This Is SO Much More Profitable Than Streaming

Published: Sun, 10/01/23

Up to 80% profit margins on music.

This Is SO Much More Profitable Than Streaming

Dear Songwriters, Composers, Producers, and Artists,

How much money do you make from streaming? How many people are even finding your music?

Who among your friends, bandmates, and other musicians that you personally know, are making any real money from streaming on Spotify, YouTube, Pandora, Apple, or on any of the streaming platforms? I can’t think of any, and I know thousands of indie musicians!

Here’s why you’re not getting heard…

Disc Makers’ CEO, Tony van Veen, was my guest on a recent episode of TAXI TV, and he shocked me when he said that something like 60,000 songs are uploaded to streaming services per day. Per day!!!

Tony’s a close friend of mine, but I thought his number was astronomically high, so I Googled it, and this is what I saw, “According to Music Business Worldwide, there are now an average of roughly 120,000 songs uploaded to streaming services every day. That works out to just over 10 million tracks uploaded throughout the first quarter of 2023 alone, and puts us on track for about 43 million for the year.”

No wonder I don’t know anybody who’s making any money from streaming their music! They’re not getting found! And when they are, they’re only making a tiny fraction of a single penny per play. Why put all the effort into your music if nobody’s hearing it?

What's the alternative?

Don’t laugh, but did you know that physical media can have profit margins of 80% or more? I didn’t!

Who still buys CDs and vinyls?

Well, it turns out that your true fans do, and here’s why: they feel like they’ve got a relationship with you. They like your liner notes and album art. I’m looking at my own vinyl collection as I write this, and ten feet from my desk I’ve got thousands of CDs.

I love seeing studio photos, who played what, who wrote the songs, and who produced the record. I don’t think I’m alone in having an emotional connection that goes deeper than merely listening to the music on my stereo through my NS-10s.

My twenty-something year old daughters listen to clips of songs on TikTok through the microscopic speakers in their phones, and they can’t even tell me who they’re listening to! Absolutely true, and really sad.

But when I played "Abbey Road" on my stereo for one of my daughters, she could barely contain herself. And she listened to the entire album while poring over the liner notes, just like your true fans will.

If this gets YOU thinking about making vinyl, download "The Musicians Guide to Vinyl." The new and revised second edition tells you everything you need to know about recording, mixing, mastering, and designing a vinyl LP.

Is my math correct?

Will you sell millions of records? Not likely.

But could you sell 100?

You see, when you pay about a buck-fifty per CD, you’d make $8.50 profit on each one if you sell it for just Ten Bucks! Every true fan will drop ten bucks on something from an artist they want to support. If you only sell a hundred albums, you’d make $850. Have you ever made anything close to that from streaming?

If you want any even deeper connection with your fans...

Vinyl is just plain sexy. As a matter of fact, when Tony was on TAXI TV, he told me that Disc Makers’ vinyl orders had TRIPLED in the last three months. Why? They introduced a new killer vinyl offer (stay tuned below) that finally lets bands and artists ordering LPs make a nice profit. Much more than what they’re making from streaming.

You owe this to yourself (and to your fans)

There’s no company with a better reputation for quality product and exceptional customer service than Disc Makers. In fact, they are the only legit manufacturer left who works directly with artists, which is why their minimum order quantity starts at just 100 units. They’ve been pressing vinyl since the 1950s, and they can offer prices that virtually anybody can afford. And their CD prices are cheap as snot! Can I say that? Why not, it’s the truth. Check this out:

And of course, if you need a larger quantity, they’re more than happy to make them.

If you’ve got fans, make them happy by offering them a way to show their support for you and your music. It’s going to be far more satisfying than producing great music and seeing it get lost in the sea of 120,000 other songs getting uploaded the same day as yours.

How much do I make from telling you this?

Zip. Nada. Bupkis! Not a single penny from commissions or kickbacks. Nothing!

Frankly, if Tony hadn’t been my guest on TAXI TV, I wouldn’t have even thought about how you stand virtually no chance of getting your music heard by streaming.

Do the math. If you can think of 100 fans who’d support you and your music by buying a CD at a show or your album on vinyl, call Disc Makers and see how savvy artists are earning more from their music!

Talk to you soon,
Michael

P.S. Among all the companies I know in the music space, Disc Makers is one of the very best at providing practical tips, advice, and educational content to artists like you. If you have an album in the works, check out their "Guide to Successfully Recording, Promoting, and Launching Your Album in 90 Days," penned by my buddy Tony himself!

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