YouTube’s new policy says: we own your content.
Before you upload that video of your 19-person indie rocker reggae band, for instance, you may want to read the fine print. YouTube’s "new" Terms & Conditions allow them to sell whatever you uploaded however they want.
Musicians ‘upbeat’ about the net
Musicians are embracing the internet as a way of reaching new fans and selling more music, a survey has found. The study by US researchers, Pew Internet, suggests musicians do not agree with the tactics adopted by the music industry against file-sharing.
Howstuffworks "How Music Royalties Work"
Let’s say a CD sells for $15. Right away we deduct 25% from that for packaging, which makes the royalty base $11.25. Now let’s say our artist has a 10% royalty rate and that his CD sells one million copies. That sounds great! The artist would earn $1,125,000! Except 10% of those were actually freebies, so we really have to calculate that royalty based on 900,000, which makes the royalty $1,012,500, and of course, there are few costs we haven’t talked about yet.
The Top 10 Arguments Against DRM
One question we get a lot here at LearnOutLoud is why we’ve chosen to go DRM-free with our digital downloads. I’ve explained it to a number of people and written a number of posts about it but I’ve never summarized our reasons for going the DRM-free route in one post before. So here goes…
Royalty checks not in the mail for artists
Attention, heirs to Sheb Wooley and Grandpa Jones. There are digital music royalty checks waiting for you, set to expire if you don’t register with a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit by Dec. 15. It has the ring of an email scam, but the company, SoundExchange, Inc., was created to collect and distribute royalties from digital music. A trial currently underway before the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board could result in SoundExchange being named the sole company permitted to do so, and performing artists and their advocates – as well as a SoundExchange competitor – are taking issue.
Pitch battles MySpace mobile
Pitch is the latest firm to launch a social networking site for mobile phones as content companies battle for position ahead of the launch of MySpace Lite.
Hi,
a reader leaving a comment here thanking you for all the great posts. I am starting a digital distribution site for a specific genre of independent artists and your wisdom and insight that has helped me develop my goals and expectations. I read online about a ATM like device called musicteller, but the articles on the net seem outdated and the website is down. Anything else like this on the market?
Thanks,
DigitalHighs
be warned the article on how stuff works with regard to royalties etc is mostly american and mostly rip off too. Its a good article on how all the different parts work and where the money comes from but for example the 50/50 thing on publishing is a rip off as far as i can see not to mention the rest. Anyone reading the article do not use the figures as a guide, just use them as an example to understand how the royalties work and where the money comes from or who gets a slice. The actual figures would need a lawyer or someone who knows what they are doing negotiating on your behalf.