Great to have you aboard!

In  the late 1990's, I attended a "panel discussion" with a huge selection of Nashville's songwriter, publishing, and record company population. The issue at hand was this new thing coming, at that time being called "THE INTERWEB." On the dias, were representives of PRO's (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC), hit producers, hit songwriters, label heads, and representatives of the biggest publishing companies. In attendence was about 200 of Nashville's hit songwiters. Also on the dias, were two representatives of the tech community, who were there to explain to us the things that were coming and how it would affect all of us.

For about 2 and a half hours, it went on with charts, graphs and a LOT of conversation. Frankly, it bored me silly, with talk of Market Share, upcoming strategies, and like business conversations. My eyes glaze over pretty quickly at math, so I was just sort of there. Toward the end it begin to get interesting as the conversations had followed about how great things were going to be, how artists and writers would be able to extend the reach into markets all over the world, that people would be able to get endless supplies of music in ways we didn't even envision. One actually said "We'd be able to get music on our PHONES!!!" No one believed it, but that's what they said. Who knew? 

Toward the end, one of the tech guys said "But in the future, songwriters will have to quit expecting royalties, because they won't be there."His comments would be that people would change their spending habits, get most music for free and change the way they viewed music, are more of an every day thing, and basically said that all the other information available would crowd out the importance of music. 

I was sitting three feet from one of Nashville';s most successful writers, who at that time, had one of the years biggest country hits on the radio at number one. He raised his hand and asked "How will a songwriter make a living?"

The tech guy was very unemotional, and said "YOU WON'T." 

That always stayed with me and at that moment, you saw changes in the way Nashville (and the rest of the world approached music). Songwriter's "deals" ended. Companies offering salaries against future earnings, became a thing of the past. Hundreds of songwriters became unemployed and suddenly hundreds of younger artists came on the scene. Record companies turned over the Development to publishers, who would find and develop young artists, pairing them with their own writers. The older writers would have to have a younger artist. The "outside cut" of people not in the inner circles ended. 

"ARTIST BRANDING" became the norm, and whether it is LADY GA GA, ADELLE, OR TAYLOR SWIFT, ED SHEEREN, the era of the "songwriter only" was done. Money in songs themselves declined, giving way to celebrity. Artists would earn even more from touring, merchandise and endorsements. As the world veered into the "REALITY TALENT SHOW" Britian and America's got talent, American Idol. The Voice, etc. became the focal point on artists. The "360 degree deal" where the record companies, production companies, publishers, etc. would be partners in touring, merchandise and endorsements, etc.
Those "Hair care shampoo and make up endorsements" for females, Truck, clothing, and liquor endorsements, would be the key.

What this did to songs and songwriters is move them to the "BACKGROUND" in people's lives instead of the "FOREGROUND." And the music streaming, where people could listen endlessly at vastly reduced or free, and other ways to get music became the norm.

I was just at a ten day songwriter's festival, with a lot of hit Nashville songwriters. There are multiple shows, and a huge audience all there only for the music and the writers. But the writers are even the celebrities and people pack into sold out shows just to see them because of their personalities. With all due humility, I am one that they clamor to see. But even as good as that is and we greatly appreciate it, the biggest thing is that NOBODY is buying CD's . at all. Most people don't even have cd players anymore. So I included download cards, but even with that, actual sales are very soft. And that is for eveyrone. Even though they know how important it is, they still didn't purchase much. At the same time, I just got a pretty nice royalty check for downloads of my music, and some streaming. What's weird is that I don't even know where most of it came from.

So this is where we are. Writers and artists have to work ten times as hard, to get half of what we once did. And there are MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS and BILLIONS UPON BILLIONS of songs being added to all the time. For the consumer, it has never been easier. For the creators, never been tougher.

Why do we do it? I have no idea. But if you don't have a good attitude and do it for the right reasons, the love of it, you're probably going to be vastly disspapointed. I have a video here called "TABLES AND CHAIRS" which is my take on the subject. Hope you'll check it out. In the end we have to keep our eyes and ears open, build our own niches and understand the realities. 

That's where we are.
MAB

Hola!!! People have become accustomed to the immediacy of the free, digital platforms offer play-lists with those products that they sponsor or with the most money they earn, and within that sea of ​​interests are the creators without fame, shipwrecked at last and After all, no one rescues, but things are like that, for now, although I think it is an eternal moment.

Mora

Jenny, I have been thinking about your question a couple of days, because it is something I get all the time. How do you get those downloads/streams/etc, to translate into "SALES." It is the same question everyone is dealing with and it is true, sometimes you can't. That's just a sad fact of life. As much as well love what we do and feel driven to SHARE it with adoring fans, sometimes we just don't do what people want. A lot of resturants  and other businesses start out with the same attitudes. "JUST WAIT TILL PEOPLE TASTE OR EXPERIENCE WHAT WE DO!!!" And then people do taste or experience it and they JUST DON'T LIKE IT. Can't force anyone to like what you do. But there are things you can do to INCREASE THE LEVEL OF YOUR ODDS. 

But in your case, I don't exactly know what to tell you. Now correct me if I'm wrong but didn't you say you only do things via the Internet? I may be wrong and if I am let me know. But if that is  what you are doing, I'm not sure that is ever going to totally work. While the digital age is among us and many use the Internet to their great advantage, if you peel back the layers of careers and approach,  you will find that ALMOST ALL have SOME LIVE PRESENCE. The Internet is one tool, but it is only one. And people who get those hundreds of millions of streams yet very little actual money have found out that it is not the all encompassing tool that it is played up to be. 

If you look at the biggest Internet music stars (not the reality stars) you find they had a large LIVE following in addition to Internet followings. Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, etc. always had a live componant before during and after their internet successes.

While we are all connected digitally, we are actually driven farther apart in real life. So it is the people who STAND OUT IN PERSON that are rising above. Right now in America, we are more divided politically than ever. And it is that way around the world. But when you are in a political race, you don't stay at home and just blog of vlog to reach your voters. You are out there all the time, shaking hands and kissing babies. It's the only way to actually win. 

In music, we are all politicians now. "VOTE FOR ME....VOTE FOR MY SONGS." The average budget now for a major label release is $4.5 million dollars. A huge amount of that, about 3/4s are getting those artists IN FRONT OF AUDIENCES. If that was not so important, major labels would not spend a majority of money on promotion. They would let their artists do everything by Internet, and just spend money promoting more artists. Unfortunately that just doesn't happen.

One of the biggest hits right now is "OLD TOWN ROAD." It's a song by a rap artists out of Atlanta Ga. named Lil Nas X. (I have no idea how they come up with these rap names) It was a small viral thing until it was adopted and taken over by a huge American country star, Billy Ray Cyrus. Billy Ray had his run back in the 90's But has been in the limelight for the past ten years by his daughter MILEY CYRUS who is an international pop star. And he is still a country icon here. So when he came on board, the song became ENORMOUS and has been number one like 19 weeks. Both of those guys have a live componant.

We have shows like AMERICAN (UK, AUSTRALIAN IDOL) etc, so the fans can see their favorites LIVE. And that is why those shows are so huge in the culture. Even with that, the live exposure doesn't guarantee you success. It is just another part of it. 
We don't have "Lyrics OR Music OR production in songs. You have them ALL. And VIDEOS. And PROMOTION. Internet is just one more part of the puzzle.

So I don't really know what to tell you. One of the problems that so many songwriters asking "where their internet money is" is that in many of the cases people don't LISTEN to full songs. And you are not going to be paid a lot of money on people that listen to ten seconds of an intro and then move on. Algorhythms. They know when full songs are listened to. And for people finding someone RANDOMLY? With a BILLION SONGS  A MONTH? How does that physically happen?

So that is my answer for you. In many ways, you DON'T. But you can find your own niche and if you approach it internet only, you will take that as far as it lets you take it. I'm sorry I don't have a more encouraging answer for you, but that is how I see it. Others may have other opinions and I could be proven wrong. Of course, I'm the one thinking that ARTIFICIAL INTELLEGENCE is going to take over within 10-15 years any way and will get rid of musicians and artists once and for all. AI doesn't have to be paid, So that might take care of all of it.

As always, I wish you well and hope you find what you are looking for.
MAB