Hotel Chelsea (02.01.22)

I'd like to think all of my shows are special, but to paraphrase Orwell, some are more special than others. Photo by Kat.

I've done plenty of themed shows over the course of my 15+ year span of doing live solo shows in Second Life. It's very rare that my musical theme is for any specific purpose; it's almost always some random thing that I thought up while combing through my repertoire and deciding what I'll play. Songs that start with the same letter. Music from the '90s. Bands from the UK. Whatever.

That was not at all the case for my show at Hotel Chelsea on February 1, 2022, where I did a full hour dedicated to the music of two artists who have consistently been among my most important musical influences and inspirations: Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. My choice to cover and pay tribute to Neil and Joni wasn't at all random. It was because improbably, both artists were top news stories this past week due to a pretty interesting situation that we'll delve into below.

Neil and Joni in the mid-1970s, perhaps at the height of their respective creative powers.

Neil and Joni and Joe and Spotify

You've already heard about this, so I'll make the synopsis quick. On January 23, Neil Young penned an open letter to Spotify, a company that offers streaming music and audio content. It stated that he felt that popular podcaster Joe Rogan was responsible for purposefully spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and the vaccines that help prevent it, and that the platform would have to choose to host either his music or Rogan's podcasts. Spotify, unsurprisingly, opted to stick with Rogan, so Neil followed through and had his music pulled down.

For the benefit of anyone who doesn't understand, Neil never expected that Spotify would choose him over Rogan. In 2020, the streaming platform had paid Rogan $100 million to have exclusive rights to his content. Rogan's podcast is very popular among a coveted demographic: young males with spending power. About three quarters of his audience are men with an average age of 24 years old.

Shortly after Neil's ultimatum, his friend and fellow respected musical artist Joni Mitchell followed suit, stating on January 28 via her website that, "I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify. Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue."

The goal here for both artists was never to shut down Rogan, but to call attention to the fact that major media platforms have a responsibility for the content they host and disseminate, and to that end, they both did a hugely successful job. Conversations have been happening worldwide in this regard ever since Neil made his initial statement, and it's an ongoing situation that continues today.

Neil and Joni today. It's amazing to consider how these two septuagenarian artists can still generate front page news simply by expressing their opinions. Side note: while Joni has retired due to various health issues, she was just honored by the Kennedy Center for her lifetime of achievements, and Neil is still making music, having recently released the album Barn with his band Crazy Horse.

Where Do I Stand?

That's easy; I stand in support of the same opinion that Neil and Joni expressed. I have been very consistent on this topic throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccines work, and the vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer (and to an extent Johnson & Johnson) have been extraordinarily successful in allowing people to have better odds of avoiding COVID and/or not having severe illness or death if they catch it anyway.

I did not want the topic of my show to be about bashing Joe Rogan. I really don't think he's the real focus here. I defend the First Amendment vehemently, and people like Joe can continue to state their opinions regardless of what others think. However, as has been the case on many topics from vaccines to elections to racism and much more, the focus is on the platforms that allow the spread of misinformation of many sorts. In fact, after I did my first song, I opened my show with the following statement...

"Old Neil and Old Joni were in the top of the news. They decided to have their music pulled down off of Spotify because they felt that there was content on the Spotify platform that was misinformation about vaccines. I gotta say, I'm not here to support that, and I'm not here to go against that. I'm here to play music for you guys. But I am here to say, it takes a lot of nerve to give up a source of income as a musician, and take your music off the most popular streaming platform in order to take a stand. I admire that, and that's all I'm gonna say about that."

And that's all I did say. No ranting, no throwing guilt at people for their outlooks. As I said, I was there for people to relax and enjoy a night of music, but I did want to be sure they knew exactly why I'd chosen these two artists in particular to honor at this show. Once that was done, I moved on to focusing on the performance, which went very well. More on that in a few.

The only thing I'll say about Joe Rogan, whom I neither love nor hate nor really care about in any sense, is that he's not the person that many of his fans seem to think he is. He endorsed Bernie Sanders in the 2020 presidential election. He supports cannabis legalization, gay marriage, and other libertarian/centrist outlooks. Joe is a comedian who provides entertainment to people, and I'm not here to judge how seriously people take entertainers (self included) regardless of their level of influence.

Let's Talk About Spotify and Streaming

Having nothing at all to do with this current controversy about Joe Rogan, a lot of people have now become aware of the vastly unfair and inequitable business model of Spotify and, frankly, most music streaming platforms as a whole. In 2022, there are basically three ways to purposefully experience recorded music: a physical purchase (like a vinyl album, a CD, a cassette, and so on), a download (where you pay to download and then have continued access to a song or collection of music) and a stream (where you pay a subscription fee to a service where you can listen to thousands, or even millions of songs or other audio content like podcasts upon demand). The streaming model also allows for free access to content that is supported by ads, which is pretty much like radio except the listener chooses the songs they want to hear.

It easy to see why many people choose the streaming option. It's very much in line with how people in the modern era like to get all their entertainment, like they do when watching video content via services like Netflix. It's very convenient, and it's relatively cheap. I don't blame anyone who likes to stream music.

However, there is one thing that many people are just now learning about, which is that in comparing the three methods of music distribution, streaming is extraordinarily unfair to the people who create the actual music. The typical pay rate an artist receives when their song is streamed is $0.0015. In other words, to make a penny, the song must be streamed about seven times. If the song is streamed 100 times, the artist might get 15 cents. If a song is super successful and is streamed 50,000 times, the artist gets about $75. An important thing to keep in mind: not all artists are paid at the same rates. If you're an artist on a major recording label who is well known and it's to the benefit of the streaming service to attract listeners to have your music available, you'll likely get a higher rate that's negotiated by the label. Taylor Swift makes more per stream on Spotify than, say, Zak Claxton.

Let's compare that to downloads, where typically the artist receives about 70% of the revenue. Those same 50,000 downloads (as opposed to streams) will pay the artist $35,000. That's still not a huge annual income, but it is a viable number. The $75 they get from the equal number of streams likely won't cover a week of groceries, much less rent. 

The royalty rates for streamed music have a lot of variables, and not everyone is paid the same. It's complex and it makes comparison difficult, but here's a graph from Soundcharts.com that gives you a frame of reference.

Are All Streaming Services Bad for Artists? Are Some Worse Than Others?

Well... yes, compared to traditional sales of physical media or the download model. Spotify, as the market leader in music streaming, gets a pretty bad rap on this topic, but frankly other streaming services, which include dozens of platforms like Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Deezer, Qobuz, and many more, can be nearly as bad (or worse in some cases). Pandora and YouTube Music seem to be at the worst end of the list, with Amazon, Apple Music, and Tidal tending to pay a somewhat better royalty rate to the artists who provide them with content. Some of these services also offer better-sounding audio quality compared to Spotify, if you care about that. Here's a big list to refer to and compare.

The reality is that people like streaming. There will never be a way to put the genie back in the bottle. Fortunately, there seems to be a certain percentage of people who still enjoy owning physical media, or enjoy being able to own their own music and support artists in ways that go beyond the instant gratification of a stream.

My personal favorite online music service is called Bandcamp. They tend to focus on independent artists that I prefer, and they are extremely fair in terms of percentage of artist compensation. You can preview complete songs before deciding whether you want to buy the music, and they also offer a way to buy both physical media and merchandise from the artists who are represented there.

If you're looking for a music service that lets you discover cool new music and is very fair to the artists who make it, the choice is easy... it's Bandcamp.

How About That Show?

Ah, the show was just great. We had a large crowd to start with, with Max Kleene being there in the slot before mine, and many of his crowd stayed around for my show. We also had a nice influx of others who came in for the promised Neil/Joni music, in addition to a smattering of my regular Zakster fans.

A superb crowd hangs out after Max's show to hear me do my Neil and Joni tribute. Photo by Kat.

While I've played all of these Neil and Joni songs before, in some cases many, many times, some of them have only made very rare appearances in my set list. Photo by Kat.

In case it's not obvious to everyone how I feel about keeping up the fight against COVID-19, I continue to wear my mask in SL as I do in real life, and will continue doing so until the point where I would be comfortable in that same club in reality. Photo by Kat.

One note about some of the songs I chose. It's difficult to perform some of them simply because they are often in alternate guitar tunings... especially in the case of Joni Mitchell. I explained to my audience how both Neil and Joni contracted polio as children. For Neil, it left him with a pronounced limp ever since. In Joni's case, it left her without the hand strength to fret guitar chords in the way most people do. This led to her exploring different ways to tune the guitar and achieve some amazing and unique sounds as a result. The downside is that like most musicians, I don't like taking up time during my set to tune and re-tune the guitar. That's one reason that many of her songs, as great as they are, stay buried in my repertoire. 

Side note: between Neil and Joni, I have well over 60 songs that I've performed from time to time. It's more than any other artist I cover, for the simple reason that I love sharing their great music and keeping people aware of their greatness over the course of time.

Hotel Chelsea set list...

Free Man in Paris (Joni Mitchell)

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (Neil Young)

Court & Spark (Joni Mitchell)

Don’t Let It Bring You Down (Neil Young)

A Case of You (Joni Mitchell)

The Needle and the Damage Done (Neil Young)

Furry Sings the Blues (Joni Mitchell)

Old Man (Neil Young)

All I Want (Joni Mitchell)

Harvest Moon (Neil Young)

Sex Kills (Joni Mitchell)

Heart of Gold (Neil Young)

Huge thanks to the many people who came to Hotel Chelsea for this special show, with extra thanks to the following who helped support it!

Jenaia Morane, Elaine8000 Resident, Troy Shoreland, Canuck Dismantled, Hairy Thor, Bec Jigsaw, jerzzie Reece, Trouble Streeter, Maximillion Kleene, StevenStrikker Resident , Kat Claxtonmy terrific manager Maali Beck, and Hotel Chelsea manager Shyla the Super Gecko!