Where Is The Money Made For Authors?

[GetCarter]

RobDickinson said:

GetCarter said:

I work for Universal and Warner Brothers and get 50% for all my compositions. HTH.

50pc of what, a full retail sale?

For every pound Universal or Warners get from my music, I get a pound. In consideration of that, for every pound I make in royalties, they get a pound. It's 50/50.

Edited by GetCarter on Tuesday 28th October 08:57

[coppice]

Books are sellable just like any other form of intellectual property. If Paul Brickhill sold the rights to his work then he will only receive whatever the sale agreement said he would . The true story thing is not an issue- the point is that what he sold was his version of the true story - the book - and that itself becomes the saleable commodity .The devil is usually in the detail of the agreement you sign which will be extremely detailed on exactly who does what and who gets paid for what.The basic rule is that the more rights you retain the less you will be paid and vice versa - like any risk/reward deal. But for an amateur like me I don't have much leverage and one agreement I signed with a magazine publisher (for a 3000 word article) reserved all TV film and other media rights re the piece in Europe , USA, rest of the world and elsewhere in the galaxy . Never realised there was quiet so much interest in trout fishing in Scotland ...

[Flip Martian]

GetCarter said:

I work for Universal and Warner Brothers and get 50% for all my compositions. HTH.

So that's compositional royalties then? I was referring to an artist who writes and records their own stuff, then it gets released etc etc. Its a commonly held view that such artists make little these days, compared to times gone by and make more from touring.

No need for the "HTH" either...

Edited by Flip Martian on Tuesday 28th October 10:18

[GetCarter]

Flip Martian said:

So that's compositional royalties then? I was referring to an artist who writes and records their own stuff, then it gets released etc etc. Its a commonly held view that such artists make little these days, compared to times gone by and make more from touring.

Edited by Flip Martian on Tuesday 28th October 10:18

I write and record my own stuff. You refer to pop music where record companies screw artists left right and centre. My stuff ends up on TV and film. For every minute of pop music, there and dozens aimed elsewhere. It's where the bulk of the industry is employed.

Apols if HTH seemed spiky, wasn't meant that way.

[Flip Martian]

GetCarter said:

I write and record my own stuff. You refer to pop music where record companies screw artists left right and centre. My stuff ends up on TV and film. For every minute of pop music, there and dozens aimed elsewhere. It's where the bulk of the industry is employed.

Apols if HTH seemed spiky, wasn't meant that way.

That's ok - and I didn't mean to come across as though you didn't know what you were talking about. Clearly you do - and yes, I was referring to pop. Always struck me that making a living from writing music (as you describe) would be a nice position to get to. I never properly learned an instrument though, so only "dabble".