Who here has worked for a "signed" artist?

[Steve Nathan]

I want to spread the word on something and it would affect musicians who play on records with signed artists. That would include people like me, who earn their living as studio musicians, but also anyone who participates in recording, whether as a "hired gun" or as a member of a band who is an employee (not signed personally to the record company).

Another way to look at is is, have you played on a record, but do not get any of the royalties generated by that record's sales, or streams?

 

[aronnelson]

I think that would be most of us. We get paid once for most recordings.

[EscapeRocks]

Many years ago, I took a one time payment to lay down a couple keys parts for someone who was just signed. Just as aronnelson said above.

[timwat]

Same here, a lump sum for the work, not a recurring royalty stream. But those were the terms I agreed to at the time, and gladly.

[slowtraveler]

Work-for-hire has been the business model for a long time. But recently I noticed that SoundExchange, a nonprofit rights management organization, now allocates 5% of certain digital royalty payments that it collects to so-called "non-featured artists," namely, session players, background vocalists, et cetera.

 

It would be great to see the business moving towards sharing royalties with all the contributors to recorded music, if there's really any progress in that direction.

[kanker.]

I get royalties for what I co-write, BMI member. The deposits frequently are enough to buy a sandwich, until Norway royalties start coming in. The discrepancy between the money paid in the US vs. Norway is staggering. Norway money is *significantly* more than the US.

 

That being said, I have never been paid royalties as a session musician.

[Steve Nathan]

I intend to write a lengthy elaborative post when I have enough time, but I urge every one to visit

http://www.afmsagaftrafund.org/

 

Click on SR (sound recordings) and then "Covered Recordings"

Search alphabetically for any artist you've recorded with. Flat fee, Work for Hire, does not matter. This is money collected from Sound Exchange for things like Satellite Radio, Non-Interactive Streaming, Japanese Record Rentals

a bunch of stuff, and if you are on a record on their list, and you are not a "Royalty Participant", you are entitled to some money

 

This also means band members working for but not signed directly to the label. Again, if you are on a "covered" record you don't get royalties, you could be a winner

[Steve Nathan]

I get royalties for what I co-write, BMI member. The deposits frequently are enough to buy a sandwich, until Norway royalties start coming in. The discrepancy between the money paid in the US vs. Norway is staggering. Norway money is *significantly* more than the US.

 

Kevin,

If you play on a Thunderbirds record, and only Kim is signed, I think you are entitled to be a participant. I believe your writer royalties are separate, and will ask when I get next to someone who knows.

 

As for Norway, the problem is US radio won't pay for using our music to sell soap. Therefore, Norway and nearly the entire rest of the world's countries, all refuse to pay us until they get reciprocity.

You (and really everyone here) should visit

http://www.musicfirstcoalition.org/take_action

Fill out the form to send email to your representatives asking them to support Fair Pay Fair Play. If passed, it will open the floodgates between us and the rest of the world (which plays way more American music than the other way around). This one act will do more to level the playing field for all musicians, writers, singers...

[linwood]

My royalty checks are much smaller than I like and way smaller than they should be. Seems like my career wasn't found in the "survey". I guess oatmeal is better than no meal. I got an account with soundmouse a few months ago and I registered about 300 things with them. If I see some return on those, I'll register more. I'm hoping I see some action on some of those 300 pieces next month, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Lindaru]

Just sent to my three here in Idaho.

 

Thanks!

 

 

[Michael Wright]

Thanks Steve.

[Synthoid]

I've met a few signed artists, can I still get a check?

 

[Jr. Deluxe]

I signed something once. I'll have to check on what it was.

[Musicale]

I wonder about the guys who play on Steely Dan "Albums". As we know these guys make the music what it is and all but Becker and Fagen are studio guys.

 

Musicale

[Synthoid]

I signed something once. I'll have to check on what it was.

 

The check is in the mail.

[synthdogg]

Thanks Steve! I didn't know anything about this....my name is all over the place on that site with "address issue" next to it!

[jimkost2002]

No royalties excpt with co-writing credit.

Flat fee otherwise

[Sven Golly]

Thanks, Steve. I'm definitely in the target group, although not sure whether I qualify, being in Canada. Lots of recordings up here, not many that saw U.S. distribution/releases. I'll definitely check that link though. Thanks for sharing!

[wd8dky]

Yes, once, but I went in with an agreement that it was gratis.

[Phil Aiken]

I've done a bunch of stuff with/for signed artists, and was a full time hired gun on with a major label band for a number of years. The fourth guy in a trio. (It's always the keyboard guy, right?)

Will definitely check that out.

 

 

Edited: Yes, stuff I played on is on there, including a top ten single in the UK. Do I understand correctly that this takes no money away from the artist? Because I was paid a flat fee for these sessions, and am still friends with the artists.

 

[Steve Nathan]

I wonder about the guys who play on Steely Dan "Albums"

Studio musicians are definitely among the intended recipients.

They (like me) have played on hit records for years without any additional benefit when a record is a huge hit. I got the same pay for Faith Hill as Dude Mowrey (I picked him because I'm positive no one here has ever heard of him ).

I have friends who've played on, and made significant creative contributions to records that went on to sell 10, 15 million copies, but they never get another cent. This is actually the main reason this fund was established. To bring some reward to the players and singers, the sidemen and women who do as much to make a record a hit as anyone. You guys may not be as familiar with these examples, but in another letter I recently wrote I asked people to imagine Alan Jackson's Chattahoochee without Brent Mason's intro, or Tricia Yearwood's Walk Away Joe without Matt Rollings piano just to name two.

 

Do I understand correctly that this takes no money away from the artist?

 

This takes no money from the artist.

 

Kevin. Writer royalties are not a part of this. If you played on the record, even if you played for free and cut one of your own songs, you are still entitled to participate in this distribution.

[ksoper]

Well, shoot. Only four singles out of my former employer's catalog were listed, none of which I played on.

 

I still get royalties for a single I co-wrote for the same artist, but it was for a special tour cd and wasn't released formally. It gets airplay in Switzerland from time to time. My last royalty check was for less than the postage it cost to send it to me.

[LX88]

Ginger Baker makes a big deal about this in the recent documentary " Beware of Mr. Baker". In my opinion, this film is a You Tube accessible must see.

 

Anyway, Ginger goes on ( justifiably perhaps ) about not getting royalties from the classic CREAM recordings. Apparently Jack Bruce and Peter Brown ( lyricist ) get the majority, though not all.

 

Baker claims to have made major contributions to the arrangements of songs like Sunshine of Your Love and White Room, and was not compensated for them.

 

Apparently the people who pay artists look at one thing - who is credited after the song title.

 

If you ever wonder why Ringo Starr is still on the road at age 75, this could be it.

 

 

[Steve LeBlanc]

Interesting, only one of many of the recordings I did with 'fill in the blank' is listed as covered. oh well, hopefully there is more in the file cabinet.

[Jr. Deluxe]

chuck leavell should do well from this fund.

[U.Honey]

 

If you ever wonder why Ringo Starr is still on the road at age 75, this could be it.

 

 

Perhaps not. According to Google Ringo's net worth is $350 Million.

[Jazzmammal]

Guys and especially Steve, as a player I'm not unsympathetic but lets get real here. People are hired by corporations all the time because they ARE creative. That's the job description. They also must sign legal crap that says anything they create while under contract belongs to the company. Period. It could be Apple, GE, Phizer, IBM whomever. They all file patents, trademarks, copyrights all the time on new stuff that was done in house. An employee can do that too but he damn sure better be able to prove it had nothing to with his work at that company. This has been to court many times. If you think that's unfair, nobody's forcing you to work there.

 

Smaller independent producers and studios use outside hired guns on a project by project basis while the big players have in house staff. Either way, everything you do belongs to them. You get paid, you go home and that's it.

 

The problem with the music biz is it's the music biz. We're all insecure for good reason. As good as some of you are you can all be replaced at the drop of a hat by a bunch of killers hanging out doing $50 (or free) gigs in LA, NY and Nashville. That means Ginger Baker probably had misgivings at the time but didn't want to rock the boat too much because how many other absolutely awesome drummers could have come in on two days notice?

 

If this new thing works out and you guys can get a taste, great.

 

Bob

[Steve Nathan]

Guys and especially Steve, as a player I'm not unsympathetic but lets get real here. People are hired by corporations all the time because they ARE creative. That's the job description. They also must sign legal crap that says anything they create while under contract belongs to the company. Period. It could be Apple, GE, Phizer, IBM whomever. They all file patents, trademarks, copyrights all the time on new stuff that was done in house. An employee can do that too but he damn sure better be able to prove it had nothing to with his work at that company. This has been to court many times. If you think that's unfair, nobody's forcing you to work there.

 

This is irrelevant to this discussion. Congress passed 2 laws (DPRA & DMCA)that mandate payments (no matter how paltry) for satellite radio, certain streaming and other sources. They also mandated that 5% of these payments be paid to "non-performer" musicians and singers.