Publishing and Royalties 101:
The Nuts and Bolts of Songwriting Income
(Part One of a Two-part
Article)
By Darcie-Nicole Wicknick
Special to MusicBizAdvice.com
HOW DOES AN ARTIST MAKE MONEY TO PAY BACK LARGE
ADVANCES?
In a nutshell, artists make back their money (and hopefully make a living) in
three ways:
- Via their menial share of the record sales (8-12% before
the cost of free product and packaging).
- Big money from live appearances. Artists get paid for
every magazine cover, every interview on Oprah and The Tonight Show, every TRL hosting,
every concert performance, every time they sing at 5 a.m. on Good Morning America and then
again at midnight on Saturday Night Live.
- Merchandise sales (posters, T-shirts, pins, clothes,
etc.).
If the artist is lucky, he/she is only paying back the
label from record sales (out of their 8-12%), which takes longer but at least they can
afford to eat in the meantime. The producer gets 1-5% of the song as well, and the artist
manager gets 15-25% of the artists’ gross income from all sources of the
artist’s income resulting from the artist’s creative endeavors. If the artist
tours, does TV appearances, movies, or is a spokesperson in commercials, the artist’s
agent gets 10% of each appearance fee. That is why artists who don’t write their own
material work so hard to promote themselves, and it’s why they depend so heavily on
sales: to get out of debt!
Good luck, all you writers and artists out there! And remember, before you sign anything, please
seek the guidance of an entertainment attorney when entering into a contract with any
entity on matters pertaining to your career and licenses thereof. After your attorney has
negotiated a good and fair agreement with you and a publisher, the publisher (in the right
circumstances) may then execute license contracts for work garnered by your song.
Stay tuned for Part 2, coming June 1, 2004!
Darcie-Nicole Wicknick is a freelance Music Business Consultant and a graduate of Berklee
College of Music. Her firm, "…Ask Darcie" is located in Boston,
Massachuesetts. For more information click on http://go.berkleemusic.com/askdarcie1
Special thanks to Attorneys Ed Blomquist, Maggie Lange, and Jay Fialkov, instructors of
Entertainment Law and Publishing-related courses at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
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