Jason Lancaster | Mind & Music Consulting

Music Alliance Management Corportation (Founder & President) - Managing Music Artists throughout the World with Tailor-Made Career Strategies for Success.

[Jason Lancaster | Mind & Music Consulting @StarsMindCoach]

@GiuliaMarcheti Good morning, Giulia. Looks delicious. Don't mind if I do. Thanks for the invite.

[Jason Lancaster | Mind & Music Consulting @StarsMindCoach]

@emmanu27707 @Marykate760 Hey there.

[Jason Lancaster | Mind & Music Consulting @StarsMindCoach]

@souline88 Thank you so much! ❤️

[Jason Lancaster | Mind & Music Consulting @StarsMindCoach]

@Kate_L_Mosso Good morning. I'll have what she had for breakfast.

[Jason Lancaster | Mind & Music Consulting @StarsMindCoach]

@urblondiejenny No mind change needed. I always thought horse riders were attractive.

[Jason Lancaster | Mind & Music Consulting @StarsMindCoach]

@sarah_talley_ Good morning, Sarah. May the luck of the dragon grant you all the things, the good things.

[Jason Lancaster | Mind & Music Consulting @StarsMindCoach]

@fckfmrocks @JelenaSpade Very nice! If she's out of control now, I'm curious what happens once the mask falls off. Happy Friday!

[Jason Lancaster | Mind & Music Consulting @StarsMindCoach]

@DNichols_1990 There's just something truly magical about the power of red on Friday.

[Jason Lancaster | Mind & Music Consulting @StarsMindCoach]

@Novasynthetica There's just something about the power of red. Happy Friday!

[Jason Lancaster | Mind & Music Consulting @StarsMindCoach]

@AllysonSaysSo2 Amazing looking outfit. Happy Friday!

[Jason Lancaster | Mind & Music Consulting @StarsMindCoach]

@BrandenRoderick Wishing you a phenomenal Friday.

[Jason Lancaster | Mind & Music Consulting @StarsMindCoach]

@JelenaSpade @fckfmrocks Happy Friday! Yet another amazing photo.

[Jason Lancaster | Mind & Music Consulting @StarsMindCoach]

@Lina_CryptoA Good morning, Lina. Now that's one amazing looking outfit on you. Enjoy this fine Friday.

[Jason Lancaster | Mind & Music Consulting @StarsMindCoach]

I think most would agree that streaming alone is a terrible primary income strategy for almost everyone in the music world.

Even though it’s true, I wanted to break down what that actually looks like: "Most artists need hundreds of thousands to millions of streams per month just to approach minimum wage."

Here’s the reality using Spotify’s typical payout:

- Average payout: $0.003 – $0.005 per stream (most indies see ~$0.004).

- US federal minimum wage (~$1,256/month): Requires roughly 300,000 – 350,000 streams per month (314,000/month to be exact).

- More reliable minimum wage (after fees, taxes, splits): ~500,000+ streams per month.

- Modest living wage ($2,000–$4,000/month): 500,000 – 1,000,000+ streams per month.

1,000,000 streams = $4,000 @ $0.004 per stream.

The harsh truth:

- Only about top 0.5%–1% of artists on Spotify consistently hit the minimum wage threshold from streaming alone.

- Just ~0.1% (roughly 12,000 out of 11 million artists on Spotify) reach 1M+ monthly streams.

Streaming alone is brutal. But that’s actually the good news.

It forces us to become better business people, better marketers, and better artists.

The indie artists who are quietly winning right now aren’t hoping for virality — they’re deliberately building real systems and multiple revenue streams (playlisting strategy, sync licensing, fan funding, merch, teaching, live shows, etc.).

Solutions exist. They’re just not as glamorous as the fantasy.

And that’s exactly why they work.

On a side note: Who gets the higher payouts (~$0.005 per stream or more) on Spotify?

- Artists with most of their listeners in high-value countries — especially the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany, Norway, Sweden, South Korea, etc.

These markets pay significantly more (often $0.0045 – $0.007+ per stream) due to higher Premium subscription prices and stronger ad revenue. Norway, Denmark, and Iceland pay the best.

- Artists whose fans are mostly on Spotify Premium (paid subscribers) rather than the free/ad-supported tier. Premium streams contribute far more to the royalty pool.

- Indie artists on good distribution deals who keep a high percentage of royalties (e.g. DistroKid, TuneCore, CD Baby, or direct independent deals) instead of heavy major-label splits.

- Artists with strong playlist placement in official or high-engagement playlists, which tends to attract better (more engaged / Premium) listeners and improves overall earnings.

Conversely, streams from lower-value markets like India, Brazil, parts of Southeast Asia, and similar regions often pay as low as $0.001 or less.

[Jason Lancaster | Mind & Music Consulting @StarsMindCoach]

Today's gardening lesson brought to you by experience. Excess nitrogen creates imbalances, especially for beets, radishes, turnips, and carrots.

More is not always better. In this case it's worse.

Plants need nitrogen to grow green leaves and stems. And it works a little too well, but too much will take away from the roots. Not good for root crops. The result: All tops, no bottoms.

Fortunately, this experience taught me how to alter the soil's pH to my desired outcome through this experiment along with this important lesson of the day.

After all, no one wants radishes in skinny jeans.
And since life experiences are mirrors (enter Bon training), this begs the question:

Where else in our lives are we applying a 'more is better' mindset, thinking it will give us what we want, only to create unintended imbalances somewhere else?

OR this question: Where else is our collective 'more is better' mindset creating imbalance in the wider world?

That's an even more valuable question.

After all, life is always showing us the mirror in every moment.

One thing I've learned about gardening is the fact that plants are similar to the human body in the sense of 'energy flow'. They work similarly.

Strangely enough, it's our habits (actually it's the mind, but we use the mind to create habits) through conditioning that determines how our energy flows.

It really is the same lesson in the garden as we 'condition' plants to yield a crop to sustain human life. We do the same with the human body.

We do so by working with the plant's flow of energy. Strangely enough, we so often neglect the same practice with our own bodies and create imbalance (illness).

These are the types of things we discuss on the Karmic Woof Podcast.

[Jason Lancaster | Mind & Music Consulting @StarsMindCoach]

Every artist possesses a unique core frequency—a natural resonance that deeply connects with fans who align with the same energy. This is why finding YOUR audience, instead of aimlessly chasing any crowd, is absolutely essential to success.

It’s this distinct frequency set, your personal "muse" I'll call it, that makes your music unforgettable and magnetically draws listeners to your sound.

Take The Beatles, for instance—their collective core resonance harmonized seamlessly with the key of F Major. When they wrote songs in this key, it appeared to unlock their full creative potential, dramatically enhancing their chances of crafting chart-topping hits.

Similarly, Queen, Phil Collins, Hall & Oates, and Fleetwood Mac produced hit after hit in this particular key, as it naturally aligns with their core frequencies, amplifying their musical impact on their core audience.

[Jason Lancaster | Mind & Music Consulting @StarsMindCoach]

Hey indies — one thing I’ve noticed that seems to help a lot: many of us send the same long bio everywhere and then wonder why we get weak or no responses from festival bookers, promoters, or labels.

Those people are all looking for slightly different things. The artists who get stronger replies often keep 2–3 short modular versions ready — one focused on emotional story (great for sync), one on live energy (great for festivals and bookers), and one on artistic vision (good for labels).

You can gently mix and match pieces depending on who you’re reaching out to. It feels more personal to the reader and often leads to better responses.