Artist royalties
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Artist royalties are a complex and often contentious issue within the music industry. Here are some key insights from trusted experts on the topic:
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Audit and Royalty Payments: Cory Doctorow explains that artists often have contracts guaranteeing royalties and the ability to audit royalty statements. However, many audits reveal accounting discrepancies favoring the labels over the artists. In several cases, labels offer artists a reduced payout to avoid disputes and require non-disclosure agreements to prevent publicizing discrepancies 1.
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Ownership of Musical Composition Rights: David Rosenthal and Ben Gilbert describe how songwriters can own their musical composition copyrights, often through music publishers. Historically, publishers took 50% of royalties, but this has shifted to songwriters paying a fixed fee to publishers for handling rights. This shift has given songwriters more control over licensing decisions 2.
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Major Labels' Control: Cory Doctorow highlights that major labels like Universal, Warner, and Sony control the majority of sound recordings and compositions. This dominance influences streaming royalty rates and minimum payouts, often disadvantaging independent artists and smaller labels who receive lower per-stream payments without additional benefits 3.
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Legal Challenges and Solutions: Doctorow suggests that modifying state contract laws to prevent non-disclosure agreements related to royalty discrepancies could significantly increase artists' earnings. This change, he argues, would avoid hiding accounting errors and benefit artists more than extended copyright terms ever have 1.
These insights reveal the power imbalances and financial challenges artists face regarding royalties and the significant impact of legislative and contract reforms in addressing these issues.
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