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| quote: | | PvD gets played(payed) **MUCH** more to play in the usa then in europe |
id honestely love to see the stats, but id say you would probably be suprised. You know artists such as Britney Spears, or any 1 else like that doesnt make the millions that we are lead to believe? The promoter, and managers make a lot more money.
| quote: | | recording artists and songwriters do not earn royalties in the same way. Recording artists earn royalties from the sale of their recordings on CDs, cassette tapes, and, in the good old days, vinyl. Recording artists don't earn royalties on public performances (when their music is played on the radio, on TV, or in bars and restaurants). This is a long-standing practice that's based on copyright law and the fact that when radio stations play the songs, more CDs and tapes are sold. Songwriters and publishers, however, do earn royalties in these instances -- as well as a small portion of the recording sales. |
A songwriter writes the lyrics and melody for a song. The songwriter records that song in his basement and sends the tape to the Library of Congress to register the copyright. Even though he knows it is automatically copyrighted when he set it in a fixed form (put it on paper and/or recorded it), he is registering it because he's sure this song has the makings of a hit, and he wants to head off any infringement problems up front.
Now, although this songwriter has recorded his own vocal version of the song, he's humble enough to know that it probably won't go very far with his voice croaking it out. In walks the publisher. Our songwriter signs a single-song agreement with a publisher who will pitch the song to the record labels. Publishers are in the business of finding and exploiting new music by issuing mechanical licenses to recording companies or others who want to use the song in some fashion. In exchange for this "administration," the publisher gets 50% of the mechanical royalties for each recording sold (minus several things they have to pay for first, which we'll talk about in the next section).
Let's say that a major record label likes the song and has the perfect recording artist to sing it. They fill out a mechanical license agreement through the Harry Fox Agency and obtain rights to record the song. The song is recorded and is promoted heavily. It becomes a hit. Now, who is making money? The songwriter and publisher split mechanical royalties 50/50 for each recording sold, and the recording artist also gets a mechanical royalty for each recording sold (although that deal is set up differently).
In addition to the mechanical royalties, however, our songwriter and publisher are also paid performance royalties, which means they make money based on how often the song is played on the radio, in restaurants or bars, or in other types of broadcasts. These royalties are monitored, collected, and paid out by a performing rights organization like ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC; our artist is paid by the organization with which he registered the song. For subscription digital "performances," the recording artist now gets paid royalties as well.
Now, let's say that a movie producer is working on a new movie and wants to use the song in a scene. Now the song is moving into the realm of synchronization royalties (where music is used in conjunction with video). When a songwriter's work is synched with a scene in a movie, played over the credits at the end of a movie, or used in a television show or commercial, the songwriter and publisher are paid a negotiated fee to use the song in the movie as well as performance royalties when the movie is shown on TV or in theaters in foreign countries. If the movie uses the specific recording of your song (known as a "master") made by the artist who made the song famous, then that artist will receive a regular royalty percentage from the fee the movie company negotiates with the record company as well as mechanical royalties if there is a movie soundtrack produced. The songwriter and publisher will also receive mechanical royalties from sales of a soundtrack.
So as you can see, a lot of people are making money off of our songwriter's creative efforts.
Writer/publisher mechanical royalties
First, there is the calculation of mechanical royalties for writers and publishers. These royalties are paid by the record company to the publisher. The publisher then pays the writer a share of the royalty (typically split 50/50).
In the United States, the royalties are based on a "statutory rate" set by the U.S. Congress. This rate is increased to follow changes in the economy, usually based on the Consumer Price Index. Currently, the statutory rate is $.08 for songs five minutes or less in length or $.0155 per minute for songs that are over five minutes long. So, for example, a song that is eight minutes long would earn $.124 for each recording sold.
As in most areas in the business world, however, there is room for negotiation. It is not uncommon -- in fact, it is more the norm -- for record companies to negotiate a deal to pay only 75% of the statutory rate, particularly when the writer is also the recording artist. (See the "Controlled Composition Clause" below.) Although there is a statutory rate, there is no law against negotiating a deal for a lower one. Sometimes it is in the best interest of all parties to agree to a lower rate.
Recording-artist mechanical royalties
Recording-artist royalties (and contracts) are extremely complex and a hotbed of debate in the music world. From the outside, the calculation appears fairly simple. Artists are paid royalties usually somewhere between 8% and 25% of the suggested retail price of the recording. Exactly where it falls depends on the clout of the artist (a brand new artist might receive less than a well-known artist). From this percentage, a 25% deduction for packaging is taken out (even though packaging rarely costs 25% of the total price of the CD or cassette).
That sounds simple enough, but there are many more issues that affect what a recording artist actually makes in royalties.
Free goods - Recording artists only earn royalties on the actual number of recordings sold -- not those that are given away free as promotions. Rather than discounting the price to distributors, many record companies give a certain number away for free (about 5% to 10% depending on the artist). Recording companies also give away many copies to radio stations as "promo" copies. There is also a reduction in royalties made for copies of the recording sold through record clubs.
Return privilege - Recordings in the form of CDs or cassettes have a 100% return privilege. This means that record stores don't have to worry about being stuck with records they can't sell. Most other businesses don't work this way, but the music industry has to be more flexible and timed to demand. What's hot today may be forgotten tomorrow... This leads us to reserves. The recording company may hold back a portion of the artist's royalties for reserves that are returned from record stores. (Usually about 35% is held back.)
90% - Back in the days of vinyl records, there was a lot of breakage when record albums were shipped out for distribution. Because of this, recording companies only paid artists based on 90% of the shipment, assuming that 10% would be broken. Even as vinyl was phased out, this practice continued. Today it is gone for the most part, but there are still a few holdouts.
So, here is how it looks so far. Let's say a CD sells for $15. Right away we deduct 25% from that for packaging, which makes the royalty base $11.25. Now let's say our artist has a 10% royalty rate and that his CD sells one million copies. That sounds great! The artist would earn $1,125,000! Except 10% of those were actually freebies, so we really have to calculate that royalty based on 900,000, which makes the royalty $1,012,500, and of course, there are few costs we haven't talked about yet.
Let's see what these recoupable expenses do to our artist's $1,012,500 royalty we calculated earlier. Suppose the recording costs were $300,000 (100% recoupable), promotion costs were $200,000 (100% recoupable), tour costs were $200,000 (50% recoupable), and a music video cost $400,000 (50% recoupable). That comes out to:
$300,000 + $200,000 + $100,000 + $200,000 = $800,000
Suddenly our artist isn't making a million plus, he's making $212,500. But don't forget there is also a manager to be paid (usually 20%), as well as a producer and possibly several band members. The artist won't see any royalty money until all of these expenses are paid.
(howstuffworks.com)
i know this isnt exactly the samething as djing, but its the same kind of thing
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