Chris Dalla Riva is an independent musician with a small, but engaged audience that is continuously growing. As much as his musical ambitions are headed in the right direction, Chris also has a day job as a data analyst for the digital music streamer AudioMack. This gives him a wholly unique perspective on the digital streaming industry.
Not only does Dalla Riva have access to the data of both the musician and the streaming provider in his situation, but he gets a daily, on the ground perspective from both points of view. He sees the struggle to break through in an overly saturated digital music market while also seeing how costs can mount up for a small digital streamer paying seemingly small amounts of money to the artists on their platform.
Can't’ Get Much Higher, Chris’ terrific Substack is a wealth of information on the data behind the musical trends of yesterday and today. Outside of Substack, his work has been featured by NPR and The Economist, among other places.
Our conversation is a wonderful stroll back and forth between the struggles of daily life as an independent artist and understanding how we can better harness the data and metrics that Chris works with everyday to create a more fair and just economic system for music.
The more I explore the issue of digital streaming, its economics, and the impact it will have on our musical culture, the more I am baffled at how unjustly the system is set up. Chris and I will delve into the shortcomings of the way the system was built hastily at the dawn of a digital age and then added to with the effectiveness of polishing a turd.
Chris will also work to explain that the low payouts for artists at sites like Spotify and Apple aren’t even real hard numbers. They’re average rates based on a pool of revenue sharing that is complicated and tends to favor the already successful artist over the independent creator.
We explore the reality that no other industry works like the music industry, specifically the digital music industry. Film, TV, televised sports, live events, and other entertainment is all more fairly and transparently paid for. There’s also a chance for me to discuss my theory of the Convenience Con with Chris as well.
It's a fascinating discussion with a brilliant and insightful person who has a genuinely unique view on the subject. Enjoy
Cheers,
Matty C
Be sure to reach out to Chris on the socials and make sure you let him know you enjoyed his appearance on the pod. Thank him for being here and be sure to follow his Substack as well. Thanks, y’all.
WAIM #047 - Chris Dalla Riva