This is an interesting proposition, and one which I'm sure has been thought about and considered by the labels. However, I think people who think this would be better for indie artists are misguided.
The reason this change would very likely not benefit indie artists is simple:
People who listen to more music are more likely to have a high proportion of their music listening being "indie" than those people listening to less.
Pdpi's example explains very nicely how this would benefit pop artists over indie.
Does this system have other benefits?
Yes, a wonderful inadvertent thing you get for free is eliminating fraud listening. People would be unable to create accounts to listen to one artist on repeat all month long and laugh six months later when the checks come in (see the Vulfpeck story for those unfamiliar)
Would some indie artists benefit from the change?
Yes, of course some artists wouldbenefit, that's pretty much inevitable under any calculation methodology change.
None of this addresses the issue of time spent listening. Classical and Jazz payouts will consistently under-index people's time spent listening simply because the track recordings are so much longer than the average recording length. A time spent listening payout system would be a huge improvement, but then you can imagine people trying to manipulate this (throwing 25 minutes of silence on the last track of the album anyone?). Smoke and mirrors...
The reason this change would very likely not benefit indie artists is simple:
People who listen to more music are more likely to have a high proportion of their music listening being "indie" than those people listening to less.
Pdpi's example explains very nicely how this would benefit pop artists over indie.
Does this system have other benefits?
Yes, a wonderful inadvertent thing you get for free is eliminating fraud listening. People would be unable to create accounts to listen to one artist on repeat all month long and laugh six months later when the checks come in (see the Vulfpeck story for those unfamiliar)
Would some indie artists benefit from the change?
Yes, of course some artists wouldbenefit, that's pretty much inevitable under any calculation methodology change.
None of this addresses the issue of time spent listening. Classical and Jazz payouts will consistently under-index people's time spent listening simply because the track recordings are so much longer than the average recording length. A time spent listening payout system would be a huge improvement, but then you can imagine people trying to manipulate this (throwing 25 minutes of silence on the last track of the album anyone?). Smoke and mirrors...