Do Kids' Musicians Get the Royal(ty) Treatment or Royalty Screwed?

Some posts are meant to be.

A couple weeks back, when I started Zooglobble Radio (go listen now, really), I got into a brief discussion with another person in the industry involved in terrestrial radio in some way. They reported their playlists, but expressed doubt that it was really benefitting the artists they played on the station. They mentioned one artist in particular that they'd played literally dozens if not hundreds of times that had never received a single royalty check. (I chose Live365 in large part because I wanted to make sure artists got paid, and they're the only internet radio provider that provides full SoundExchange payment.)

So when I saw this Los Angeles Times article about royalty payments paid by SoundExchange, a non-profit group created by Congress to distribute royalties from digital and satellite media streams, I thought this might be of interest.

And then I read the first paragraphs:

When John Boydston got an e-mail from SoundExchange saying he had several thousand dollars in unclaimed royalties, he did what most sensible people would do. He ignored it.

To the rock musician from Atlanta, "money for nothing" meant a song by Dire Straits, not a stranger contacting him out of the blue promising to cut him big checks.

But then he got the message again six months later. Curious, he called SoundExchange.

"Sure enough, they had a sizable amount of money for me," said Boydston, 51, whose band Daddy a Go Go includes his two teenage sons. "It was several thousand dollars. That's not a ton of money. But for a guy who makes CDs in his basement, it was enough to finance my next album."

That's right, that's SXSW artist Daddy A Go Go there.

So here's my question for you, kid rockers -- is SoundExchange a major part of your income stream, a minor part, or no part at all? And if so, why (or why not)?

Comments

[Molly Ledford]

Sound Exchange is great - I also got contacted when they owed us. Every bit helps, and that money does feel like it comes from nowhere (my favorite kind of money). And when you sign up as a copyright holder too, you get an additional amount.

[Beth BC]

At a children's Grammy breakfast in Los Angeles on January 30th, John Simson from SoundExchange graciously presented valuable information to artists about their wonderful service. It's something EVERY artist in the kids' music business should pay attention to. Thanks for the write-up, Stefan, and congrats to Daddy A Go Go.

[Jack]

Hey Molly!I'll second what you said- we got the first email from SoundExchange and thought that it was a total scam- seriously, who emails you to tell you that THEY owe YOU money??? We did some research and, sure enough, they'd been collecting from SiriusXM for a couple of years. I just talked to another Kindie artist yesterday and suggested that he sign up- very much worth the time! I'm sure a good band manager would have prevented this oversight but, alas, we're dealing with Mayor Monkey here :)

[HipwaderTito]

Yep. Monty Harper told me about Sound Exchange a few years ago and we ended up getting some back royalties that helped finance our recordings. We notice they pay approximately the same amount as BMI. ASCAP & BMI pay songwriting & publishing royalties whereas Sound Exchange pays "performance" royalties (e.g. radio & tv).There's a guy out Nigeria who keeps contacting me that I'll pursue next...what? No?

[Littllemonster]

Make sure you're the owner of the masters. This is not to be confused with publishing, which goes to the writer/copyright owner. If your record company owns your masters, you need to tell them to register with Soundexchange. And if you aren't registered with BMI, ASCAP or SESAC, you need to. If your records sell outside the US, collecting mechanicals is tricky. I know a lot about thus and can answer questions if you want. Just email to howdy@littlemonsterrecords.com

[Laura Doherty]

Yes, I signed up for SoundExchange as well after getting numerous emails. It's a very lengthy, complicated process to fill out all the paperwork and after I registered, I called them and they said it takes several months to get all set up in the system (not sure why it takes this long), but that they do back-pay. So I haven't received anything yet...I'm hoping in the 2nd or 3rd quarter of the year I'll receive something. I'm glad to know that they retro-pay because I'm being played on Sirius daily (I wish I had a subscription to hear it!).

[Bill Childs]

Been meaning to post on this for a while. For what it's worth, for at least our station, the royalty-calculating entities periodically sample the stations for which they collect samples, and then extrapolate to the rest of the world, I guess. In 2+ years that we've been on this station (and I think in the almost 3 years on the previous station), they've never sampled our station on a Saturday. I dutifully keep our playlists (and post them too), so someday, one of them will get counted...