Jerry Cantrell advises artists 'how to operate' in today's music industry

Alice In Chains’ founder and lead vocalist, Jerry Cantrell just discussed the cons of being an artist of the music industry.

The Nutshell hitmaker disclosed to Primordial Radio that he has seen evidence of some bands earning as little as "1000th of a cent" each time their song is streamed on different platforms.

Cantrell deemed this streaming service as a "bad business model" with respect to artists, adding that profits continue to be squeezed.

Explaining the dynamics of the industry, he stated, "The music business really wasn't set up in a very equitable way. It was kind of predatory loans to bands that you paid back at 75 cents on the dollar.”

The 58-year-old musician continued, "And as far as keeping your publishing, that was a real battle and very few artists did that. The new model has taken that and kind of intensified it a bit. I was looking at – I can't remember the artist – but I was looking at something that gets millions and millions of streams or whatever, and people are being paid 1000th of a cent every time it's played.”

"In the old days, when you got played on the radio, that turned into like a penny or something then, and that adds up. I'm a real advocate for artists' rights, man,” Cantrell, who took the lead for his rock band after co-lead vocalist Layne Staley passed away in 2002, mentioned.

Continuing to criticize the structuring of streaming platforms, the Rotten Apple singer stated, "The new model of the streaming platform has really taken the old model of really being a small cut to the artist and made it really even smaller. So the prices to do business – rent a bus, gas, fuel, salaries, travel – they all continue to go up and the income continues to go down for artists of all sizes now.”

"It's a bad business model. It would be nice to see it a little bit fairer toward the artist. The landscape is always moving, the clock is always running and you can count on the fact that it's changing,” he mentioned.

"And so that's part of life, is as you go through the days, weeks and years to try to feel the changes, be aware of them, try to adapt to them and figure out how to operate,” Jerry Cantrell advised before concluding the conversation.