Most artists get under 1000 streams. Small bands, songwriters, local artists etc. If you don’t pay small artists you are only supporting “mainstream” art that sells. But art should never be created with the intent to sell. Art should be created because the artist wants to create exactly what they want, regardless of saleability. This way you get a diverse field of music with genres you can’t even imagine today.
When you only pay above 1000 streams, artists might change their music to be more “consumer friendly”. You get more of the same “mainstream” art. During that process you lose a lot of great music that doesn’t sell well but still deserves to be paid equally.
714 million Spotify listeners in 2025. 1000 users is 0.00014%. I guess though by “streams” you don’t even need that many users. You could just use friends and family.
1000 streams is like having 10 or 20 followers. Its not a high bar to clear if you make decent music. I fully disagree thay artists who dont sell well or at all deserve to be paid. If you create stuff thats of no value to people then no one will pay you it can’t work any other way.
Like you said art should be created for fun and not for monetary gain so if they dont make the 1000 stream threshold its fine. There is still plenty of incentive to create a diverse range of music.
Most artists get under 1000 streams. Small bands, songwriters, local artists etc. If you don’t pay small artists you are only supporting “mainstream” art that sells. But art should never be created with the intent to sell. Art should be created because the artist wants to create exactly what they want, regardless of saleability. This way you get a diverse field of music with genres you can’t even imagine today.
When you only pay above 1000 streams, artists might change their music to be more “consumer friendly”. You get more of the same “mainstream” art. During that process you lose a lot of great music that doesn’t sell well but still deserves to be paid equally.
1000 streams still feels low.
714 million Spotify listeners in 2025. 1000 users is 0.00014%. I guess though by “streams” you don’t even need that many users. You could just use friends and family.
1000 streams is not a lot. your neighbor making butt rock in his living room for shits and giggles could get 1000 streams on spotify
and streaming is not a way to get paid its a way to get fans to pay for your stuff, like shows and merch and cds and vinyl
1000 streams is like having 10 or 20 followers. Its not a high bar to clear if you make decent music. I fully disagree thay artists who dont sell well or at all deserve to be paid. If you create stuff thats of no value to people then no one will pay you it can’t work any other way.
Like you said art should be created for fun and not for monetary gain so if they dont make the 1000 stream threshold its fine. There is still plenty of incentive to create a diverse range of music.