[Dixielandjazz] Recording agreement shares future revenue

[Steve Barbone]

About classical music, but an interesting read for those OKOM bands that
sell CDs. Barbone Street pays the regular gig fee for live recordings, and
then, after break even is reached (Gross sales $ vs. CD cost $), pays the
musicians $1 for each CD sold.

Since we figured out how to record cheaply, the musicians earn about $900
each for the record date in the year's time it takes to sell 1000.

Note that live performance records by large orchestras cost about $20,000
today vs, the $200,000 they used to cost in studio. Our cost, live, is
considerably less.

Cheers,
Steve


Orchestra Musicians Reach Agreement Over Control of Live Recordings

NY Times -= By DANIEL J. WAKIN - August 4, 2006

The future of classical music recordings suddenly looks a little less bleak.

Orchestra managers and musicians have reached an agreement that they say
will make it easier to release recordings of live concerts, which will put
money in the players¹ pockets and help keep their artistic legacy before the
public.

The deal, to be announced Friday, drastically reduces upfront payments to
musicians but gives them a share of future revenue, making it more
cost-effective to produce recordings. It also gives the orchestras ownership
of the recordings, which they can license to distributors for limited
periods. 

In addition, the agreement strengthens the musicians¹ role by giving them
veto power over recording projects.

³People are not going to be earning a significant amount from recordings,²
said Bill Foster, a violist in the National Symphony Orchestra and a
negotiator, ³but it might be a steady amount, and it could be more if there
is a very highly successful recording.² A major incentive, he said, was
³people¹s concern that there is no artistic legacy of performance being made
available.²

Zarin Mehta, president of the New York Philharmonic and chairman of the
committee representing the orchestras, said replacing upfront fees with
revenue-sharing was a breakthrough.

He pointed out that recording was never a major source of revenue for
orchestras, and said he doubted that this would change. ³It¹s a calling
card,² he said. ³Its more a question of image of the orchestra, that its
product was valuable.²

The agreement covers digital downloads once the CD¹s are made, a recognition
of the way an increasing number of people are buying classical music these
days. It is also a reaction to how much the landscape has changed for
recorded classical music. With sales dropping and companies unwilling to pay
the high costs associated with recording sessions, the days of long-term
contracts with major record labels are over.

The new deal acknowledges that problem by covering only live performances. A
number of orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic and the Milwaukee
Symphony, already offer their performances through iTunes. Milwaukee does it
directly, the Philharmonic through Deutsche Grammophon.

Other distribution models have popped up. Some orchestras, like the
Philadelphia, have made deals to produce their own recordings, to be
distributed by small record companies. Others are streaming their
performances online.

Forty-eight orchestras have signed the agreement. These include heavyweights
like the orchestras of New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh;
smaller-budget orchestras of strong artistic repute like those in St. Louis,
Houston and Nashville; and regional orchestras like the Edmonton, Omaha and
Modesto symphonies. Several opera houses are also included.

While the upfront fees are much lower for the players, many feel that
something is better than nothing, Mr. Foster said.

Under the scale, a symphony orchestra musician earning $1,500 a week would
receive $90 for the recording upfront as well as $10 for every 1,000 copies
sold (in a store or by download) above 15,000. Most classical music releases
sell fewer than 10,000 copies in the Unites States, although the number can
reach beyond 50,000 if it includes a major star, according to the Universal
Music Classics Group. The agreement also calls for the players to receive
half of gross receipts once all of the orchestra¹s costs are recovered.

In the heyday of modern classical recording, in the 1960¹s, 70¹s and 80¹s,
musicians with major orchestras could earn more than $10,000 a year from
record releases and television and radio broadcasts.

Mr. Mehta said the cost of a live recording under the new terms would be
around $20,000, a tenth of what a studio recording would cost under the old
system.

In the 1960¹s, the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein put out
roughly 10 albums a year with Columbia Records, and 400,000 of those
recordings were sold in 1969, said Eric Latzky, the orchestra¹s spokesman.
In recent years, the orchestra has averaged about two recordings a year,
mostly one-shot deals with various companies.