Post by Slinger on Mar 24, 2019 16:37:56 GMT
Singer/songwriter Janis Ian (older members may remember her) put this on Facebook and I thought it was interesting enough to share as she'd already been kind enough to give her permission.
A bit about the Music Modernization Act
You're welcome to share this. And think on this - I'm almost 68, I can still make a living performing and writing and doing special projects. What about an 18-year-old who has a streaming hit, with a million plays, but doesn't have the touring base I'm lucky enough to have, or who doesn't tour at all?
Just got my BMI statements, which pay me when songs I write are played. On the songs which I own 100% of Amazon Prime paid me $1.22 as the publisher for 6,456 plays. I'm making $0.00018897149 per play.
On "Apple Family", I had 4,334 plays, and got $1.05; that's $0.00024227041 per play. Things are looking up!
Oh, but for "Apple Student" I had 33 plays and made... $0.01. One cent. Really.
Wait! Pandora was huge in my little world - 19,006 plays!! and $2.93 in payment. Pandora Plus, 7,644 plays, and a $0.91 payment.
Spotify, YouTube about the same or less.
Since I wrote all these songs myself (without a co-writer), I should be paid the same amount again as a writer. People played my songs on Apple, Pandora, and Amazon 37,473 times - and at best, I made $6.12.
Sirius XM opposes the Music Modernization Act, and so do a lot of the other companies. In Europe, some are filing anti-trust suits. They don't see why they should have to pay songwriters more, let alone pay the same for streaming as they do for sales. (We're supposed to get 9.10 cents per sale, but almost all the US record companies impose a "statutory license", and you have to agree to receive only 75% of that if you want to get signed.)
I said years ago that record companies had to end physical product and only allow streaming because that's the single way they can control all the money. God forbid you should make a copy of a CD to play in your car. Or don't have wi-fi everywhere, or don't have a mobile phone. Or just want to see songwriters, and musicians, and artists in general
paid fairly.
It's a really complicated issue, but as I sit here and look at my $6.12, from three of the biggest companies out there - my total earnings for the 37,000+ times people got to enjoy my work - it doesn't seem complicated at all.
Just got my BMI statements, which pay me when songs I write are played. On the songs which I own 100% of Amazon Prime paid me $1.22 as the publisher for 6,456 plays. I'm making $0.00018897149 per play.
On "Apple Family", I had 4,334 plays, and got $1.05; that's $0.00024227041 per play. Things are looking up!
Oh, but for "Apple Student" I had 33 plays and made... $0.01. One cent. Really.
Wait! Pandora was huge in my little world - 19,006 plays!! and $2.93 in payment. Pandora Plus, 7,644 plays, and a $0.91 payment.
Spotify, YouTube about the same or less.
Since I wrote all these songs myself (without a co-writer), I should be paid the same amount again as a writer. People played my songs on Apple, Pandora, and Amazon 37,473 times - and at best, I made $6.12.
Sirius XM opposes the Music Modernization Act, and so do a lot of the other companies. In Europe, some are filing anti-trust suits. They don't see why they should have to pay songwriters more, let alone pay the same for streaming as they do for sales. (We're supposed to get 9.10 cents per sale, but almost all the US record companies impose a "statutory license", and you have to agree to receive only 75% of that if you want to get signed.)
I said years ago that record companies had to end physical product and only allow streaming because that's the single way they can control all the money. God forbid you should make a copy of a CD to play in your car. Or don't have wi-fi everywhere, or don't have a mobile phone. Or just want to see songwriters, and musicians, and artists in general
paid fairly.
It's a really complicated issue, but as I sit here and look at my $6.12, from three of the biggest companies out there - my total earnings for the 37,000+ times people got to enjoy my work - it doesn't seem complicated at all.
A bit about the Music Modernization Act
