1990s - The CD Boom
The industry was at its financial peak. Major labels controlled everything - distribution, radio, retail. CDs were selling for $15-20 a piece. Independence was near-impossible.
Global music industry revenue: $25-27B
Median artist income: $15k-30k/year (mostly from album sales and touring).
Winners: Labels, retailers.
Losers: All artists.
2000s - The Collapse of Retail
Napster and piracy obliterated physical sales. iTunes helped briefly, but labels consolidated and thousands of artists were dropped. Myspace, YouTube, and Bandcamp gave creators their first real path to independence. Median artist earnings declined sharply compared to the previous decade, in lieu of clear monetization paths for new artists.
Global music industry revenue: fell to $15B by 2009
Median artist income: $5k-15k/year, mostly from live shows and merch.
Winners: Early digital platforms.
Losers: Labels and all artists.
2010s - The Streaming Revolution
Spotify and Apple Music reinvented access, but royalties fell to mere fractions of a cent. Distribution became open to everyone, yet meaningful earnings didn’t follow. What once depended on merit and craft began depending on visibility and engagement. Discovery shifted from artistry to algorithms.
Global music industry revenue: Bottomed at $14B in 2014, recovered to $20B by 2019
Median artist income: Under $1k-5k/year, with most earning less than $1,000 annually from streaming.
Winners: Tech platforms and the few artists who managed to game or fit the algorithms.
Losers: Almost everyone else - indie artists drowned in oversaturation, and the “middle class” of musicians saw their sustainable careers collapse.
2020s - The Algorithmic Era
Streaming dominates and AI floods the market. Tens of thousands of tracks are uploaded every day. Popularity now defines merit, not the other way around - the algorithm decides who even gets heard. Fans and artists are reduced to data points..
Global music industry revenue: climbed back to $28-30B (2024)
Median artist income: $600-800/year from streaming, while 99% of artists earn less than $1000 annually from all revenue sources combined.
Winners: Tech companies and catalog owners.
Losers: Real musicians.
So, is it better?
Distribution is easier and control is greater. But income is smaller, competition is brutal, and art is now treated like background noise.
After three decades of “innovation,” musicians are still the losers - in a thriving business where they are the product. The very people who create the value are the last to benefit from it. It’s absurd - and this is exactly what we are changing.
Freecords puts Artists first - because when artists win, listeners win. Everyone else comes last.