good point, I would think its probably a bit of each. I would think for a young band with close to zero money, it would probably be goo to latch on with a label for promotion and getting their name out there and maybe once they complete there contract they can go off on their own and have more freedom, unless the label was Victory
I will forever buy music as long as it's still an option. I have Apple Music, and it truly is fantastic, but never stop supporting the artists you love.
Kind of off topic but is his official name as a solo artist gonna be William Ryan Key and not just Ryan Key?
Seems relevant to post this. Streaming really does not provide the band with much money. What Streaming Music Services Pay — Information is Beautiful
That's a fair point - even a lower take-home than $100K (or whatever it is) may be helped if you are splitting living expenses, not paying for meals when you aren't home, etc. But that only goes so far. I would also hope they maybe banked some from when things were really good. I remember one of those old fee-per-night sheets that used to show NFG at 50-60K. Then you're talking about $4k per band member, I would hope. With 60 shows a year and merch, you might be talking $250K/person. Again, that lends itself to saying "we're not millionaires," which is 100% true, but it doesn't mean you aren't making a good living doing something you love.
I would buy one of these (or song written for you) if a songwriter I really liked did this. But really cool to see that Ryan and Maz are willing to do something like this. All they do IS tour but their merch lines are pretty packed most nights. Took me about 20 minutes to get through the line (with two people running the table) when I saw them do Catalyst/Sticks and Stones in April.
Not just that, but in Dallas, that alternative station doesn't even exist anymore. It literally got "merged" into a classic rock station (and that's basically all the station is). And we're a pretty big market.