Nice piece by Bob Lefsetz on the whole Spotify thing:

The truth is, if you’re a superstar, there’s still plenty of money in music. And superstars are the future, because no one’s got time for any less. Just like there’s one iTunes Store, one Amazon and one Google, we don’t need a plethora of me-too acts, we just need excellence.

It’s a bit more complicated than that, of course, but what it boils down to is this: the money in music isn’t where it used to be. For bands who don’t already have a following, streaming services are marketing channels, not cash generators.