Royalties
Open Letter From Congress Rips Spotify’s Controversial Discovery Mode, Seeks Financial Transparency
Congressional leaders representing the Caucus on Multicultural Media are taking issue with a perceived lack of financial transparency on the part of Spotify. In a recent letter dated March 26th and signed by Democrat Representatives Tony Cardenas, Yvette D. Clarke, and Judy Chu, the caucus raised concerns that the streaming giant’s controversial Discovery Mode presents artists with a “prisoner’s dilemma,” when it comes to their ability to monetize on the platform. Discovery Mode, unveiled in November of 2020, is a relatively new feature on the Spotify platform which allows artists the option to boost the visibility of their songs on the platform in exchange for a lower promotional royalty rate. As the letter identifies, however, there is the cha...
Paul Simon Shopping Simon & Garfunkel Recorded Royalties
A year after Paul Simon sold his song catalog to Sony Music Publishing, the legendary artist is now shopping his master recording royalties from his Simon & Garfunkel recorded works, multiple sources tell Billboard. The master royalties include the five Simon & Garfunkel studio albums that the duo recorded for Columbia/Sony starting in 1964, including 1971 Grammy album of the year Bridge Over Troubled Water. The duo has sold more than 100 million records, according to Sony. “The Sound of Silence,” “Mrs. Robinson,” “America,” “Homeward Bound,” “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)” and “The Boxer” are among the classic recordings on these albums. A source says Art Garfunkel is not selling his master recording royalties. Simon, one of the most revered singer-songwriters in mo...
Killabite Media Accused of Stealing Hundreds of Thousands In Royalties From Artists
Killabite Media, a popular electronic music record label, has been accused of pocketing hundreds of thousands in unpaid royalties owed to artists. The allegations arose after Killabite’s songs abruptly vanished from digital service providers like Spotify and Apple Music, as well as a purge of all music on the label’s verified SoundCloud page. Electronic artist Daniel Sanchez, who produces music under the moniker Paper Skies, was the first to come forward, taking to Twitter to claim that over 150 artists have had their royalties stolen. Sanchez says that royalties had been remitted by an individual who was eventually forced out by one “Kenny Sam.” The DJ alleges that “Kenny” is not the proprietor’s real name, but a pseudonym used to scam a...
JAY-Z Owed $4.5 Million in Royalties From Parlux Fragrances, Court Order
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Neil Mockford / Getty It seems that JAY-Z’s dealings with his former cosmetics partner are not quite over. A court has ruled that Parlux Fragrances owes him over four million dollars in royalties. As per Complex the legendary rapper has a big bag coming to him. Page Six reports that that on Thursday, February 24 an appellate court ruled in his favor charging his former fragrance manufacturer for withholding payments concerning Jigga’s “Gold Jay-Z” cologne. The “Song Cry” rapper partnered with Parlux Fragrances back in 2013 but things went left when the brand claims that he did not live up to the end of bargain with in regards to promoting the product. The perfumes company filed a lawsuit in 2016 but the case didn’t go to trial until 2021 wh...
Here’s How Much Lin-Manuel Miranda Has Made in Royalties From ‘Encanto’ Song Publishing
As Billboard has written about extensively recently, penning a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit as a solo writer is a rare thing in this day and age. But being the lone song author behind an entire hit soundtrack, as Lin-Manuel Miranda has done with the songs to the runaway Disney smash Encanto, is even more unusual — and more lucrative. Billboard estimates that the eight songs that Miranda wrote — each without co-writers — for the animated musical have thus far generated a combined $4.7 million in global publishing royalties. (Miranda’s share of the royalties will depend on what kind of publishing breakdown his deal has — but at the very least, if he has a straight publishing deal without any publisher share, he will get half that amount.) That includes about $1.275 million in publishing royal...
Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Widow Sues Over ‘At Least’ $1M in Unpaid Wu-Tang Clan Royalties
The widow of Ol’ Dirty Bastard is suing Wu-Tang Productions for breach of contract, alleging that the company has “willfully refused” to pay the late rapper’s estate at least $1 million in royalties. The complaint, filed in New York Supreme Court on Tuesday (Feb. 8) by attorney Brian Caplan of Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt on behalf of ODB’s widow Icelene Jones, claims that the company – which is owned and operated by ODB’s cousin/Wu-Tang bandmate RZA (born Robert Fitzgerald Diggs) – has made just one payment of $130,000 to the ODB estate over the last decade and has failed to provide detailed accounting statements during that time. The estate is seeking at least $1 million in damages plus interest, as well as attorneys’ fees and costs. “Despite its repeated efforts and requests, th...
3LAU Is Giving Away a Singular Copy of a New Song And Its Rights—As an NFT
3LAU is continuing to define the future of NFT technology with an innovative project that will reward one investor with an exclusive song they can personally call their own. The project, titled “WAVEFORM,” is the marquee offering in a collaboration between the Christie’s auction house, NFT platform OpenSea, and 3LAU’s own Royal business venture, which is dedicated to facilitating the tokenization of music on the blockchain. “WAVEFORM” is the title of an original 3LAU track with only one copy in existence. Whomever takes it home at auction will enjoy full mastering and publishing rights to the intellectual property, meaning the owner can choose to distribute, monetize, remix, and even rename the track as they see fit. The NFT also includes a physical...
Four Tet Alleges Domino Removed 3 of His Albums Amid Ongoing Lawsuit
Amid a bitter contract dispute, Four Tet has accused the Domino Recording Company of removing three of his albums from streaming platforms to prevent his lawsuit from progressing any further. “This is heartbreaking to me,” Four Tet tweeted. “People are reaching out asking why they can’t stream the music and I’m sad to have to say that it’s out of my control.” “I considered the people who ran Domino to be my friends and to be driven by trying to create a great musical community,” he added. “As a result Domino own 3 of my albums forever. Music I created that’s important to me and to many of you too.” Late this summer, Four Tet sued Domino for a massive discrepancy in their agreed-upon streaming roya...
Royalties for Kygo’s “Firestone” Land On Royalty Exchange’s Secondary Marketplace
One investor may soon have the opportunity to own the rights to Kygo‘s genre-defining hit, “Firestone.” It was only with the release of Kygo’s second original single, “Firestone,” that Kygo sparked an unmitigated hype cycle around the production of tropical house music. Nearly seven years after its original release, the track that lit up the world now flaunts over 1.5 billion streams across Spotify and YouTube alone. At the beginning of 2021, royalty flows for the Platinum hit went on sale via Royalty Exchange, an online direct and secondary marketplace for intellectual property. Recommended Articles Royalty rights for “Firestone” were direct-listed in January via auction, where one investor secured a deal for $275,000. Desp...
Meek Mill Says He Has Yet To Be Paid By Record Label, Is Unclear About His Contract
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Shareif Ziyadat / Gettynews It seems Meek Mill is in need of some legal aid in a hurry. The “Amen” rapper has revealed that he has yet to be paid by his record company and doesn’t know what is going on with his record contract. As spotted on Complex the Philadelphia MC is coming to the realization that everything that glitters isn’t gold. On Monday, October 25 he took to his Twitter account to make an announcement that took his fans by surprise but not his peers. “i haven’t get paid from music and i don’t know how much money labels make off me!!!!! i need lawyers asap!!!” he wrote. Meek went on to make it clear that he plans to take action to figure out what is really good. “ask the record label? how much have you spent on me as a artist? then you as...
Songwriters Get Hit In the Wallet by Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora… Again
Digital service providers Spotify, Apple Music, Google, and Pandora have submitted paperwork stating what they believe songwriters’ royalty rates should be for the years 2023 to 2027. The Copyright Act states that every five years Copyright Royalty Judges oversee discussions to determine what streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music pay as a mechanical royalty rate to songwriters and publishers. These platforms are notorious for incredibly low payout rates and “exploitative practices” when it comes to paying music creators. Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek. Magnus Höij/Wikimedia Commons The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) has fought for higher mechanical royalty rates for music publishers and songwriters. The organization’s president and...
Fans Will Soon Have the Opportunity to Invest In KSHMR’s Music
The underlying investment thesis underpinning the red-hot NFT movement is starting to become a whole lot clearer. Republic, a New York based investment platform founded in 2016, is joining the NFT movement with the introduction of its newest vertical, Republic Music. Historically, Republic has been a conduit for startups across a myriad of sectors to raise capital. Since its inception, Republic has held a competitive edge compared to other investment platforms due to its ability to offer access to startup investing to retail investors, a field that has historically been available exclusively to accredited investors (individuals with income exceeding $200,000 annually, or high net worth individuals with over $1 million). With Republic Music, the company is once again empower...
