When do recording artists get paid?

[Esurientes]

I've wondered this ever since boycotting recording artists became popular: when exactly do they get their money? Is it after you buy their cd? When they sign their contract? Thanks for answering!

[Loonman]

1. Right away

They get an advance against future album sales.

[Occulus]

2. Which is why so many

good bands in the '80s went belly-up. When all was said and done, even though their (one, single) album sold over a million copies or whatever, they ended up owing the people on the other side of their recording contracts some big, big bucks.

[Loonman]

3. Yep, you don't see royalties for awhile

Sometimes never at all.

[Robb]

4. Don't forget those big BMI/ASCAP checks....

...We got one every six months that was smaller than the postage on the envelope... :eyes:

[Loonman]

7. NIN and Sister Machine Gun

Don't make a dime from any sales of their TVT stuff.

[7th_Sephiroth]

8. robb man

i love that life in hell pic you got

[Robb]

14. Why, thanks!

Scanner + Photoshop + Free Time = Avatar. ;)

[Screaming Lord Byron]

5. Either you take a big advance, thus forcing the label to support you

to get their money back, or you take a small advance and recieve 'real' money sooner. In the US, if you can top 500,000 in sales (very roughly - all depends on the deal) you should be starting to make money.

[otohara]

6. Depends on Contract

established popular (guarnteed sales) artists get most of their money up front (based on estimated sales of new release) Bonuses to follow based on how many units are sold, say if it goes gold, or platinum.

New artists get some money up front, then if sales go well, I would home more money would follow, unless the record company has totally screwed them from royalties based on sales.

Contracts are based on the artist releasing XX amount of LP's over a period of time also. That way the record company owns you for several years to come.

The record companies don't spend any money promoting new releases these days. They rely completly on radio air play / MTV - which as we all know have playlists consisting of 50 songs. Which works really well if you're say...50 cent, and not so good if you're Steve Winwood or Boz Scaggs and your new releases in 2003 were played once or twice on an Adult Alternative station when the moon was full at 3AM. Thus fans of old established artists rarely hear about these new releases.

[dwckabal]

9. A great book on the ins and outs

of the recording industry is Confessions of a Record Producer by Moses Avalon. For the average recording contract, the band gets $500,000 for recording, promotion, touring, whatever. After that money is gone, the band doesn't see dime one until the record company gets their money back. On average, a band has to sell at least a million units before they start seeing royalties.

There are also contracts that specify an artist gets less royalties for so-called "new technologies", i.e. CD's; lots of other things to watch out for. On average, a band only gets about 10% to 12% of the wholesale cost of a CD (what the record stores pay for it, NOT what you pay for it).

Also, artists recieve NO royalties for CD's that are purchased by the third tier of stores, i.e. Wal-Mart, Circuit City, etc.

The record companies are scamming artists big time.

[alfredo]

10. touring is how bands make money, or in the case of some, how they

pay back what they owe to the company.

Indie labels are good in that they allow some freedom, but they do not have the market clout.

Had a friend who wrote a song that did well in Europe, and was part of a good indie release by Maura O'Connell. He made 85 cents in royalties for the year.

[Esurientes]

11. Thanks

Thank you .. DU has such helpful people on the boards!

So it seems that the call for boycotting the Dixie Chicks, Steve Earle, etc. will not hurt them unless it's sustained for a long time? (And the boycotters have such short attention spans!)

[Screaming Lord Byron]

12. Can't see Right Wing types buying Steve Earle records anyhow.

Won't hurt him a damned bit.

[Billy Burnett]

13. Please define recording artists

Most of the discussion here is about bands or acts.

Studio musicians are recording artists too. So are the engineers, and the pre/post mixdown/mastering artists. Some of these fine professionals do piece work, some do contract work, some are union some are not, some negiotiate royalties... it all depends on the job - TV or radio ads, demos, specialty applications, film sound tracks or albums. Most studio musicians do piece work and are paid that way, some have studio contracts with percentage or profit sharing strategies. Mixing and mastering contracts are usually flat fee, with a few exceptions.


Some of the oft unmentioned recording artists are the electrical and acoustic engineers who imagine, design, build and maintain the instruments and the state of the art recording equipment and studios. They get awards too.

[Jack The Tab]

15. This article is a must read for anyone getting ready to be signed...

http://www.negativland.com/albini.html

One of the best articles I've read about the nature of the music industry.