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Pharrell Made Only $2,700 In Songwriter Royalties From 43 Million Plays Of 'Happy' On Pandora

GAMETHEORY

GAMETHEORY

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
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Chance the Rapper is the subject of a new Complex cover story. In the interview, he discussed fatherhood, the Grammys, and the follow-up to Coloring Book. At one point, he revealed that he’s considering selling his upcoming album, as opposed to making it a free release as he has done with all his full-lengths thus far. “I might actually sell this album. That's, like, a big step in itself. I kind of hate the fact that I can't chart, really. I can chart, but the way they have the streaming shit set up is weak as fuck. It's unfair,” he said. “1,500 streams is the equivalent to one [album sale], and that's just that's unfair. Nobody listens to their songs [1,500] times when they buy it—fuck outta here! So, it makes it hard. I can't really compete with other people. Not that the charts matter at all, but c'mon.” (Coloring Book debuted in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 upon its release and was the first streaming-exclusive release to do so.)

http://www.bgol.us/forum/index.php?...eams-1-album-sold-is-bs.940654/#post-17599101
 
I AM GDFOLKS said:
if I was these major artists, I would pull all my shit off of their streaming services...that $2700 is some fucking bullshit.
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You would think it would be that easy but the streaming services send publishers and writers what is know as a complusory license. A compulsory license allows people to use your music without your permission as long as they send you royalty payments. Some people do the right thing and send quarterly royalty statements and checks but others hope you don't notice and hide under the radar and hoard your money. The only way to be sure they are paying you is to audit them and in most cases it may not be worth it based on how much money is owed. This is what Prince was fighting about. That's why he was so hard on YouTube and streaming sites to keep his music off their services unless he got paid royalties. The music business is corrupt as hell but the IRS is the worst of them all. Google the death tax. They tax you when you die on money you already paid taxes on when you were alive to earn it. They demand that your heirs submit a list of all money's and assets to them so they can get there cut before they can inherit anything. It's legal robbery and they have the nerve to inflict a deadline for it with penalties. Meanwhile if you or I steal from someone it's a felony.
 
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GAMETHEORY said:
past year was great for singer Pharrell Williams. His song "Happy" secured him Grammy nominations for Best Music Video and Best Pop Solo Performance.

Despite Pharrell's ubiquity, "Happy" made $2,700 in publisher and songwriter royalties from 43 million Pandora streams in the first quarter of 2014, according to an email from music publisher Sony/ATV CEO Marty Bandier obtained by Digital Music News.


http://uk.businessinsider.com/pharr...n-plays-of-happy-on-pandora-2014-12?r=US&IR=T
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I heard this and was disgusted.
 
Kooper2 said:
It's all good
He's part of the "New Black" movement. This is water under the bridge for him
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Do we not like Pharrell now? That dude cool as fuck afaic :confused:
'cept that whole Arby's hat phase... that was legit weird lmao
 
mixed emotions considering all the music we bag off BGOL and other "secret" sites. Those artists aren't getting a dime from that, let alone $2700
 
Kooper2 said:
Black people were being killed and he was suggesting that the "new black" doesn't complain about the circumstances that we face on the daily. Aka "I'm not one of those niggas"
He's made it clear that he doesn't see himself as one of us.
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Thanks for the heads up man... I'll look into it fo sho. The thing is I've heard him talk eloquently about our ppl over many years and I appreciated his outsider view (check out his Iamother vids for context)... so I'm riding with him until I see the kind of abject fuckery you're implying here. If you've got a link I'd appreciate it!
 
I'm still surprised they are making that. Who the fuck pays for music? :confused: I thought all the money was in touring? These cats aren't hurting. Having a hit is promotion for the tour.
 
GAMETHEORY said:
past year was great for singer Pharrell Williams. His song "Happy" secured him Grammy nominations for Best Music Video and Best Pop Solo Performance.

Despite Pharrell's ubiquity, "Happy" made $2,700 in publisher and songwriter royalties from 43 million Pandora streams in the first quarter of 2014, according to an email from music publisher Sony/ATV CEO Marty Bandier obtained by Digital Music News.


http://uk.businessinsider.com/pharr...n-plays-of-happy-on-pandora-2014-12?r=US&IR=T
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this is not a big deal - especially since there was no mention of how much of a cut Pharrell signed away to the publisher and label and how much of the mechanical royalties he received
 
SlimNGifted said:
mixed emotions considering all the music we bag off BGOL and other "secret" sites. Those artists aren't getting a dime from that, let alone $2700
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Man the artist would barely get a dime if we were buying it in the stores.....

Its the music company you re screwing with downloads
 
gene cisco said:
I'm still surprised they are making that. Who the fuck pays for music? :confused: I thought all the money was in touring? These cats aren't hurting. Having a hit is promotion for the tour.
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At this point, yep.

But I say don't count streaming out yet, this is just Pandora. Companies have different royalty rates. If you're an independent artist and can go viral, you will make some goos money from streaming/downloading combined. The more people signed up for streaming, the better for the music industry overall. It's just that label artists wont see any of that money, but the trade off is the tour money.

http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2017/03/indie-artists-cant-afford-to-skip-streaming-heres-why.html

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Black people let white tech folks define and OWN their talent for fucking crumbs.

Prince tried to tell em. You would think Black people would go ALL TIDAL...but thats toooo Black I guess
 
The art is always free to the artist but I see this as if you are what you say you are you should be able to shine no matter what because what matter's is that mic,stage and those fans.

No more getting over on the artist and the artist can't get over on the fans......

Bless em
 

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