Fat Joe's 'Make It Rain' Sells A Million Ringtones

[keone]

Fat Joe's hit single "Make It Rain" has sold over 1 million ringtones and has been certified platinum by the RIAA's Platinum Ringtune certification program.



The success of the single is a milestone for Fat Joe, his label Terror Squad Entertainment and Imperial Records, which is EMI Music's independent urban label division that was relaunched in 2006.



Imperial is a legendary label that was originally launched in 1946 and counted artists like Fats Domino, Ricky Nelson, T-Bone Walker and The Spiders. The label was also one of the first to introduce stereo recordings to the marketplace.



In addition to being the first million-selling ringtone for Imperial, "Make It Rain" peaked #6 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop chart was Imperial's first Top 10 hit in over 40 years.



“Fat Joe and Terror Squad Entertainment have been great to work with and are a prime example of what we can bring to a project,” said Neil Levine, Imperial Records Senior VP/GM. “We bring the same pioneering spirit and dedication to quality music as the original Imperial, but with expertise and resources right for independent urban artists today."



"Make It Rain" is taken from Fat Joe's album Me Myself and I, which peaked at #3 on Billboard's Hip-Hop Album Chart and #14 on Billboard's Top 200 Album chart.



Levine, who founded Penalty Records, partnered with EMI Music's Capitol Music Group in June 2006 to reestablish Imperial and turn it into a 21st century powerhouse.



"We have the advantage of being super-focused on finding and developing the most exciting music in the clubs and the streets, but also have access to major label resources," Levine said. "It’s a great

http://allhiphop.com/blogs/news/archive/2007/06/28/18195357.aspx

 

[MisterNell1]

I'm just curious about the amount of money artists make from ringtone sales. Do they get a bigger cut/percentage than a typical CD sales contract? I understand that Hip-Hop music sales have been declining over the past couple years but ringtone sales are exploding. Is this the new way for artists to get paid? What will be the motivation for making great albums/CDs?

 

[Fiya Ant]

Another track that wayne made.. Im curious abou the sales too of ringtones..

 

[FAMU2g3]

Ringtone royalties

Listen to this story

There's a whole lot of money rolling in from cell phone ringtones and other digital downloads — but music companies might be taking more than their share of the royalties. Lisa Napoli reports.

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TEXT OF STORY

MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: If you want to download a song it will cost you about 99 cents. If you want your song as a ringtone on your cell phone it will cost you double. Everybody knows that this arrangement is making money for the phone and music companies and the iTunes of the world. But what about the artists? How much are they making? Marketplace's Lisa Napoli says that some are saying not enough.
[ Song: Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer . . . ]

LISA NAPOLI: You might think this song is a silly little ditty, but it has been very, very good to Elmo Shropshire.

It's sold 10 million copies since he first recorded it in 1979, and in the age of digital music and downloadable ringtones, the reindeer has new life as a cash cow.

ELMO SHROPSHIRE: Last year for the first time when we got our royalty statements there were digital royalties on there. We had something like 140,000 or 150,000 downloads for Grandma Got Run over by a Reindeer, and I thought this is fantastic.

Until Shropshire took a closer look.

He figured he'd get paid half of the $3 or so for each ringtone download. That's what his contract with Sony specified. Instead he was getting 8 cents each.

SHROPSHIRE: Sony started treating this as if they were selling an actual CD, and as I scrutinized the royalty statement a little more, they were deducting 30 percent for packaging and another 30 percent for returns and breakage and I thought, 'Just a minute now.'

Gerry Weiner is Elmo Shropshire's lawyer. He says Sony's treating digital music sales the same way it treats hard copy sales, and that's against the contract.

So now Weiner has filed a class action suit against Sony on behalf of Elmo Shropshire and other clients like Cheap Trick and the Allman Brothers.

GERRY WEINER: They're mostly classic records. They're records that have recouped their costs dozens and dozens of times over. At this time its pure profit for everybody.

Weiner says as much as 90 percent of that profit is going to the record companies.

Industry observers like Grant Robertson of the Digital Music Weblog say it's a problem

GRANT ROBERTSON: I think anyone in business would like to make those margins the record companies are making on these sales. There's a lot of money left over there and the question is where does that go?

The fuzzy math is what's kept some artists from allowing their catalogues to be made available online. The Beatles, Led Zepplin, RadioHead and Garth Brooks have been some of the resistors.

For its part, Sony won't comment on the litigation, but Gerry Weiner says there more to the fight he's waging than the players involved in this suit.

WEINER: It's obviously the future is what we're talking about here. And it's what down the road artists are going to be paid on the sales.

Right now about six percent of all music sold is digital, and the one thing everyone in the industry does agree on is that number will just keep growing.

In Los Angeles, I'm Lisa Napoli for Marketplace.

 

[Thick Johnson]

@ $3.00 a pop ooo thats got to feel good.

 

[FAMU2g3]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I'm just curious about the amount of money artists make from ringtone sales. Do they get a bigger cut/percentage than a typical CD sales contract? I understand that Hip-Hop music sales have been declining over the past couple years but ringtone sales are exploding. Is this the new way for artists to get paid? What will be the motivation for making great albums/CDs?

 

[DarkCity]

I'm just curious about the amount of money artists make from ringtone sales. Do they get a bigger cut/percentage than a typical CD sales contract? I understand that Hip-Hop music sales have been declining over the past couple years but ringtone sales are exploding. Is this the new way for artists to get paid? What will be the motivation for making great albums/CDs?

I know i sell for 1.50 per ringer and its all profit for me

Ringtones pay the majority of my bills

 

[bigreg2007]

I know i sell for 1.50 per ringer and its all profit for me

Ringtones pay the majority of my bills

Share the knowledge brah! ​

 

[TEN]

Good thread!

 

[Blunt]

Artists usually get 11-cents per each 99-cent digital single sold. Do the math in terms of ring-tones. (Artists average around $3 for each CD sold.) Digital sales for singles, albums and ring-tones are going through the roof but they can't match the kind of cash brought in by CD sales, especially at the CD sales peak around 2000. Artists are making much bigger money these days on-stage. Only record companies are losing money due to low CD sales. Music is still being purchased, "accessed/acquired" and listened-to at record-setting rates, it's just that the record companies aren't profiting as much. They blew it by not getting on the internet bandwagon in the early '00s.

 

[DarkCity]

Share the knowledge brah! ​

I make my own ringtones using Adobe Audition and MyJAL and i sell em for 1.50 and since i just D/L the music from the net its all profit. I post up at my spot(Where i sell other things also,not drugs) with my laptop and Men Women and Children come through her all day and spend up to 15 dollars a pop on ringtones

 

[Heist]

Music Industry Math:
Ringtone Retail Consumer Cost: $1.50-$2

Profit Breakdown:
- Company / Distributor Selling Ringtone - $.50 -.75 cents
- Record Label - $.50 - $1
- Publisher -$.25 cents
- Writer / Composer - $.25 - .50 Cents
- Performer -$.25 - .50 cents

...just like anything else in the music business, the performer always ends up at the bottom of the profit food chain and oh, LET'S NOT FORGET THEY HAVE TO PAY TAXES ON THIS INCOME, so their real net income is closer to .15-.40 cents per ringtone.

 

[mc2]

Another track that wayne made.. Im curious abou the sales too of ringtones..

He needs to thank Scott Storch for producing the track of the year!!

 

[Chitownheadbusa]

Artists usually get 11-cents per each 99-cent digital single sold. Do the math in terms of ring-tones. (Artists average around $3 for each CD sold.) Digital sales for singles, albums and ring-tones are going through the roof but they can't match the kind of cash brought in by CD sales, especially at the CD sales peak around 2000. Artists are making much bigger money these days on-stage. Only record companies are losing money due to low CD sales. Music is still being purchased, "accessed/acquired" and listened-to at record-setting rates, it's just that the record companies aren't profiting as much. They blew it by not getting on the internet bandwagon in the early '00s.

and thats why i bootlegg most of my music
actually i always believed the artist were the one's leaking their own albums to the bootleggers anyways.
they probably get more money from the bootleggers than they do from their own record companies.

 

[Word]

by that math its still 150k-400k if im fat joe im happy about that

Music Industry Math:
Ringtone Retail Consumer Cost: $1.50-$2

Profit Breakdown:
- Company / Distributor Selling Ringtone - $.50 -.75 cents
- Record Label - $.50 - $1
- Publisher -$.25 cents
- Writer / Composer - $.25 - .50 Cents
- Performer -$.25 - .50 cents

...just like anything else in the music business, the performer always ends up at the bottom of the profit food chain and oh, LET'S NOT FORGET THEY HAVE TO PAY TAXES ON THIS INCOME, so their real net income is closer to .15-.40 cents per ringtone.

 

[Finito]

Scott storch is one of the wackest producers imo. All his beats sound like white people dance(the majority of them). Does that make sence?

 

[Heist]

by that math its still 150k-400k if im fat joe im happy about that

You forget, there was more than one performer on "Make It" so the performance money has to get split.

And re-calculate you figures ... looks who makes the most money ... the record label! Why would anyone be happy about that. After the label recoups it's money and makes a profit, why do they get to continue profiting?

The music business is the only business in the world where you pay the "bank" back for the home loan and they still get to keep the house and charge you rent.

That's why I got out and got in Hedge Funds ...

 

[Heist]

Scott storch is one of the wackest producers imo. All his beats sound like white people dance(the majority of them). Does that make sence?

And why do you think his music he produces SELLS by the assload.
Does that make "sence."

If you want underground keeping it raw, go see Primo, Pete Rock, Jay Dee...
If you want your shit to move units, go see Storch, Dre, Blaze, etc...

It's just a business bruh. Don't be mad.