James Blake’s new Vault lets artists stream unreleased music to paying fans. Could it end up as a decentralized Spotify, where musicians actually make money?
Inside The Vault: How to Succeed in the Music Industry with Legendary Producer Jazze' Pha
Musicians make almost nothing from streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. According to Blake, an artist earns between $0.003 and $0.005 per stream. The goal of Vault is to let fans directly support their favorite musicians with a monthly subscription, in exchange for streaming unreleased music.
"I think Blake's Vault is a great idea for established artists. True fans want access to unreleased music and don't mind paying for it because they know most of the money goes to the artist," professional music composer and producer Tero Potila told Lifewire via email.
The (recent) prevailing view is that musicians should use their music as a source of loss for other forms of income.
