General Music Chat

Hi all,

our band is finishing up a CD (low budget, self-promoted/distributed, very low print run). All of the songs were written by one member of the band. Obviously, no one will get rich off this venture, but is there a standard formula for compensating that band member differently from the rest with CD sales (after we have covered our costs)?

Thanks,

Dan

Hi all,

our band is finishing up a CD (low budget, self-promoted/distributed, very low print run). All of the songs were written by one member of the band. Obviously, no one will get rich off this venture, but is there a standard formula for compensating that band member differently from the rest with CD sales (after we have covered our costs)?

Thanks,

Dan

Ditto the above response about "who invested in the project?"

But after that there is also the royalties owed the songwriter, which is .091 per song, per unit MANUFACTURED (whether sold or not).

You should sign up with BMI Live (ASCAP has something similar) so the songwriter can also get paid performance royalties by them for every concert you do.


All the best in your venture

Writer royalities (and publisher royalties, if there is one) paid by BMI/ASCAP - are only paid based on sales from certain places. If you have 1000 CDs made from one of the dupe houses to sell at your gigs there will be no royalty pay-outs.

Writer royalities (and publisher royalties, if there is one) paid by BMI/ASCAP - are only paid based on sales from certain places. If you have 1000 CDs made from one of the dupe houses to sell at your gigs there will be no royalty pay-outs.

The PROs (BMI, ASCAP, SESAC in the USA) only pay for broadcast performances, which include live performances, and radio/tv plays, juke boxes, etc. Has nothing to do with sales.

Mechanicals are paid by whoever owns the master copyrights of the manufactured CDs. Usually the record company, but in this case the artist(s). Again, nothing to do with sales, but rather how many units are manufactured.

Whenever someone records a song written by another person, they are obliged by law to pay .091 per song, per unit manufactured to the owner of the copyright. In the biz, that's usually administered by the Publisher (often a sub-company of the record label or vice-versa) who then subtracts their cut and pays the writer.

Most Publishers and record companies are not going to chase down an indie artist that records a cover of their song (or uses a sample) until they sell about 2,500 units. It's not cost effective to hire a lawyer until there is money involved...but that doesn't mean its legal.

Whom do I pay, Jimmy Page & Robert Plant or Robert Johnson & Howlin' Wolf?

Thanks Yod. So for a run of 1,000 Cds you would owe $91 for one cover song? I was under the impression it was more like $200.

yep.

That's what I pay to writers....and it's what I'm supposed to get according to Congress, but the label robs me by calling it "recoupables" which I do owe as an artist, though their (ahem) "accounting" is quite creative. But as the writer of my own songs (which I cover as the artist) they are required by law to pay me...and don't.

Some are worse than others, depending on the laws governing their state. Contracts that were outlawed in the 70s by California are perfectly fine with the State of Tennessee, which is why every label has an office there now.

Labels have creative ways to stick it to the artist hidden in the contract. One of those is the "packaging deduction". My former label charged 25k for "packaging deductions" which I thought had something to do with manufacturing...but it's not. That was the charge for them to make the decision about what my cover would be.

In reality, most major label releases lose money. One in eight will make a profit, so they figure out ways to make sure that ONE will pay them back for the other eight.

Whom do I pay, Jimmy Page & Robert Plant or Robert Johnson & Howlin' Wolf?

Whoever owns the copyright, not necessarily who wrote the song in that case. Once Howlin' Wolf has won a suit, then Zep will owe him whatever they collected. They will only owe damages on top of reparations to him if the song was registered with the Library of Congress.


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Songwriters have no incentive to continue being so...

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/digital- ... S~G8Q.html