This is a question I have spent a long time pondering. Theoretically, anyone can make a song, put it on the internet's many music sales/streaming services, and within 6 months have made £50,000 due to it going viral. But I have always wondered how easy it is for the everyday, normal person to make money through the avenue of paid downloads/streams.
So, on 12th November 2013, I uploaded a song to Spotify, Amazon, iTunes, and all other websites that sell digital music. It wasn't a song by me, per se...it was a mash-up of two pieces of dialogue mixed over a techno beat. The pieces were an impression of Waluigi by someone who is great at impressions and voice-overs that I found on Fiverr a while ago...and my friend Jon's impression of Walugi. The song shows them both saying the name Walugi again and again, with 'Waluigi' bemoaning Jon for stealing his voice and copying his nose. The song is listed as being by 'Jon Reynolds', with a title of 'Waluigi Yeah Yeah Yeah'. This is the wonderfully ill-fitting artwork I chose:
It's ridiculous. As songs go, I daresay it is probably in the bottom 50 on Spotify. So why did I bother?
The first - and main reason, if I'm honest - is the fact I find it funny. A song that, previously, only our friendship group of 6 knew of was now on Spotify, where the whole world could find it by typing in the name of a low-popularity character from the Mario franchise. The brilliant thing? Some people have. So far, since November (up to June, the latest reports available), the song has been streamed 224 times. Just the fact that there will be some confused Americans somewhere thinking "what the fuck is this shit?", while the sound of my friend Jon doing a duet with a videogame character fills their house...I love that.
There was also - as I said earlier - the experiment aspect. Sure, this song wouldn't have any promotion; it isn't by an established (or even real) artist; it's quite shit. However, it does feature the name of a minor character from the massively popular Mario franchise, so I wondered if this would drive enough traffic to it so it could turn a profit.
Let's look at the numbers, from November - June:
224 streams + 2 sales
=
$2.64
So, absurdly, I have made $2.64 on this ridiculous song over the last 8 months. To upload it to iTunes/Spotify/Amazon etc., it cost me $9.99 for a year. So, at this current rate of earnings, I am going to turn a loss - I daresay rightly so, if I'm honest.
But to go back to my original question - can you make money from music on the internet? Definitely. While this particular track isn't going to turn a profit, the fact that even this track is on target to make back 40% of the very minor fees for uploading the song shows how easy it is. If someone uploaded a song that they promoted, was people could relate to, that actually wasn't shit, then I reckon it would not be too hard to make your investment back. Alternatively, you could just put the name of a more popular character from the Mario franchise in the title, and you'll probably make the money back anyway.
There is still the chance that this song will make it's money back, of course. All I need is for Waluigi to be a contestant on X Factor this weekend, and I'm quids-in.
This brings me onto my next point; my cunning plan, if you will. Everyone knows that people have the ability to be impatient, silly, or just plain stupid. With this in mind, I am currently debating whether I will follow through the following idea:
On 17th December - or whenever the X Factor final is - I will release a song that is "by" the favourite to win the show. I will give it the generic title of "Winner's Song", with it just being the words "Simon Cowell is a poo" looped over some guitar. Upon the winner being crowned, people will rush to download the song, see their favourite's name alongside "Winner's Song", and click download/stream/GIVE IT TO ME NOW. All it takes is 1/10,000 people who download the winners song to buy this accidentally, and I'll score roughly 500-1300 sales. Even if it is a tenth less than that, it's still pretty funny, and will more than turn a profit.
I am unsure of the legal/moral ramifications of this, as it stands. There is a precedent for people releasing misleading song-titles; in 2012, a week before Maroon 5's song Payphone was released, an artist called Precision Tunes reached #9 in the UK Singles Chart after releasing a cover called Payphone (Maroon 5 Tribute).
Whether I do it or not is hard to call. I may have to find some way around it; perhaps giving the artist a middle name, so it isn't a direct copy? So it is misleading enough to trick people, but not so misleading enough to trick people who actually pay attention. To be fair, I am fairly sure most people who watch The X Factor do not pay attention to much, otherwise they'd realise it has been the same the last 10 years. There's a duo in this year's series called Blonde Electric (who tabloids have already dubbed 'The Female Jedward'), who will get far in the live shows at expensive of far more talented acts, and people will moan "I can't believe it", despite the fact that Chico, Jedward, and countless others have done it before.
In my mind, I've already envisaged some people leaving angry comments about getting "ripped off"; people furious that they have given $0.70 to an unemployed guy in his early 20s instead of a billionaire who treats people like commodities. Maybe pointing that out would put it all into perspective for a few.
If anyone was any legal/moral thoughts about this plan, let me know! I'm currently enjoying it as a wistful silly idea, regardless.
Thanks for reading,
Tom.
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