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ITHACA, N.Y. — It wasn’t Rowan Drake’s music that got him signed to Atlantic Records in 2022, he says. His songs at the time — a year since he’d graduated Ithaca High School and moved to Los Angeles — “had no need to say anything.” He had little name recognition and no social media virality. What he did have, he remembers, was charm, hustle, and belief. And the date he dreamed he’d sell out Madison Square Garden inked on his side: June 12, 2025. “I think I got signed more because of that tattoo and this thing where I would look you in the eye and be like, no, we’re gonna do this, and it’s gonna be incredible,’” said Drake, pointing to his side then gesturing from his eyes to his Zoom camera. Today, Drake has an online following in the hundreds of thousands and the support of a label and co-writers. Last year, he opened for the X Ambassadors on their 2024 “Townie” tour. His success, though, wasn’t lost on him. Growing up in Ithaca, Drake had watched countless musicians never reach the exposure he felt they deserved, such as his godfather, local singer/songwriter Pierce Walsh. “‘God, it’s so unfair that I get to pay my bills with music, and someone like [Walsh] doesn’t get to pay his bills with music,’” Drake remembers thinking at the time, though he’s prouder of his music now. A drop in a streamWhen a song off her 2022 debut album reached #6 on the U.K. soul charts, Ithaca singer Destiny La Vibe, who requested to use her stage name exclusively, thought it was a fluke.Then a track from her sophomore album hit #8 on the same charts the next year. Hernandez had no connections in the U.K., but she later discovered that bloggers there were writing about her music. Then she learned that DJs in France were playing her music in nightclubs. Now, Hernandez has an audience that, before the internet, would’ve required her to tour overseas and leave her job as deputy director of the Greater Ithaca Activities Center. Destiny La Vibe, a local singer and songwriter, during a live performance. Credit: Kelvin Young VisualsWhile geography might’ve limited exposure before, musicians in small cities such as Ithaca have turned to social media and streaming to reach global audiences without leaving home.A musician’s social media presence can also allow them to get work that might’ve only been available pre-internet if they lived in a metropolitan area. Ashley Ickes, who drums for Ithaca groups The Comb Down and Hank Roberts Trio, among others, said she feels lucky to be able to stay in town and still pursue a career in music.“I feel fortunate that I don’t have to move to a big city like New York or L.A. to potentially get swallowed up, in order to feel like that’s the only place I can go to get work,” Ickes said.Last fall, Ickes toured the U.S. and overseas with the Seattle-based Delvon Lamar Organ Trio, who offered her the gig after seeing videos of her practicing and performing on TikTok. But the ability for anyone to release and share their music without a professional studio has also created an oversaturated market. More music was released on any single day in 2024 than in the entire year of 1989, per MusicRadar. Creating content, though, can feel like a second job for many musicians, and one they aren’t familiar with. Early on, Ickes didn’t feel comfortable posting 30-second videos of herself playing drums. For a long time, she didn’t even have a computer. “I am a musician, I’m not a graphic designer, I’m not a content creator,” she said. “The work I want to be putting in is not spent time on my phone trying to edit videos and put myself out there that way.” Many musicians, like Ithaca drummer Sam Fishman, feel they have to put out weekly or near-daily content on social media just to stay relevant. Fishman performs with the band Driftwood and uses social media to promote his drum clinics and session work.“If I’m going to do something in the studio, I want to have a video component to it,” Fishman said. “I can’t see myself only doing audio unless I build up a solid fanbase, maybe a hundred people, and they’ll just listen to anything that I put out.”This past December, Fishman and two friends enlisted a video crew to film them writing and performing music dedicated to Bryce Canyon in Utah — all from Electric Wilburland Studio in Newfield.Behind their drums, bass, and piano stood a miniature recreation of a sun setting over the canyon, built by an Ithaca College student using papier mache, chicken wire, and cloth.Fishman said the $3,000 session would cost him only $560 without a video crew. But he expects the footage will provide him with enough social media content to last through the spring. Posting content away from a live audience can also feel unnatural for some musicians. Elbonee McLaurin, who’s performed in Ithaca for 15 years under the name SingTrece, didn’t feel her content resonated with people when she started posting early in the pandemic. “You were competing with people that would just do absolutely nonsense,” McLaurin said. She found better engagement once she posted a video singing a gospel song to herself. “All of a sudden, boom, I get all these hearts, and I’m like, what the heck? I wasn’t even trying. So what I think is people want you to be authentic,” McLaurin said. Maintaining a consistent presence online can also be draining for artists’ mental health and take away from time they’d rather spend creating. Maddy Walsh, who’s performed with Maddy Walsh & The Blind Spots for over a decade, sees social media as counterproductive to her art. “I would totally jump ship if I wasn’t in a band,” said Walsh. “We’re supposed to be writing and playing music. And there’s less time for that when you have to keep up with all these different sites.” Streaming: A musical money pitBefore streaming, CD or vinyl sales could be a significant source of income for many artists. But the rise of streaming services, which pay a fraction of a cent per individual song stream, has made recorded music profitable for only an elite fraction. In 2020, Rolling Stone reported that the top 1% of Spotify artists received 90% of streams. “We can’t, as a band at our level, expect to make money off of records anymore,” Walsh said. But many artists feel that not having their music on streaming would limit their exposure and impede their careers, and so they have to play the game. “The payouts are absurd, but they’ve got us by the freaking collar,” said Josh Chamberlain, a local singer/songwriter, of streaming services. Despite thousands of monthly Spotify listeners for his project Rev Ezra, and his music appearing on a Spotify editorial playlist, Chamberlain said he makes more money from one or two gigs than all year on streaming.“You have to have it on Spotify, because that’s where people are going to look you up. So it doesn’t really matter what they pay you out,” Chamberlain said. Since 2018, Ithaca rapper Anthony Henry — who performs under the name Anthony Kannon — has released a dozen albums and a few dozen singles on streaming. Henry has amassed more than a million streams and is signed to New Dawn Records, which has a distribution partnership with a Universal Music Group subsidiary.Anthony Henry, who performs under the name Anthony Kannon, raps during a live performance. Credit: Josh MankasinghFor several years, he’s spent $600 a month on studio time, money that came from his day job and music. And with his streaming numbers translating to only a few thousand dollars in royalties, Henry says he’s still in the red. While Henry said he doesn’t make music for the money, he acknowledged it’s easy to get discouraged. The majority of his income from music is from performing and selling merchandise. “I assume that is how it will be for the rest of my career as well,” he said. Converting an artist’s social media followings and streaming numbers into a profit off of live shows is another issue. Even with the support of a major label and the draw of opening for a major artist, Drake said he did not make money on a six-week tour in 2024. He’s mainly been able to sustain himself through his record deal.“If I had to rely on playing live to make money, I would not make money,” Drake said. “Just because you have TikToks with millions of views on videos, that does not mean 100 people in every city in the country are coming to see you.” But without reliable income from recorded music, playing live, especially touring, is still the most reliable way for artists to make any money, many say. “It’s totally impossible to make your living just from shows in this small city,” Walsh said of Ithaca. “There aren’t enough venues and there aren’t enough music-loving people to come out and support.”Maddy Walsh during a live performance with Maddy Walsh and the Blind Spots. Credit: Manifesto Designs (Wendy Houseworth & Michael Smith)Walsh recently toured the East Coast with the Blind Spots, and they don’t always draw large audiences. “But [if] we don’t leave home, nothing happens,” she said. Sometimes musicians have to sacrifice pay when there are no other options for gigs on tour. Some musicians said this opens the door for venues to underpay performers since some will accept lower payments out of desperation. Artists who play mostly in Ithaca often must diversify their income sources by playing with multiple acts, playing shows as a hired gun or teaching lessons. Ickes, for instance, makes most of her income from teaching music lessons at the Community School of Music and the Arts. Many people don’t see live music as labor but rather a hobby that could become a career, says Nathaniel Marro, executive director of the National Independent Talent Organization. He doesn’t see pay getting any better soon. “For smaller acts, more emerging acts, it’s getting harder and harder because they’re making basically the same 250 or 500 bucks that they’ve been making since the ‘90s for some of these shows,” Marro said. “What’s happening more and more is the only people that can afford to do that are people that are rich enough to be broke or young enough to not have any responsibilities.” Venues continue to struggle, close In the last decade, a number of music venues and bars in the Ithaca area have shuttered their doors: the Haunt, the Nines, the Rongovian Embassy, The Range and the Chapter House, to name a few. Stephen Parker, executive director of the National Independent Venue Association, said small venues, particularly those under 400-person capacity, have always been vulnerable.Inflation and lower cash flow caused by the pandemic exacerbated the issue, leaving independent venues struggling to stay open while keeping ticket prices affordable.“If we go away, the stages that up-and-coming artists come up on won’t exist,” Parker said. “You can’t get started in an arena. You can’t get started in a 3,000-cap venue.” In the two years TJ Schaper has operated the Deep Dive in the waterfront space that previously housed The Dock, he still hasn’t paid himself. With insurance costs up and drinking and ticket sales down, Schaper estimates he’s about $100,000 in the hole. Progress, he thinks, could come in the form of government funding toward the arts — though financial uncertainty at the federal level could prove to be a barrier.“Maybe local government programs should step in and, like, pay me to do it,” Schaper said with a laugh. “Because right now, I’m volunteering, [or the] opposite of volunteering.” Ithaca-based talent agent Lara Supan agreed, but acknowledged that more often than not, the opposite seems to be happening.“Venues and artists are blaming each other when really we need to turn it on and be like, ‘Why are we not being supported as an industry by the government?’” Supan said.For now, all venues and artists can do is cooperate as best they can to engage with the community, Supan said“If we can figure out how to get people interested in seeing live music again instead of viewing 30- to 60-second clips, I don’t think all hope is lost,” Supan said.The post “They’ve got us by the collar:” How social media and streaming’s rise brings local acts new audiences but lower pay appeared first on The Ithaca Voice.First published by The Ithaca Voice.

Daily Archives: March 28, 2025

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