What Does Stewardship of Digital Music Even Look Like?

Because, as is now painfully obvious, music is too important to be left to the professionals...

Earlier this week in this space, I wrote about an amazing analog collection of music, the ARChive of Contemporary Music, and contrasted its mission with that of digital-era music databases like Spotify — which have recently been contending with “streaming fraud,” a Wild West situation in which tracks are hijacked and rebadged under fake artist names.

It’s juxtaposition that speaks to our surreal cultural moment. In one corner are collectors and artists treating music with care; a galaxy away, the streaming operations (and we have to include YouTube here) have built massive data mountains of files but in the process have not exactly considered artists — or their listeners — in the quest for mindshare world domination.

The word that’s come up in conversations with people in various facets of what used to be the “music business” is stewardship. What does that encompass? Is it possible that the Spotifys of the world haven’t shown leadership in this direction because, to be blunt, the executives don’t know what stewardship means in the context of an artform?

Let’s help! We’ll start by setting up a consultancy right here and now. We’ll develop an awareness-based corporate retreat where the corner-office-dwellers are “sensitized” to the impact of their decisions while eating ramen and earning 1979 wages.

Below are a few back-of-the-envelope ideas that could improve this situation. It’s a teeny start — these are steps toward steps. Please add your thoughts below. As the great Michelle Shocked was known to say: “Music is too important to be left to the professionals.”

Toward Digital Stewardship of Music:

Fair royalty structure with no cutoff points or minimum thresholds.

Credits (for all performers and composers) that travel with each track/album.

Accurate discographies as part of the architecture.

Some attempt at editorial insight-sharing beyond playlists — in light of this week’s news about Pitchfork, why not engage music journalists in this effort? Low rates! No waiting!

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