How streaming scams hurt independent musicians

“It’s not just you, music streaming is broken,” says Cameron Gorham who makes music and videos under the moniker Venus Theory. Learn how streaming scams hurt independent musicians and why he argues, “you don’t have to play the game.”

How streaming scams hurt independent musicians

Cameron Gorham believes that artists face two primary obstacles: low per-stream payouts and streaming fraud and scams that further dilute a too small revenue pool.

Under the existing pro-rata system all music subscription money is pooled and paid out based on an artist’s share of total streams. Thus, a user’s payment doesn’t necessarily go to the artists they listen to. Instead the funds often benefit major-label artists and increasingly, fraudulent tracks and streams.

His video “It’s Not Just You: Music Streaming Is Broken Now” has gotten more than 550,000 views in the two weeks since it was posted.

In it, Cameron argues that the current music-streaming ecosystem is fundamentally broken. It’s not just unfair, he says, but actively harmful to independent artists. He lays much of the blame at the feet of music streaming platforms and distribution services, which often lack accountability or transparency when disputes arise.

Cameron Gorham aka Venus Theory hopes that his video will spark change and pressure streaming services and distributors to do a better job of identifying and punishing abusers.

He also encourages artists to look for alternatives to the major streaming platforms. Another part of the solution could be an official registry or verification for real artists, to prevent impersonation and ensure legitimacy.

At 40 minutes long, all of this video is worth watching.

Here a music lawyer interviews Cameron on the video.

Bruce Houghton is Founder & Editor of Hypebot, Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, a Berklee College Of Music professor and founder of Skyline Artists.

“How streaming scams hurt independent musicians” first appeared on Hypebot.com.