Libraries Offer Music Streaming Services That Really Support Local Musicians
from the making-a-musical-connection dept
Music streaming services are great – for listeners, who gain access to huge quantities of music, even if they don’t end up owning any of it. But it’s hardly a secret that streaming services produce very little income for the musicians involved – even the big names earn a pittance – with most of the money ending up with the recording companies. That doesn’t mean that streaming services are beyond redemption. It just requires a little imagination to think of ways in which they can be great for artists and audiences alike. Take this idea, for example, reported on Vice:
Over a dozen public libraries in the U.S. and Canada have begun offering their own music streaming services to patrons, with the goal of boosting artists and local music scenes. The services are region-specific, and offer local artists non-exclusive licenses to make their albums available to the community.
The concept originated in 2014 when Preston Austin and Kelly Hiser helped the Madison Public Library build the Yahara Music Library, an online library hosting music from local artists. By the time they completed their work on Yahara, they were confident they had a software prototype that other interested libraries could customize and deploy.
That prototype has become the open source program MUSICat, which is now being used by a number of libraries in North America. Artists whose music is included in one of the local streaming collections are paid an honorarium of at least $200 per licensed album. That means they get money up front, not in barely visible dribs and drabs over years, as with the mainstream streaming services.
What’s also notable is that this approach is built on local music. It means that the music already has a link with the people who are likely to try it out. That sense of connection is a vital element for all art, and is sometimes missing with the global streaming services, which can seem distant and deracinated in comparison. MUSICat is a great example of how a technology can be radically re-thought for the benefit of artists, their fans and the community they are part of.
Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter, or Mastodon. Reposted from WalledCulture.
Filed Under: libraries, streaming music
Companies: musicat
Comments on “Libraries Offer Music Streaming Services That Really Support Local Musicians”
We own the (copyright on the) recording, therefore we should make most of the profit; the record labels.
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“We’re here to ensure that artist’s royalties go to those who desperately need them” – also the recording industry
If the labels try to interfere with this
They should have to PROVE copyright in every single case and will end up being shown as the parasitic middlemen they are
… the purpose of taxpayer funded libraries is not to support local musicians nor any other special-interest group
Re: The purpose of taxpayer funded libraries
Supporting local culture, whether from authors, artists, or musicians, is a regularly included facet of the public library’s mission and a feature of many public library’s visions for themselves as institution. Libraries are meant to give their patrons access to information and entertainment of all stripes. It makes perfect sense for public libraries to support a music streaming platform that prioritizes local and regional musicians.
One thing that’s worth pointing out is that the libraries aren’t paying the musicians but rather paying the MUSICat platform for streaming services for the patrons. The fact that MUSICat has a service model that focuses on regional artists and pays a meaningful honorarium gives the platform a comparative advantage. If a library is choosing to phase out its CD collection but still wants to offer music to their patrons, this sounds like a great way to provide those materials and support local culture.
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Libraries are there to support the local community, of which artists are part. A well-run library will consist of almost nothing but special interest groups, be they authors, readers, people who lack home internet access, people who meet for other reasons, etc.
You might not like this specific interest group, but a library can be invaluable, especially if the local area lacks a vibrant scene where there’s more natural places for like-minded people to congregate or discover.
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well then, offer free library resources to all community artisans, hobby groups, businesses, religious and politcal groups.
How about free kiosks in the library for local businesses to sell their goods all year?
Point is that public libraries have very limited resources and a very specific reason for existing at all.
Every arbitrary choice to help one special interest group is a decision NOT to help 50 others.
Plus, the library bureaucrats are spending other peoples’ money for purposes never authorized.
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“offer free library resources to all community artisans, hobby groups, businesses, religious and politcal groups”
Most libraries offer facilities to various groups in my experience. I’ve attended several in my day, ranging from Linux User Groups to student meetings to small business groups to childrens’ art. I’m not sure where you live, but it’s typically not just a stack of book people read in silence.
“How about free kiosks in the library for local businesses to sell their goods all year?”
There’s somewhat of a big difference between allowing people to use facilities to meet and/or offer items to lend (especially digitally) and acting as a literal market.
“Point is that public libraries have very limited resources and a very specific reason for existing at all.”
Indeed. But that reason is not simply “lend books”.
“Every arbitrary choice to help one special interest group is a decision NOT to help 50 others.”
So, your answer to that is help nobody? Because that seems to be where you’re going here.
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That’s what libraries do. There are laws that constrain what libraries can and can’t do with their resources and each library’s policy is going to be different to match their community, but in general libraries try to offer as many free resources as they can to as many people as they can.
The purpose of the library is not to offer commercial real estate, but many libraries actually do make space available at different times of year to businesses to sell their wares, particularly in the holiday season. While my local library has a policy against selling merchandise in our building, they have an exception for authors selling books at a reading or local musicians selling CDs at a performance. These kinds of reciprocal relationships between libraries and local artists reflect the library’s mission to be a cultural cornerstone of the community. They are a natural part of the library’s purpose.
You should read the mission statement of a public library some time, because they spell out the “specific reason” for the library’s existence. Let’s use the Madison Public Library as an example since they were featured in the story:
That’s perfectly in keeping with providing patrons access to a music streaming service, and it makes sense given that mission that they would want to prioritize a service that supports local artists.
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Right, right, right. Libraries never pay a fee to have a speaker, author, artist, musician, some sort of program, or anything.
They only buy media from the largest publishers. Who certainly are no special interest group. No sir.
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but think of all the many many many other people, functions , and worthy causes that government libraries do not support at all !
Libraries are way too miserly and stuck in a 19th Century mindset.
there’s no reason whatsoever that taxpayer money should have strings attached
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You mean just like every other government department?
Like… I’m still trying to figure out what hill you’re trying to die on here. What other causes would you rather libraries support if not local musicians, to the point where a library giving money to content creators inspires such outrage in you?
Not to worry...
The copyright industry will quickly put a stop to this 😛
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If they could go back in time and prevent the concept of public libraries from existing at all, they would…
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So that’s who invented the time machine and destroyed all those ancient libraries. Lol nice try, boneheads.