Money, recordings, music and songs

Well yes. Songs and music sometimes make money. Although not always. Or not as much as we would like. Or yes, but it doesn't end up in the pockets of who we believe. In this tutorial we are going to track the money generated by the trade in musical recordings.

Money and songs The music business is something old that has evolved over time. Since ancient times, musicians and singers probably received something in exchange for entertaining parties or celebrations, flattering and distracting kings or aristocrats, and worshiping the gods of duty. Their income or rewards came, basically, from their performances, from the spectacle of playing and singing, from what today we would call performances or concerts.

The printing press

But starting in the 15th century, with the invention of the printing press and improvements in musical notation, a new business appeared on the musical scene: the sale of copies of sheet music. What we know today as music editors o publishers began to trade in these new products and, so that both they and the authors had legal coverage, the concept of copyright was invented, that is, the right to copy, and copyright. Briefly summarizing the matter, publishers and composers reached an agreement to print and market musical works and share the profits. This is greatly simplifying reality, I know, but this way the general idea is clear and we can move on. We can say that this situation lasted until the end of the 19th century, approximately.

The phonograph, gramophone and records

With the technical revolution derived from the industrial revolution, commerce and cities grew, and many new inventions filled homes.

Gramophone Among those inventions, one changed the history of music forever: the phonograph. This invention recorded and played audio on delicate cylinders. A revolution that, shortly after, would be improved by the gramophone who already used more or less the discs that we know today. This caused the appearance of record companies and the big business of selling copies of these musical media. Later, commercial radio appeared and practically the entire century passed with this model.

The digital age

But at the end of that same 20th century, the new industrial revolution, what we call digital, once again changed music and its business completely. Digitally encoded music, without the need for a physical format, new forms of communication, the easy exchange of files between individuals and streaming technology, meant that in a few years almost no one bought vinyl, cassettes or compact discs.

Spotify on computer Record companies had lost their reason for being and had to become promoters of recordings and artists, rather than producers of songs.

Money in music in the 21st century

Today, the money generated by the trade of songs and music is very different from what it was in the last century. If we leave aside concerts, merchandising and so on and focus on musical recordings We can see two main avenues through which income flows.

The compositionsThe recordings

Let's see who gets what part of the pie.

1. The compositions

There are basically two entities that share the part of the profits linked to the copyrights of music or songs:

ComposersMusic publishers

He author of a song, for example, in addition to its moral rights to the works, which, in principle, cannot be sold, it initially also has all the commercial and intellectual rights. Very good. So the thing is that trading music or songs is a job in itself. A completely different activity from composing or writing songs and music in general. To do this work, even before musical recordings, as we have already seen, there are the music publishers. To put it quickly and now, these companies reach agreements with them to keep a percentage of the income derived from the sale of copies of the music they have composed.

Song score Controversy often comes in these negotiations, when a music publisher has much more commercial power than a given artist or author and asks or, directly, demands 50% or more of those rights, of that potential money. A composer can easily be forced to accept abusive conditions in order to earn an income and continue his creative work. You may even lose commercial control of your compositions and see your work in advertising or other places where you would prefer your music not to be played. It's a complicated topic. The market and business do not usually show mercy or show mercy to the weakest parties in the matter. But if you want to receive your piece of the pie, you either become your own editor or you will have to dirty your soul in these types of negotiations.

2. The recordings

For a musical recording to exist, be marketed and generate money, some participants are needed.

The record companiesThe distributorsMusic stores or vendors

If we look at the musical recordings themselves, we must understand that the owner is the one who pays for that recording to be made and that he will end up owning the so-called master, from which the individual copies will be made, whether physical or digital. Traditionally, the companies that own music recordings tended to be the record labels or record labels. They will pay the musicians, producers and sound engineers, the rental of facilities if applicable, and everything necessary for that recording to be ready to be sold.

Records, vinyl Once the famous master is produced, the recording must be promoted and distributed, that is, sent to music stores. Among the companies distributors In music, digital ones now stand out, because physical copies are a small percentage of the business. CD Baby, DistroKid, Tunecore, Ditto Music or La Cúpula Music are some of them. Where, in fact, you buy music online is in stores such as iTunes, Spotify or Amazon among others, in their subscription services or, if you want physical copies in a shopping center or small stores specializing in vinyl, especially. Subscriptions to music catalogs are another option. Spotify, Apple Music, etc… They pay an amount of 0,000XX for each play of a song. And online radios, such as Pandora, iHeartRadio or Last.fm, among many others. These online radio stations usually pay royalties to the rights owners depending on the musical selections they make.

Practical case

Summing up. Let's follow the money trail. A song is sold in a digital store for 1 dollar or 1 euro, it doesn't matter. For a price of 1. That 1 will be split between the owner of the recording and the owner(s) of the copyright to the song. The percentages will be those agreed upon in the record contract. Let's assume 80% goes to the record company and 20% goes to the copyright. ATTENTION. Normally, it's not so good for the artist. So, 80 cents for the record company and 20 for the author/publisher. If the author has received an advance to make the recording, he will not charge anything until that debt is covered. Yes, an advance is a debt. Of the 20 cents of authorship, let's assume that, according to the agreement with the music publisher, there is a 50% distribution. So, 10 cents for the author or authors and 10 for the music editor or publisher on duty. Subtract the taxes you must pay depending on where you live and that will be your income as a creator from the sale of a song. THIS IS JUST AN EXAMPLE. It may not even be an approximation of most of the real situations of a songwriter. If the case is not a sale, but rather the income comes from subscription services, the matter is even more complex.

Online music services

Conclusions

We could add that the music of a song can generate money for being used in the audiovisual field, in events, etc. In those cases, a similar percentage distribution would be followed, as agreed in the contracts. If you have made it this far, I congratulate you. It's not a very fun topic, but if you want to make a living with music you'll have to spend time with these issues. Nowadays, as an artist, and there are many cases like that, you can do without some of these intermediaries but, then, their work will have to be done by you. You will have to assume legal tasks, promotion, control in transactions and sales, and a long list of related matters. Can be done: yes. We want to do it: I'm not so sure. We write songs and, carefully, we reach agreements with other people, the music business professionals, we test for a while if we understand each other, if we agree. And, if not, we look for other professionals and continue writing lyrics, composing music, making songs: it's the most important thing. #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_form { } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_column_with_background { padding: 10px; } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_form_column:not(:first-child) { margin-left: 20px; } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_paragraph { line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_segment_label, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_text_label, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_textarea_label, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_select_label, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_radio_label, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_checkbox_label, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_list_label, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_date_label { display: block; font-weight: normal; } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_text, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_textarea, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_select, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_date_month, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_date_day, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_date_year, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_date { display: block; } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_text, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_textarea { width: 200px; } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_checkbox { } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_submit { } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_divider { } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_message { } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_form_loading { width: 30px; text-align: center; line-height: normal; } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_form_loading > span { width: 5px; height: 5px; background-color: #5b5b5b; }#mailpoet_form_3{border: 1px solid #fcb900;border-radius: 40px;text-align: center;}#mailpoet_form_3 form.mailpoet_form {padding: 20px;}#mailpoet_form_3{width: 70%;}#mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_message {margin : 0; padding: 0 20px;}#mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_paragraph.last {margin-bottom: 0} @media (max-width: 500px) {#mailpoet_form_3 {background-image: none;}} @media (min-width: 500px) { #mailpoet_form_3 .last .mailpoet_paragraph:last-child {margin-bottom: 0}} @media (max-width: 500px) {#mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_form_column:last-child .mailpoet_paragraph:last-child {margin-bottom: 0}} Please leave this field emptyDo you write songs or would you like to?

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