Chapter 429 429 Copyright

In the entertainment industry, who makes more money, singers or actors, is a topic of debate all the time. Actors can get 10 million US dollars for a movie, but it is difficult for a singer to sell a single album. Sales of 100 million copies - and even if it sells 100 million copies, it will be distributed layer by layer, and it will be even rarer in the hands of singers.

In fact, strictly speaking, if singers operate properly, they will make more money than actors in the short term, but actors will make more money in the long run. A singer's income is generally divided into three parts, albums, concerts and advertisements.

The first and foremost is the album revenue, which is the same as the movie box office theory. The album revenue must be divided by the distributors, producers, singers, distributors and other parts. Generally speaking, the revenue of the singers is 5% to 20%. It fluctuates between them, and the rest is divided among other links. For example, EMI is responsible for both production and distribution, and the greater the investment, the higher the income. Album income is the main source of income for record companies, but for singers, album income is the most basic and only a small part of the total income.

If a singer wants to rely on albums to make money, it is estimated that he will starve to death. The real money is made in the latter two fields.

In the European and American entertainment circles, artists rarely directly shoot commercials, because artists generally think that advertising damages their own image. Before the 21st century, it was even considered a degenerate and cheap performance for artists to shoot commercials. After the eleventh century, there are still not many artists willing to appear in commercials. So the advertisements for singers are mainly about placement advertisements, similar to the use of a car of a certain brand in the filming of a music video, or a sponsor of a concert tour, or making their own songs the background music of advertisements. These types of advertisements can often bring huge income to singers, which is no less than that of second-tier actors.

Concerts have always been the most profitable part for singers. For a six to nine month tour, it is very easy for the income to exceed the threshold of 10 million - and it refers to the income of singers after deducting dividends from various aspects, even many popular ones. For concerts, it is not impossible to extend the number and time of performances, to ensure the attendance rate, and to earn more than 100 million yuan. In addition to touring concerts, commercial performances large and small are also a large part of the revenue.

Therefore, singers have never released albums to make money, but to gain enough attention to prepare for the subsequent advertisements and concerts that accompany them. At this point, the model is actually the same as that of film production companies. Since the box office dividends of film production companies need to be divided with distributors, theaters, and crews, there is not much left in the hands of film production companies. Well, to be able to keep the capital is to make money. The real money for the film studio is the follow-up video rental, cable TV station rebroadcast, and peripheral products, which account for almost 80% of the film production company's income. The same goes for singers.

There is one exception, however, and that is copyright revenue. Copyright is a very special part. As a kind of intellectual property, the copyright owner has the full right to deal with the work, and the benefits are naturally part of it. First of all, the copyright will generate a fee during the album production process, and this fee is divided between the publishing company and the songwriter; secondly, during the dissemination of the song, whether it is broadcast on radio, TV, or used in movies and advertisements, Simply put, as long as the song is played in any public place, the corresponding copyright fee must be paid, and this fee belongs to the copyright owner.

The most famous example in music circles is "Happy Birthday", which can earn an average of one million dollars a year, allowing copyright owner Sammy Publishing to have an additional annual income, 1988 In 2008, Sami Press sold the copyright of the song for the remaining 22 years to Warner Communications for a high price of 28 million US dollars, and the copyright income generated by the song in the future will belong to the latter.

So, copyright is basically equal to money. This is also the reason why EMI Records will set up a recording department and a copyright department. With the rise of the Internet era, the value of copyright is getting higher and higher.

In 1985, Michael Jackson purchased the copyright of the Beatles' songs for $50 million because of the bankruptcy of the Beatles copyright owner Apple Records; by 2001, the copyright value of these songs had reached as high as seven For $100 million, Michael had to sell the copyright to get cash in order to ease his brokerage situation that was on the verge of bankruptcy. This shows the infinite value hidden in copyright.

Copyright revenue is generally divided into two parts, distribution royalties and performance royalties. The distribution royalties are divided equally by the songwriter and the distribution company. The ratio of 50% to 50% is a legal requirement. In order to protect the rights and interests of songwriters; the performance royalties are divided among song performers, record companies and distribution companies, and this part can be negotiated. Generally speaking, this part of the income of song performers will be 5%. fluctuates between twenty-five percent.

From Roger's point of view, for a rookie band like Glory to Die, it would be great to have 5% of the performance royalties, but now Henry actually proposed to own 25% of the royalties. Jay was surprised. But the more unexpected thing is still to come. Glory to Death has already registered all the copyrights. This move is shocking.

It's audacious for an underground rock band to let go of copyrighting a song they've written. You must know that many underground rock bands simply can't eat enough, and there is no spare money to register copyrights. Registering copyrights will cost a lot of money, and you have to pay a certain fee every year. Who wants to pay an unnecessary sum of money to register copyrights when no band can be sure that it has a future? Most underground rock bands have professional ethics and disdain to copy or plagiarize other people's creations, so even if there is no registered copyright, there are few creative disputes.

But Glory to Death did not play cards according to common sense, but it can be seen that the band's self-confidence - of course, it is also possible that Hugo, as an actor, has too much money to spend, so now Roger must consider it, because this problem Involved in the production of the entire album, does he want to use Hugo as the album producer? If the answer is yes, then the proportion of royalties will definitely increase relatively; if the answer is no, the proportion of royalties will decrease, but will the overall quality of the album not be guaranteed enough?

Roger must have registered the copyright from Hugo, hoping to get a glimpse of "Second. Chance" and "Don't. Look. Back. In. Anger". , how many excellent songs the band still has worthy of the company's investment. The increase in the proportion of performance royalties is actually the level of trust in the performance after the album is released, and Roger needs to make an accurate judgment.

In fact, Henry has been paving the way for Glory to the Dead Band to win more interests from the very beginning. The premise is that he has absolute trust in the strength of the band, so he gradually increased the weight of the band in Roger's mind for the camp. The ultimate goal is to be able to perform Grab a chunk of meat from the royalties. The reason is very simple. The higher the income of the band, the higher the commission for his agent. Of course, at the same time, Henry is also adding weight to his ability to sign Glory to Death.

Hugo knew very well how much these large companies attached great importance to interests, and Roger's vigilance must be very keen, but even so, Henry quietly completed the paving and gradually approached his ultimate goal. It was very interesting to stand by and watch Henry's negotiation process. Sure enough, there was no spark in the confrontation between smart people.

Roger pondered for a while and gave his answer, "Ten percent."

There is absolutely no need for Roger to make a decision today. He can let the band go back, hang the band for a few days, and then strive for more initiative for the company. After all, the band is only a newcomer, but EMI is one of the top five record companies in the world. They have such capital, but Roger didn't want to. The main reason is that Glory to Death was in the "New York Times" news today. Which of EMI's competitors is not a human being, and Henry's contacts are wide enough, it is not difficult to change a company, if there are other competitors Join, take the initiative is the band.

This is also the reason why Roger is now slightly awkward and passive.

Henry shook his head, and he looked at Roger nonchalantly, "How many years have we known each other, are you sure we are going to slowly tug at one percent, one percent? There are still a group of young people watching here. Henry's speech has always been this rhythm, this tone, but at this time it is full of ridicule and bad taste, which makes people laugh, "Well, 15%, but we only sign a record contract."

"You're joking with me, aren't you." Roger refused without thinking. "Fifteen percent, three record contracts." After he finished speaking, Henry sneered, but Roger's expression didn't change much either. He thought about it carefully, "Two record contracts." This is the bottom line of EMI Records. If Henry doesn't agree, Roger would rather look at the cards in the hands of competitors.

Henry pouted, obviously still not satisfied with the result, but he raised his eyes and glanced at Hugo and the others, Hugo saw the shrewdness that flashed in Henry's eyes. Hugo immediately realized: this condition is luxurious for a new band! Sure enough, Hugo heard Henry say, "The decision is yours, what do you think?"

Roger was a little surprised that Henry was willing to hand over the decision to the band itself. This is really rare. Generally speaking, the band negotiates with the manager, and then the manager negotiates the conditions. To discuss, of course, the newcomer band is basically the manager of the manager.

But Henry's next sentence made Roger's jaw dislocate, "I'm not your agent anyway."

Pit father! So the negotiation just now was... useless? Roger knew that he was completely slapped by Henry.