Streaming Royalties

Royalties are the payments made to an artist/writer for the use of a song. Royalties have long been of concern to artists, writers, publishers and record labels; the constant changes in the business have caused individuals to pay more attention to the changes in royalty rates.  Streaming services have introduced new concerns regarding fair compensation and royalty rates.

It is important that artists and writers understand the royalty system and how to monetize their content outside of record sales.  One of the best way to ensure an artist/producer receives the proper royalties are to register with a Performance Rights Organization such as ASCAP or SoundExchange. These organizations collect and distribute royalties on behalf of the content creator for services such as music streaming.

Services such as Pandora and Spotify have repeatedly made the news for their streaming royalty practices.  Several artists and record labels disagree with Spotify’s pay structure and have opted against their content being available on the service. On the other hand, industry execs and artists are looking forward to the addition of a streaming service from iTunes.  Apple direct licenses with labels the pay rates are expected to be higher than current streaming services. Apple’s newest streaming service could easily become a favorite among industry execs eliminating competition in the market.

Peoples, G. (2014, Aug. 6). This Music Royalty Cheat Sheet Can Help You Understand a Complicated System. Retrieved Aug. 7, 2014, from http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/6207107/this-music-royalty-cheat-sheet-can-help-you-understand-a-complicated-system.

 Royalty. (n.d.). The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Retrieved August 10, 2014, from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/royalty

The Payout: How iTunes’ Royalty Rates Will Work. (2013). Billboard, 125(35), 25.

Digital Girl in a Digital World

The days of music being available exclusively though a physical record are long gone.  Fans no longer race to record stores for new releases, instead music is instantly available either through downloads or streaming services. Listeners are able to access these online services from virtually anywhere with an Internet connection through mobile applications and web browsers.

Digital music sales have recently been embraced industry-wide following the decline in physical album sales and piracy. Industry leaders had been discovering new ways to engage fans and encourage downloads such as iTunes Store exclusives, where content is unavailable in any other medium or platform.  Artists like Beyoncé have recently released content via iTunes digital download before making the content available across other mediums. 

The popularity of streaming services are causing further change in the industry for artists, publishers and labels. According the Neilsan SoundScan, in 2013, digital track sales decreased from 1.34 billion to 1.26 billion in the U.S. for the first time.  The same year over 118.1 billion songs were streamed through services like YouTube, Pandora, Rhapsody and Spotify. Online streaming services range from internet radio such as Pandora to on-demand services such as Spotify and Rhapsody. As the market share for digital music consumption is growing, it is predicted that personal radio will always be leader due to its ease in listening.

McAlevey, T.. (2014, Aug. 7). Guest Post: Forget the Rhetoric, Streaming Music Is Already Profitable. BillboardBiz Retrieved Aug. 8, 2014, from http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/digital-and-mobile/6214054/guest-post-forget-the-rhetoric-streaming-music-is.

Luckerson, V. (2014). Spotify and YouTube Are Just Killing Digital Music Sales. Time.Com, 1.