Rolling Stone’s Elias Leight has posted fascinating story called “Inside the Secretly Lucrative World of Solo Piano Music”. As we have reported before, there is plenty of money to be made in New Age music. The streaming economy is now strong and healthy, and several New Age music artists have over a billion streams and a $10,000 a month paycheck.
Elias Leight writes:
“On October 3rd, Michele McLaughlin got some exciting news: Her music has been streamed over one billion times.
Young artists in popular genres are racking up streams like crazy these days — presumably McLaughlin is an ascendant rapper releasing 90-second battering rams through SoundCloud? Or maybe she’s the guest vocalist on the latest reggaeton posse cut to rule YouTube?
Nope: McLaughlin is an independent artist in her forties who makes contemporary instrumental solo piano music. She’s a star in her field — to the point where another pianist says, “I’m not quite doing Michele McLaughlin numbers” — reportedly making around $250,000 a year. And she’s not alone. “We have a large group of solo piano players that are making a killing, making $7,000 to $10,000 a month,” says Kevin Breuner, VP of Marketing for CDBaby, which touts itself as “the largest global digital distributor of independent music.”
Read the whole story on Rolling Stone. This is mandatory reading for anyone with interests in the New Age music business.
Above picture: Michele McLaughlin and David Nevue
Pretty amazing. Nice to hear in a time like this. Hopefully an indication we are improving
Let’s hope so! I’m a bit worried about Pandora though. Pandora has been very kind to artists in our genres, but it is not doing so well. Spotify is an entirely different story, they are no. 1 and think of our music as pure filler. They hire artists by the hour, make quick songs and avoid royalties: https://newagemusic.guide/bjorns-blog/fake-new-age-music-artists-on-spotify/
I’m a little worried about Pandora as well. With 92 million streams it’s my main income. Fingers crossed. Spotify is hard for both myself and Elizabeth Geyer. Working toward increased playlist placement is pretty hard. But “one step at a time” is a good motto. There are many challenges for the ego in this process so even if placement is slow, it’s an interpersonal maturing education. Ha. Fitting in a specific genre is helpful. My more artistic albums don’t do well. Elizabeth is a real wonder. The most incredible artist I’ve worked with. Fans include some of the best heavy hitters in music. BUT…one foot in jazz and one foot in singer/songwriter makes forward movement difficult. A good boat builder makes the bow pointed and the same w/ music today. My best bud Dave arranged and played for Ray Charles…he was one exception. His “iconic” stature allowed him to make a country album etc. But it’s rare. That spotify relies only on popularity numbers as it’s way to decide if one hets placed on a spotify PL is not always the best model to adhere to. Look at the president we elected. Sorry for T supporters. 😉
What a really great article. I noticed they said “contemporary instrumental.” I’ve also seen several other artists say the shun the “New Age” mantle and prefer contemporary instrumental. What do we know about the argument and who’s on which side?
Great question! I have been planning to write a piece about this for a long time. We actually know a lot about who’s on which side. Yanni is not happy about the New Age music tag, neither are Enya, Mike Oldfield or Michael Cretu/Enigma. Artists who very much enjoy this genre label are Kitaro, Deuter and Steven Halpern – and more (of course). Both Kitaro and Deuter claim to be “the Father of New Age music”.
I am happy for the financial support that artists are now finding, but I still want to receive my CD, instead of an all digital format. In fact, I will NOT be subscribing to any artist who does not produce a CD – sad for me, but I want my CD!
Wow…. David & Michelle are both good folks as well. Open and generous
McLaughlin is an independent artist in her forties who makes contemporary instrumental solo piano music.