Here at Sage Audio, we spend a lot of time focusing on music industry news that relates to indie artists. That’s because the majority of the artists that use our online mastering services are not on a major label, and we want to make sure we know what issues and trends in the music industry are affecting independent artists.
![Pandora Radio Pandora Royalty Payments](https://api.sageaudio.com/storage/article/uploads/2012-11-pandora-royalty-payments-300x215.png)
One of the biggest issues currently facing the music industry as a whole is the role that digital music will play in the future of the business as it continues to evolve. I’ve written before about how many independent artists and labels say they make very little money from the popular digital streaming music services. For just one example, here’s a twitter conversation from New Pornographers frontman Carl Newman (@ACNewman) and a fan recently concerning Newman’s new solo album:
“How about I send it to you, you send me $0.001 (US), cut out the middle man? ‘@matthewpennell: Will your album be on @Spotify any time soon?”
But in a recent blog post, Pandora founder Tim Westergren wrote that many artists are making money, and for the first time offered some actual figures about how much musicians are bringing in from the use of Pandora.
As you would probably expect, the big winners are the household names. Westergren points out that Drake and Lil Wayne make nearly $3 million each from the service each year, while artists like Coldplay, Wiz Khalifa, Jason Aldean and Adele each make more than $1 million per year.
But what about the artists not quite as integrated in the mainstream? Turns out many also are doing very well. Here’s a brief list of what artists will make from Pandora for the year from the blog post:
- Mumford & Sons: $523,902
- Iron & Wine - $173,152
- French Montana - $138,567
- Bon Iver - $135,223
- Donnie McClurkin - $100,228
Of course, most artists do in fact make far less than this kind of money from digital streaming services, which is the actual point of Westergren’s blog post.
Westergren writes that, “We think artists could and should ultimately earn even more. But all of this revenue is coming from a single company. A predatory licensing fee orchestrated over ten years ago by the RIAA and their lobbyists in Washington has devastated internet radio. Few now deem it worthy of major investment, including most notably, virtually every major broadcaster.”
So essentially Westergren puts responsibility for the low royalty rates paid to artists by his company on the major record labels. Independent record labels and indie artists have also claimed that the major labels are the only companies profiting from digital music under the current structure.
Though this topic comes up time and again, it is important that royalty issues regarding digital music be solved as quickly as possible. As noted above, it seems clear that digital music will be how most people listen to music in the future, and as more and more musicians are making livings as independent artists, it is imperative that the payment structure be fair.
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
- SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
- SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
- SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
- SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website and social channels.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
- Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
- Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
- Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
- Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
4. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
- Unlimited revisions with your dedicated mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
- All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
6. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content
- 36 multitrack sessions spanning multiple genres for mixing practice.
- 57 un-mastered mixes spanning multiple genres for mastering practice.
- 62 Recommended Free Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 39 Recommended Paid Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 71 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
- Sage Audio Membership Badge to showcase on your website, social channels, and portfolio.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
7. 800+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >