mainman says he has seen evidence that some bands earn as little as "1000th of a cent" each time their song is played on a streaming platform. Cantrell believes the streaming setup is a "bad business model" for artists and says profits continue to be squeezed. He tells (transcribed by ): "The music business really wasn't set up in a very equitable way.
It was kind of predatory loans to bands that you paid back at 75 cents on the dollar. "And as far as keeping your publishing, that was a real battle and very few artists did that. The new model has taken that and kind of intensified it a bit.
I was looking at – I can't remember the artist – but I was looking at something that gets millions and millions of streams or whatever, and people are being paid 1000th of a cent every time it's played. "In the old days, when you got played on the radio, that turned into like a penny or something then, and that adds up. I'm a real advocate for artists' rights, man.
" He continues: "The new model of the streaming platform has really taken the old model of really being a small cut to the artist and made it really even smaller. So the prices to do business – rent a bus, gas, fuel, salaries, travel – they all continue to go up and the income continues to go down for artists of all sizes now. "It's a bad business model.
It would be nice to see it a little bit fairer toward the artist. The landscape is always moving, the clock is always running and you can count on the fact that it's chan.