Being a musician and not getting ripped off is possible: ways to avoid the music industry's biggest problems

Pumuky was born in the late 1990s , without too many pretensions, simply for the pleasure of "doing something with friends." After recording several demos at the beginning of the millennium, they sent their songs to the Disco Grande radio show for an outlet. "When they started playing us on the air, we were really excited. It was our favorite show." Jair Ramírez, the band's songwriting soul, recalls those days with emotion. Coming from a very small town in Tenerife, they never dreamed big. "We recorded our first album almost out of obligation," admits the singer. " Art is for expressing yourself, not for commercialization. That's why I have so many conflicts with being in the industry . Yes, there are many ways to be, but in our case, we've never intended to make a living from music. " A complete "mental and financial suicide," as those who are stubborn and try daily will say.

After more than twenty years of playing, neither he nor the rest of Pumuky have ever lost faith in what they do. And that, in a meat grinder and talent grinder like the music industry, is saying something. “I'm ashamed to admit it, but for a long time, people criticized you for not giving it your all,” he continues. “I'm very happy to make a living from the work I have, as is my brother Noé,” who also shares a band with him. “ Music, for me, is about purging and healing, and I don't want to play if I don't want to . I don't have to sign terms I don't like or expose myself anywhere if I don't feel like it.”

Like him, There are many musicians who rush out of their jobs every Friday to pack up their gear and put on a gig anywhere in the country. In Jair's case, this way of life is even more difficult, since he and the rest live in the Canary Islands. That hasn't stopped them from organizing a modest tour of venues to present their latest self-released album , "No sueltes lo efímero " (2025), between now and October.

Of course, you won't see them at major festivals this summer. "We're not into that," he says bluntly. "Most offer degrading treatment to artists, especially if you're an emerging artist or don't have many followers on social media. Most bands do it just to be on the bill, since you lose money playing. We were at Primavera Sound years ago, but we haven't been to one in a long time. We prefer to go it alone and do shows with bands we like."

"Unlike other sectors, the music industry has many faces."

A bitter reality, that of multiple jobs, which makes it difficult to balance family life, and with it, to remain in a scene that demands to be nourished daily with new faces, new choruses, new hits. Is it worth it? Absolutely. "Playing your songs in front of people you don't know is amazing; you make friends and see new cities," Jair states emphatically. Therefore, their vision of their own career differs somewhat from that of other bands always looking to find a spot on Spotify's trending playlist. This modest understanding of the profession has saved them from many hardships , such as signing contracts without being entirely clear about how much income they would receive and from what source, as so many bands do when they join a record label.

How to circumvent "extreme capitalism tactics"

The latest major crisis occurred after the ticket management company WeGow entered pre-bankruptcy proceedings. Dozens of bands, mostly emerging, were left wondering what would happen to the money from their ticket sales. One of the most well-known , Rufus T. Firely, told the newspaper El País that musicians had lost control of their work, having been affected by "extreme capitalist tactics." Despite this harsh diagnosis, Víctor Cabezuelo, the band's singer, remained somewhat optimistic about the future, advocating that the crisis could be a "warning" to return to doing things "in a more personal way, from promoter to band and little else," dispensing with intermediaries.

"The future of the music industry lies in creating a much more consolidated community of fans and artists, free of intermediaries."

Evidently, Cabezuelo's reflection points, in its most direct way, to self-management . You don't have to sign contracts with external companies and agents, from record labels to distributors and ticket agents, if you handle all these processes yourself. The cooperative "do it yourself" spirit is nothing new, and has sometimes ended up being associated with a musical genre, alternative rock , under the term "indie." Although outwardly it may seem somewhat glamorous to proclaim that you're independent and have never jumped through the hoops of requirements and conditions that all the economic agents impose on you, when it comes down to it, it's quite difficult for this self-management not to take its toll on the creative process itself, taking away from the time and energy that...

"As long as music remains on the margins of life, union activity will be very difficult."

On the other hand, when it comes to problems like those at WeGow, it would be beneficial to have a strong union within the industry, something our country unfortunately lacks. The fact that the majority of contracted musicians (not just for concerts, but also for musicals, theater, and television) are considered false self-employed workers contributes to precariousness and the effects of crises like the WeGow crisis, making each case count as isolated rather than collective.

Platforms such as the Caja de Músicos de Gijón are fighting against this. They are not a formally constituted union, but rather, as they define it, "a cultural association aimed at the musicians of Asturias." On the subject, they believe that since WeGow is a company owned by wealthy individuals, "they could have allowed it to go bankrupt." According to them, a "code of good practices should be implemented to ensure something like this doesn't happen again."

"Music is work"

This association, which is closely connected to many others across the country, such as SMAC! in Catalonia, upholds the motto Música ye trabayu ("music is work" in Asturian) . "As long as music is created on the margins of our lives , "Union activity will be very difficult," their representatives admit, which clashes with Ramírez's vision from the beginning, based on creating music without too many pretensions, almost as a hobby, denying that ambition of wanting it fully and decisively.

Fans owning a share of the rights to a musical work can be very beneficial for emerging bands.

In Spain, most artists are self-employed, which prevents the development of a strong union. The Caja de Músicos de Gijón (Gijón Musicians' Association) is calling for progress in regulating the Artist Statute to reformulate the hiring regime and prevent false self-employment. They also request intermittent taxation for musicians. "Unlike other sectors, in music, employers don't have a single face," say Caja de Músicos representatives, referring to the large number of large, influential companies involved in distribution, record labels, and the media itself .

Towards a closer and more transparent industry

A highly divided pie means the majority of the money goes to the big companies , leaving the artist with next to nothing. This is a problem in itself, but even more so when the money is distributed in an opaque manner, with no justification for the purpose of the payments. With the goal of moving toward a more intermediary-free and transparent industry, SONGS was born. This company simplifies the music distribution process by making artists' songs co-owners of their fans through blockchain technology.

"On Spotify, to earn $100, you need to reach 70,000 listens. There's nothing you can do about it, at most, you can eliminate the middleman."

Explained like that, it doesn't sound quite right. "NFTs have a very bad reputation, as they have been relegated to the most speculative purposes," Ricardo Candal, co-founder of SONGS and Guayaba Records, explains to this newspaper. However, on a small scale, applied to small bands, the fact that fans own a tiny portion of the distribution and exploitation rights to their musical work can be very beneficial , further democratizing the music market.

In SONGS, each song is divided into 10,000 songshares, which are, for practical purposes, like shares or stocks of that song. Each share is worth 25 cents and represents 0.01% of the artist's future profits, which are distributed monthly among shareholders. Subscription to SONGS is free for artists, and in return, they can have their repertoire uploaded to major streaming platforms, such as Spotify and iTunes. Only in this way does the artist skip another intermediary, such as hiring a distributor (usually Distrokid, although there are many others) who subsequently makes their catalog available to the platform.

"The artist doesn't understand how the payment for listening is generated, as it varies depending on the country or the type of subscription the customer has."

"The future of the music industry lies in creating a much more consolidated social and economic community of fans and artists, free of intermediaries," asserts Candal. "Today, labels are the ones who fulfill the role of sponsoring you and purchasing the distribution rights to your work." Our goal is for any fan to be able to fulfill that role . On Spotify, to earn just $100 , you need to reach 70,000 streams. You can't do anything against Spotify; at most, you can eliminate other intermediaries and add this decentralized layer of music information, making your fans part of your career, making them feel part of it.

"The artist doesn't understand how this payment for streaming is generated, as it varies depending on the country or the type of subscription the customer has," Candal continues. "On the other hand, blockchain allows this reproduction to be associated with money , with distribution in thousandths of a cent, and to do so quickly." SONGS' long-term goal is to create a standardized information layer for music on the internet, so that "there is a protocol that other distribution companies use to make payments faster and more transparent." Other projects, like Candal's, promise to change the music industry to make it more transparent and to create a closer relationship between artists and the public, not only from an artistic perspective but also an economic one. The truth is that there is still much to be done, both from a union and labor perspective, as well as a technological one, since threats such as music made by artificial intelligence darken a future that was already bleak.