Why don’t artists sell their music only on their website rather than streaming services?

There are a few key reasons why artists often choose to distribute their music through streaming services rather than just selling it directly on their own website:

Reach and accessibility – Streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube have massive user bases, often in the millions or tens of millions. This provides artists much broader exposure and potential audience reach compared to selling exclusively on their own website.
Discoverability – Streaming services have advanced recommendation algorithms and curation features that help new artists get discovered by listeners. It’s much harder for an artist to achieve the same level of discovery selling only on their own site.
Convenience for listeners – Streaming services offer a seamless, all-in-one listening experience where users can access a vast catalog of music. Purchasing directly from an artist’s site requires more effort and friction for the listener.
Monetization – While streaming royalties are often criticized as low, the aggregate revenue from streams can still be significant, especially for popular artists. Direct sales on a website may generate higher per-unit revenue, but much lower overall volume.
Synergies with other platforms – Being on streaming services also allows artists to better promote and integrate their music across social media, video platforms, playlists, and other channels that consumers use to discover new music.
So in summary, the broad user base, discoverability features, listener convenience, and ancillary benefits of streaming services often make them an essential part of an artist’s distribution strategy, even if they also sell directly on their own website.

Why do music artists bother with record labels once they get popular? Why don’t they just sell their music through their own website?

There are a few key reasons why popular music artists still work with record labels even when they could potentially sell their music directly through their own website:

1. Promotion and marketing: Record labels have extensive resources and expertise when it comes to promoting artists and their music. They can leverage their industry connections, radio relationships, and marketing capabilities to help an artist reach a wider audience more effectively than the artist could on their own.
2. Distribution and logistics: Record labels handle the complex logistics of physical and digital music distribution, including manufacturing CDs/vinyl, getting songs on streaming platforms, managing licensing and royalties, and more. This takes a significant burden off the artist.
3. Funding and investment: Labels can provide significant upfront funding for recording, touring, music videos, and other expenses that artists may struggle to cover on their own, especially when first starting out. This investment helps artists focus on their craft.
4. Industry knowledge and connections: Labels have deep industry knowledge and relationships that can open doors for artists, whether it’s securing lucrative brand partnerships, booking high-profile tours, or getting media placements. This access and guidance can be invaluable.
5. Credibility and prestige: Being signed to a major record label can lend an artist more credibility and prestige in the eyes of the public, industry gatekeepers, and potential business partners. This can translate to more opportunities.

While it’s certainly possible for successful artists to go the independent route, the promotional power, distribution capabilities, financial resources, and industry connections of a major label are often seen as worth the tradeoffs in artistic control and profit-sharing for many popular artists. The label system remains deeply entrenched in the music industry.