Björn Ulvaeus: How music streaming transformed songwriting | TED

Money, money, money ... in the music business, there seems to be little left for the songwriters that fuel it. ABBA co-founder Björn Ulvaeus calls for the industry to support its most valuable asset, breaking down how the streaming revolution impacts creator royalties, careers and craft -- and outlines what can be done to truly thank artists for the music.

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[dardarrandom]

FINALLY!! Someone who has experienced and observed the music industry addressed such problems. Everybody will benefit if only we can solve these problems. I hope this video gets more views and will eventually help to change the industry.

[masterphoenix]

I agree with him 110%, music helps so many people. I will do my best from this moment on to learn who wrote the music and songs I like to hear. An pay it forward to those people.

[affffff]

I am so proud of you, Björn! Thank you for being brave and thoughtful of our artists today. I agree with all your sentiments and suggestions, and hopefully these will all be considered given the grave situation of the music industry. You truly are a humble visionary, Björn. God bless your kind heart. 🙂

[msprav]

He's literally done a Ted talk on a topic I was going to write an article about for a blog. Loved this

[Kritiker]

Truly great music will never again become so abundant as it was in the 60's and 70's unless the industry changes its ways.

[jonteguy]

This was one of the better TED Talks in a while, honestly.

[louisyoung]

There are variations of these problems in other creative industries (books, films, etc.) as well. Thank you for bringing this to the public's awareness! 👏 🙂

[SJHUE]

Very good of Bjorn Ulvaeus to care so much and take the time to try to help this situation.

[Harjawaldar]

I still buy and listen to CDs because I like albums and high quality audio

[jackhappens]

As it is now, the Spotify royalty model is nonsensical. Per Ulvaeus' example, why is my subscription money going to Justin Bieber instead of the artists I listen to? "Free" listeners are supported by the ads, so why isn't my money going to the artists and songs I value?

[BiCQ]

Bjorn is a very intelligent, insightful and engaging person to listen to. A musical genius sent from the Father :)

[David-ufex]

So glad I grew up with ABBA and bought the records as they were released, downloads are heard not listened to, il keep to vinyl

[iliketowatchducks]

Very interesting! And also very nice to hear the opinions and views of someone with as much real life experiences in the subject at hand

[Fogaata]

So very interesting, nice.
Do remember however years ago, CD era we had to pay $15 to $20 for a CD that had only one song we liked. But do agree artists all should be payed fairly.

[PierreH]

From the time we are born, background music from our parents records, siblings and friends are filling our ears. For music artists, being creative has become so hard. Music copyrights are doing the equivalent of forcing a painter to use only colors that are not on the Pantone scale, or others colors, copyrighted like the Tiffany blue.

[Melissa]

It's not just the streaming payment system that's the problem, it's also the promotion system. How do you get new music in front of people who wouldn't have thought to go seek it out on their own? And how do new artist who are starting to gain a little bit of traction, get more exposure so they can take their career to the next level? MTV doesn't really play videos or have shows like TRL anymore. Traditional broadcast radio has been on the way out for the past 20 years. Sure, there's YouTube and all the stuff that people do on social media. But when you're looking for music online, you only seek out stuff you already know or similar new stuff that you think you'll like. So it becomes a kind of echo chamber. There's no one putting a compilation of new stuff in front of you and saying "here try some of this. Maybe you'll like it." And you end up being exposed to new artist or different genres of music that you wouldn't otherwise have thought to listen to before. The same thing is happening with TV shows and news media too and I think it's going to have a detrimental effect on American culture. There's no one thing that everyone pays attention to anymore and it's dividing people.

[Wooster]

Most good music is from the 70s-80s, when competition wasn’t as fierce.

[Robil]

Bjorn played that freaky star shaped silver guitar, so in my eyes, still the coolest dude.

[TrueCrimeQueen]

Love these kinds of videos 🙏🏾🙏🏾 Stay safe everyone

[razorsharpsmile]

The last part of his talk was very profound.