In yesterday’s Music & Money Monday post I said that “9.1 cents is the amount of money that is at the core of the dilemma facing the music business.”
I’ve realized I misspoke. The 9.1 cents is not the problem. It’s the 90.9 cent difference between the mechanical royalty (9.1 cents) and the going price of a download from the downloading services. And it’s the 15 or so bucks difference to the going rate of a CD (I’m figuring $1.00 for mechanical royalties on 10 tracks).
I have a reason for self-correcting, but first let me make it clear that I have NOTHING against artists earning money for their art. It’s insane that so many people don’t understand, or don’t care to understand, the fact that passing along copyrighted music is a crime – and most music is copyrighted.
So my reason for writing? There’s too much profit within the 90 cents. There’s no question in my mind that there are additional costs beyond mechanical rights in the packaging and delivery of digital music, but 90 cents worth? Ah…um….I don’t think so. It’s simply not possible.
This is why I’m so frustrated with the music industry today. They are holding onto mindsets and economics that cannot be sustained. And their grip on these things has caused most of the public to lose respect for the industry.
It’s a public relations disaster that shows no signs of ending soon.
Imagine what’s going to happen when someone really figures out the right economics? It will happen and it will be cool.
