Musician Compensation

How will artists get paid in this shakeup within the music industry? Yesterday, I wrote about the Songza website where apparently Songza pays for licenses from all of the major performing rights organizations. And artists are getting paid from itunes and amazon sales, around 14% of the price.

Now, the major labels are proposing a $5/month charge to be added to internet service provider bills. Each customer would pay $60 per year to download, listen to, and swap all the music files of their choice. The artist would then get paid based upon the number of listens and downloads. My main issue with this is that it is somewhat of a guaranteed revenue stream for the labels. What I think will eventually happen is that the labels would be cut out of the equation and artists will begin to see more money per song play.

That brings up the issue of promotion. One job of the labels is to promote the music under their control. I’m sure former employees of the labels would gladly take on promotional work as an entrepreneurial endeavor. Will promotional work fall under a huge 360 deal or will it be the sole role for particular individuals charged with overseeing all new media promotions for a particular band?

Stay tuned,
Erik Rostad
erikrostad.com