RömHeadTech and Start the Tape are no longer available on streaming services. Well, at least not on Apple Music; I don’t have any way to check Spotify or anyone else. And this was intentional, not a result of some bad behavior that got me kicked off streaming platforms.
Instead of being on streaming platforms, I’m continuing to make all my completed tracks available for purchase on Bandcamp (RomHeadTech and Start the Tape) and Subvert (RomHeadTech only for now, but Start the Tape and fellow RömHead Creative artist Johann Schreiber will be on there soon). You can also support us by becoming a paid subscriber here on Substack and also at Pay Musicians (if you do please DM me and I’ll add you to our Paid Subscribers list here).
“Why”, you ask, “would anyone in their right mind LEAVE a streaming service?” I sat down recently and crunched some numbers. More individual people have purchased our songs on Bandcamp/Subvert than have streamed them on all the streamers combined. We’re talking low volume overall, but one person buying a track at regular price is equivalent to 250 streams. I was on track to have 250 streams MANY years from now, and Spotify in particular doesn’t even start to pay out until a track has over 1000 streams. Ponder that for a moment: if I stay on streaming, I’d have to pay for an annual subscription and I don’t even hit the minimum number of streams to even qualify for the lowest payout! Pumping money into that system makes zero financial sense.
I want to make music for people who love music enough to want to own it forever. If that means I miss out on a couple of dollars of streaming revenue in 15 years, then whatever. I don’t care. Outside of the streaming platforms, a phenomenon has happened multiple times - people have paid MORE than asking price. Those people are ones who care about music and who appreciate the work that goes into making it.
I’m fairly generous, too, and often give away downloads to people who engage with this newsletter. In fact, it’s been awhile, so the first person who reads this and visits https://startthetape.bandcamp.com/yum and enters the code x4fk-7bcw will get a free download of Start the Tape’s cover of “Shout”.
Yeah, that’s WAY more fun than getting $0.003 that I’ll never actually see.
Start the tape would be a great name for a music podcast but instead of highlighting the music that was played on the radio - discuss and play the deeper cuts from those albums where the big hits came from.
I love how your giving paid subscriptions to people who choose you on Daniel’s service — great idea.