Gold In Them Hills

Today’s wise and optimistic song was written by Ron Sexsmith, a Canadian singer-songwriter who currently lives in Stratford, Ontario.

I featured it almost three years ago in a blog post about distributing my first song to music streaming platforms.

One of the many pleasures of blogging (in my opinion) is rediscovering posts we have written in the past and then forgotten.

This one includes a lot of quotations — which I was very happy to re-encounter — from friends about the value of music in their lives.

I have sprinkled a few of them into this blog post, too.

You are welcome to click here to read (or re-read) this past blog post if you are curious.

“Music is a great encouragement to people in hard times.”

Deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

I also explain in this past blog post about how little money is earned by performers and songwriters from streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube, etc.

Not surprisingly, this is still true — as a 2022 article I found online demonstrates.

Spotify, which last year had an almost 50% market share of music streaming worldwide, still pays less than half a cent per stream.

Apple Music was the next biggest player, with almost 25% market share of music streaming worldwide — but paid a penny per stream (almost triple what Spotify paid…)

All of the other music streaming companies share the remaining 25% of worldwide music streaming — and paid anywhere from .00069 cents per stream (YouTube Music) to .017 cents per stream (Napster).

Here’s a graphic representation from this article of all of these numbers.

Suffice to say that I have not been earning any significant money as a result of people streaming the 37 recordings I’ve released during the past 34 months.

Deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

But I DO have the satisfaction of knowing that my music is out there in the world, being listened to by folks in fifty different countries — including the USA, Finland, Canada, Taiwan, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Australia, Indonesia, Turkey, Brazil and Chile!

“Music is part of what makes the world keep going.”

And in recent months my streaming statistics on Spotify have risen significantly (although my total numbers are still quite modest).

This rise in my stats helps me feel that what I am doing — releasing music — is not entirely futile, useless and/or egotistical.

And it gives me a small sense of hope, which is what Ron Sexsmith’s lovely song does, too.

Hope remains a blessed mystery to me.

I hope you feel at least a tiny kernel of hope in your life.

Recent regional elections here in the USA have renewed my sense of hope in our political process.

And small children — such as those who grace my Music Together classes — also give me a sense of hope as well as a reason to continue to work for a more balanced, sustainable, and respectful future here on planet earth.

I’d be happy to learn in the comments about what gives YOU a sense of hope these days.

Here is a link for “Gold In Them Hills” in case you might like to listen to it on a streaming service.

If you “like” it or “heart” it or add it to a playlist, that apparently improves the algorithmic sharing of my music on that streaming service.

One more deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

Thank you to Ron Sexsmith for writing great songs.

Thank you to Doug Hammer for playing so beautifully on my version of Ron’s song AND for being such. a skillful engineer/producer.

Thank you to Stephen Fischer for his colorful graphic design work.

Thank you to Gretje Ferguson (I think?) for taking the photo which Stephen incorporated into his graphic design.

Thank you to Gloria O’Leary for making the coat I am wearing in this photo.

Thank you to the photographers at Pixabay for their great images.

And thank YOU for reading. and listening to yet another one of my blog posts!

“Music is a touching reminder that life is worth living.”

Now Streaming…

Greetings!

I hope you remain well during this odd and at times terrifying time in our planet’s history.

Today’s song was written by Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith.

Ron Sexsmith

After my friends in Toronto exposed me to several of his beautiful, wise creations, I recorded “Gold In Them Hills” with the terrific pianist (and sound engineer) Doug Hammer.

I have ruminated in past blog posts about the value of music in our lives — how sometimes it seems quite disposable and unimportant, yet at other times it can feel quite meaningful and essential.

Here is some recent feedback about the value of music from folks on my e-mail list:

“Music is a great encouragement to people in hard times.”

“A song fixes memories of life events indelibly. “

“Music is a distraction from the troubles of the day.”

“Essential.”  

“Music is an easily accessible treat at a time when other treats are difficult to come by.”

“We all need it.”

“Music is a touching reminder that life is worth living.”

“Music is a balm during these stormy times.” 

“Music is part of what makes the world keep going.” 

Every time I read these ideas, I attempt to breathe them deeper into my soul.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

Today I share news that my song “Another Good Morning“ has finally been distributed to a bunch of digital music platforms — including Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon Music, Deezer, Napster, Tidal, and Google Play.

I found — and played!— it on Spotify, which for better (and mostly for worse) is a key market for musicians these days.

I write “and mostly for worse” because the various streaming platforms pay a tiny fraction of what a performer/songwriter used to earn from the sale of actual records/tapes/CDs. 

As you may already know, the pay rate for listening to a song via streaming  — which varies over time based on a formula which I can’t even begin to explain involving each company’s most recent amount of earnings and profit — is very low.

Here are some recent rates — ranging from a high of $.019 (almost 2 cents) by Napster to a low of $.00402 (less than half a cent) by Amazon.

• AMAZON: $0.00402 per play.
• SPOTIFY: $0.00437 per play.
• YOUTUBE MUSIC (GPM): $0.00676 per play.
• APPLE MUSIC: $0.00783 per play.
• TIDAL: $0.0125 per play.
• NAPSTER: $0.019 per play.

Using the Spotify numbers for example, at $0.00437 per stream, a song would need to be streamed 22,883 times to earn around $100. 

One can still buy a digital download of an individual song at places like iTunes, from which the recording artist earns $.60 – $.70 per purchase.

So it would take 142 (at 60 cents per download) to 166 (at 70 cents per download) purchases to earn around $100 for the folks who recorded it.

But how many of us are still buying digital downloads of specific songs or albums?

The current name of the game appears to be Spotify playlists. 

If one can get one’s song onto a popular playlist, one can earn hundreds of thousands of streams — which theoretically translates into a decent amount of money. 

So… if you are someone who uses Spotify, please consider listening to “Another Good Morning” by clicking here.

And maybe adding it to one of your playlists.

I found a story on NPR from last year which explores the pros and cons of streaming from the perspective of a recording artist and/or songwriter.

Here is one interesting paragraph:

According to a 2017 study from Digital Media Finland, the current payment model for digital streaming services “tend(s) to benefit the services themselves, who keep about 30% of a subscriber’s fee. The rights holders of the recordings, which include record labels, producers, and performers, split about 55 to 60% of the fee. Meanwhile, the rights holders of the song itself (the composition) — which at once includes composers, arrangers, music publishing companies and lyricists — see about 10 to 15% of that pie.”

You can read the whole article by clicking here.

Another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

If you are someone who still buys digital downloads, please consider buying a copy of “Another Good Morning” from iTunes or Amazon or another digital music marketplace.

But I am certainly aware that lots of us have very little cash flow in our lives nowadays!

Since my gigs with jazz pianist Joe Reid have all dried up (except for one outdoor performance last month) due to prudent concerns about possible COVID transmission, I have been working each week via Zoom with Doug Hammer.

We are re-visiting and polishing strong takes of songs we’ve recorded during the past 20+ years.

And I will be distributing them via CD Baby to all of these far-flung digital platforms in the upcoming weeks and months.

THANK YOU for reading and listening to another blog post!

Thank you to Ron Sexsmith for writing great songs.

Thank you to Doug Hammer for his inspired piano playing as well as his superb engineering skills.

Thank you to the photographers at Pixabay for these sublime images.

Let us all keep breathing in and out in the days ahead…

I will continue leading Music Together classes two days each week.

And riding my bike.

And walking.

And checking the latest polling data about our upcoming elections.

And donating small amounts of money to down-ballot races around the USA which could use a little help…

And wearing a blessed mask when I go outside.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

As Mr. Sexsmith reminds us:

“Don’t lose heart… give the day a chance to start!”