Bucks Fizz star Jay Aston on the pitfalls of music streaming: 'We don't get any money from it'
Jay Aston is frustrated by music streaming services.
The 63-year-old singer is part of The Fizz alongside Cheryl Baker and Mike Nolan – who, along with former member Bobby G, won Eurovision in 1981 as Bucks Fizz with 'Making Your Mind Up' – and said even though their hit track sold four million copies worldwide back in their heyday, with the onset of platforms such as Spotify, only global artists such as Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran stand any chance of making money from digital releases.
She told BANG Showbiz: "It's kind of terrible in the sense that we don't really get any money from it.
"To make a few thousand pounds, you've got to have a million streams on Spotify.
"So it's like 000.1 of a penny every time like 100 people listen to your songs. "Most artists are not happy about that but at the moment, there's nothing we can do about it.
"Back in the day, if you had a million people listen to your songs, there'd be a million pounds in the kitty. And so, although technology is advanced and is brilliant in some respects, it isn't for the artists and others a lot of the time people go ‘Well, why do you think because you've recorded something in 1982 or an album or whatever, you should make ongoing income from it?’
"But it's like any investment you know, people need to think about putting it in context.
"There's (artists such as) Taylor Swift and then there’s poor artists who aren’t even making enough for a cup of tea. It’s a different time now, a completely different world."
The 'Land of Make Believe' hitmaker noted that she and her bandmates "literally survive" on their live work these days, and ahead of taking to the stage at Indigo at the o2 in London later this month admitted she and the others would be "nowhere" without their dedicated fans.
She said: "Normally, you can only do 45 minutes for an hour. And they, want certain songs so it's good to do things that we really enjoy and also we get like a poll with fans, like our closest fans, to see what they wanted. We love it and we can sort of sizzle up the act a bit more.
"It’s a really broad selection of people, but generally, they're in their 40s and 50s. Or they'll be Eurovision fans.
"And it's a party atmosphere with amazing fans. "They are so loyal, and they're all fun and they just want to enjoy it. There's never any kind of negativity with the band so unbalanced.
" And there's quite a lot of camaraderie between them, you know, so, we've been so lucky in our careers because we would be nowhere without them. "
The Fizz – formerly Bucks Fizz – will be performing at London’s Indigo 02 on 28 June.
Tickets here are available at theo2.co.uk/events/detail/the-fizz.
