Monday, March 26, 2012

How much does an artist make based on a $.99 single download??



With Eminem winning his latest battle with Universal Music over royalties, it got me digging into what an artist actually makes with these downloads. Now we know the playing field was skewed over the past 60 plus years. And with the digital age being ushered in we now know those previous paradigms are crumbling. But the industry itself hasn’t been going down without a fight. Like a classic boxing match they have been taking punches but refuse to fall. Now there used to be 6 major distributors. That’s down to 3 and with the impending sale of EMI that will leave two. So the stakes are crucial as this continues to play out. Now Chuck D has also files a multi-million dollar lawsuit looking for back digital royalties. And as expected the labels are balking. But here’s the reality. With digital downloads there aren’t any CD cases. No track listing on paper. Just a file download. So those manufacturing costs go out the window. So the royalty rate for digital downloads at minimum needs to be adjusted. But have the labels cared enough to address this? Of course not. That is why major artist have multi-million dollar lawsuits. To get the distributors attention. Common sense dictates that the previous label shenanigans will continue to fall. But we’ll see.

Read more on: Gothamjungle.com

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