Desmond Child discloses how much he makes off streamed stuff

[311boogieman]

I hesitated to even post this but it was so interesting and Desmond Child co-wrote a lot of songs we all enjoy so I thought you'd find it interesting too. An interview/live show was transcribed by UG here:


https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/ge ... reams.html

Lots of interesting tidbits in here. His most famous co-written song was 'Livin on a Prayer' with Jon Bon Jovi.

Last year 'Livin on a Prayer' got half a billion streams roughly and he made $6,000 off of that. I am assuming he made a lot more when the actual LPs and cassettes and CDs were sold. I wonder what he made total in 2019 off of streamed songs that he helped co-write? I'm going to guess $50,000, but then he has done a lot with current artist too that I don't even know or listen to so who knows.

Then I found this article where Desmond Child talks about how Gene Simmons recently dissed the song 'I Was Made for Loving You' which he also co-wrote with KISS back in the day. That and how he helped revive Aerosmith's career mid 80's.

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/ge ... to_be.html

Interestingly (to me) he helped write a big chunk of Ratt's Detonator (great underrated album) and KISS' Asylum album (also underrated - 'King of the Mountain' is my fav)

Enjoy and feel free to talk about rigs.

 

[JimAnsell]

he probably banks off of all the stuff he wrote for Aerosmith alone!

 

[panhead]

The internet single handed ruined the music industry as we new it before there was such a thing. I can make 6k in a week working on antique Harleys. Glad I traded one dream for another. There will be a day soon when a 10 year old kid ask his parents what is that thing they call rock n roll? Oh well

 

[NewWorldMan]

Times are changing and I think the music industry will change with it. Gone are the days when bands would get huge advances and spend a year in the studio crafting and refining an album. Technology has made it to where a talented 13 year old could drop $500 on basic recording gear and track an entire album in his parent's basement that sounds great. Then through the power of the internet and social media, that same 13 year old with a $0 marketing budget could get that album out into the world.

It's both exciting and disheartening. It's exciting in the sense that an artist doesn't have to be "discovered" or get lucky these days. Anyone could make an album. Once that album is made, you don't have to fight the industry machine to release it. You can do it yourself. It exposes us to countless bands and artists that we never would have heard otherwise. That said...

I think the world gets saturated with shitty bands and artists now because, well...anyone can do it. I also think that there's a certain magic to having a band in a studio, refining songs and working with a producer for a lengthy duration to make them the best they can be. I think a lot of classic albums are the way they are because of this, and I don't know that we'll ever get albums quite like that again. Would the "Black Album" or "Hysteria" been what they are in today's world? I doubt it.

Anyway, this all brings me full circle to say that times have changed and I think musicians will adapt with it. It's crap for existing artists that made albums under the old guard, but I think it's only a matter of time before record companies are extinct and the music industry model changes. Modern artists will find a new way to monetize their music, much like YouTubers and streamers have monetized their shows via ad revenue.

And Desmond Child is phenomenal. Aerosmith would have been nothing more than an outdated band on classic rock radio by the '90s without him.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I love Ratt's detonator album. That was sort of their pinnacle. Reach for the Sky seemed like it was unbeatable in terms of their benchmark and Detonator sits right up there almost on par. Great tone on the album too and good mix.

 

[skullfxr]

Interesting. I don't really have any solid thoughts on that, but I think that there are positives and negatives to modern times. You don't need to spend $100,000 to record a professional grade album. If an artist had the drive, talent, and be on modern technology/software, they could make a damn solid record in their basement themselves for next to nothing, shit $5k of gear spent wisely could get you a great sounding album. There is so much information out there and free instruction that could provide enough know how for something to do a killer album if you take the time.

The accessibility is fantastic today.

But getting signed and on the radio is next to impossible. But there is so much media that you can spread stuff on yourself, you can get noticed by a lot of people.

I don't know about you guys, but I don't listen to the radio, nothing worth hearing IMO. the few songs that are great usually get enough attention that I would hear about them from somebody else and check them out.

I would personally take the DIY route and be happy with the opportunity over having to lay out a ton of cash to a studio and maybe make less, but at least the opportunity is something solid.

 

[cardinal]

Apparently the idea of albums are old news now too. Current pop stars are being encouraged instead to release a constant stream of singles rather than a collection of songs only every so often. This keeps the artist more in the public consciousness. I certainly wasn't around way back when, but it seems like this was the old-school approach (so it's just a case of what's old is new again).

And I have no idea if any of the artists actually are making money from the music. I've been told that successful touring can bring in more money to their actual pockets than just radio/streaming/downloading play time. And probably the most money to be made now is getting to be an Influencer and taking endorsements; the music can just be a means to those endorsements.

 

[stratjacket]

Times are changing and I think the music industry will change with it. Gone are the days when bands would get huge advances and spend a year in the studio crafting and refining an album. Technology has made it to where a talented 13 year old could drop $500 on basic recording gear and track an entire album in his parent's basement that sounds great. Then through the power of the internet and social media, that same 13 year old with a $0 marketing budget could get that album out into the world.

It's both exciting and disheartening. It's exciting in the sense that an artist doesn't have to be "discovered" or get lucky these days. Anyone could make an album. Once that album is made, you don't have to fight the industry machine to release it. You can do it yourself. It exposes us to countless bands and artists that we never would have heard otherwise. That said...

I think the world gets saturated with shitty bands and artists now because, well...anyone can do it. I also think that there's a certain magic to having a band in a studio, refining songs and working with a producer for a lengthy duration to make them the best they can be. I think a lot of classic albums are the way they are because of this, and I don't know that we'll ever get albums quite like that again. Would the "Black Album" or "Hysteria" been what they are in today's world? I doubt it.

Anyway, this all brings me full circle to say that times have changed and I think musicians will adapt with it. It's crap for existing artists that made albums under the old guard, but I think it's only a matter of time before record companies are extinct and the music industry model changes. Modern artists will find a new way to monetize their music, much like YouTubers and streamers have monetized their shows via ad revenue.

And Desmond Child is phenomenal. Aerosmith would have been nothing more than an outdated band on classic rock radio by the '90s without him.

I understand what you’re saying and get all your points, but I’d just like to add that there has always been shitty bands in every era in every genre since the beginning of time. I don’t really think it’s different today than it was yesterday in that regard. Searching for new and cool bands was hard back in the day, it’s actually easier today.

 

[evhfan]

good news: any twat can make an album now

bad news: any twat can make an album now

 

[thrashinbatman]

Times are changing and I think the music industry will change with it. Gone are the days when bands would get huge advances and spend a year in the studio crafting and refining an album. Technology has made it to where a talented 13 year old could drop $500 on basic recording gear and track an entire album in his parent's basement that sounds great. Then through the power of the internet and social media, that same 13 year old with a $0 marketing budget could get that album out into the world.

It's both exciting and disheartening. It's exciting in the sense that an artist doesn't have to be "discovered" or get lucky these days. Anyone could make an album. Once that album is made, you don't have to fight the industry machine to release it. You can do it yourself. It exposes us to countless bands and artists that we never would have heard otherwise. That said...

I think the world gets saturated with shitty bands and artists now because, well...anyone can do it. I also think that there's a certain magic to having a band in a studio, refining songs and working with a producer for a lengthy duration to make them the best they can be. I think a lot of classic albums are the way they are because of this, and I don't know that we'll ever get albums quite like that again. Would the "Black Album" or "Hysteria" been what they are in today's world? I doubt it.

Anyway, this all brings me full circle to say that times have changed and I think musicians will adapt with it. It's crap for existing artists that made albums under the old guard, but I think it's only a matter of time before record companies are extinct and the music industry model changes. Modern artists will find a new way to monetize their music, much like YouTubers and streamers have monetized their shows via ad revenue.

And Desmond Child is phenomenal. Aerosmith would have been nothing more than an outdated band on classic rock radio by the '90s without him.

I understand what you’re saying and get all your points, but I’d just like to add that there has always been shitty bands in every era in every genre since the beginning of time. I don’t really think it’s different today than it was yesterday in that regard. Searching for new and cool bands was hard back in the day, it’s actually easier today.

Oh for sure, but now the barrier to entry is low enough that those trash bands can get stuff out and heard a lot more easily than in the 80s or 90s. Especially with modern production tools, they can even pretty up their trash enough to make it less obvious how much they suck. Much harder to put lipstick on a pig when things like time and pitch correction require thousands of dollars of gear and hours and hours of billable studio time.

 

[Kordoba]

Interestingly (to me) he helped write a big chunk of Ratt's Detonator (great underrated album) and KISS' Asylum album (also underrated - 'King of the Mountain' is my fav)

I hated Asylum when it came out, but after a few years I realized it wasn't the album I hated but the album cover and the song Tears are Falling. There are some stripped down Asylum demos on youtube that are much more aggressive than the polished album material. Same with a number of songs from Lick It Up, like Not For the Innocent, for example.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

I don't know that we'll ever get albums quite like that again. Would the "Black Album" or "Hysteria" been what they are in today's world? I doubt it.

This sounds like a good thing for 2020