> The recording industry likes to paint this as the artists are getting screwed. And they are getting screwed but not by streaming services. They're getting screwed by the recording industry [1].
This isn't an or proposition. Artists are being screwed by both. Yes, the industry takes the lion's share of revenue from artists. That doesn't mean that on-demand streaming services aren't a joke in terms of compensating artists.
And you're wrong about your #2. The comparison should not be made to radio royalties because radio play has been shown to increase sales, since if you want to hear a specific song you heard on the radio, you still have to buy it or sit around waiting for it to come on. People compare Spotify revenue to purchasing because, if your music is on Spotify, there is no reason for anyone to buy it anymore. If it replaces purchasing for most people, the revenue needs to stack up by comparison.
That doesn't invalidate my point because curation, which you can argue radio is, and promotion (radio stations are paid to pay particular songs) is still possible with streaming. Just look at Pandora, last.fm, etc.
Also there are different definitions of streaming. The purest definition is where you have to have an Internet connection to listen. There will be various levels of caching involved here. For example, the service might cache the entire song--possibly several songs--to avoid stuttering and service interruptions.
Another model might better be called "cloud management" of music where you have a cloud-like iTunes interface (or even a non-sucky interface) that would sync that playlist to your device for offline listening, something I think iCloud will either be or quickly become.
Bandwidth and service issues are going to make local storage of music a superior solution for some time to come (IMHO).
This isn't an or proposition. Artists are being screwed by both. Yes, the industry takes the lion's share of revenue from artists. That doesn't mean that on-demand streaming services aren't a joke in terms of compensating artists.
And you're wrong about your #2. The comparison should not be made to radio royalties because radio play has been shown to increase sales, since if you want to hear a specific song you heard on the radio, you still have to buy it or sit around waiting for it to come on. People compare Spotify revenue to purchasing because, if your music is on Spotify, there is no reason for anyone to buy it anymore. If it replaces purchasing for most people, the revenue needs to stack up by comparison.