I patiently await the day when artists are able to cut better deals with AAPL, GOOG and AMZN to market and sell their content directly - probably at a 70/30 split like the apps and the books.
Magnatune isn't a big label, but it's DRM-free and splits 50/50 with the artists. It's also non-exclusive, so the artists can make deals with others as well, if they like. Their "end-user" license lets each subscriber give 3 friends a copy of the music.
* Major label gives artist a loan for $X to cover the costs of
producing the album.
* Artists earn back something like 12% on album sales (though I
believe 12% is on the high end).
* That 12% goes directly towards paying back the loan for the
production of the album.
* Artists don't retain the copyrights to their works (at least the
recordings, they may retain copyright to the lyrics, depending on
the contract/studio).
* Artists don't give a cut of merchandise sales, or ticket sales for
live shows.
* Artists retain the copyrights to recordings of live performances,
which is how bands like Grateful Dead or Dave Matthews can allow
'bootleg' recordings of their live shows.
* The studio retains rights to copyrights of live shows that are
professionally recorded for the purposes of putting out a 'live'
album though.
* Most artists are never able to pay back the initial loan to create
the album.
The problem is most artists aren't happy with the amount of fame and sales their skills would deliver in a total meritocratic market. And so there's never a shortage of takers for the labels' Faustian bargian. Someone's got to handle the payola/promotion/production aspect and that stuff ain't free.
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I patiently await the day when artists are able to cut better deals with AAPL, GOOG and AMZN to market and sell their content directly - probably at a 70/30 split like the apps and the books.
Magnatune isn't a big label, but it's DRM-free and splits 50/50 with the artists. It's also non-exclusive, so the artists can make deals with others as well, if they like. Their "end-user" license lets each subscriber give 3 friends a copy of the music.
I'm not familiar with the industry, but is 50/50 split considered good?
IIRC, the major label deal goes like this:
The other side:
* Major label advances an unknown artist a bunch of money.
* Album sells poorly.
* Artist never pays back advance.
* Major label would have been better not making the deal.
It already exists, and is called cdbaby.com
They will syndicate music to amazon and itunes, and they pass through 91% of their net revenue from Apple and Amazon.
The problem is most artists aren't happy with the amount of fame and sales their skills would deliver in a total meritocratic market. And so there's never a shortage of takers for the labels' Faustian bargian. Someone's got to handle the payola/promotion/production aspect and that stuff ain't free.