Labor Day: 'Government mule' quandary for musicians

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Welcome to our annual examination of the plight of musicians’ seeking a living wage and better working conditions. This year, we take a closer look at the negligible revenue from streaming services.

‘I’ve Been Working’: Gov’t Mule brought its ‘Back in the Saddle’ tour to Paw Paw on Sunday night. (Photo/Derek Ketchum)

SCROLL DOWN FOR GOV’T MULE PHOTO GALLERY, MUSICIAN COMMENTS

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It’s apropos in some ways that the iconic band Gov’t Mule would be featured on Labor Day at Local Spins, after the band made a tour stop Sunday at Warner Vineyards in Paw Paw.

After all, the term “government mule” often describes “someone receiving inadequate or poor-quality resources” — referring to the failed promise of 40 acres and a mule for freed slaves.

Not that all musicians fit this description, but it serves as a recurring theme for Local Spins’ annual Labor Day column showcasing the plight of many Michigan artists who continue to struggle financially or fail to find the security they need to cover expenses, pay for health care or otherwise support themselves and their families.

While elite superstars worth hundreds of millions of dollars such as Taylor Swift and Beyonce continue to reap stunning monetary rewards, the average musician earns in the mid-$40,000 range and — for many — part of that salary comes from income not related to their music and performances (aka, day jobs).

This annual column has long noted that average gig pay hasn’t come close to keeping up with inflation over the years: View musician comments and past columns on this subject online here.

For Labor Day 2025, we’ve decided to focus on the universal shift to streaming music — a trend that has significantly reduced the amount of revenue that an artist/songwriter receives from distribution of their music to fans who no longer purchase physical or even digital copies of albums and singles.

That disparity spurred introduction of the Living Wage for Musicians Act — which failed to pass in 2024 but is expected to be reintroduced in Congress later this month — which would establish a new royalty rate of one center per stream for artists whose music is featured on services such as Spotify. Artists currently receive only fractions of a cent per stream, something that’s long frustrated musicians and songwriters.

Touring Band: Gov’t Mule at Warner Vineyards. (Photo/Derek Ketchum)

(Spotify currently pays an average of only $0.003 to $0.005 per stream, and only pays artists for tracks that have accumulated at least 1,000 streams over 12 months.)

Learn more about the bill and its benefits through United Musicians and Allied Workers, an organization formed in 2020 at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic — a pandemic which has certainly further impacted the survival and livelihood of musicians across the globe.

As the UMAW puts it: “Music workers create the enormous wealth that streaming platforms accumulate for their CEOs and investors year after year. But artists continue to be underpaid, misled and otherwise exploited by streaming platforms. While artists experience declining wages and increasingly precarious employment, the music industry as a whole has reaped unprecedented profits, and CEOs of tech companies have become billionaires. The Living Wage for Musicians Act is built to pay artists a minimum penny per stream, an amount calculated specifically to provide a working class artist a living wage from streaming.”

On a positive note, the United Kingdom recently took some steps to improve pay for songwriters and session musicians; read more about that here.

The hope for many musicians is that government, business and the public acknowledge the significant cultural contributions that their artistry has made — and continues to make — by endeavoring to improve their financial standing.

Here are some of their past comments:

• “One of our biggest obstacles, like most working class people, is not getting paid a living wage, and the cost of living quickly rising so much higher than the revenue we generate.” – Singer, guitarist and Earthwork Music founder Seth Bernard

Brian Vander Ark (Photo/Derek Ketchum)

• “A big (solution) would be getting a better payout from onilne streaming services. A record can generally cost an independent artist $10,000-$30,000 or more to self-produce, depending on the artist. … I think a general average for 1 million streams has a payout of roughly $4,000 from Spotify. If you were able to sell a digital download of a song for just $1, that would be $1 million in revenue to the artist, minus fees. But what incentive do consumers have to pay for songs when they can listen for free?” – Jon Hayes, guitarist for Serita’s Black Rose

&bull: “The system is rigged against the artist. It’s the nature of our business. The creative ones will always find a way to sustain a life in music. I do public speaking to pay the bills. But no, this is not an easy living to make, and the living wage is worse than ever.” – Brian Vander Ark, frontman for The Verve Pipe

• “The onus is on us collectively as musicians and tradesmen to teach the public and enlist them in the struggle for fair compensation. At this time in our history, we are seeing signs of a resurgence in interest and support for collective bargaining and action. … It is a time for working musicians to embrace the title of Skilled Tradesperson, and act in a collective way to improve the conditions.” – Mick Lane, guitarist for Conklin Ceili Band

Leave your comments below or email them to info@localspins.com with “LABOR DAY” in the message field.

A REQUEST FROM LOCAL SPINS: Like musicians, Local Spins depends on financial support from music lovers — from fans to venues to festivals to promoters — to continue showcasing Michigan’s robust scene. We are eternally grateful to the relatively small number of those who’ve long supported this publication through advertising, sponsorship or monthly donations. Without their undying support, Local Spins would never survive and continue to showcase the region’s music scene. On Labor Day, please consider joining them by supporting our work through Press Patron here. Any donation you make is vital to continuing our mission. Thank you.