Songwriters Sing the Blues

This is a perennial subject for musicians: how can we make money? Unfortunately, it seems to be getting harder and harder. The only ones that really seem to clean up are whom we might graciously describe as "singers chosen for their ability to dance." From a recent Wall Street Journal article, "Tuning Music Royalties to the Times," we read this dispiriting news:

For some time, performers a notch below Beyoncé and Taylor Swift have complained about the change in music delivery from CDs to downloads to streaming, today’s dominant system, as the progression has chipped away at their already-modest royalties. These gripes are legitimate, but even worse off is the nonperforming songwriter, who can’t go on the road and sell signed CDs and merch, and who takes home significantly lower royalties.

Desmond Child, the co-writer of Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer,” recently reported that the song had been played 6.5 million times on Pandora over three months, for which he had earned $110. There is also writer and performer Aloe Blacc, whose song “Wake Me Up” by Avicii “was the most streamed song in Spotify history and the 13th-most-played song on Pandora since its release in 2013, with more than 168 million streams in the U.S.,” as he wrote last year in Wired magazine. That yielded only $12,359 in Pandora domestic royalties, which were split among three songwriters and the publishers.

Somebody is making money, but, as is often the case, it isn't the composer.