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The Scorpions posted that they had 320M streams in 2020 on Spotify. Knowing quite a bit about how that likely plays out with the other streaming services (Apple, YouTube, Pandora, Amazon, etc.) I'd estimate they generated between $6-$7M in royalties. No publishing included there
That's not a bad number but this is a legacy band with a bunch of songs that a lot of people still listen to. Those bands probably don't hate streaming as much as the "middle class" of the business does. Streaming all but gutted that part of the industry.
It's kind of like the economy. There are the top 5% that make all the money and everyone else is left fighting for table scraps. I'm not blaming the Scorpions or any other band like them.
They did the work and were very successful before any of this changed so they are just adapting and continuing to make some money from a great catalog of songs.
But the bands that used to be able to make $100K - $1M a year SELLING their catalog of music are now making a couple of grand a year. There were a lot of those bands and making a living at music became a lot harder or nearly impossible. Especially in 2020
So if you can spend some money on some indie music this holiday season please do it. Maybe grab some takeout from your favorite mom/pop restaurant too. #rantover
