David Lowery, the musician originally from Camper Van Beethoven and now with Cracker, has some very solid math skills. His blog, The Trichordist
… has provided me much illumination on this matter.
For instance his post on
includes this analysis, written clearly and as one who is in the music industry can truly describe:
How badly do the Consent Decrees Distort Income?
Your average workaday songwriter is usually unaware that these
consent decrees negatively impact the rates for public performance
royalties (BMI and ASCAP royalties). The royalty rates imposed by the
consent decrees push down royalties across the board. The ultimate
absurdity is the resultant performance rates we songwriters receive from
YouTube.As an example, second quarter June 2017 my 40% ownership in the song
“Low” earned me performance royalties of $30.78 cents for 589,553
YouTube streams. For a 4:36 second song that is over 5 years of music.
So if you listened to music for 5 years straight 24 hours a day on
YouTube the performance royalty to all songwriters would be $76.95.
Since no one listens to music 24 hours a day this is clearly decades of
music. YouTube is able to exact this usurious royalty rate, because
they can simply threaten to not pay it and tie songwriters up (no pay)
for years in the DOJ “consent decree” regulatory process. This is
essentially what Pandora did a number of years ago. Surprise surprise,
this tends to depress the market value of songs.
What happens without the Consent Decrees?
It is not entirely predictable. But if you look at the current rates
imposed by BMI/ASCAP antitrust rate courts for digital services it is
hard to imagine that they would stay this low. The current system
effectively acts as a cap on songwriter pay. More importantly without
the consent decrees BMI and ASCAP would be allowed to offer additional
services. For instance they could offer not just performance licenses
but also “streaming mechanical” licenses. Right now they can not. While
independent songwriters and publishers have had no problem getting paid
their performance royalties from streaming services via BMI and ASCAP
virtually every independent has had problems collecting the streaming
mechanical. (Hence the class action lawsuits.)
Was reading this yesterday. Ouch, that graph:
I have appreciated Lowery’s time and attention to detail. He’s really working the problem and has been doing this for years. Check out his testimony before U.S. Congress:
If we don’t pay these musicians who make our days on earth richer and more worthwhile, it’ll be our own dang fault they starve. In Austin, I have met musicians (good ones!) who basically are doing just that. There’s a lot I am willing to give up, but music is where I draw the line.
I am still buying CDs whenever possible because having a hard backup copy obviates catastrophic data losses.
And it’s one way to make sure artists–musicians–get paid.
Y’all, if you can, please buy the band’s CDs at their shows. It’s a no-brainer and you can actually make sure your money is definitely going directly to the makers [musicians]! No middle man (usually)!
