On average when an music artist is signed to a MAJOR record label, are they paid any money upfront?
February 152010
2. Do artist get paid for their songs that play on the radio/commercials/tv/movies?
Most of the time, the artist these days delivered an album produced by a production company. Labels themselves hardly even have studios themselves these days.
Usually there is an advance on royalties (on the sale of the eventual CD); so yes, an artist will usually get some money up front. Whether they see anymore is the question. The more money you get up front, the more you gotta pay back – and labels are famous for worknig the accounting, so that the artist pays for everything, including marketing the record. That’s a big chunk of change.
For the most part – for radios/commercials, etc. – well – it’s complicated. If you write songs, you get some every time it plays in a movie,tv, radio, etc. These amounts are set by negotiations with BMI and ASCAP. If you’re a writer – you get a slice for every song on a CD that is given away/sold – this amount is set by Congress.
If you perform, you get some money every time it plays on an Internet station. If it’s in your contract – and you’re a performer, you can get a cut of any recording / use in TV/film. Usually 50% of whatever the record label gets.
The many different ways to get paid – are the reason that it’s so easy for an artist to get screwed over. Hard to keep track of ‘em all.
February 15th, 2010 at 9:41 pm
Most of the time, the artist these days delivered an album produced by a production company. Labels themselves hardly even have studios themselves these days.
Usually there is an advance on royalties (on the sale of the eventual CD); so yes, an artist will usually get some money up front. Whether they see anymore is the question. The more money you get up front, the more you gotta pay back – and labels are famous for worknig the accounting, so that the artist pays for everything, including marketing the record. That’s a big chunk of change.
For the most part – for radios/commercials, etc. – well – it’s complicated. If you write songs, you get some every time it plays in a movie,tv, radio, etc. These amounts are set by negotiations with BMI and ASCAP. If you’re a writer – you get a slice for every song on a CD that is given away/sold – this amount is set by Congress.
If you perform, you get some money every time it plays on an Internet station. If it’s in your contract – and you’re a performer, you can get a cut of any recording / use in TV/film. Usually 50% of whatever the record label gets.
The many different ways to get paid – are the reason that it’s so easy for an artist to get screwed over. Hard to keep track of ‘em all.
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