The Business of Songwriting
Ok, you are writing your own songs. Good for you. My student Dayna had her song “Livin’ A Lie “ played on the local radio today. They entered her in a contest for best songs that will be voted on by radio DJ’s in New York. This could be a good break for her. It was a small local contest and the DJ was blown away by her studio recorded professional product.
But what happens when you have a hit song? Here is what you need to know.
Royalties: Mechanical royalties are paid for physical sales, CDs downloads, vinyl records and tapes. Performance royalties accrue as a song is played on the radio, piped in music, or live performance. Syncopation, or Sync fees are earned when a piece of music is used in a TV show or movie. There are also streaming royalties for internet and digital uses, such as ringtones and telephone service.
Radio airplay pays the most. Sales are way down because of the internet, people skip buying the CD’s to purchase singles from the internet. As well, illegal downloads really hurt the royalty stream. The most money now comes from live performances.
Radio airplay is collected by BMI {BROADCAST MUSIC INC} and ASCAP {AMERICAN SOCIETY OF COMPOSERS AND PUBLISHERS}and SESAC {SOCIETY OF EUROPEAN STAGE AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS} They pay quarterly taking out expenses and distribute the remainder to songwriters based on the amount of airplay during that quarter.
All About Rights: It’s all about the deal. A writer owns it all until he has to find a publisher, when you are a new comer, you lose either all the rights or 50% of them just to get your song published. Sometimes, you can negotiate reversion rights, where after a certain amount of time, you can get some of your rights back.
Do your homework, study, Michael Jackson bought the Beatles catalogue and owns all the rights to the Beatles songs.Unfair, no, reality, yes. Now his kids own the rights. there are resources to educate yourself: “All you need to now about the music business” by Donald Passman. “Music, Money and Success”, by Todd and Jeff Brabec. When you write , it time to join ASCAP and BMI.
You can get very wealthy by scoring movies like John Williams. But if you are in it to just be in it and love it, then read up and try not to give it away.
Jessica Marciel
Las Vegas Vocal Training
