But where is the music (outside Spotify, Apple Music, and the like)?

That was in 1998, as we say, in the timeline of the web, a few eons ago. Thanks to the advent of MP3, David Turgeon launched No Type, a netlabel (A recording company that distributes its music only online) specializes in electronic and experimental music.

The Internet was still a place of hope for creators and followers of marginal musical genres, who throughout history have not had access to media forums. It is finally time to decorate their digital avatar as they like.

No Type musician and director, also known for his work, recalls: “The promise of the Internet was for everything to be decentralized, for there to be a group of small communities on the left, and on the right each doing their own thing.” Comics and Novels. “The problem is that the internet has not only become very institutional, it has become very centralized. You never leave Google or Facebook.”

And audiophiles, it didn’t really leave Apple Music or Spotify. The Swedish Service, born in 2008, did not want to be identified in Task How many subscribers to Quebec.

The problem is that the Internet has not only become too institutionalized, but too centralized. You never leave Google or Facebook.

In March 2021, there were 158 million songs worldwide to pay the ten dollars required to access the more than 70 million songs. According to Statista, Apple Music, for its part, in June 2020, had 72 million subscribers.

Connected to the Internet continuously for the past two decades, Not type Recently took advantage of a serious blow to the feather duster, while David Turgeon reinvented his trademark site as a streaming platform, or downloaded with the formula “pay what you want” (85% of the revenue is awarded to the Beneficiaries Act). Over 300 albums for four netlabels Various are available there.

Obviously, the alternative music promoted by No Type, even if it was available on Spotify or Apple Music, would be heavily disenfranchised there due to the algorithms that amplify the popularity of what is already popular. But beyond this discoverability issue, David Turgeon particularly sees version 2.0 of its site as a soundboard and whip.

“The idea was to say: As a musician, if you want your music to be somewhere other than Spotify, in a space that is more in line with your personal ethics, well, you have to make it there,” explains the man for whom the money that major streaming apps give back to artists is a process. scam.

“I restart the platform like asking the question: Is it possible to revive something like this, in its own environment, next to the giants, or is the Earth flat?”

Stop it in vain

Louis-Jean Cormier works in a musical world much less intertwined than that of the artists present in No Type, however, David Turgeon’s thinking and thinking are intertwined in many respects.

“It’s been a long time since I ran in my head a digital, free and independent platform, Quebeco,” he declared. In the video showing Le 360, A site that allows, for $ 45 a year, access to new peer-reviewed shows, podcast-style interviews, main classes and results.

In the wake of the release of his album When night fallsAt the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the songwriter started the game of producing, touring and broadcasting the various capsules on social networks. “I found it very fun to do, but I was like, ‘Something strange. My plumber costs me $ 400, but Alex McMahon [son ami claviériste]He plays my song for free, then we give it to Facebook, which is taking more money overseas than it does. Are you stupid to do this? “

It’s been a long time since it turned in my head, to a digital, free, autonomous, Quebec platform

He is taking a breather. “The answer is yes. Thanks to the support of SODEC and its agency, Les Eyes boussoles, all 360 musicians and craftsmen are paid.

While unable to say what percentage of Spotify and Apple Music’s revenue is, the singer remembers that he had already received $ 40 for 150,000 plays from his success. Everyone at the same time.

‘Platforms flow We have so many advantages, we can no longer do without this pleasure. We’ve created a monster and we’re stuck in it, ”notes the person calling for government intervention so that GAFAM and ISPs share their cookies more equitably with the creators.

“ But it is my duty to change things a little, because we all struggle with this kind of free music, even if it’s not really free. 360 is a bit like my table. Merch On Turns out. I am a member of several educational and training programs on which I spend more than $ 45 a year. Why do we artists give everything we do for free for Spotify or Facebook? “

We hope for the best

Does it work? David Turgeon and Louis-Jean Cormier both say they like the number of visitors to their respective sites – and Cormier estimates that Le 360 ​​will be able to stay afloat by going past the subscriber 1,000 mark.

Nicamoin success It also invites him to hope for the best. Founded in November 2018 by Musique Nomade, a non-profit organization that supports emerging indigenous musicians in Quebec and Canada, the platform (completely free) will currently receive around 3,000 users per month.

Nearly 200 artists appear in the catalog, representing 24 countries and regions and speaking 20 different languages.

“Big platforms are making more and more efforts to showcase our artists, in playlists for example, but the problem is that we are showing them. The Original music, as if it were one, when it was From Local music, ”confirms Musique Nomade’s artistic director and operations, Joëlle Robillard.

Nikamowin (with the support of public and private funds) on his part attests to the cultural and linguistic richness of music created by indigenous artists, categorized according to various criteria – particularly the musical genre – helping music lovers develop less toothy playlists. He saw from those that group musicians on the basis of their only origin. After all, there is nothing more than a song from Anachnid and another by Scott Penn Pickard.

For David Turgeon, Spotify and Apple Music’s greatest achievement is that whoever prefers not to join, for ethical reasons, quickly goes through techophobia, reactionary, or heretic.

“There is a funny stigma that comes with refusing to be on these platforms, and the reason why Spotify is interested in more than coolIt’s on Spotify, your tastes are analyzed when you’re on Spotify. “