Music Business/Law Tips - Streaming Income

With the decline of CD sales and slow down of digital downloads, it seems that “streaming’ of music is becoming a dominant business model/way to make money off music (and there are no returns or packaging deductions). Industry reports that billions of dollars could be made off the streaming of music (combined), and perhaps this might even get bigger. The problem is that major labels received monetary “advances” from large streaming companies like Spotify to license them the right to stream their catalogs – but the terms of those deals were secret and none of that income has trickled down to the artists (yet). Where does the money go and how/when will it be split in the future? This is a big deal and a question no one has yet really been able to firmly answer. Certainly, transparency of the labels’ books would help, and it would also be great if artists could do their own direct deals with Spotify or get paid their share direct (like how SoundExchange or BMI does it). Hopefully a few big name artists will make some noise soon to help push through some changes/industry standards in this area so artists can continue to make a living. Ben McLane Esq Benmclane.com