Hi, and welcome. Music royalties are the income,the earnings for the pure songwriter,lyric writer, music composer..In short, people who do not do any performing.. On the other hand, there are many performing songwriters, musicians, who also get their share of the royalties..But for the pure creating,non-performing artists it are the only stream of income they receive..
It all depends on how big your song will hit ..and get exposer through radio,TV, and whatever other media.. Every time your song is performed on stage , or played on the radio..you get a amount of money.. Not much..true, but that's why I said that it's all depending of how big your song will be..
You get paid a small amount of money every time your song is performed in public.. This can be on stage, on television, or on the radio ( what brings in the most income ).. You get paid..On the end of the ride, every year( and this can takes years and years..) you will get paid ..
When you have written a song, then you can do three things..
You can try to find a music publisher. He will pitch your songs to record labels, and music producers, in case he accept your music, of course..
You can also sell your publishing rights. A publisher, or record label..any one can buy your rights..Then they will pay you a fair price for your song.. Let's say that they pay you $50,000..
This means that they are very sure of your song.. They will find a famous celebrity artist, and then collect your royalties.. Could be millions.. That's a good trade. Fifty thousand , for a few million..
Believe it or not, but those things happen.. Sometimes a band are mostly a bunch of friends who are start playing together..
To keep the bunch happy, they state in the contract that everyone gets an equal part, even from royalties..Remember the Beatles.. John and Paul were writing every song, but in the end they've give away 50% of 50 %.. So, every band member got 12,5 %..
50 % goes to the music publisher, and the other 50 to the band. This part divided in four equal parts...You'll see..
Royalties are the earnings that a songwriter and publisher receives of being the legally owner of the copy rights or performing rights..that are paid to the owners of the copyright. This could be a 50/50 split-up between music publisher and songwriter..
But then there's a third solution...In most cases it's an equal split-up earnings of royalties, but sometimes the songwriter is also the publisher and then he gets the full 100% of the royalties..
You can do this also.. You can start your own publishing company..
You receive 100% of all the incoming royalties from the rights on the songs..
Performing rights are paid on the recordings,on the performance
on stage and finally when the songs are broadcast on radio or TV. The
copyright earnings are all regulated by a copy right organizations, who
collecting the rights and distributes them among their members..
For
the United States there's the American Society of composers,Authors,
and publishers..Better known as ASCAP.. Another performing rights
organization is BMI (Broadcast Music Inc..)
There's also, SESAC (Society of European Stage Authors and composers)
Becoming
a member of one of these organizations can be a advantage, certainly if
you are a pure songwriter.. There must be a way to earn money as a
songwriter, and these organizations collect the money on the behalf of
the songwriters and composers..If they didn't exist,then there was
nothing to earn also..
One last thing,70 years after the
songwriter has died, the music, songs, become public domain..It's means
that the copyright has expired..
Between the time die, and expiring date, in that time,the music royalties goes to relatives..of the songwriter and publisher..
Return to 'Writing Songs' page..
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The webmaster
Paul F.
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