Adam Ruins Everything - Why Musicians are Forced to Sell Out | truTV 

"Streaming may be screwing the artists, but the labels have figured out how to make bank off of it." is a funny way to say "The labels are screwing artists."

Brandon Urie, of Panic! at the disco, said in a podcast that he basically makes no money from making new albums, he makes all of his money from touring, merch and doing private shows for rich clients

Didn't Taylor Swift make a stand about getting musicians more money from streaming and people called her greedy? Correct me if I'm wrong?

Thank you for doing this. The only time I made a living as a musician was when I got hired for a couple of months with a monthly salary, but though I was primarily hired as a musician, a big part of the work was actually doing youth work. I do have gigs regularly now, but they're just a small part of my income and the money to make art comes from doing other jobs. Many artists actually finance their art themselves without knowing if it ever pays off. It's a gamble really, and the odds are not good.

Ah yes the artists grind. Give up everything, get nothing back.

One word: Patreon. Support your favourite artists directly and help them keep alive as they make your favourite art! Amanda Palmer is a great example of how it can be done :)

Spend 5 minutes on the pages of artists who does commissions and you’ll find not paying artists is something people have grown accustomed too.

Summary: Labels take all the money and artists are forced to sell out because of that

"Trashing the set is so early '70s!". Could not hold back a chuckle.

Mozart play for Royalty and Nobles, whoever paid his bills, so don't tell me this is a modern effect. Musicians have always been at the mercy of thier patrons.

The music industry, the entire music industry is The Big 3 Labels. Sony, Universal, Warner. They control who gets a career in music - and musicians reading this - you don't. that's why music never changes.

I put approximately $10,000 dollars into making an album I made $500 off of. Not to mention the probably thousands of hours I put into it. I basically had to hire performers for it, and it's a quality album musically. You can't get people to play music for nothing, the wide-eyed attitude of the golden age of pop is long past. I've had people boast to me about how much cheaper music is with streaming, not understanding the amount of time and effort it takes to create something worthy of the term "art". Essentially we are all beggars on street corners now, and we are some of the most talented people in the world. What it all boils down to, though, is that people no longer value that which is possibly one of the only things that make life worth living.

Could you do one on the book publishing industry? Too many people assume they'll be a best-seller and live off their books.

Selling out isn’t just when any artist does an advertisement or endorsement. It’s when an artist does something contradictory to their message for the sake of making more money when they’re already rich. For example, the rage against the machine boys playing Coachella is kind of selling out since they’re supposed to be opposed to large corrupt corporations

Everything he said is true (I’m a professional musician). But We only have to sell out that much if we want to be rich off our asses. For most people, the “selling out” we have to do is being open to playing other types of music. Like most people can’t make a living off of just playing jazz. So you’d have to be willing to take that rock gig, or record for that hip hop artist. That’s all. It’s hardly even selling out, cuz you develop an appreciation for those genres as you play them. For me, I had to be open to that and learning a new skill (recording arts). And now I love what I do. I take commissions for recordings from around the world, record myself, and send them the audio file. On top of that, I teach music and gig with a bunch of different genres. That’s the “selling out” I had to do to make it alright. I’m not making millions, but I’m making enough. And I know people that do what I do and make at least 6 figures.

Artists could band together and create their own streaming service, with 100 % of profits going to the artists. Like a music co-op.

Can we get a full version of that bop in the beginning?

Open Mike is pretty open to Adam about how he sees their relationship

This is why I dropped my dreams of becoming a musician for a living, and instead went to study design

The music industry has always screwed over the people who actually make the music but it's getting so much work if we actually care and value the musicians and their work we would boycott streaming services until musicians get a fair deal

Anyone else want a full version of the song? I kinda like it lol

I listen to Spotify about 40 hours a week.. I listen to music all day at work. Not sorry for listening to Spotify, it's an absolutely incredible app (if you have premium). People need to stop blaming people that use streaming services and start asking why artist's aren't making a fair wage for their work

Adam is signed to Warner productions. That's the same company who uses bots to copyright small amounts of content to make the dough.

Sad reality for us musicians still trying to live the dream!

I hope he talks about the positives of today too at some point in the episode. Kickstarter, patreon, house concerts, home recording producing professional quality, direct distribution options, and self promotion being easier than ever. What is gone is the lottery pay out of a big hit and the big initial payout of a record contract, both of which ended up often destroying musicians or putting them in massive debt. Today being a musician is like any other small business, entirely possible for more people than ever if you have the talent, work ethic, and personality to do so.

That song in the beginning was a low-key bop.

Adam I'm so grateful for all your ruining. infotainment king, reign forever xD

Just realized all those cancelled tours from Covid-19 and cancelled music festivals are hurting them even more, so expect music videos more loaded with product placement than a NASCAR driver’s jacket and car.

Strange that he mentions Apple Music, but not the iTunes Store and iTunes for Windows, which really killed CD's in the early 2000's

Metal seems to be surviving and profitable for bands. This apparently mostly applies to mainstream

This is why Pandora is not in Canada, they wont pay a fair amount to artist...

And people give Taylor Swift s*** she's trying to fix this and everybody saying oh Taylor Swift is crazy.

He didn't mention that a lot of undiscovered artists make a living playing covers on cruiseships, casinos, and bars, to raise enough money to work on original material/albums. You can make good money playing covers, if you're good. That's where I'm at right now. All the money I make "selling out" goes into creating and songwriting.

So I guess I can feel proud of being the only person under 60 who still buys CDs. I'm doing it for the artists, man!

there is a reason why a lot of artists these days first get big on sites like youtube and tiktok cause they release songs there first they get a cut of the ad revenue that way

This is why buying physical copies of albums is the best way to support the artist.

"In 2017, the highest paid musician was Diddy." That aged like a sour milk

1:15 STOP! WAIT! That's a good thing! The whole point is streaming services like Spotify was to get the industry back UP to 50% of what it was in 1999. If it's at 60%, that means they did it, and then some!

If only we could boycott those services and buy actual albums supporting the artists

"Back when everyone illegally downloaded music, everyone took a hit." Did they?

Literally even a passing mention of the booming DIY scene would have made more of a difference than just telling everyone what a simple google search would have.

I just learned more here in like 5 minutes than I did in half a term of school

Man: “it’s so...Commercial!!” *flips table*

The song on the intro was very catchy!!

I’m so glad I saw this! I always thought being a musician was the coolest and highest paying job but now it looks like it’s probably a waste of time!

My bf has a friend who is in a band and they sell merch on sites like Tee Public. I think all artists need to get merch on those sites. I know I would buy some when I can. I doubt that I'm the only one.

I'm tired of artists complaining about not being paid a fair price for their art. The problem is that creating art and selling it are two completely different skills and most people can't do both. Without the labels to market and sell their product, most musicians would never make a living making music and the ones that do wouldn't make nearly as much.

Psshhh Artists! They need to “Live”. If they weren’t sell outs they’d live in a box behind the studio. That’s how a real musician does it. What? You’re sayin lot of artists are actually working homeless? Well....

Know plenty of artists who are making a healthy living and haven’t “sold out”. The thing is they’re willing to take work wherever they can (session work, church gigs, bar gigs, house bands, etc.). They also have a healthy knowledge of the business and accept that music is an industry where you need to be versatile, willing, and hard working. Not only that but it seems like unions get a bad rap in this comment section...not true.

Sounds like he's perfectly OK with the status quo and making excuses for the industry's predatory and greedy behavior. Com'on people... "Problem, Reaction, Solution" Focus on the solutions, not dwell on the problems.

Before everyone goes to blame the labels. Yes the labels could give a larger percentage to the artists, but you also realise that our intensive need for convenience and our unwillingness to pay proper prices for quality content has facilitated this. As a consumer you are just as much to blame for this than the labels.

Tell me about it. It's hella depressing sometimes even making music anymore. You have to separate your creativity from the numbers or you'll go crazy.

Nice to know about artist, and money, Etc. BUT can we talk about how good that girls voice is in the beginning

The thing hes not mentioning is that the music industry is MUCH. MUCH MUCH more open to entry now. And all those 'low paid' artists wouldn't be making anything in 1995

Is it me, or is anyone else also addicted to the first 22 seconds of this music video and tune?

And I've been working on rebuilding my studio so I can make tunes again. To be fair, I was kind of hoping that I could get by on uploading the videos to RU-vid as live performances.

As a Nirvana fan the lady at the end saying that trashing the equipment wasn’t a 90’s vibe didn’t sit well.

Merch, patreon, lounge gigs cmon guys

Speaking as a freelance musician, I wish this video title was relabeled "Why Big Music Artists...". There are so many people who are actually working and making a living in the music industry whose goal is not to be a "star" but to simply make a living through (more than likely) some combination of performing, writing music, engineering, teaching, and the many other things that most musicians (the overwhelming majority of average musicians like us) do. The two gigs are very different from each other.

I worked in the music industry and he even mentioned the artist I managed. Music isnt so commercial anymore, it is the exact opposite. You can make a track and put it out for free except for a small fee at the register. But that isnt how music is consumed. Music needs demand behind it to sell huge just like a fidget spinner gismo and that kinda press needs money or a really slick viral kickstart and then money to maintain that trajectory. That money comes from Major Record Labels dropping boat loads of advertising money on radio stations. Indie labels can do this but that is done through a process called payolla. Majors get away with haivng their tracks played in markets because of the advertising partnership we talked about. Appearently quid-pro-quo is legal. You cant get people to your concert in a town where they dont know your music and dont know you have a concert. Radio stations play music and people listen to that music so this is the perfect forum for this advertising brand. Touring is still a source for revenue if the artist has music playing in rotation in that market.. New York, LA, Atlanta, Philly. Miami, and etc. The bigger the market is the more money it will cost in advertising. Miami is the 14 largest market and New York is the largest... Then there is the global market and it has its own set of rules based on the region.... For the most part these regions are dominated by what company owns your distribution rights in those areas. The best market for generating sustainable revenue quickly is latin america, they can not consume music fast enough. Not to mention meet and greet fees you can accumulate along a tour. Payole isnt payola down there it is just called THE BUSINESS MODEL and is relatively inexpensive. You can get your music spinning down there for almost nothing for the 6 weeks prior to your concert and make profits to boot. You just need seed money to get it rolling that you can acquire by touring the bar circuit. The longer you do this the faster your popularity grows and this entire process seems a bit more organic to me. Then the internet... All bets are off here, you just need a guy like me to promote you all day long and serch for markets and oportunities to get you noticed by a major record label or spnsor to fund your gigs. Having sponsors are the difference between sleeping in a crowded van everynight or a hotel with a shower. Getting the right sponsor is alwys preferred but rarely happens. But sponsors tend to know thier market and that is why you never see an Anarchist band sponsored by Wachovia! Is a safe bet that everyone has a preference between coke or pepsi. Is it horrible that Pepsi wants you more familiar with their band? Would you rather listen to a road worn band who smells like farts and shag carpet or well rested band who serves Pepsi exclusively at the concession stands. Is it really selling out that the tour bus has a "safe auto" ad on the rear? The point is stop being a douchbag and calling your favorite artist a sell out for trying to make a living. You wanna get mad at someone, get mad at people like the Kardashians and even ole Adam here... This entire business model is predicated on advertising revenue. Think about it, if truTV had to rely on its viewers to phyisically purchase its product would they survive?

Which is why you will see a bunch of rappers doing commercials. lol

Or you bypass the labels and companies and go through patreon or something. Peter Hollins makes something like $10,000 Per video from his patreon donators.

What happened was a bunch of top bill artists signed contracts without a lawyer in the 80s. Like many companies record labels put traps in their contracts for people who don't get a lawyer to look them over. These were struck out of contracts by lawyers as a matter of routine. The RIAA was formed around this time, and what they did was use the fact so many of these musically talented but financially uneducated artists signed on with these clauses intact to make it a standard to not accept the contracts without them. The biggest ones that bankrupt artists are a clause on 'advance payouts', which is basically the record label pays the artist a lump sum based off projected sales, the lawyer trash clause is that the artist has to return that advance to cover any shortfall off projected sales. The other is a block of legalese that gives ownership of an artists music to the company. Another fun one is one that gives the label control of the artists tour schedule, which if you look up Pat Benatar's biography her label forced her to tour and shoot music videos throughout her pregnancy.

Is part of the issue that supply has grown, relative to demand? I could imagine that music tech has advanced, its range has increased, and that there may have been a drop in the price of home recording equipment and software. If that were the case, perhaps this would mean a lot more people are able to make decent music. I could imagine that the rise of the internet has inspired a lot more people to become musical, and relatively better at making music and performing. It seems like the average person can belt out a pretty decent singing voice these days. It also feels like in the last decade or two, music making (and singing especially) has become 'democratised'.

Do an adam ruins youtube, I l'd love to see adam go into detail how youtube is killing youtubers

Streaming isn't killing the music industry, when I compare it how I grew up. With cassettes I was able to record music off the radio. Also the play time was very limited. When I got my discman, I had 2 CDs with my music and that was it. I did bought CDs but overall it was about sharing and then getting your mixtape ready. With my first mp3 player that was able to hold 128MB or Music, I mostly ripped CDs into MP3 and threw it on my Player. Then I got internet and illegal download was a thing. Today I pay for streaming and the amount I spend is more than I would have bought physical CDs. With streaming I can change my Playlist very easy and can kick out songs. With bought CDs, I need to get the most songs that I like to hear out of my money and I need to listen to it. Fun fact. In Germany you pay a small fee on blank CDs, USB Sticks, Cassets and so on towards the music labels. A rule of thumb is that you are allowed to make 7 copies of a CD and you are allowed to share this copy with friends and family. Yes we are allowed to buy a CD burn it 7 times and give it away to friends and family and that legal. The problem that I see are the music labels.

Who else wants to hear the rest of the song they played in the intro?

Spotify pays whoever holds the rights to a song anywhere from $0.006 to $0.0084 per play. The rights “holder” can then split these earning between the record label, producers, artists, and songwriters, which means splitting pennies between many parties

I don't have a problem with artists selling out as long as it's done subtly. Ajr did an endorsement of amazon tablets and they still emphasized the art of their music by utilizing their #1 go to instrument which is electronics. Unlike the pop icons like people from Kpop and all that. These people are puppets, tained and honed to be tpys of the entertainment industry to brainwash kids with their dances, fashion looks, incomprehensible and nonsensical songs. It's a recirprocity between huge corporates and ambitious individuals but little to no art is produced. Just money.

In the early cable days (MTV), music videos were so expensive that most bands owed $ for that video beyond their existence. Touring is strictly promotional. No profit from a tour itself (per costs).

So, how does this explain why there hasn't been an anti war song that charted since...

You want to help musicians, go to local and smaller shows and buy merch. A lot of merch sales have far less middlemen. The local support helps out many smaller musicians and regionally touring acts (bands that are likely losing money when playing)

I relate to this a lot, being a music producer

I don't think Adam ruins anything I think he clears things up

One so true! This is why I gave up my music career.

It's all about merchandise sales. Been told that directly by a musician. Was emailed by management that my interest in a stream is irrelevant because I haven't bought merch.

I feel like a solution should be able to exist. If everyone gave even $1/mo directly to their favorite band, there would be so much more money funding the art and not the middlemen.

actually. that .000001 isn’t correct. It’s still a small amount but there is no set number each stream and that has been proven recently. Different factors such as whether it’s a free account listening, or paid one, or even a family one...if the listener is listening on desktop or a phone. All those factors make it impossible for an exact number that each stream is worth.

When you consider all of this is solved with distrokid and a good manager, no one needs a label anymore

Anyone know if they made full version of the starting song. Cause the lyrics sounds nice.

This is why I listen to death metal and classical music.

I don't care if artist take endorsement deals.as long as it doesn't affect the quality of the music.

If I was an artist or musician. The only companies I would sponsor are companies whose products I actually use.

In Bollywood, the artist don't get any money for their music in the films while the film producers make millions. The artists are just told that they will gain popularity and earn money by endorsement and tours as they are POPULARIZED by the films

The weird thing is that artist can actually earn more money if they don’t get signed

I often come here to listen to the opening song.

this is why I support artists like miracle of sound over the internet. i pay him 2 dollars per song, and ive never regretted it. it helps him self pace and stay creative. however, him getting to the point he earns enough per song to stay afloat took quite a few years of very hard work. truly its hard for creatives to self publish

On my first tour I took a hard hit financially. Second time somehow manage to make a minscule profit, but there's all the money spent making albums, etc. I've gone to home producing because it feels like the only way to continue making music. I feel like many musicians can share similar experiences

Not all musicians “NEEDS TO SELL OUT” this MAY SOMETIMES OCCUR MOSTLY for pop musicians

Oh, so the music industry corporations are making billions on top of artists while only paying them a fraction of what they produce? Yeah, sounds like Capitalism.

Musicians in LA playing original music frequently play for free or pay the venues to play. Even if they are playing for free they still have to pay for parking, water, and venues want a cut of their merch sales. Being anything but a chart topping pop artist costs money. There are signed bands that can only tour a few weeks a year because they have to get back to their day job to pay for their band expenses.

as a musician, i assumed most people knew this already haha

The streaming services have 10s of millions of dollars to give to podcasters, but only give pennies for every 300 or so listens to a song. How is that fair.

Big name artists have net worths in the hundreds of millions. 10% of that is still tens of millions... There's definitely not a "need" to sell out. That's still enough money for a very luxurious lifestyle.

The only people who complain about "selling out" are the ones who haven't realized that you can't make a living as an artist without a stable income. Artistry in and of itself isn't enough. You can't exchange it for goods and services. You need money.

The song is actually nice. I love the accordion sounds

Damn and no solutions either :(

So yall ain't gonna talk about being independent?

Open Mike getting his just 15 minutes 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾

Uhh, no... I used to pay songwriting royalties at a MAJOR label in the 90's. The artists/songwriters barely made any money off any sales, including cd (even less for vinyl and barely anything for cassettes). Even though compact discs were ubiquitous in the 90s, there was a clause in virtually every contract that allowed for "breakage" of vinyl records during shipping. As such, almost every contract was dinged 12.50% off of each sale to account for that "breakage"... even though vinyl sales accounted for virtually no sales. In fact most albums on the label I worked for did not have vinyl releases, but still had the clause in the contracts. On top of that, the record company(ies) would claw back money under "recoupable clauses" for tour support, merchandising, advertising, etc. So that artists/songwriters would get virtually nothing. In the mid 90s, statutory rate for superstar artists were 6 cents per song, per unit. That's if you were a superstar and commanded that rate. Artists have always been, and will always be screwed under major label contracts. Now granted, there was also performance and production royalties, but they were equally usurious. And often, production royalties were recouped from performance royalties.