[Semaphor]

> People no longer buy music outright

Bandcamp [0] seems to be doing alright and according to Wikipedia [1] is (barely) in the Alexa top 1000. Not sure how it is for other Genres, but for metal almost every not-big band I find out about is on Bandcamp.

[0]: https://bandcamp.com/

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandcamp

[cageface]

I try to buy a copy of records I really like off Bandcamp but if you look at the supporters list for even fairly popular albums it's pretty short. Do musicians make enough money off sales on Bandcamp to make a difference? I can't imagine anybody could earn a living at those volumes.

[Semaphor]

The long tail is indie music. Before Spotify the vast majority of small bands couldn’t make a living off it either.

If a band outside the mainstream could live off their music, it was concerts and merch, and that was usually already only for bands at decent labels.

I know and love a band that exists since 1997, not even once were they even thinking about giving up their day jobs.

I don’t like Spotify (I usually listen to specific albums of bands I like), but I feel it’s more of a problem for the middle-class of bands, not the small ones.

[coldtea]

>Before Spotify the vast majority of small bands couldn’t make a living off it either.

I'd say tons of small artists that can't make a living today, could make a living by selling 30-50K records back in the CD/Vinyl days.

[Semaphor]

The vinyl and early CD days (when there were far fewer small bands) are a long time from Spotify though.

There was an explosion of small bands brought on by the internet and cheap digital distribution, but I doubt people started buying more at the same percentage as the amount bands increased.

[coldtea]

The Alexa top 1000 just means people visit Bandcamp (where you can listen to anything for free).

Not necessarily buying stuff from Bandcamp...