Radio Industry

[e0820]

Kind of a weird question,

Does anyone know how the music industry works when it comes to playing a song on the radio - how the artist who made that song gets paid?

I always wondered how that process works. Does he get paid alot when it comes out and then dwindles or does the radio station company pay the company that produced the artists music and then they pay him?

[Shaver]

Re: Radio Industry

Radio stations are required to pay dues for plays. One is specifically for the Songwriters. The other goes to the Artist.

Now, how the artists themselves get paid are usually hammered out with their label.

[jmw1137]

Re: Radio Industry

Actually, there are several 'licensing' organizations that each song falls under...ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers), BMI & SESAC. Radio stations and any venue that plays music for the public/for a profit pays royalties to one, 2 or all of those organizations. That money is then distributed to members.

Artists are NOT paid from that money...as you can see from the ASCAP acronym, they don't fall under that umbrella (unless they wrote, published or composed the song). Artists make their money from CD sales, merchandising, concerts, endorsements and so on...

I work for a company that distributes music for record labels to radio stations and also have a degree in radio...so while I certainly don't know it all (or even most) I know enough to get by.

[p_rushing]

Re: Radio Industry

I think most of the artists don't really get paid per cd, but they sign a contract that pays them to work under that label. There might be some bonuses for number of sales, but usually the contract just locks them in to working for the record label, who retains all the rights so you can't leave and take your music/cds with you.