My confession:
I delayed putting my new album on Spotify for 6 months! Dumb idea or smart idea?
Firstly…….full disclosure:
I am old.
At least I am old when it comes to the music business. I am on the other side of 50, so my 2022 album “The Line”, was never going to be the “next big thing”. Even if I was 20 years old it was not ever going to be the “next big thing”. Actually, I am more than happy with just being a “thing”.
I am so old in fact that I cling to old-fashioned ideas and feelings. For example, I don’t ever really feel like I have released an album unless it is in a hardcopy format - CD or vinyl. I grew up with records, cassettes and CDs. I just don’t feel like my album is “released” unless I can feel it in my hands.
I always liked the term “record” actually, because I see an album as a kind of “record of events”, you know? Having said that, I have “released” a few “online only” singles over the years but it never really felt the same (incidentally some of those singles are now on “The Line”).
I am fully aware that the overwhelming majority of people consume music via streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Most songwriters and bands “release” their albums online all at once, proclaiming that their single/album is “available everywhere”. Most do not make CDs or vinyl copies of their album. To not release you album on streaming services is NOT considered a smart way to go by any music promotion gurus (and there are many).
By the way, before I go on. I should tell you something. I am a full-time musician. But I make probably 90% of my income from playing other people’s music - from Beethoven to Gerwhin, to Ed Sheeran. I am being generous if I say I make 10% of my income through my own creations - recordings, live shows etc.
Although I perform a lot, I don’t perform my own songs a lot. I cherish the opportunity to do so but a lot of my performances are in situations where original music is not what is being called for. I am only telling you this so you can place my strategy of “Spotify delay” in the context of my profile as a musician. If you are a creator reading this I don’t necessarily recommend doing what I did....it depends on who you are as a musician.
To be honest, I never had many people steaming my older music on Spotify etc anyway. For starters, I don’t really tell people I am there. When I do live concerts with other bands on the bill, they always say stuff like “check us out on Spotify”. I always say “check me out at my website robertgraham.org”.
There is more stuff at my website than just songs - like this blog post!. So that’s where I direct people. It has worked spectacularly, as I discover every month when Spotify kindly informs me of the pitiful number of people who streamed my music that month, whereas the traffic at my website is always more than expected.
I released “The Line” in September 2022. I always intended to eventually release it on Spotify etc, but I held off for what turned out to be 6 months. It’s on there now: https://open.spotify.com/album/4luPx94q2QfPnscR5SDkxB
Why did I decide to wait 6 months before putting it there? Many reasons. Some are interesting, some funny, some personal, some hopeful:
1. Financial reasons: I made CDs of “The Line”, for my own “old fashioned” reasons (see above). But there was another reasons. Rather than giving my music aways for (virtually) free on Spotify etc, I wanted to see if I could convince a few folks to actually BUY my album, an album which cost me $15,000 to make. I decided to make the album available for a donation from my website: either as a hardcopy or a download.
Smart or not? Six months later, here are the figures if you are interested:
As of today I have sold 236 copies of “The Line” (156 hardcopy CDs and 80 downloads). The people who bought them are my heroes. I did not put a price on the album, but instead asked people to “name their own price”. It could be 0$ if they wanted.
As I said, 236 people were kind enough to do so. So far I have earned $5638 from sales of “The Line”. That represents almost 38% of what it cost to make. The average donation price was $23.89. Those figures may seem modest to you, but remember I don’t play these songs in public much. I am actually thrilled with that. It is way better than releasing it straight to streaming services. For 236 streams I would have only made a few dollars - maybe 8 bucks. Which brings me to my second reason.
2. Spotify is shit. I am surprised sometimes when I meet people who still don’t know how little Spotify pays artists per stream. If you use Spotify etc and are unaware of this then I invite you to investigate. The whole model has turned songwriting into a charity, which I really resent. Again, if you bought my album “thank you so much!
3. My name is as common as mud. There are SO many “Robert Grahams” on Spotify it is not funny! As I said, I have had my older music on Spotify for a while now. Over time somehow my profile had become “shared” by an imposter “Robert Graham”......a handsome African American man who sings gospel music. Sadly both of our songs were on the same “Robert Graham” profile. It took me a LONG time to sort that out, otherwise I may have had “The Line” on Spotify earlier to be honest. This is, of course, partly my fault, but also partly Spotify’s fault as they ignored me for a very long time when I mentioned the imposter.
4. I don’t think Spotify listeners are as engaged as the ones who listen to music at my website or via their CD or download copy. I know my older songs, and some of my old bands The Fairest and Best songs are on Spotify and some are on Spotify playlists, but do those listeners even know who or what they are listening to? The people who visit my website are more engaged, more likely to come to a show, read a blog or investigate more about my music and career. That’s just my opinion.
Conclusion - Smart or Dumb?
Releasing “The Line” was never about making money. I knew I would probably never make the money back that I put into it. Like a lot of songwriters, I feel compelled to release music, regardless of the financial reward. I really want to share my music with the people who love me and the people I love. The older I get the more this is what motivates me. After all “The Line” is an extremely personal record, easily my most honest and revealing group of songs. At this point in my life, if other people (who I don’t know) enjoy my music that that is a bonus to me, over and above the joy I feel from releasing my song for my friends, family and supporters
Having said that, I am glad that I waited before releasing “The Line” on streaming services. If you are a musical artist I would recommend you think about delaying your next release......maybe not for 6 months, but at least for a while. Give the people who WANT to support you financially a CHANCE to support you BEFORE you give your music away for fractions of peanuts on Spotify! You could recoup some of your costs and give your supporters a good feeling to go along with your good music. You could help create even deeper support from them - because you will need that in the future believe me
So please DO check out “The Line”, as it’s available “everywhere” as of today! But to be honest I would still love it if you checked it out here first:
https://robertgraham.org/new-album-the-line
Thanks for reading this!
PS If you are one of those 236 people - or want to become number 237.......I cannot thank you enough for your support. I sincerely hope you enjoy my songs and also hope your investment in me was worth something to you - because it was certainly worth something to me.