Thread by @NiallQuinnLK73

hotpress.com/music/luka-blo…
LONG THREAD:
I can see the Luka Bloom thing from all sides.
Full disclosure. I can't stand spotify. I doubt I've ever discovered a new act through it I didn't know of or hear somewhere else. Though I appreciate why acts can feel it helps them. 1/

When I do use it it's mostly as a reference library and for stuff I bought yonks ago on whatever format. A clumsy, clunky windows 95ee library that gobbles up system resources, continually tries to steer me away from what I'm listening to toward acts signed to 2/

the usual suspect major labels it thinks I 'might like' (and with whom I suspect they are in cahoots) -and charges me 120 bucks per annum for the privilege. Pence of that figure make their way back to the artists I actually play. 3/

That's me using spotify as a consumer. Using Spotify as an artist costs me about 50 bucks per title per artist per annum. The Hitchers stuff just about pays its own way more years than not -mainly because I uploaded our entire catalogue as a single title 4/

-Both LPs, All the Bs and all that came before them. open.spotify.com/album/3YrfHqJT… Theme Tune Boy most certainly does not. In fairness -neither band are especially active on or offline and it could be argued if they were then they'd generate more 0.0001s 5/

But aside from that either band and all the others on there actually get very little bang for their buck. A portal where you can be listened to is all. The interface is shite. You get to include little by way of visual or contextual information. One image and a paragraph. 6/

It should be pointed out it's not the root of all evil either and it didn't lead to the collapse in physical sales. That was happening long before of course and the causes are in some ways complex and in some ways the recorded music industry quite greedily 7/

authored it's own misfortune and demise. But I couldn't sell recorded music when the kids were spending their disposable on little else -back in the 90's when I was in my teens and 20's. I got my answer and I've no complaints. 8/

But after The Hitchers came away from the kerb for good we continued to have a steady if unremarkable trickle of direct sales via our website. It maybe paid to service an amp or a couple of guitars before a christmas gig -or paid for the curry after. 9/

Then, bored one Easter in the noughties, I made a slideo-video thing for 'Strachan' and chucked it up on Youtube.
The sales stopped dead. I don't mean slowed or tailed off.
Stopped.
Dead.
They never came back. 10/

I actually took down the original one I'd posted a year or so later and reloaded it with dodgy bitrate and a couple of blips, beeps and whirs in the audio. Not a blind bit of difference. It has over 50,000 plays -which is nothing in the greater scheme of things of course 11/

though maybe notable for an inactive band who never came within an assess roar of a chart placing anywhere. (Our highest chart placing was previous single Killed It With My Bare Hands -which soared majestically to #58 in the Irish singles charts in early 1997. 12/

I was suprised to find there was 57 other singles out at the time and amazed anyone kept counting after the top 30) There's a couple of other uploads of Strachan as well not done by us -one of them has another 20,000 plays. 13/

There's people making videos of themselves playing trumpets out their arse getting more plays I'm sure.
Anyway we still have some merch left but anyone who wants our stuff has it or has access to it online as this stage. 14/

So I can empathise with Luka Bloom deciding to just not play that game where he's essentially, not just handing over his content, but paying a service provider to host his music so the service provider can then charge the listener and keep all the cake bar the crumbs. 15/

His business model might work for him or someone in his position as well. Not for me to judge what level he's operating at or how much of a profile Luka enjoys. He baulked at the idea he's a 'household name' and I get that. 16/

Even being a household name in Ireland doesn't necessarily translate into much by way of sales and earnings. Luka will know what his previous recordings sold and may even be able to reasonably project what he's likely to move of this one. 17/

So it may make more sense for him to keep it off streaming services for say 2 years or til he's hit some magic number of units shifted. He says after making this record his ass is in the wind for 30 grand. That means he needs 1500 sales at €20 each just to get to break-even 18/

-which most acts would kill to do. It's do-able for Luka Bloom. Maybe for some others too. Many would probably end up like me with a traffic island made of cartons of albums in the hall or a bedroom. 19/

Ever wonder what a thousand albums looks like? -all of them physically in one place? Takes up about as much room as a dishwasher. That's CDs by the way. Vinyl - I haven't a clue. 20/

I haven't really engaged with the 'vinyl revival' to any great extent. I'm somewhere between 'emperors new clothes' and 'function of hipster bullshit' with it. I like the physical size of them, the tactility, the sleeve notes etc. 21/

But there's no reason an artist couldn't print a book/booklet -maybe with a pop in CD/download even. I find it telling that of most recent vinyls I have purchased the artists felt it neccessary to include a "free CD" version of the recording. 22/

I won't be producing physical copies of anything I do again unless it's pre-funded and the chances of that happening are slim. I haven't the profile nor the means of elevating such. I can't justify the sheer waste involved in producing all that -phsyical stuff 23/

-if there's no reasonable prospect of moving it either. I've recently been hearing the carbon footprint of vinyl production is considerable and also heard recently CDs are absolutely NOT recyclable and must be placed in regular grey-bin rubbish. theguardian.com/music/2020/jan… 24/

Not sure why I was so surprised -they are a composite media. I guess I thought of them like a stiff tetrapack -which are recyclable. So who knew? Indie landfill exists! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indie_roc… 25/

For similar reasons I won't be laying out any great money on recording time, recording equipment, mastering etc and I've always done my own artwork. I just can't justify it. Never could in truth but with two kids, a mortgage and all the other life stuff? No way. 26/

So the tiny handful of people who do like my stuff can look forward to more ropey recordings, messy mixing and plenty more why the hell didn't you master this's. Its a fact I couldn't engineer myself shit-smelling boots if I did the macarena in a lake of crap. 27/

But it's where I am, where Luka is and where we all are to varying degrees.
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