😖Problem Statement
Why does Soundwork matter?
"...the ways in which musicians are screwed have changed qualitatively, from individualized swindles to systemic ones. And with those changes, a potential end-run around the industry's problems seems less and less possible..."
Today, most of the music industry is focused on the finished songs and tracks as the starting point of the supply chain, ignoring all the creators, sound designers, and developers leading up to that track being finished.
There is no way to track the building blocks of a song.
Music creators are not getting properly rewarded for their sounds
The current business model only works for big music labels.
Here are some additional pain points in the Music Industry:
Streaming services pay very little to creators. In 2020, the average streaming royalty rate for a song was $0.0039 per stream. This means that an artist would need to be streamed over 250,000 times to earn just $1.
The music industry is increasingly consolidating. In the past few years, there have been several mergers and acquisitions in the music industry. This has led to a smaller number of companies controlling a larger share of the market. This makes it more difficult for independent creators and producers to get their music heard.
In 2020, the top 1% of artists earned 90% of all streaming revenue.
The average independent artist earns less than $10,000 per year from streaming royalties.
The music industry is a $150 billion industry, but only a small fraction of that money goes to the creators of music.
These data points show that the music industry is not fairly rewarding the people who create the music that we love. This is a problem that needs to be addressed. And this is precisely what we are determined to fix at Soundwork.
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