My god. Corpo propaganda, here we go. HERE WE FUCKING GO!!
Let’s make this absolutely clear, piracy of any kind, including music, is no longer unethical. Why?
Who owns the majority of musical intellectual property out there? The artists? Gtfo here with that bunk. If you got signed by anyone, chances are that you’ve lost any right to royalties, because it’s been absorbed by the publisher or the studio.
Why don’t they own it? This is a careful reminder read contracts and know that unless you’ve got an army of lawyers, you will in some way, shape or form get screwed.
Then you have Spotify, whom you pay to publish your music and you probably won’t see a single cent of it back, because that is Taylor Swift’s money.
Most artists and bands make their money two ways:
- Shows
- Merch
That’s it. Other than that, market precedent set by predatory publisher’s makes it so very, very few musicians make money off publishing.
So put it on SoundCloud, upload it with CC Attribute Non-Commercial and give it out for free. Then your music is more widely available, and if someone wants to use it commercially, you want a standard contract at the ready that is non-negotiable.
That is if you follow Hollywood rules, in that you don’t want “from the profit”, but for net gain. Why? Because these mfs cook the books to make sure they don’t have to pay you squat.
And this is fair, since you’re expected to be your own content creator, marketing department, etc. You do all the work, but some asshat who networks that work is supposed to make the big bucks?
Fuck off, you and your New York lawyers. Fuck all of em.
And let’s not forget TicketMaster, the overseer of stages.