White Sky Royalties Update – Issue #5
News and views from the money side of music.
Dates to remember …
The end of March approaches and with it the end of Q1 2018. Oh how the time flies! … Coming up at the end of this month:
- Dec 17 quarterly or six-monthly royalty accounts on 90 dayaccounting terms due at the end of this month.
- BMI royalty payments due — 16th March for the Sept17 quarter performance royalties.
- BMI Live deadline — 31st March for performances in the period Jul — Dec 17. Get them in here.
- ASCAP Onstage deadline — 31st March for performances in the period Oct — Dec 17. Get them in here.
In the news: The Breakage 2.0 Edition!
A few years ago we heard about Breakage. This was money paid to artists out of the labels’ left over Spotify advances. Lump sums not attributable to any particular artist. With Spotify going public and labels standing to make considerable cash out of their equity shares, we now have … Breakage 2.0 ….
- Universal will share Spotify equity with artists: Announcement comes two years after Sony and Warner announced the same. But how will it be calculated and accounted to artists? Will there be any transparency at all?
- But what about the indies?: WIN urges majors to show some of that love to their distributed indie labels as well.
- Sony
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’s their indies: Sony responds. Is the first major to commit a share of Spotify equity to the indie labels they distribute. Will the others follow? - Spotify’s filing documents: And just in case you wanted to pour over the nitty gritty details.
’s their indiesIt could be a good idea, while all this Spotify Goes Public news is hot, to get in touch with your label and ask how they propose to account this income. We’re seeing lots of press releases but very few details.
As always, don’t hesitate to touch base for any royalty related questions. We’re always happy to chat!