Jan. 7, 2026

Why 81% of Artists Feel Invisible on Spotify

Why 81% of Artists Feel Invisible on Spotify
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Why 81% of Artists Feel Invisible on Spotify

In this episode of the Music Business Mewsletter with Matthew Rix, I read an email from a frustrated artist and it cuts straight to the heart of what artists are actually struggling with.

This artist isn’t asking for motivation.
They’re questioning whether most music business advice even applies anymore.

They point out realities artists talk about constantly online:
• The majority of artists never cross 1,000 monthly listeners
• Streaming feels invisible, not empowering
• Promotion eats time and money with little return
• Support systems like distributors and royalty services are hard to reach
• Artists do the work while everyone else takes a cut

And the big question underneath it all:

Are we being honest enough about how few artists actually “win”?

In this episode, we talk about:
• Why most artists feel invisible no matter how hard they work
• The gap between strategy advice and real-world outcomes
• Why “just keep releasing” isn’t a plan
• Where business advice breaks down for artists without leverage
• What realistic success actually looks like today
• And how artists can make informed decisions instead of chasing myths

This isn’t about killing dreams.
It’s about replacing vague hope with clarity.

If you’ve ever felt like the music industry advice you hear doesn’t match reality this conversation is for you.

Have a question, critique, or experience from the music business you want to share?
Send it to https://MatthewRix.com. Honest conversations help artists more than hype ever will.



Listen to Mattrix Minute for daily Music Business insight without the music industry hype.
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WEBVTT

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Hey, this is Matthew Ricks, and today on the Music

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Business newsletter, we got an email from not an artist

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called the music industry a scam, but just frustrated with

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the inner workings of the business and how are artists

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supposed to arrive at a place where they can live

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doing music in twenty twenty six. But before we get started,

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if you have a question on the music industry that

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you'd want my advice or opinion on, go to Matthewricks

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dot com. I don't need you to become a member

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of anything. I don't need you to subscribe to anything,

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or buy a book, or but book a coaching class,

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any of that stuff. I don't actually have any of

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that stuff. Just go to Matthew Ricks dot com click

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submit your question, give me as many details as possible,

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and we will answer it here on the channel. Now

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for the email, he says, Hey, Matthew, I've been meaning

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to write this for a while. I scroll through comments

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on YouTube and read it in other places, and I

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keep hearing the same thing that you and other quote

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unquote experts say. I don't claim to be an expert.

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I'm a guy who's just devoted his life to the

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music industry. Been in the music business since I was

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sixteen years old full time, So I just this is

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my passion. Just like if you have a problem with

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a car, you go to a guy. You don't come

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to me. You go to a guy who knows something

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about cars. You trust me. You do not want to

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come to me about anything with your car. Well, he goes.

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What you and others say is that if you understand

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the music business, work hard, have a plan, you can

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get traction. Yes, but the definition of traction kind of

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is for some artists they'd be happy with the thousand

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streams a month. For others, they're firing their entire team

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if they get a thousand streams a month, he says.

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But I'm sitting here thinking that isn't really, that isn't

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a reality for most of us. I see artists all

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over the internet talking about problems that don't get addressed

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in most advice videos or in columns. People say streaming

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is supposed to be our path to audience, but eighty

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one percent of Spotify artists never even cross one thousand

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monthly listeners. I think most artists put their music out

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on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, YouTube, whatever, and they hope

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that people bump into it. They will maybe post a

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link on Instagram once for their album or their single

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and hope that that's enough. You see it happen all

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the time in podcasters. You know that there's like ninety

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percent of podcasters don't make it past the fourth episode

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because they put it out there and they hope that

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people are just gonna find it, but they're just going

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to mysteriously just bump into it. And artists do the

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exact same thing. The fact that eighty one percent of

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artists on Spotify, according to you, never even cross one

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thousand monthly listeners, should we ration how many artists can

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release music on Spotify. The same artists who do get

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a thousand monthly listeners are the same artists who have

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the same resources available to them to the artists who

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don't get a thousand monthly listeners. But let's continue, he says,

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and that it's not talent, it's invisibility. Independent artists spend

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all their time promoting and juggling non music task and

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barely anyone hears their stuff or their songs. I would

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disagree with you. I do not believe that independent artists

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spend all their time promoting and juggling non music task.

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I think the smart artists spend their time promoting their music,

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promoting their shows, sending people to their different social channels

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to try to grow their brand. I think eighty one

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percent of artists don't. I think eighty one percent of

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artists think that you bump into success, that that it's

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not a strategy, it's not a plan. You don't have

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to work hard. You just have to have talent and

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that'll be enough for you. That's what I think, he said.

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Folks like myself are straight up confused about what's happening

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to the core of the music and industry. Why albums

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don't land the same way they used to, because we

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live in a singles era now, in a singles era

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for twenty years, you have to be a really legendary

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artist or have a lot of heat on you as

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an artist like Arena size to release an album and

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have people actually listen to the who the whole thing.

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And even now artists who are release in albums, they're

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putting half the album out as singles before they drop

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the quote unquote release date of the album. It's the

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reason if you are an up and coming artist and

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you're putting an album out, it's going to fail. But

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see the problem is with most of these artists is

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if they did just you know, not put out a

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full length album, then they couldn't sell CDs to nobody.

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Then they couldn't manufacture CDs. Singles have eliminated CDs and

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that does not help the band camp bros. And the

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CD bros. It just doesn't. Doesn't you know why albums

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don't land the same way they used to, or why

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the industry seems to be algorithms more than artistry since

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the history of music, whatever version of the algorithm was

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at that time fifty years ago, it wasn't an algorithm

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on the internet, but it was the algorithm of what

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radio was playing, what was getting on the Ed Sullivan Show,

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what was touring across the country. That was their version

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of an algorithm. And I keep getting email after email

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from you artists who want a rail against algorithms. Look,

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would I be in favor if governments across the world

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outlawed algorithms altogether? Yes? Is it going to happen? Not likely? So,

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once again, just like the Spotify argument, do we sit

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here and complain and let that be our focus? And

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put all of our energy and complaining about the algorithm,

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or do we try to manipulate it? Do we try

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to win at it? It's up to you, he says.

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And then some people are even saying that expecting one

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upload to crack the world is ridiculous. Yeah, you you're

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gonna throw one song out there and hope that all

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your dreams come true. It's not gonna happen. That's ridiculous.

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That's Oh. I'm gonna put one. I'm gonna post one

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video to YouTube. And if I don't get mister Beasts level,

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I'm out of here. Who would you do that with

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anything in life? If you start dieting, if I don't

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lose twenty pounds in one day, I'm gonna quit dieting.

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I go to the gym. If I can't bench press

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three hundred pounds the first day, I'm not going to

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do it. Why are there different rules for the music industry.

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Then you know, I'm gonna go on one day and

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if I don't meet the love of my life, I'm

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not going to look for it anymore. Where would you

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do that? Where would you apply this one or nothing

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rule for anything else in your life? But see most

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people in the arts, the lazy ones, the eighty one percent,

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we'll call it. They're like, well, I tried everything. I

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released one song. It didn't you know I I I

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sent out a post on Instagram, nobody clicked it. I

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released one song, it didn't work. I did one show,

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it didn't sell out. Where else would where else would

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you do this at in life? And some people are

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even saying that expecting one upload to crack the world

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is ridiculous, that you actually build fans city by city,

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show by show, and that the current narrative selling global

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success off one upload is completely misleading. It is if

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you are an independent artist, you are up and coming

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and you don't have the machine, and you're not an

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industry plant. You're not going to pop after one song.

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You're not You're not going to be an arena artist

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after one single if you don't have a team behind you,

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you know how like incredibly lucky. I mean, you would

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have to have everything going right, and it just doesn't

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work that way. There's too much competition out there, working

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with algorithms getting listeners attention. It's a constant grind in

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and day out. It's posting when nobody viewed it, and

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then the next day you post and you got two

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people to view it. That's traction, right, He says. I

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see this everywhere, and it's starting to make me really

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skeptical of what working smart actually means anymore. I pour

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time into my music, writing, recording, posting, networking, but it

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feels like the only people who actually see it are

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other artists. Okay, well that's a good start, don't you think,

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because don't other artists have connections. Don't other artists have shows?

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Don't other artists have fan bases that you could collaborate with.

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Who are you looking to impress on your first post?

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He says. People online talk about hitting playlists, but there

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are whole threads about how song trust owes artists money.

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I don't talk about playlists. I actually tell you not to,

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and I, personally my personal opinion, don't take this as

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the gospel to your own research. I want to trust

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song trusts as far as you could throw them, he says.

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Other emails say how distributors don't even respond. No, you're

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going to go to tune core distro kid all that

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they You're not going to get customer service if one

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of these guys actually started a distribution company devoted to

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customer service of the artists, it would it would win.

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But the problem is is that artists most times, ninety

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eight percent of the artists are fine. The two percent

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screw it up for everybody else. And so these distribution companies,

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they take your money, they do put your music out there,

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and that's where the that's where the relationship ends until

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it's time for you to renew your yearly subscription with them,

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he says. Or how you can't reach real support from

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these distributors if your royalties don't show up. Yeah, that's

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a problem, that is, And that's one of those things

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I talk about when it comes to if one of

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these if somebody would create a tune core distro ca

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CD baby competitor, competitor and make it about the best

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customer service possible, they'd clean up. They'd clean up in

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a heartbeat. But they don't want to do it because

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what the problem is that you as a company would

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have to devote time to somebody who's made you three cents.

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And so instead of them picking winners and losers, they

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go the free road. Just what they do. Is it fair? No,

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it's just what they do, he said, none of that

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sounds like business fundamentals. It sounds like a system where

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the artist does all the work and everyone else takes

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a slice while the audience stays invisible. None of that

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sounds like business fundamentals. It sounds like a system where

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the artist does all the work and everyone else takes

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a slice while the audience stays invisible. Well, you're starting something,

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so to say the audience is invisible. You're invisible to

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the audience because you got to put your reps in.

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You got to build up in the algorithm. Listen if

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you made if you if you had a million dollars

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coming in every month, I'm sure you would get somebody

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from tune core to respond to you. But ten years ago,

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before I had the distribution deal we have now with

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the Matrics minut we worked with tunecre. It was a

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complete another nightmare working with them, and I haven't been

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a fan of tune COREP for ten years. They actually

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still owe me money and I don't know how to

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get out of it because I accidentally registered something ten

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years ago and I can't get anybody to get with

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me about the pay. And I understand it because it

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is frustrating. I mean, mine's like a couple hundred bucks,

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so it's not like it's you know, lawsuit territory or anything.

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But if you need that three hundred bucks, it is

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very annoying that you can't get anybody a hold of.

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You can't get anybody you know to reach back out

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to you. And that's the problem with the distribution companies.

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They're all like this. They take your money, they do

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distribute your music, and that's where the relationship ends. So

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I understand your frustration here, he says. So I guess

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what I'm asking is real and a little bunt. When

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artists asked for realist, realistic industry advice, why is the

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answer still rooted in strategy models that barely work for

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eighty percent of the artists because the eighty percent of

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the artists don't do it. The eighty percent of artists. Now,

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I'm blessed because my retention on videos is really high,

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Like all of my videos hold like eighty eight percent,

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which is astronomical on YouTube terms, So thank you for that.

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The majority of artists, they don't want to they don't

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want to even take the time to send an email

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or watch a twenty minute video on the music industry.

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They'd rather get it from a tweet or an Instagram

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post or a thread or some fifteen second TikTok video

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and things that they got everything figured out. The reason

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why why this doesn't work for eighty percent of artists

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is because eighty percent then eighty percent artists doesn't work.

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They try to take shortcuts. They try to get on playlist.

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You know, they send out one post, they call it

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a day. They don't actually grind it out day after day.

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They just don't because if they did, they'd be getting

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better results. A lot of them get discouraged because they

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did try something a couple of times and it didn't

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work out. He says, isn't it the truth that most

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people will stay small unless they get lucky or invest

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more than they make. No, that's not true. It's not

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about luck. It's about hard work. It is about doing

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Winners do the things that the losers refuse to do.

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And I don't care what it is. Take the music

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industry out of this. You're a chef. If you don't

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practice your craft, you're gonna have somebody who's not as

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good of a chef as you getting the attention, getting

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the restaurant gigs, doing all that because you got to

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put your reps in. This is the only industry where

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people think they don't have to put their reps and

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then they should succeed. He says, something we're talking about openly

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instead of sugar coating it. Don't you think I'm trying

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to And I do that in every email, like I try.

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Sometimes I think I'm too honest, I'm too harsh on

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some of you guys, he says. I'm not saying give up.

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I'm saying, let's talk about the actual business struggles people face,

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not the dream version of strategy that assumes artists have time,

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money and connections. If you go back to a couple

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of videos we did before the holidays, and I told

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the manager not to try to get a record deal.

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That's not fluff. That's not saying like, oh yeah, if

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you do this, blah blah. It's like, no, you guys

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are in local band in your town. You gotta work,

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you gotta build. Don't worry about connections right now, because

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any connection you get, they're not going to be impressed

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by the numbers. You're thrown out. So build what you have,

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build it up. If you got fifty people coming to

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your show, your next show, you should strive for seventy

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five by promoting, by hustling, by doing the little things

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that the other artists refuse to do because they want

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to complain about algorithms. He says, thanks of the time, Bob, Well, Bob,

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I understand your complaint. I understand that you right now

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it sounds like you're with a distributor that you might

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not be getting your money. You might have some customer

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service questions and they're not responding. I hate to tell

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you that there is not a company out there. I

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have found like one of these where anybody can upload

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their music that I have found that is going to

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email you back. And if you are missing money, if

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your money is short, you will have to send emails

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enough that the algorithm, the AI robots that they all

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use can't understand it and they kick it upstream because

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there is somebody at these companies who will respond to

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an email. But it's you constantly just replying back, replying back,

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replying back, and it's then finally somebody will respond. But

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it's not going to happen in a day. It's not

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even gonna happen in a week. So thank you for

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your email. If you have a question in the music

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industry that you'd like for me to answer, just go

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to Matthewricks dot com click submit your question, give me

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as many details as possible, and we'll answer it here

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on the channel. I am Matthew Ricks and until next time,

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I will talk to you later