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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Ann Aisley Boccato, Musician and Advocate from United Musicians and Allied Workers, on the impact of streaming services on musicians' income
1:18:17
·
76 sec
Ann Aisley Boccato, a jazz and folk musician from Brooklyn, testifies about the financial challenges musicians face due to streaming services like Spotify. She shares her personal experience of struggling to recoup album costs and having to seek income outside of music to sustain her career and life in New York.
- Boccato initially avoided Spotify due to their unfair business model, opting for Apple Music's more favorable revenue sharing.
- Changes in Apple Music's model have since resulted in significantly reduced income for musicians.
- The current situation negatively impacts musicians' lives and the overall quality of music available to consumers.
Ann Aisley Boccato
1:18:17
Hi.
1:18:18
My name is Ann Aisley Boccato.
1:18:20
I am a jazz musician and folk musician living in Brooklyn and I just wanted to speak personally about the impact of what he was saying about overhead costs.
1:18:30
Like, we spend so much money to put the albums out.
1:18:33
It is money that I have had to work outside of the music industry to then funnel money into my musical career and when I first released an album with my group in 2017, I did not put it on Spotify because I already knew that their business model is stealing and I put it on Apple Music which at the time had the model where they sold your album online for $10 and we made nine out of those $10 and I received checks from Apple until they looked over at the other guys and said, no, why don't we just do that?
1:19:06
And now I make nothing and I'm still trying to recoup the costs of the album that I have put out in 2017.
1:19:13
So, I have had to look outside of music for income in order to make a living, be able to remain a New Yorker and this has a really negative impact not only in our lives but in the industry, in the quality of the music that people can consume and I'm here to support this resolution and thank you so much for taking it up.