Why Spotify couldn’t save Fight Like Apes or other indie bands

As Fight Like Apes asserted in their farewell note last week, they won’t be the only Irish band saying goodbye in the months ahead. We’ve seen acts such as Funeral Suits and Enemies announce their departures in recent times. It seems the curtain may be about to come down for acts who’ve been part of the Irish scene for the past couple of years.

Most will agree with Fight Like Apes’ reasoning about the “massive challenges. . . mostly financial” which contributed to their split after a decade together and the release of three albums.

"A lot of people don't seem to understand that we can't keep producing records if you keep not paying for them," the band said in a Facebook post.

“Bands are having to sell beautiful albums for €2.99, labels can’t give you as much support since they’re losing income too and our alternative radio stations are practically non existent now, meaning so many wonderful bands will not get a chance to get played on radio as they’ll be competing with huge pop acts.

“Don’t fool yourself in to thinking that your £10 subscription to Deezer and Spotify helps us at all. It does not. Look how many bands are on there and do the maths.”

The problems that Fight Like Apes and their peers face are a consequence of the changing business models driven by technology. Over the past decade, the music industry has had to recalibrate its ecosystem because the way it used to operate is no longer financially viable. Fans now consume and pay for music in a radically different way and this has had a radical knock-on effect on the money available to bands to stay in the game.

For instance, the live industry is now a key income driver because music fans are live music nuts and go to gigs and festivals all year round. The problem is that this is not great unless you're a band with an international touring schedule. There are only so many times every year an established Irish band can play the Dublin/Cork/Galway/Dundalk/Limerick circuit without people losing interest. Add in an annual festival appearance or two and you're at saturation point.

In order to have a go at getting a break abroad, you need to have either deep pockets or a patron in the form of a record label or well-connected manager. Both Fight Like Apes and Funeral Suits were signed for a time to Model Citizen, an offshoot of Rubyworks (which developed Hozier and Rodrigo y Gabriela among others). Yet even this business muscle did not result in any huge international breakthrough.

Expectations also play a part. There’s the odd tune or two in the Fight Like Apes’ back catalogue which could appeal to mainstream music fans but, for the most part, there’s a finite limit to how far an indie/alternative act of their ilk can go. In the past, a band could just about lean on that kind of appeal to eke out a living, but that’s no longer possible.

Indie acts who subscribe to the old model just simply won’t survive in the music business world of 2016. While  some bands may be able to make the new way of doing things work for them, these will always be in the minority. The odds are great and the obstacles are many.

We’ll always have acts and bands who want to make music together and have fun. The problems begin when they decide to take the next step and try to make a living from their music. The reality check about the enormity and difficulty of what they’re doing may take some time to arrive, but it will always come.