Free, free, and free. People are giving songs for free. Most Producers are working for free or making pennies. Why do you think this is happening? It is not just the consumer fault that they are ripping music; because it is people in the music industry that leak songs up on the internet.

Here's a few ideas;
 
There's too much music available.
 
Nobody places any value on music except musicians.
 
CD's and concert ticket prices are still ludicrously high, so people watch & listen to poor quality recordings on YouTube.
 
MP3's sound awful.
 
There are songwriters who shouldn't be performing their own songs, and artists writing their own songs who shouldn't be.
 
The music labels have become too big, and obsessed with keeping things the same to hold onto a revenue stream to appease the shareholders, instead of actively searching out fresh new talent, and nurturing it.
 
Clearly defined roles of songwriter, producer, A&R men, studio engineer and musician have all but disappeared.
 
There's a distinct lack of passion in music these days, and it's a long, long time since any music defined an era.
 
Just my take on it. Flame suit on...

OK, on my new website, I give away a few songs for free. Why? Because I'm a little older, I have a day job, and I'd rather enjoy other people on earth hearing some of my songs --- rather than depend on a few .99 cent sales, or the massive .0001 cents per stream.
 
I hear you, I think. You are young and music is how you want to make your living. And the industry you are trying to create your life around is utterly ruthless and doesn't make it easy for you. If I were you, I'd be angry, too, especially knowing that a few others have made it.
 
It's very much like the NBA, where a million guys play ball but only an extremely talented handful make it all the way to the top for their payday. The rest languish in obscurity. Except in the music industry, it's far less obvious that talent is a criteria that determines success or failure. That's never been more true than it has been today.
 
You are not wrong in following your passion. You might be wrong in expecting it to make you a comfortable living. I do not know your situation, but these days, it's really good to have a back-up plan and follow your passion on the side.
 
 
My flame suit is on order from Amazon, should arrive any day now.  :)
 
 this is a good post but you should write a song about it and post it, so it would fit the song forum!
 
cheers,
-Tom
 
 
 

Post it for free if you want it heard. :-P

These days artists make more money on touring than they do on sales.  it's a changing world.

Great opening replies in this thread.
 

Beagle
These days artists make more money on touring than they do on sales.  it's a changing world.

Or one that reverted to it's original state

Once I had a dream of becoming a good composer and then making millions... Of course now I have learned that becoming a good enough composer will probably never happen so I am nowadays doing music just for fun although I still have sometimes fantasies about becoming a great composer and rich and famous.

To be "successful", a word that is open to interpretation, in the "music business" these days does not require any real talent one only needs to be prepared to prostitute (I am not talking in any form of the sexual sense of the word) ones self.
 
Real and amateur musicians make music because they love music.

That is it, I regularly stay up until the early hours of the morning working on music, only to get up 4 hours later for my day job. I do the music because I love it.

Considering how crappy music made today sounds I wouldn't buy anything out there that I don't already have and have paid for. 
 
Soul is missing in what I heard on TV etc
 
Nowadays when I want to listen to  music  I come here! Check out the posts of the musicians, composers, songwriters, and drummers on the forums. The music here is incredible