Economics of music publishing: copyright and the market

Towse, Ruth

doi:10.1007/s10824-016-9268-7

Cited by 43 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It permits them to assert a distinctive identity for the kind of work they do, and to value it in spite of systemic devaluation of creative work in commercial economies. Creators historically get little of the rewards generated by copyright policies (Towse, 2017;Throsby & Petetskaya, 2017), but it does offer them an assertion of respect often missing elsewhere. Furthermore, creators lack alternative frameworks that provide them such status.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Romantic Remixers: Hidden Tropes of Romantic Authorship in Creators’ Attitudes about Reuse

Pappalardo

Aufderheide

2020

Cultural Science Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article draws from data generated in existing studies in Australia and the U.S. to examine how creators describe themselves and their creative acts when they are recombining or trying to combine copyrighted work with their own work. It finds a surprising congruence of selfperception across very different copyright regimes and creative practices. An undercurrent of Romantic notions about the originality of creative genius runs through even cutting-edge digital practices. This attitude then bolsters strategies used by large media interests to expand copyright monopoly rights and extend them internationally. Results have implications both for policy and advocacy, in particular, how creators respond to campaigns for expanded copyright exceptions, and a reluctance by even remix creators to challenge the legal structures that restrict their creative practice.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Romantic Remixers: Hidden Tropes of Romantic Authorship in Creators’ Attitudes about Reuse

Pappalardo

Aufderheide

2020

Cultural Science Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…5 On behalf of the publisher the sub-publisher deals with the foreign CCS. However, this in turn leads to a decrease in revenue due to administrative costs (Towse 2017). A third option that has recently gained attention are direct memberships with foreign CCS.…”

Section: Economics Of Music Copyrightmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct memberships in foreign copyright collecting societies as an entrepreneurial opportunity for music publishers – needs, challenges, opportunities and solutions

Klingner¹,

Miller²,

Becker³

et al. 2021

J Cult Econ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the competitive, increasingly international music business, publishers are developing new ways to increase effectiveness and efficiency of the monetization of the copyrights they own or manage. Driven by various needs, publishers become entrepreneurs in new markets by choosing the path of direct memberships in foreign copyright collecting societies, rather than entrusting sub-publishers or taking the detour through their domestic copyright collecting society. Since with great power comes great responsibility, publishers as entrepreneurs are pursuing various economic opportunities, but at the same time are also facing great challenges. This paper aims at studying the motivation, obstacles and potentials and deriving possible solutions for this step and thus improving the understanding of as well as supporting publishers in this entrepreneurial activity.

show abstract

“…The type of contract determines which party has decision rights over the use of their work. Publishing contracts for music and lyrics take various forms ranging from an administration deal (in which the author retains the copyright while licensing reproduction and other such rights), a single song assignment (the publisher obtains the rights in exchange for an agreed royalty) or an exclusive publishing agreement, which may cover a specific number of songs over a period of time and require the assignment of all rights to each song (Towse, 2017; Harrison, 2011). Where there is an assignment of rights, the publisher would typically pay an advance to be recouped from future royalties (which is not repayable by the author if royalties are insufficient).…”

Section: Economic Organisation and The Music Industrymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Evidence on song-writers’ earnings from streaming, is hard to come by, however. Some performing rights CMOs make data available on the distribution of their revenues according to various income brackets; those data in the past have shown that more than half the membership fails to earn the minimum amount eligible for distribution (Towse, 2017; Taylor and Towse, 1998).…”

Section: How the Money Reaches The Artistmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dealing with digital: the economic organisation of streamed music

Towse

2020

Media, Culture & Society

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The intervention of digital service providers (DSPs) or platforms, such as Spotify Apple Music and Tidal, that supply streamed music has fundamentally altered the operation of copyright management organisations (CMOs) and the way song-writers and recording artists are paid. Platform economics has emerged from the economic analysis of two- and multi-sided markets, offering new insights into the way business is conducted in the digital sphere and is applied here to music streaming services. The business model for music streaming differs from previous arrangements by which the royalty paid to song-writers and performers was a percentage of sales. In the case of streamed music, payment is based on revenues from both subscriptions and ad-based free services. The DSP agrees a rate per stream with the various rights holders that varies according to the deal made with each of the major record labels, with CMOs, with representatives of independent labels and with unsigned artists and song-writers with consequences for artists’ earnings. The article discusses these various strands with a view to understanding royalty payments for streamed music in terms of platform economics, offering some data and information from the Norwegian music industry to give empirical support to the analysis.

show abstract

Economics of music publishing: copyright and the market

Cited by 43 publications

References 10 publications

Romantic Remixers: Hidden Tropes of Romantic Authorship in Creators’ Attitudes about Reuse

Romantic Remixers: Hidden Tropes of Romantic Authorship in Creators’ Attitudes about Reuse

Direct memberships in foreign copyright collecting societies as an entrepreneurial opportunity for music publishers – needs, challenges, opportunities and solutions

Dealing with digital: the economic organisation of streamed music

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About