Avicii’s song Wake Me Up has been played more than 168 million times in the last year and a half, making it one of the most streamed songs, ever. You wouldn’t be blamed, therefore, for thinking that co-writer Aloe Blacc has made some serious bank from his labors. Unfortunately, in an editorial for Wired, the songwriter reveals that he’s only received $4,000 in royalties from Pandora, America’s biggest streaming service.
I am many things: a singer, a musician, a businessman, and a philanthropist. But above all, I am a songwriter. At our core, songwriters are creators. We challenge ourselves and others to reflect on the world around us. And the work we produce has power—power to capture people’s emotions and imaginations like few other art forms, power to transcend traditional barriers of age, language and culture, and power to transform a conversation and generate positive social change. But does our work as songwriters have value? Coming from someone who has spent his life working hard to master his craft in order to touch the lives of others, that may seem like an absurd question. But in today’s rapidly changing music marketplace, the answer is increasingly unclear.