In the past two weekends we looked back on how musicians like Yano made money from album royalties and live performances, and Pepe Smith from corporate sponsorship and product endorsements.
Today let’s see how a music artist can achieve financial success through songwriting.
A timely example is Kris Kristofferson. The American country music star and Hollywood actor, who died September 28 at age 88, struggled for years before making a name as a songwriter in Nashville.
At first, he wanted to be a novelist. He graduated summa cum laude in literature in college, went on a scholarship to Oxford in England and finished philosophy, joined the US Army as a pilot, and was assigned to teach English literature at West Point when he decided to drop everything to pursue a burning passion for music, inspired by Bob Dylan and confident of his writing skills.
Kristofferson didn’t mind working as a janitor at a Columbia Records studio in Nashville to achieve his goal. But he also had to do something outrageous — flying a helicopter and landing on the yard of Johnny Cash’s house — to get attention. Cash eventually recorded Kristofferson’s song, “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” which won Song of the Year at the 1970 Country Music Association Awards.
From then on, more artists would record Kristofferson’s other songs. These were a lot, and I’ll cite just two, “For the Good Times” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” to prove how lucrative songwriting can be.
“For the Good Times,” whose version by Ray Price which went to No. 1 in the US country chart in 1970, has likewise been recorded by “250 other artists,” according to David Hinckley in an article in medium.com.
“Help Me Make It Through the Night,” another top country hit and first recorded by Sammi Smith in 1970, has been covered by the likes of Gladys Knight, Joan Baez, and Elvis Presley, to name a few.
Which meant Kristofferson received substantial royalty checks as a songwriter of these two singles alone.
Which brings us to the news that the members of the long-disbanded British band Pink Floyd stand to earn $400 million from the sale of its music catalogue to music label Sony.
“The deal includes Pink Floyd’s recorded music, according to two people familiar with the matter, resolving the fate of one of the most valuable assets during a boom time for sales of vintage rock music,” the Financial Times online reported on October 2.
“The terms also include the band name and the artists’ “likeness,” one person added, which means that the label will have the rights to merchandise and spin-offs such as movies and TV series,” said the report.
But what makes the deal sweeter for Pink Floyd is this detail: “Songs have two sets of copyrights — one for the songwriting and one for the recording, or master copy. Pink Floyd has agreed to sell their recorded rights, but not the songwriting, said people familiar with the matter.”
It means band members credited as writers in Pink Floyd songs can still earn royalties directly from sales and other revenue streams.
“Companies invest in music and buy music catalogs primarily because they generate stable and predictable revenue streams. With the rise of streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, music consumption has surged, especially in the years following the pandemic, leading to increased royalty payments. These revenue streams are diverse, coming from streaming, physical sales, synchronization in media, and public performances, making music catalogs a reliable source of income,” said online site xposuremusic.com.
The growing list of legacy/heritage artists who have sold their music catalogue includes Bruce Springsteen ($550M), Bob Dylan ($300M), Phil Collins and Genesis ($300M), Tina Turner ($300M), David Bowie (P250M), Sting and the Police ($250M).
But the biggest deal so far is that of Queen, whose songs Sony has bought for a staggering $1.27B.
Image credits: AP
