Music Business/Law Tips - "Compilations"

Most artist album royalty deals with a label are about 15%-20% of the retail price (in general if a record sells for $10 that's $1.50 to the band) - its the same for a compilation, but instead of a solo act/band getting all 15-20%, its 12-15 acts splitting that royalty on what they call a pro-rata (fractional) basis. So an artist on a comp needs to ask for a pro-rata royalty of 20% (and hopefully no less than 14-15%), and also if possible try to get whats called a "most favored nations" rate which means the artist gets paid the same royalty (pennies per sale) as all the other acts on the comp (even if there is a big name), and most importantly make sure the label lists the artist's credit on the package (name and website), and make sure that the label only use track for the comp (nothing else like licensing to film/tv) without the artist's permission. Ben McLane Esq benmclane.com