On 29 May 2002 at 17:00, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > <<what for gosh sakes is "the royalty rate is different if there are > more than 10"? I can't seem understand it's meanin'. Please help me > understarnd. >> > > Like I said, I'm not the one who knows; but the gist of what she said > in this interview is that they will only pay royalties for up to 10 > (or whatever the number was) songs on a record, and that's why she > didn't write/release more than that on a project. It doesn't sound > logical to me either, but she's much more business savvy than you or > I.
The 10 song issue is directly related to something called the controlled composition clause. For new artists, the clause basically says that the record label will limit the mechanical royalties (royalties paid to the songwriter and the publisher - which are separate from the artist recording royalty) that it will pay on any release to 10 songs and usually 75% of the statutory rate. (Today the statutory rate is 8 cents per song. So the maximum that a label would pay is 60 cents no matter how many songs appear on the record, as opposed to the statutory amount of 80 cents.) There is a loophole in the copyright law which essential states that even though the rate is statutory, that labels can negotiate with artists to pay less. Because new artists are desperate for the deal they have very little leverage with regard to this clause and figure that it won't matter if they don't sell any records anyway. Because these mechanical royalties cannot be recouped against any outstanding balance the artist may have with the label (for recording costs, 50% of video, advances), the labels have argued that it is a justified compensation for what they spend in "artist development." Joni's first deal was probably subject to this basic clause. With success she was certainly able to negotiate the rate to the full 100% and maybe increase the number of songs. At the time she was signed, I believe the rate was 2 cents, so the label would have paid her a total of 15 cents per album sold no matter how many songs she recorded. It is also an incentive to record your own songs. If you wanted to record a song by someone else who demanded the full rate, you still have to pay it out of the reduced rate total pool. I've even seen some cases where the artist didn't write any or very few songs and because the other writers all wanted full rate, the total royalty payout exceeded the maximum allowed in their contract. The difference was deducted from their artist recording royalty. Brenda n.p.: Outkast - "Rosa Parks" ------------------------------ Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous.
