CD era offered better income than today’s streaming economy
Staff Writer | Monday November 24, 2025 06:00
While streaming platforms dominate global consumption, the revenue models behind them have left many musicians earning far less than they did two decades ago. The CD era, by comparison, offered structure, predictable income, and accessible distribution channels that made music a viable livelihood.
Before streaming disrupted the market, Botswana’s musicians benefited from a reliable production and distribution ecosystem. A major contributor was the CD printing plant in Zimbabwe, which served as a key manufacturing hub for countless local artists. Production was affordable, turnaround was quick, and artists could print in bulk without the complex licensing and digital distribution hurdles faced today.
Once produced, CDs moved through both formal and informal distribution channels. Retailers such as Musica, BotswanaCraft stocked local albums, and vendors in malls and bus ranks pushed high volumes. Combined, these channels gave artists multiple revenue touchpoints. A single day of selling CDs from the back of a car could generate as much as P5,000 income that today’s streaming economy rarely matches.
In contrast, streaming pays artists between $0.003 and $0.005 per stream, meaning 200–333 streams are needed to earn just $1. To reach $100, a track must accumulate 20,000 to 33,333 streams; earning $1,000 requires 200,000 to 333,333 streams. For many local artists whose audience is geographically limited, reaching these volumes is unrealistic.
New policies are further tightening earnings. As of January 2025, Spotify requires a track to accumulate 1,000 streams within 12 months before it becomes eligible for royalties, a threshold that sidelines countless emerging and niche musicians. Even when songs pass the threshold, revenue splits between platforms, distributors, and rights holders mean artists receive only a fraction of the total. These structural limitations have triggered a decline in album culture. Where artists once released full albums to maximise physical sales, many now opt for singles to reduce production costs and maintain some form of digital presence. Only a committed few, such as Charma Gal, Franco, and Seeretsi & The Natives, among them, continue to release full albums and sell CDs to loyal fanbases that still value tangible music formats.
Some artists are experimenting with hybrid models to regain financial control. South Africa’s Landrose recently sold his EP on USB sticks, while Zimbabwean rapper Junior Brown once distributed a single via WhatsApp with mobile money payments. These direct-to-fan models echo the entrepreneurial spirit of the CD era, offering a way to bypass low streaming payouts.
The business case is clear: while streaming has expanded global access, it has eroded the revenue foundation musicians once relied on. Rebuilding sustainable income will require the industry and artists themselves to explore alternative monetisation strategies that restore the financial value lost in the digital transition.