The CEO of Spotify is worth 2.5 billion, meanwhile, artists are paid next to nothing.

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The CEO of Spotify is worth 2.5 billion, meanwhile, artists are paid next to nothing.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has come under fire for claiming that musicians should be “recording and releasing music nonstop to make ends meet.” The CEO of Spotify is worth 2.5 billion, meanwhile, artists are paid next to nothing on the streaming giant. Many major artists have criticized the unfair revenue share, infamously Taylor Swift pulled all her music from the platform demanding better support and pay for musicians in 2014. Since more and more are expressing their views on the unfair treatment of artists on major streaming services.

Pink Floyd said this about Spotify, “those services (Spotify and other streaming services) should fairly pay the artists and creators who make the music at the core of their businesses. For almost all working musicians, it's also a question of economic survival."

Beck said, “What Spotify pays me is not even enough to pay the musicians playing with me or the people working on the discs, It's not working. Something is going to have to give."

Tim Burgess, lead singer of the Charlatans tweeted “So many artists forced to take second jobs, give up flats because they can’t pay their rent all while getting decent numbers of plays on spotify – yet the owner has enough to bid for a premier league team. It just doesn’t seem ethical to me”

Music fans added "That is the state of play in the world, the artist, creators & writers can only go through these global corporates and get paid next to nothing and they get paid the most. It is true with the statement someone said. "Billionaires don't make a billion, they take a billion"

Here at Jeeni we're working hard to do everything opposite to these streaming services, by offering an ethical alternative where artists are supported and treated fairly all while keeping 100% of everything they make on our platform. That's why we have taken to Crowdcube so we can scale up and continue supporting artists and performers. Join our fast-growing family of investors, and grab your rewards as you help us reach our target! Check out our pitch here. https://bit.ly/3BhEeia

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19
May

Five Great Songs About Real Places, by Wendy King

A songwriter finds many things to write about; emotions, events, people, and even places. Some of the finest songs of all time have been written with somewhere in mind, a place that touches the soul of the person with the pen.Mull of Kintyre, written by former Beatle Paul McCartney, is an example of this. It’s written about a part of Scotland the singer had a home and is a reference to feeling at home when he’s there. West Coast punk band Rancid, perhaps at the other end of the songwriting scale, had a song called Olympia WA on their album and Out Come The Wolves, written as much about New York as the Washington state capital.Those songs might not immediately trip off the tongue, but they are strong efforts in terms of writing about places. It isn’t always cities either – Gainsville resident Bacon James recently won a songwriting competition for a song about the Santa Fe river, called Lost and Found (At the Santa Fe). It drew emotions he experienced from the river with an actual place, in much the same way as McCartney did, and as many others have done about different places. Often, it isn't the place that is the full subject of the song, but how that place made the writer feel.This is a theme you’ll see running through some of the entries in our round-up of five great songs about places. Christie Road – Green Day (click to play) Green Day might be a global phenomenon now, a rock band that sells out arenas, but in 1994, pre-Dookie, they were just three angry, disaffected kids looking for an outlet. Back then, Bille-Jo Armstrong and bassist Mike Dirnt used to hang out at a place called Christie Road, doing what a band named after marijuana would be expected to do. Christie Road is an ode to their wasted days, their safe place before stardom came calling. Ewan MacColl - Dirty Old Town (click to play) The first song on our list made famous by another artist is Dirty Old Town by Ewan MacColl. It’s written about Salford in England, an industrial town that was once in the shadow of towers belching out smoke thanks to its place on the Manchester Ship Canal. MacColl wrote about his life there and finding love and an oasis of tranquillity, amongst the smoke and dirt. The song was later recorded by The Pogues, to critical acclaim. The White Stripes - Hotel Yorba (click to play) When you think of songs about Detroit and locations in Motor City, you most likely think of Kid Rock or Eminem, but the duo The White Stripes produced an iconic two-minute ode to a hotel along the I-75, the Hotel Yorba. It is now subsidized housing, but Jack wrote the song after hearing, incorrectly, that the Beatles once stayed there. Whilst there’s not a lot of emotion behind the location, it is a demonstration that a song doesn’t have to be written about a famous place at all. Billy Edd Wheeler - Jackson (click to play) Johnny Cash was a great storyteller, and whilst one of his most famous songs is a story about a place, he didn’t write it. Jackson, possibly written about Jackson, Tennessee, was actually penned by Billy Edd Wheeler and performed by the Kingston Trio. Cash made it his own, singing as a duo with June Carter. Jackson serves as a place of sin and iniquity, offering the married protagonist respite from what feels like a loveless marriage, the exact opposite of Johnny’s lifelong union with June. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama (click to play) We’ve mentioned Kid Rock already in this article, and he’s going to get a mention again, but not for songwriting. He helped catapult Sweet Home Alabama, a rock classic, back up the charts in 2007 when he dropped All Summer Long, his tribute to growing up in Michigan, that borrowed the Lynyrd Skynyrd song’s structure. As for the original, it is rather more controversial than even the infamous Robert James Ritchie – it’s written as a retort to Neil Young’s anti-slavery song, Alabama, and seeks to defend the state’s people from being tarnished by the darkness of its history. Now that is a little more contentious than signing about a hotel! Have you written a great song about a place that's significant to you? Then upload it on Jeeni for everyone to enjoy. Who knows, you might just have a solid-gold hit on your hands! Several of Jeeni's most popular artists have done exactly that, including the award-winning Richard Murray. (click to play) This item was written by Wendy King for jeeni.com

05
Jun

Exploring the Rivalry and Respect between Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson

by Kelli Richards, Jeeni MD USA Click HERE to visit or return to jeeni.com A guy named Jeffrey Stillwell has put together a great video essay focused on the so-called “rivalry” between the Beach Boys and the Beatles; and in particular the relationship between Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson. They were most certainly inspired by each other creatively and each wound up bringing out the best in each other as both are quick to confess. When “Pet Sounds” came out, it blew the minds of the Beatles, and that was a big catalyst to what would become “Sgt Pepper” in terms of musical experimentation — both are still such iconic albums that it’s hard to believe it’s been 50 years since each was released. This video biopic also chronicles the relationship and interactions between Paul and Brian over the decades, and ultimately the deep respect they have for each other —and it’s worth investing the 20 minutes to watch it. There’s also a personal tie for me here in a couple of ways. As a teenager, I was hugely influenced by both groups and in particular the Beatles; I became a life-long Beatle-ologist as a result (as a hobby). It also led me to a career in music & music tech (initially wanting to be a record producer having immersed myself in the techniques of production) — first as young A&R exec at EMI/Capitol, and then when I launched and ran Apple’s earliest focus on music and entertainment during my lengthy tenure there (where among my responsibilities, I had to deal with the fall out of the lawsuits between Apple Inc and Apple Records – the Beatles’ company). I also parlayed that early production passion into being a talent producer of award shows and celebrity fundraiser events over several decades. One of the events I was asked to co-produce was called “Adopt-a-Minefield” in conjunction the with the United Nations. Paul’s then-wife, Heather Mills, was heavily involved in the cause, and she organized these annual events (I believe there were five) featuring Paul and his band, and another major artist. I co-produced the event in 2002; Paul had invited Stephen Stills and Brian Wilson to perform with him — and the event was hosted by Jay Leno. The event took place in LA, and was a high-ticket event; I believe it was limited to 500 in attendance. I had some interesting conversations and interaction with Paul that evening, who was determined to ensure all the details to do with the production of the event were flawless and well-thought-out. For the 500 of us in attendance, it was magical to watch Paul and Brian doing a duet on both “God Only Knows”, a favorite of Paul’s, and on “Let It Be”. It’s too bad it wasn’t taped so it could be streamed. There can be no doubt of the creative genius and respect these two have for each other’s music and as individuals. As a final aside, Paul and Brian were born just two days apart in June 1942; geniuses in good company from the very start! (There’s a cute clip in the video essay of Brian calling Paul on his birthday and singing a verse from Paul’s “Birthday” song). Click HERE to visit or return to jeeni.com

03
Sep

10 Reasons why the world needs Jeeni

My name is Mel Croucher. I'm a record producer and computer nerd. Over the years I've worked with a whole bunch of superstars like Prince, Frank Zappa and Eminem. In other words, I've been around successful musicians all my working life. A few years back I was hearing from more and more artists how unhappy they were with the big streaming services. So I polled 4,200 of them about their Top-Ten Problems with Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud, Deezer, and the rest. The poll result was a shocker, and I asked a bunch of the best brains in the music business to help me create an ethical alternative. It's taken us two years, and we call our alternative JEENI. Here's what the artists we polled told us, and here's our Jeeni solution to their problems. 1 - Money. Artists get paid a pittance. Platforms like YouTube pay $0.00069 per view, so even 10,000 views earns us less than the cost of a pizza per month.Jeeni solution. OK, we get it. You do all the hard work, so you deserve all the rewards. How about a Jeeni deal where you to keep 100% of all music sales, ticketing, and merchandise sold through our platform. 2 - Recognition. We try really hard, but streaming platforms just don't get us more fans or recognition.Jeeni solution. Right. Let's make Jeeni an artist development platform. Our founder invented viral marketing in 1994. Then he achieved the world's first million-user viral campaign. Now he's designed all the tools you need to grow your fanbase and get recognition: all part of the Jeeni service. 3 - Communication. We don't know the identity of who's streaming our stuff, so we can't get in direct contact with anyone who wants to know more about us.Jeeni solution. OK. Here's the deal. With Jeeni you get a built-in fan database to contact everyone who votes for you or likes your work, and you communicate direct with them as often as you like. Safely, legally and all opt-in. 4 - B*llsh*t. The big streaming platforms are full of it. We hate the adverts, we hate the artificial likes, we hate the paid-for recommendations, we hate the hype.Jeeni solution. The answer to this is an ethical alternative. We guarantee Jeeni will stay advert-free. We pledge our charts are the result of democratic votes by real people. And we promise that all Jeeni content comes from genuine unpaid sources. Oh yeah, we'll also pay our taxes in full, because we believe we should make a positive contribution to the society we live in. 5 - Rip Offs. We just can't break through, and even when we think we're making progress as artists we get ripped off.Jeeni solution. Yep. The entertainment business has always been full of shysters. Let's be honest here, the people behind Jeeni have all made it to the top somehow, and between us we've made every mistake in the book. Our mission is to help you achieve success and avoid the rip-offs. That's why our Jeeni Mentors, Ambassadors and Masterclasses have joined forces to do exactly that. 6 - Choice. The big streaming services all offer similar content, dominated by the same big star names.Jeeni solution. Agreed, so let's ignore the content everyone else uses and leave our competitors to fight it out! Jeeni is designed for undiscovered artists to break through, based on talent alone, not ad-spend. 7 - Channels. My work doesn't fit into mainstream channels. For example, what about channels for spoken-word?Jeeni solution. No problem. Jeeni already has dedicated spoken-word channels for poetry, comedy, and voice actors, plus channels for entertainments ranging from dance to videogame soundtracks. And if we don't already have a channel that suits your need ... we'll sit down and create it! 8 - Visibility. People either don't know about our work, or can't find it even if they do.Jeeni solution. We've designed the smartest user interface we can. On Jeeni, you can search by name, type of channel, instrumentation, latest uploads, popularity, even by influences and heroes. But above all, our artists have complete control over publicising their own announcements to their specific Jeeni audience. 9 - Fakes. What's the difference between the Jeeni Awards and the fake results dominated by celebrity voting?Jeeni solution. Simple. Jeeni doesn't have celebrity voting. Our Awards will always be based on one member - one vote. No ifs, no buts. 10 - Live performance. I'd like to stream an event, and charge people to watch it. Can Jeeni do that?Jeeni solution. Um, not yet, but we're working on it! Come on now, we're not perfect, so we need your help. Jeeni has returned to Crowdcube to raise more funds for helping new talent. Jeeni founding director Mel Croucher says, “We’re ahead of our original schedule, but there’s still so much more to do. We need to scale our online platform globally now and build our mass artist showcases. Jeeni raised £100K in 6 days and we’re working hard to get more investors on board. Then we can hit all our targets, and give our new artists the recognition they deserve.” If you want to see our pitch click HERE.

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