How Companies in This Industry Exploit People’s Unrealistic Dreams for Profit

[Peter DeLegge]

I just received an email from a plugin developer, and it was hyping what — let’s face it — is an unrealistic dream of being signed.

The industry has a lot of promotions premised on telling people that they can get signed or be the next breakthrough composer or artist if they buy this or that. It’s dishonest and exploitive. The fact is, less than 1 percent of the people who do music are going to be signed by a major label.

Now, if you’re able to rack up 1 million Spotify listens or YouTube views, you’ll get offers. But the reality is, 99 percent of the people receiving that promotion are not getting 1 million listens or views.

I have friends with advanced degrees in music. Some went on to be teachers, and some went on to work in the industry. None went on to be major label-signed artists.

I’m not saying to abandon your dreams by any means. I’m saying that there is no shortage of companies eager to cash in on your dreams with wildly inflated hype that has no basis in reality. I say, make music for the love of it, whether or not you get signed. Don’t let the joy you experience from music be conditional on how much money you can make from it.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

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