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My Song Got Played On Pandora 1 Million Times and All I Got Was $16.89 | 254 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
The traditional model of artist reward for creative output is DEAD,
Authored by: Wol on Tuesday, June 25 2013 @ 12:00 PM EDT
That traditional model was NEVER ALIVE!

What's the stats? Maybe 99% of artists never get a royalty cheque worth
diddley-squat? The recording industry eats pretty much all the profits, and even
the big boys made most of their money on tour, not from royalties. Most
contracts are "net profit" and most companies work on "hollywood
accounting".

And people like Cliff Richard are now seeing all their recordings falling out of
copyright! So the song-writer still gets paid, the record company still gets
paid, but the singer who actually made the song famous gets NOTHING!

How much would he get if he dealt with Pandora direct? Wasn't there an attempt
(don't think it succeeded) to force ALL internet royalties through the
collection agencies so they could take their "cut" and to effectively
outlaw direct deals? So much so that you would have had even to licence your OWN
copyrights via the agencies? So no, I think he'd have trouble getting a good
deal direct, not because it shouldn't be financially viable, but because the
highwaymen don't want to give up their toll-booths, and have got a LOT of stolen
money to lobby with.

Cheers,
Wol

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

A few points:
Authored by: albert on Tuesday, June 25 2013 @ 12:34 PM EDT
1. As an example, ASCAP uses a formula for royalty calculations. See:
http://www.ascap.com/members/payment/royalties.aspx

2. Broadcast performances are the hardest to calculate.

3. Radio & TV stations have a pretty good data on their audience, because ad
rates depend on ratings. So do websites. However, rates will be much lower. The
purpose of radio play is to stimulate sales of CDs, concerts, etc.
That's always been the case.

4. 'Mechanical' royalties (e.g. someone uses your song on a CD) are simple: 9.1
cents per song / minimum 500 unit run.

5. Bars & restaurants using live music must pay $400-500 per year. Recorded
music is handled differently.

Ironically, the BSPs (record companies) charge their artists for production and
promotion up front. A new artist may not see _any_ royalties on their first CD.
The big money is in public performances. They may also be contracted as an
'artist for hire', then the record company effectively owns the copyright
forever.

It's best to consider the Web as an exposure system. You don't 'lose' anything
(but be sure to copyright your songs through the USPTO). Its not a bad deal if
you produce your own CDs. You can market online, charge way less, make way
more. SOTA recording tech is no longer monopolized by the BSPs. They do control
the radio markets.

Exposure is the name of the game. Getting paid anything for advertising is just
a bonus.



[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

My Song Got Played On Pandora 1 Million Times and All I Got Was $16.89
Authored by: tknarr on Tuesday, June 25 2013 @ 01:33 PM EDT

My thought would be that broadcast, whether it be radio or Pandora or the like, ought to be considered simply exposure, not revenue. Broadcasts rarely play all of an artist's songs, or even all of them from a particular album. They aren't easily savable for later replay (it can be done, but the average user isn't going to do it). The money would be in directly providing copies of the songs to people who want them. So:

  • Provide people what they want. Provide an easy way for people to download your songs in digital form. Offer songs in both single-track and album format. Don't force people to buy in just one format, offering only albums will turn off customers who only want a few of your songs or want an esoteric selection that isn't on a single album while offering only singles will annoy the collectors who want all your work. Try custom albums too, packages like "any 12 songs of your choosing". Remember that software's more flexible than physical media.
  • Don't stream. You don't want to pay for bandwidth every time someone wants to listen to the song again. Let them get it and play it using their own bandwidth or computing power.
  • Make it easy for people to listen to your songs. Use standard formats, playable in standard player software. Don't use DRM. It barely slows down the professional pirates, and it makes life miserable for the people who actually paid you. That's exactly the opposite of what you want to do.
  • Make it easy for people to buy your songs. Don't have complex processes or require extra software to get/play your music. Accept standard payment methods. Remember the first rule of a merchant: never get in the way of a customer who wants to give you their money.
  • Unclench about piracy. It's going to happen, accept it. Stop trying to wring every single penny out of everyone, nobody likes Scrooge. Concentrate on the easy 90% of the revenue from the people who either can't be bothered pirating things if there's an easier method or don't want to pirate things if there's a reasonable legal way to get them.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

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