streaming services, and the database makes it much easier for 612 00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:01,400 Speaker 1: these streaming services to identify the owners of the licenses 613 00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:04,880 Speaker 1: so that the streaming platform can make sure that the 614 00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:08,279 Speaker 1: right person is credited and ends up getting what they 615 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:12,040 Speaker 1: are owed. Heading up to two thousand eighteen, this was 616 00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:15,560 Speaker 1: really a big challenge again because there wasn't the centralized database, 617 00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:18,640 Speaker 1: so the MLC was working to change that. The MLC 618 00:36:18,760 --> 00:36:21,600 Speaker 1: is also responsible for paying out those fees to the 619 00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:24,719 Speaker 1: proper license holders. There's actually a couple of steps in 620 00:36:24,719 --> 00:36:28,400 Speaker 1: that as well. Streaming services can still negotiate directly with 621 00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:31,279 Speaker 1: license holders, but otherwise they have to pay a compulsory 622 00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:35,720 Speaker 1: fee to the MLC to do streaming of those songs. 623 00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:39,360 Speaker 1: But what does this mean for the actual license holder, 624 00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:43,440 Speaker 1: the artist or rather the composer typically, how much are 625 00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:46,480 Speaker 1: they getting paid? Well, let's say you got yourself an 626 00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:50,840 Speaker 1: album and that album is available on a service like Spotify, 627 00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:54,719 Speaker 1: and first Spotify generates revenue through subscriptions and such and 628 00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:57,800 Speaker 1: takes a big cut of that incoming revenue. So Spotify 629 00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:01,239 Speaker 1: takes around thirty of all the revenue. The rest goes 630 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:03,759 Speaker 1: into a pool that gets divided up among all the 631 00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:08,319 Speaker 1: other parties involved and getting music on Spotify. So that 632 00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:12,880 Speaker 1: includes your record label, your music publisher, your distributor, and you. 633 00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:16,720 Speaker 1: And depending upon how frequently folks were streaming your particular album, 634 00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:20,839 Speaker 1: your pool might be much smaller than someone else's um 635 00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:25,480 Speaker 1: because you're all sharing that amount, right, that's left over 636 00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:28,840 Speaker 1: after Spotify takes it's like it's cut that's left for 637 00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:33,319 Speaker 1: everybody to divvy up based upon how frequently there's you know, 638 00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:38,000 Speaker 1: those songs were played on the platform. So what this 639 00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:40,279 Speaker 1: means is that by the time everyone else has taken 640 00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:43,240 Speaker 1: their cut, there's very little left to go to the artist. Plus, 641 00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:45,759 Speaker 1: record labels have been a little opaque and how they 642 00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:48,600 Speaker 1: pay out artists, so it makes it even more complicated. 643 00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:52,480 Speaker 1: Business Insider reported that an artist might receive somewhere between 644 00:37:52,520 --> 00:37:56,600 Speaker 1: point zero zero three three to point zero zero five 645 00:37:56,719 --> 00:38:00,240 Speaker 1: four dollars per stream, so less than a cent per stream. 646 00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:02,719 Speaker 1: In fact, it would mean that someone would have to 647 00:38:02,719 --> 00:38:06,239 Speaker 1: listen to a song multiple times before, or several people 648 00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:08,400 Speaker 1: would have to listen to the same song before an 649 00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:10,919 Speaker 1: artist would even see a single penny. That penny would 650 00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:13,520 Speaker 1: still get split with the publisher and other entities like 651 00:38:13,560 --> 00:38:16,680 Speaker 1: as CAP. That money, by the way, also, like I said, 652 00:38:16,719 --> 00:38:19,720 Speaker 1: does not go directly to the artists from Spotify. Instead, 653 00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:24,759 Speaker 1: it goes to whichever distributor handles your music. The distributor 654 00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:29,520 Speaker 1: receives the royalties from the streaming platform, then pays more 655 00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:32,080 Speaker 1: likely your record label, and then your record label will 656 00:38:32,120 --> 00:38:35,600 Speaker 1: eventually pay you on whatever schedules all of these different 657 00:38:35,719 --> 00:38:39,800 Speaker 1: entities are working on, so payment can be a bit erratic. 658 00:38:40,960 --> 00:38:43,799 Speaker 1: This is largely why the live events space is so 659 00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:49,840 Speaker 1: important for musicians, because while you can make money streaming 660 00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:53,400 Speaker 1: songs on platforms like Spotify, you need to be really popular. 661 00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:56,200 Speaker 1: I mean, you need to have thousands and thousands of 662 00:38:56,239 --> 00:38:59,160 Speaker 1: people listening to your songs in order for that to 663 00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:01,759 Speaker 1: really become something where you can live off of it. 664 00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:07,040 Speaker 1: So really streaming is you know, at least getting a 665 00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:11,520 Speaker 1: decent revenue from streaming is really limited to extremely popular 666 00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:15,279 Speaker 1: acts already. If you are a small independent act, you're 667 00:39:15,360 --> 00:39:19,279 Speaker 1: probably not getting a significant amount of money from streaming. Uh, 668 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:22,520 Speaker 1: you might get more by selling your music directly through 669 00:39:22,840 --> 00:39:27,480 Speaker 1: platforms like band camp, or maybe you're getting a regular 670 00:39:27,600 --> 00:39:31,279 Speaker 1: support system through something like Patreon, or maybe you're just 671 00:39:31,360 --> 00:39:35,839 Speaker 1: making money by playing live venues, selling merchandise. Maybe you're 672 00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:38,560 Speaker 1: even pressing your own vinyl and selling it. That gets 673 00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:41,600 Speaker 1: really expensive to It's if you've ever wondered if you've 674 00:39:41,640 --> 00:39:43,960 Speaker 1: ever gone to a show and they've sold vinyl and 675 00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:46,600 Speaker 1: it's from like twenty five bucks or something. If you've 676 00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:48,640 Speaker 1: ever wondered why it's twenty five dollars to buy a 677 00:39:48,719 --> 00:39:55,520 Speaker 1: vinyl album. It's because producing vinyl independently is really expensive. 678 00:39:55,960 --> 00:39:58,440 Speaker 1: You have to pay a certain amount of money just 679 00:39:58,480 --> 00:40:02,000 Speaker 1: to get the master reduced, and then on top of that, 680 00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:07,120 Speaker 1: the actual pressing of vinyl costs a good amount of money. 681 00:40:07,520 --> 00:40:11,600 Speaker 1: Typically it gets a little more economical if you're producing 682 00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:14,520 Speaker 1: larger runs, but then you have to sell more in 683 00:40:14,640 --> 00:40:17,120 Speaker 1: order for those larger runs to be worthwhile, right, Otherwise 684 00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:21,520 Speaker 1: you've got a garage filled with vinyl that you can't move. So, yeah, 685 00:40:21,640 --> 00:40:26,239 Speaker 1: it's a complicated thing. The recorded and streaming businesses of 686 00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:32,839 Speaker 1: music really tough, like specifically tough on artists. Particularly if 687 00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:35,640 Speaker 1: you're an artist who didn't write your music, then you're 688 00:40:35,680 --> 00:40:39,040 Speaker 1: really not looking at a whole lot of money and royalties. 689 00:40:39,120 --> 00:40:41,600 Speaker 1: The person who wrote your music might be looking at some, 690 00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:45,400 Speaker 1: especially if the song goes really super popular and viral 691 00:40:45,520 --> 00:40:50,680 Speaker 1: or something. But otherwise it's a very tough gig. And yeah, 692 00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:55,600 Speaker 1: it's super complicated. Uh, it always has been. The music 693 00:40:55,640 --> 00:40:59,719 Speaker 1: companies typically are the ones that end up making out 694 00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:04,440 Speaker 1: like bandits here, You're you're talking about like now billion dollars, 695 00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:08,799 Speaker 1: billions of dollars in revenue every year. But they are 696 00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:12,920 Speaker 1: also the companies that are promoting artists and spending money 697 00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:16,719 Speaker 1: to try and get people to be aware of the 698 00:41:16,800 --> 00:41:20,080 Speaker 1: artists that are under their label. So there's a trade 699 00:41:20,080 --> 00:41:24,759 Speaker 1: off there. Still, I suspect a lot of record executives 700 00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:28,280 Speaker 1: out there probably make more money than um, then maybe 701 00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:30,439 Speaker 1: they need to, like, maybe some of that money should 702 00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:33,560 Speaker 1: be trickling down to the folks who are actually making 703 00:41:33,560 --> 00:41:36,840 Speaker 1: the music as well as you know, the people responsible 704 00:41:36,960 --> 00:41:40,400 Speaker 1: for making sure that the recording of that music is good, 705 00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:43,520 Speaker 1: like all the technicians who are working there. I think 706 00:41:43,520 --> 00:41:46,600 Speaker 1: that probably there needs to be a bit more redistribution 707 00:41:46,680 --> 00:41:50,120 Speaker 1: of that, but they all. I I feel that way 708 00:41:50,120 --> 00:41:53,239 Speaker 1: about pretty much every industry everywhere, that the people who 709 00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:57,440 Speaker 1: are responsible for the work deserve more credit than what 710 00:41:57,480 --> 00:42:00,600 Speaker 1: they typically get. Well, there you go. There are a 711 00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:04,799 Speaker 1: couple of episodes about the music industry and how technology 712 00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:08,359 Speaker 1: affects the way the business of music works. There's more 713 00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:11,000 Speaker 1: to say here, By the way, For example, the rise 714 00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:14,359 Speaker 1: of the MP three would end up changing the way 715 00:42:14,440 --> 00:42:18,719 Speaker 1: music sounds quite a bit. That was largely because the 716 00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:26,480 Speaker 1: way that MP three files compressed data often also incorporate 717 00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:31,239 Speaker 1: compression of music, compression in the sense of reduced dynamics, 718 00:42:31,640 --> 00:42:35,640 Speaker 1: so you have a reduction in the difference between the 719 00:42:35,719 --> 00:42:38,680 Speaker 1: softest sounds and the loudest sounds. That means that you 720 00:42:38,719 --> 00:42:42,279 Speaker 1: start to have more, you know, music that has more 721 00:42:42,280 --> 00:42:46,520 Speaker 1: of a uniform loudness to it, and that lack of 722 00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:51,440 Speaker 1: dynamic feature in the music is something that was driven 723 00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:55,319 Speaker 1: by technology. Some people bemoan that because they say, well, 724 00:42:55,360 --> 00:43:00,799 Speaker 1: now the music is less complex, less nuanced, and uh, 725 00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:03,920 Speaker 1: and it can all start to sound very similar to 726 00:43:03,920 --> 00:43:07,000 Speaker 1: each other, even when you're talking about different instrumentation and everything. 727 00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:09,680 Speaker 1: The fact that you have this kind of standard loudness 728 00:43:09,719 --> 00:43:12,279 Speaker 1: becomes an issue. So there are other elements that we 729 00:43:12,280 --> 00:43:16,080 Speaker 1: could talk about as far as how technology has affected music. 730 00:43:16,120 --> 00:43:19,240 Speaker 1: And of course there's also the whole story of electrification 731 00:43:19,320 --> 00:43:22,640 Speaker 1: of music, everything from electric guitars to the rise of 732 00:43:22,680 --> 00:43:27,120 Speaker 1: synthesizers and uh, you know, syn synthetic drum kits and 733 00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:31,120 Speaker 1: that kind of thing. But that would just go down 734 00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:33,879 Speaker 1: more rabbit holes. And plus I've covered some of that 735 00:43:34,040 --> 00:43:35,960 Speaker 1: in the past. But if you do want me to 736 00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:40,880 Speaker 1: talk more about music and tech and how the two 737 00:43:41,239 --> 00:43:45,600 Speaker 1: are so closely related, let me know. You can still 738 00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:48,719 Speaker 1: let me know on Twitter. As I record this, we're 739 00:43:48,719 --> 00:43:52,759 Speaker 1: waiting to find out. If Twitter actually does completely, you know, 740 00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:55,799 Speaker 1: agree to the sale to Elon Musk. That's something that's 741 00:43:55,800 --> 00:43:59,160 Speaker 1: happening just as I'm recording this episode. Um, and if 742 00:43:59,200 --> 00:44:01,399 Speaker 1: that does happen, I might, I might just I might 743 00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:05,160 Speaker 1: just piece out of Twitter for a while. But even 744 00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:06,719 Speaker 1: in that case, I will make sure that there will 745 00:44:06,719 --> 00:44:09,120 Speaker 1: be another means of contact me if you do want 746 00:44:09,120 --> 00:44:11,520 Speaker 1: to contact me on Twitter. The handle for the show 747 00:44:12,040 --> 00:44:15,640 Speaker 1: is tech Stuff H s W and I'll talk to 748 00:44:15,719 --> 00:44:25,120 Speaker 1: you again really soon. Y. Tech Stuff is an I 749 00:44:25,239 --> 00:44:28,720 Speaker 1: Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, 750 00:44:29,080 --> 00:44:32,240 Speaker 1: visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 751 00:44:32,320 --> 00:44:33,840 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.