Royalties For Songwriters: The real skinny...

Some postings from Chuck Cannon's Facebook page for all you would-be songwriters out there hoping to make it rich...

Here is a breakdown of the royalty payment system for songwriters...

The compulsory rate (which is not negotiated, but set by the copyright tribunal at the behest of congress) is 9.1 cents. In other words, when you purchase a cd, each song earns 9.1 cents.

So, more simple math:
Let's say a cd sells for $15
Let's say it is commercially successful and 1 million units sell.
15 million dollars.
Let's say there are ten songs on the cd.
Each song earns $91,000
Let's say there is one songwriter on the song.
She is likely signed to a publishing deal.
She and her publisher spilt that $91,000=$45,500

Again, the songwriter did not get to negotiate this deal in any way.

Let's say our songwriter wrote the song with the artist at a 50-50 split.

Now we are at $22,750 for our successful songwriter.

But wait ... the songwriter is subject to the record label's "controlled composition" because of writing the song with the record label's artist. They only pay 75% of statutory rate.

Now she gets $17,062.50

IF the label pays accurately. 

In all my years (over 30 of them) as a pro songwriter, I have audited record companies numerous times. NEVER ONCE have they over-paid. EVERY audit has revealed they underpaid me - typically by about 30% - and then, instead of paying what they know they owe, they offer 50 cents on the dollar for what the audit reveals. And every single time, I take their offer because the expense and years of lawsuits are simply not worth the hassle.