Beatstars is the new Napster

There is no right to make money on music, you can say if you’re feeling hard-hearted. But (I’m paraphrasing here) neither is there a right to make money on tech. Difficulties paying royalties are not the musicians’ problem.

Cherie Hu on David Porter’s 8tracks post-mortem:

“What I think really sets Porter’s discussion of royalty payments apart from other similar ones in the past, though, is that he did not blame the music industry for 8tracks’ royalty woes, nor did he advocate in favor of making licensing fees and royalty rates more favorable for startups (i.e. lower).

“The fact remains that it’s not easy for most artists to generate meaningful revenues through music streaming … It’s unsurprising that royalties remain expensive and will continue to increase,” wrote Porter, in a rather matter-of-fact tone. This drives home an argument worth considering, and that many in the industry would likely agree with: that royalty rates are an artist-payment problem issue long before they’re a tech-startup issue.

Cherie Hu

The interesting faction is neither startups (who are facades for investors) nor musicians (who play for their hearts) but musician-hustlers generating culture in response to market demand.

They make a bit of music, publish it, check the reception, then steer either towards or away from that direction.

There is no money in music, yet somehow money keeps being made. Like quantum foam it’s something from nothing.

There is no right to profit. What’s important is the ceaseless churning of culture. When profits do happen to occur they draw new music in that direction.

The antagonistic relationship between Metallica vs Napster is moot. The symbiotic relationship between Lil Nas X and Beatstars is the new exemplar.