Read this in an article the other day:
Two rock bands, the Allman Brothers Band and Cheap Trick, have filed a lawsuit
against Sony BMG alleging that they are shortchanged when Sony divvies up
royalties from digital downloads.
Filed Thursday in U.S. District Court
in
New York, the suit claims Sony should pay its musicians more as part of a
contract the company has allegedly failed to live up to, according to
reports
published on the Web sites of Forbes and Billboard magazines.
The bands,
which were at the height of their popularity more than 20
years ago, claim in
their suit that they’re entitled to half of the profits from online sales at sites such as iTunes and Napster,
Forbes reported.
Right now the bands receive only 4.5 cents on every 99
cent
sale of one of their songs, the suit claims.
Neither Sony
representatives
nor managers for the bands could be reached for comment
Friday evening.
Reality is that 4.5% is actually pretty good for a percentage of sales going to the artist. I think the deal I was involved with was somewhere around 1 or 2%. Now, we weren’t The Allman Brothers, and we would’ve renegotiated up as our career progressed, but this story still points out something important for you in today’s changing music business.
Namely, is a recording contract something worth pursueing these days? My feeling (and it’s just an opinion) is that the industry has been, and is, completely mishandling the internet. To me, that leaves tremendous opportunities for you. Someone, or a group of someones, will figure this thing out and make a HUGE amount of money.
Even if you don’t want to revolutionize the entire industry, you can still carve out a very profitable spot for yourself in the online world. I liken it to working as a local/regional band. There are thousands of musicians making a great living from local followings. On the internet, you can do the same thing – but globally – and you can keep all of the money yourself.
Good luck!
