The New Accounting for Musicians

Getting paid. Making it rain. Rollin’ in dough. Getting paper. Making moolah. Cashing in. Scrooge McDuckin’ (yep, that’s one, too. Thanks Google.)
Making money matters, and in the digital age, there are move avenues than ever for artists to collect on their work. We’ve gone so far as to identify 29 revenue streams for today’s musicians and composers. Which ones are growing and which ones are shrinking? That’s what we’re trying to find out through out Money From Music survey. If you’re a U.S. musician, we want you to take part in this important research. Better hurry, though — the online survey closes on Oct. 28.
We’re not the only ones thinking about this stuff.
As Steve Knopper illustrates in this Rolling Stone article “The New Economics of the Music Industry,” the compensation equation across distribution platforms and forms of media is incredibly complicated, even for high profile artists on major labels. The breakdown between service, label, recording artist and songwriter comes down to thousandths of a cent. As licensed services continue to grow and resonate with consumers (fingers crossed) its imperative that all sides of the industry get this compensation equation correct. Click over to Steve’s article for some great graphics breakdowns of different payouts.
Want to know more about how the money breaks down in the cloud or on YouTube? Never fear, we’ve got the 411 on the video giant’s content ID system and online streaming services’ payouts.
Are you a musician? Want to be part of a historic research initiative? Then hurry over to the Money From Music survey and take part in before Friday, October 28. All survey responses are anonymous; data collected will help us identify trends in artist revenue so we can more effectively advocate for equitable artist compensation.
Comments
2 comments postedThis is very helpful. Thank
Submitted by Alexandria Davis, AFM Musician Local 447-704 (not verified) on October 26, 2011 - 12:35pm.This is very helpful. Thank you. I will share it around.
Interesting article. I was
Submitted by Drew (not verified) on January 17, 2012 - 9:51pm.Interesting article. I was reading sites like spotify don't pay very well per download. I wonder if they'll ever work that out? -D indie music blog
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