Some things about songwriter's royalties that many folks might not know or don't consider...


The last few days, I have been listening to a record that I really like.

Jon Pardi's "California Sunrise". I highly recommend this one.

I had not heard Pardi's music prior to this - as far as I know...

This is new, current Country, but has a lot of "that older sound" (sort of makes it a "gateway drug" for modern Country). Some of the songs have that '90s sound and feel, some have today's sound and feel, some a hybrid. All are well-written and produced. A nice variety of styles.

Wikipedia generally has information on artists and record releases that I find interesting - particularly for new music that I like and don't know a lot about. So, I looked this one up.

Now... some numbers... (this all from Wikipedia)

The album (released on June 17, 2016) debuted at No. 1 on the Country Albums chart, selling 24,000 copies in its first week. As of December 2016, the album has sold 87,100 copies in the United States.

This is after a single being released prior to the album release:
"Head Over Boots" - released to radio on September 14, 2015 and has sold 701,000 copies in the United States as of January 2017.
...and one after:
"Dirt on My Boots" - released to radio on September 19, 2016 - has sold 250,000 copies in the United States as of January 2017.


Last week, the album was #12 on the Billboard Country chart.
This week it is #14. It has been on the charts for 31 weeks (and did debut at #1).
Very surprising that these days, a record with these stats has only sold 87,000 records.


So... if you had a cut on this record... how much did you take to the bank (not considering taxes, etc.)?

The current mechanical royalty is 9.1 cents. So the songs on this record (that were not singles) each generated $7,917 ...(87,000 X .091). That is split 50/50 between songwriters and publishers - $3,958. As you can see below, most songs these days (that get cut) have 3 writers (on average).

That's $1,319 for you as 1 of 3 writers.




1. "Out of Style" ...................Lynn Hutton · Jeff Hyde · Neil Mason 5:05
2. "Cowboy Hat" .....................Jon Pardi · Brett Beavers · Bart Butler 3:18
3. "Head Over Boots" ................Pardi · Luke Laird 3:23
4. "Night Shift" ....................Tofer Brown · Phillip LaRue · Billy Montana 2:52
5. "Can’t Turn You Down" ............Randy Montana · Corey Crowder · Jeremy Stover 3:24
6. "Dirt on My Boots" ...............Rhett Akins · Jesse Frasure · Ashley Gorley 3:23
7. "She Ain't In It" ................Clint Daniels · Wynn Varble 3:18
8. "All Time High" ..................Pardi · Butler · Brice Long 3:53
9. "Heartache on the Dance Floor" ...Pardi · Butler · Long 3:25
10. "Paycheck" ......................Pardi · Laird 3:08
11. "Lucky Tonight" .................Pardi · Jim McCormick 3:28
12. "California Sunrise" ............Pardi · Butler · Larry McCoy 4:14


Of course, if you get a cut, the likelihood is that you have a staff writing position - which means you have been getting an advance on future royalties (as your "pay"). That AND half the cost any demos the publisher has done of your song for plugging purposes goes back to the publisher from any royalties you make. You don't see any of that royalty money until you've out-earned what they have paid you.

Now, if you are lucky enough (or, really, GOOD enough) to have writing credit on a single... "Heads Over Boots" (750k sales) generated $34,125 for 2 writers - $17,062 each - (and Luke Laird is his own publisher - so he gets another $17K)

Now, this is peanuts compared to what airplay royalties would be - where the real money is... A #1 radio song can easily generate $1M in royalties for the writers - which they split - and the same for the publishers - which Luke also gets!. (I've seen a couple of writers blow through that in less than a year - some are ill prepared for such a windfall).


Have a listen to the record....


1. "Out of Style" ...............
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmbW2_K7BMA
2. "Cowboy Hat" .................
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us8nErZYtZo
3. "Head Over Boots" ............
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K0akU-Rdv8
4. "Night Shift" ................
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdV5CYTgNfQ
5. "Can’t Turn You Down" ........
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNw7VxgcmBQ
6. "Dirt on My Boots" ...........
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCxbgqyC2Wg
7. "She Ain't In It" ............
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWjg65iMk-E
8. "All Time High" ..............
9. "Heartache on the Dance Floor"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7RSc3RTYaM
10. "Paycheck" ..................
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiUUcjCY-Wo
11. "Lucky Tonight" .............
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ex25n6tHY4
12. "California Sunrise" ........
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYt7-szoRUM

Interesting numbers. Yep.... unless the CD sells into the gold or platinum area, there's not a lot of money in the mechanicals. But as you point out, the airplay is where the money stacks up assuming you get into the top 10 or higher nationally.

That also explains the seriously tough competition to get writing sessions and cuts with artists who are at the top of the charts.

Good info.

That's pretty amazing to see! So you're saying if you want to make money, write hits that get A LOT of airplay? That seems reasonable enough

I agree with you about JP's sound. There is actually A LOT of this kind of thing IF people actually listen. I find so many people point to the song or two they don't like from an artist and pretend that the market today. FAR from it.


Careful They may just get their "hooks" in you yet

Thanks for breaking that all down. VERY interesting!

Letting that album play.... nice music....

#7... She ain't in it.... wow... just wow!

I have heard the "Boots over" tune on the radio more than a few times...

That is a fascinating discourse on the state of royalties now days. What about Apple Music, Pandora, Spotify and YouTube? I would think there would be some decent change there. I once familiarized myself with the payouts for Spotify but promptly forgot it. We still get the occasional small "digital check" from the 2002 CD we did with Randy. It was sold through CDBaby and they put it out in the digital world and to this day still track it.

Bud

Streaming pays almost nothing to the writers. Millions of streams gets you, maybe, a couple of grand. There are articles out there that have the numbers... they aren't good...


Here is a quote from this article

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/songwriters-royalties-streaming-1.3567947

"American songwriter Kevin Kadish, who co-wrote the body-positive anthem All About That Bass with Meghan Trainor, complained to the U.S. Congress that he received $5,679 US for a song that had 178 million streams."

I thought the airplay royalties were where you made the bulk of your money. If you get heavy rotation at 10 stations per state, that'd be 500 stations playing your song 12-15 times a day. Does anybody know how much you make per play on commercial radio? I know the streams are close to nothing, like $.0004 per stream or something ridiculous like that.

A song on a gold record generates $45,500 in mechanical royalties.
That is split 50/50 between publishers and writers. $22,750
If there are 2 writers on the song, they split the writer's share.
So they each get $11,375.

So, no, actually there is not "big money" in gold. Platinum would be twice that - again, not "big money".

If you've got 5 or 6 cuts on a gold record, you've made a decent living. For that year, anyway. There are only a handful of writers who get that many cuts in a year, much less on a single record. And gold records aren't a guarantee these days...because everyone can stream everything and never BUY a record. And...songwriters careers are a lot like pro athletes - 5 years is a good run. There used to be a handful of "superstars" who had 20 year careers (they aren't getting cuts now). The majority will have a good year or two.

Here is a list of the current "active" sellers in Country:

http://roughstock.com/news/2017/01/41331-top-10-country-albums-chart-january-23-2016

There are 21 gold or higher. Most of those have been on the charts for a year or more to make those numbers. And if you notice, the really BIG sellers are all OLD GUYS - because their old fans still buy records (CDs). As they fall away and younger acts take their place, these number will continue to fall, because eventually, no on will buy albums anymore. Everything will be streamed.

What this tells me is this is good advertising for a tour. If you want to stay home and write and record without touring, good luck. It's also what you need to get booked in one of the few big name clubs in LA. A regular local act no matter now good gets nowhere around here without a serious resume with all this stuff on it.

Bob

I don't think I actually said "big money... in mechanicals"....

To a starving songwriter in Nashville, $10k is like winning the lottery. I remember how broke I was a various times in my life, especially when I first started playing in bands. $10k then would have been simply wonderful. I recall having a conversation with another musician who commented that if he had $10k, he would never have to work another day in his life.....

The whole point being, yes, mechanicals are nice if you get a big cut... but that $10k gets a 20% or so hit for taxes and what's left goes fast....you'll probably have enough to catch your rent up, pay on your car payment and buy some food for the next week, and maybe pay off your credit account at the music store.

Airplay is where the money is hiding for the writers, but getting those airplay spins is the trick. There has to be some sort of buzz going on in other areas to get the attention of those who compile the airplay charts for the radio stations.

Apparently, the PRO you are with gets to make those numbers up as they go. Well maybe not exactly... but kind of seems that way. Of course, they have a formula that varies depending on a multitude of factors. Factors include: Length of the performance, market area, number of stations playing the performance, time of day of the performance, how many times the performance airs, etc....

All works in the BMI repertoire that are performed on radio will be eligible for a Current Activity Payment. BMI calculates a unique royalty rate for each work, which is based upon the license fees collected from stations that performed that work in combination with the number of times each work aired on those stations. For example, if one of your works was performed on 200 radio stations during a quarter, its unique rate is calculated based upon the license fees collected by BMI from those 200 stations. If another work in your catalogue was performed on 2,000 stations in the same quarter, that work’s rate will be different because it will be based upon the license fees collected from those 2,000 stations. All works that were reported to BMI as having been performed on radio during a quarter, regardless of how many times each of the works was performed, are eligible for the Current Activity Payment. The substantial majority of the amount available for distribution each quarter will be used to make Current Activity Payments.

The full BMI info page is here>>> http://www.bmi.com/creators/royalty/us_radio_royalties[i][/i]


NOTE: that info ^^^^^ is for airplay of songs like you hear on any given radio station. Airplay for TV and film is a bit different. Still collected and paid by the PRO but rates can be significantly higher. For example.... on my PRO statements, I have a number of cues (song snippet) that played for 5 seconds in a TV show that earned 5 cents each. That's 60 cent a minute. I have others that earned several dollars and played in a show for about 70 seconds, and everything in between. Those rate scales are different from radio station airplay.

I know this was mentioned a bit in passing, and not the larger point being made in the thread, but this point has had me thinking...



I think that gateway is two ways. I've seen a lot of kids get turned on to older country from these types of situations.

All the way around I feel it's a good thing.

They had an effective way of doing that back in the late 50's

Don't think for a second that that is not still the case.

Yeah, except it's paid in white powder these days.


Regards,


Bob

Wasn't it always?

The more things change....

Is that why they sing about "sugar shakers?"

Great analysis, Floyd! Really interesting how little writers actually make from the royalties as opposed to airwave (and crazy how little they make from streaming!).

This reminded me of the payola episode on WKRP in Cincinnati, not sure if you ever watched that show? The guy giving Carlson a bag of Cocaine to play some records and Carlson, being totally naive about payola, thinking it was foot powder

Great show and yeah that episode was memorable!

Great episode!

And he was running around the office saying "I got a monkey on my foot!"

Absolutely one of the best comedy television shows of all time. Great writing and a wonderful cast.

I really don't want to highjack the thread but ... who remembers the Thanksgiving show with newsman Les Nessman exclaiming, "I thought turkeys can fly" after shoving live turkeys out of a helicopter for a Thanksgiving turkey giveaway.

Just rewatched it:



Actually, that was Mr. Carlson. As the recipient of the covented "Buckeye Newshawk Award", "Silver Sow Award" and the "Copper Cob Award" for excellence in farm reporting, hopefully Les would know that turkeys can't fly... But competence has never been his forte, either.

Oh, Internet... you put so much trivia at my fingertips.

Now back to our regularly scheduled topic of ever-diminishing songwriter royalties.

Not to call you out or be a jerk, but Carlson said that. "As god is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."

Edited: I just saw that someone below posted the clip. That episode was classic. "The Pinedale Shopping Mall was BOMBED today..." Johnny Fever was the perfect stereotype of the hipster DJ of those years.

They did a really good job when the people died at The Who concert too. Very strong writing on that episode to bring home to point of how senseless it is that people got trampled, as if being closer to the stage allows you to hear better.

Eddie and David,

I don't mind being wrong in this case as otherwise David may not have posted the video clip to "refresh" my memory.

Some people may not have seen the show or video before so hopefully this discussion will help the show gain new fans.

If the analysis I read of Spotify's financial report is correct, at the Spotify rate of about $0.00058 per spin, a songwriter who retains all publishing rights to his/her song would need 288,104,634.15 spins to earn the reported average salary of a Spotify employee (around $160,000).

Edit: $168,747 average salary

Hello, Mr. Jane...

So, based on what I read in your very informative post, it would seem that songwriters who publish their own songs have a bit more potential to profit from their compositions. Would that be correct?

LOREN (a.k.a. "bluage")

Yes. Publisher's share is 50% of the deal and writer's share is the other 50%.

However, if you have to have the connections, and are willing to work as hard as a publisher works for you, by plugging your songs to the end users, whether they are artists or production companies, then yes, you can make the full 100%.

Many artists as they get bigger and gain "star power", eventually set up their own publishing companies. They then either become publishers of their own material out right or split the publishing with another publisher who probably does most of the work. It's an easy way for a big artist to not only get the writer's share (split between the writers on a given song) but also to pick up a percentage of the publisher's share as well which is generally a 50/50 split between the 2 publishing companies.

Essentially, anyone who self posts their music to i-tunes or youtube is self publishing without the connections of an established publishing company, and we all know how little money that makes for you.

Owning a small percentage of a large amount certainly beats owning 100% of nothing.

Yes, exactly as Herb described. I get two checks from BMI for example: one as composer, one as publisher.

Well, as my father once said to me, "Son, if you're going to compose music, do it because you enjoy composing music. Then, the money will come..."

Still waitin' to see if that's true!

Actually, I agreed with him, and would believe it even if he had never told me that. I have never, ever, sat down purposely, and with focused deliberation, to compose a song that I imagined would be appealing enough to a mass audience to cause them to want to buy it. How would one even attempt such a thing? Not to mention the fact that I've read story, after story, after story, about musicians who composed something in a casual manner without any expectation of profiting from it...and then, all of a sudden, they had a "hit" on their hands. On the flip side, the songs they wrote that they actually believed could be "hits", never went anywhere.

Trumpeter Lee Morgan's surprise "hit" composition, "The Sidewinder," was a "happy accident." Here's the Wikipedia information:

"According to drummer Billy Hart, Morgan said he had recorded "The Sidewinder" as filler for the album, and was bemused that it had turned into his biggest hit."

Go figure! What does it mean? I think my father got it right...

My personal pipe dream would be to compose a straight-ahead jazz tune that "went viral." It's been years, maybe decades, even, since I heard of a straight-ahead jazz instrumental, or song, that "climbed the charts." When was the last one? Dave Brubeck's and Paul Desmond's "Take Five" in 1959? Eddie Harris' "Exodus" in 1961? Antonio Carlos Jobim's and Vinicius de Moraes' "The Girl From Ipanema" in 1965?

Anyway, I just think it would be cool to walk down the street and hear people snapping their fingers and "be-bop-sha-boppin'" to the tune of a nice instrumental jazz tune, or crooning the lyrics of a melodious jazz ballad...

LOREN (a.k.a. "bluage)