Where Does Your Money Go?你花的錢去哪兒了？

馬克·薩瑟蘭 譯/孟潔冰

The Real Cost of Music Streaming

音樂流媒體的真正成本

In the past decade， streaming has become synonymous with music fandom and consumption. But commercially it’s still an unequal playing field， to the detriment of our favourite rock bands…

For a music fan， streaming services are a dream. For around ￡9.99 a month， you gain access to pretty much every song and album ever released， from the latest releases to the absolute classics.

But， for an increasing number of artists， streaming has become more of a nightmare. Because， while you pay a tenner1 to listen to your favourite bands， only a fraction of that money filters through to those artists. And， with live music still on hiatus2 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic， it’s left many musicians on the brink3.

“I’m watching so many bands around us getting part-time jobs at the moment，” says While She Sleeps guitarist Mat Welsh. ?“Many of them won’t go back into music as a full-time career， it’ll turn into something they do on the side. Streaming is an incredible thing. It’s like an infinite record store—pay ￡10 to get in and you can have whatever you want. It’s also a brilliant marketing platform for you to gain an audience… but that’s not translating into a sustainable income.”

Protests about streaming royalty rates are nothing new： artists have grumbled4 about them ever since Spotify launched in the UK in 2009， as the payments compared badly to those received during the physical era. Some artists have criticised Spotify in particular （the company is now valued at over $60 billion on the U.S. stock exchange， despite not yet turning a profit）， while others say that outdated record deals， often signed with labels before streaming became the dominant format， are to blame.

But， either way， with bands unable to make money on the road since the first lockdown a year ago， the complaints have been galvanised5 via online campaigns such as #BrokenRecord and #FixStreaming—and are now even being heard in the corridors of power6.

At the moment， everyone’s monthly tenner goes into a huge pot. After the streaming service， VAT， the record label， the music publisher and the songwriters take their cuts， research from trade body BPI （British Phonographic Industry） shows around ￡1.33 filters through to the artists. But that has to be split， according to market share， between every artist streamed that month—from your favourite underground grind band to the biggest names in music.

This system undoubtedly works well for those with large catalogues of songs that are streamed millions， or even billions of times： the major labels and huge pop/hip-hop acts that regularly drop new singles. But some say rock and metal bands， which still rely heavily on the album format and release music less often， are naturally disadvantaged.

Indeed， rock streaming is dominated by classic tracks by bands such as AC/DC， Linkin Park and Green Day， and its overall numbers are dwarfed by other genres， with many rock fans still preferring to buy a physical album.

Still， some artists are happy with the current system—Jon Bon Jovi recently said the value of his catalogue had doubled thanks to streaming. Meanwhile， Bring Me The Horizon—whose latest EP， Post Human： Survival Horror was initially only released on digital platforms—are one of the few contemporary acts to have streaming hits and be featured on mainstream playlists such as Spotify’s Hot Hits UK， usually a no-go zone for heavier bands.

“Streaming is a massively important tool for rock acts，” stresses Horizon’s co-manager， Craig Jennings of Raw Power Management， which also looks after acts including Bullet For My Valentine and Don Broco. ?“I always say to our bands， ?‘Look， the more monthly listeners you get on Spotify， the more people are going to look to buy a gig ticket， a piece of merch7 or a physical product where you get paid better for it.’ There have never been more places to hear bands’ music， but what we want is to get some sort of parity between all those people listening to the music， and getting paid properly for it.”

The importance of streaming means many bands are reluctant to rock the boat， but it’s particularly tough for acts with small but loyal fanbases. Take Palm Reader. The band had one of the most acclaimed albums of last year with Sleepless， which has racked up around 750，000 streams across the different platforms.

“That’s pretty good for a small band on an indie label，” says guitarist Andy Gillan. ?“But it adds up to no money at all. Streaming definitely benefits music that is instantly accessible， instantly recognisable and can be consumed in very large quantities for a short period of time and then it’s gone.”

Perhaps the most popular potential solution， at least amongst artists， is a move to ?‘user-centric’ payments. Under user-centric， your subscription money would be distributed amongst the artists you actually listen to each month. Whereas， at the moment， even if you only play black metal 24/7， Justin Bieber will still get a slice of your ￡9.99.

Streaming service SoundCloud recently announced it would move to such a system， although only for the 100，000-odd DIY artists with which it has a direct commercial relationship， where no labels are involved. And that seems to be a crucial caveat—another， more mainstream platform， Deezer （also one of the more rock-friendly services）， has been trying to bring in a user-centric trial for years， but has so far been unable to convince all of the labels to agree.

Whether they do that voluntarily， or have their hand forced by government， remains to be seen. But after a long， hard campaign， many are optimistic that the artists’ dream of a new streaming paradise—or， at least， a fairer payday—may yet become a reality.

過去十年，流媒體成了音樂粉絲圈和音樂消費的代名詞。但是從商業(yè)角度來看，這個行業(yè)仍然缺少公平的競爭環(huán)境，損害了我們喜愛的搖滾樂隊的利益……

對音樂迷來說，流媒體服務(wù)就像是美夢成真。每月只要花大約9.99英鎊，就能欣賞有史以來發(fā)行的幾乎所有歌曲和專輯，無論是最新版本還是傳世經(jīng)典。

不過，對越來越多的藝人來說，流媒體已變得更像是一場噩夢。因為，盡管粉絲花10英鎊聽自己喜歡的樂隊的作品，可是只有很少一部分的錢會分給這些藝人。而且，由于新冠疫情的影響，現(xiàn)場音樂表演仍然暫時中斷，這讓許多音樂人陷入困境。

“我注意到周圍很多樂隊目前都在找兼職?！背了寥藰逢牭募竹R特·韋爾什說，“許多人不會再把音樂作為全職工作，而是當作副業(yè)。流媒體是不可思議的平臺，像是一家不限量供應的唱片行——只要花10英鎊進來，你就能聽到想聽的任何音樂。這也是個出色的營銷平臺，可以讓你吸引聽眾……但是不能轉(zhuǎn)化成可持續(xù)的收入。”

對流媒體版稅率的抱怨不是什么新鮮事：2009年Spotify在英國上線以來，藝人就對此頗有怨言，因為相比實體唱片時代收到的費用，流媒體收入少得可憐。有些藝人尤其把矛頭對準了Spotify（該公司目前在美國證券交易所的估值超過600億美元，不過還未實現(xiàn)贏利），而其他藝人表示，不合時宜的唱片合約才是罪魁禍首，這些合約通常是在流媒體成為主要音樂形式前與唱片公司簽署的。

但無論如何，由于從一年前首次因疫情實施封鎖以來，樂隊就無法舉行巡回演出賺錢，這些抱怨通過 #BrokenRecord和 #FixStreaming等線上活動激起強烈反響，如今就連政府高層也有耳聞。

目前，每位用戶每個月支付的10英鎊匯入巨大的資金池。行業(yè)組織英國唱片業(yè)協(xié)會的研究表明，在扣除流媒體服務(wù)、增值稅、唱片公司、音樂出版商和詞曲作者提取的費用后，大約有1.33英鎊分到藝人手中。不過這筆錢還要按照市場份額，分配給當月有播放量的每位藝人，包括你喜歡的地下輾核樂隊和音樂界大牌明星。

毫無疑問，這個體系非常適合那些擁有大量歌單、播放量達到數(shù)百萬甚至數(shù)十億次的出品方：各大唱片公司和經(jīng)常推出新單曲的大牌流行音樂或嘻哈音樂藝人。但有人表示，搖滾樂隊和金屬樂隊依然嚴重依賴專輯形式，不經(jīng)常發(fā)行音樂作品，自然處于劣勢地位。

事實上，流媒體播放的搖滾樂以AC/DC、林肯公園和綠日等樂隊的經(jīng)典曲目為主，相比其他音樂類型，總體播放量要少得多，許多搖滾樂迷仍然更愿意購買實體專輯。

盡管如此，一些藝人對目前的體系還是感到滿意：喬恩·邦·喬維最近說，多虧了流媒體，他的曲目價值翻了一番。與此同時，飛越地平線樂隊（該樂隊的最新迷你專輯《后人類：生存恐怖》最初只在數(shù)字平臺上發(fā)行）是為數(shù)不多擁有流媒體流行單曲、登上Spotify的“英國熱門金曲”等主流排行榜的當代樂隊，而主流排行榜通常是重搖滾樂隊的禁區(qū)。

“流媒體對搖滾樂隊來說是非常重要的平臺?！憋w越地平線樂隊的聯(lián)合經(jīng)紀人、原力管理公司（該公司還擁有致命情人和唐伯寇等樂隊）的克雷格·詹寧斯著重指出，“我總是對我們的樂隊說，‘聽著，你們每個月在Spotify上吸引的聽眾越多，打算購買演出門票、周邊商品或?qū)嶓w產(chǎn)品的人就越多，這樣你們才能獲得更高的報酬’。從來沒有這么多平臺可以聽搖滾樂隊的音樂，而我們想要的就是得到所有搖滾樂聽眾的公平對待，獲得合理的報酬。”

流媒體的重要地位意味著許多樂隊不愿意打破現(xiàn)狀，但是對于只擁有少數(shù)忠實擁躉的樂隊來說，處境尤為艱難。以Palm Reader樂隊為例，這支樂隊發(fā)行的《不眠》是去年口碑最好的專輯之一，該專輯在不同平臺的播放量累計約有75萬次。

“這對獨立廠牌的小樂隊來說相當不錯，”吉他手安迪·吉蘭說，“可是結(jié)果根本沒有賺到錢。流媒體絕對有利于那些極易獲取、極具辨識度的音樂，可以在短時間內(nèi)大量消費，然后就消失不見了?！?/p>

也許最受歡迎（至少深受藝人歡迎）的潛在解決方案是轉(zhuǎn)而采用“以用戶為中心”的付款方式。按照以用戶為中心的模式，粉絲每個月實際上聽過哪些藝人的歌曲，訂閱費就分配給這些藝人。然而目前的模式是，即使粉絲每周7天、每天24小時只聽黑金屬，賈斯汀·比伯仍然要從那些粉絲支付的9.99英鎊中分一杯羹。

流媒體服務(wù)SoundCloud最近宣布將采用這種分配體系，不過僅針對與該平臺有直接商業(yè)關(guān)系的10萬多名獨立藝人，不涉及任何唱片公司。這似乎是個重要提醒——另一個更主流的平臺Deezer（也是對搖滾樂比較友好的流媒體服務(wù)）多年來一直嘗試引入以用戶為中心的模式，但到目前為止還無法說服所有的唱片公司同意。

這些流媒體平臺究竟是自愿采取行動，還是迫于政府施加的壓力，仍有待觀察。但經(jīng)過艱難持久的斗爭，許多人樂觀地認為，藝人夢想中的全新流媒體天堂（至少是更公平的薪酬體系）總有一天會成為現(xiàn)實?！?/p>

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎?wù)撸?/p>