The reason why big-name artists are lifting the ban on subscriptions one after another

The news that the great Kitajima Saburo would lift the ban on subscribing 747 of his songs made the entertainment news at the end of the year. It’s a bit of a festival.

Subscriptions, also known as subs, allow you to enjoy a large amount of music for a fixed fee. Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and LINE Music are popular.

In ’21, Eiichi Otaki, ZARD, and Hiromi Go lifted the ban on subscriptions, and it became a hot topic. The ban was lifted by Southern All Stars at the end of ’19 and by Mr. Children in May ’18.

In May ’18, Mr. Children lifted the ban. I think the only big names who are still reluctant to distribute their music and stick to the package are Miyuki Nakajima and Tatsuro Yamashita.

At the end of the year, Kitajima, as mentioned at the beginning of this article, took the plunge into subs, but what is behind the artists’ decision to lift the ban on subs? Is there any profit in it? A record maker executive said

“Music is no longer profitable.

“Packages don’t sell.

“Packages don’t sell. The number of young people who want to become musicians is decreasing. If music doesn’t make money, it’s hard for record companies, singers, and songwriters.

In such a situation, the economic thinking is to make a little money through subs rather than keeping past hit songs that don’t sell, and the artists also want people to listen to their music more widely.

The ban on Saburo Kitajima has also been influenced by the fact that older people now have smartphones instead of cell phones.

What is more promising is that some of the distribution sites are distributing songs that can be sung as karaoke, that is, the songs are reduced in size so that they can be sung along with the music. This is what people are expecting from the lifting of the ban on Saburo Kitajima.

There is no way to avoid taking advantage of the fact that music distribution is the world’s largest selling medium for delivering music, rather than CDs and other packages.

But how profitable are these subs?

A source told us.

The amount of money that comes in to the record makers from listening to one song is about 0.4 yen. It may vary slightly depending on the destination and the artist, but it is almost always less than one yen.

So, 400,000 yen for a song that has been played 1 million times. This amount is divided among the record manufacturers and copyright holders, so it is certainly not enough to make up for the lost sales of CDs, but it is better than sitting around and doing nothing.

The customer pays for the work. This cycle, which enables artists to engage in new creative activities, is not going to continue as before due to the changing music environment. In order to survive, things have to change.

I heard a voice from someone in the music industry say, “I hope the Covid-19 disaster is over soon.

“The sooner the Covid-19 disaster is over, the sooner we can start playing live and selling stuff!

I have high hopes for this golden rule of the music industry. I hope that the Covid-19 disaster will be resolved as soon as possible and that ’22 will be a year of great progress for the music industry.