So TikTok recently started "music Royalties". I have a song that got 2 million something streams, not sure for what, maybe someone used it in one of their videos or whatever. I got a whopping 15 cents, ha. What a rip-off. I don't even want to release any more music now, it's so disheartening.

 

Tiktok parent said to be worth $400 billion already.

For starters, yes, TikTok does pay artists for use of their music.

In comparison to other major platforms such as Spotify who pay per total number of streams, TikTok operates differently when calculating royalties and bases calculations on the number of videos made using your music, as opposed to the number of times the video is watched. That can often become confusing if you are measuring the way royalties are worked out against othersservices, so it’s important to understand the main difference here is that big view counts don’t equal large royalty payments.

To put it another way, the quantity of videos matters more than the total view count. One hundred videos with no views using a specific sound will generate more money than a single video with one million views. The views don’t matter.

TikTok royalties are based on market shares rather than metric views. To calculate the market shares, TikTok uses what is called “a creation.” A creation is when a user selects a release from TikTok’s library to make a video. Users can then make their own creations inspired by existing creations, all amounting to new creations. So, to put this simply, every time a user decides to use your music to make a video, this generates royalty.

And how much is a video worth? According to estimates online, TikTok royalties were close to $0.0067 per video using your music in 2018 and moved to $0.030 per video in June 2019. Based on these figures, ten thousand uses of this music would generate approximately $300.

Of course, this information is likely to change, TikTok is an evolving platform, and the conversation around royalties is unending. The company could easily choose to approach artist payments from a different position or price point overnight.

https://haulixdaily.com/2021/07/tiktok-royalties-explained

 

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Last edited by a moderator: Mar 29, 2022

Spoiler: See the new open letter and the full list of signatories below.

See the new open letter and the full list of signatories below.

“Dear Prime Minister,

We write to you on behalf of today’s generation of artists, musicians and songwriters here in the UK.

For too long, streaming platforms, record labels and other internet giants have exploited performers and creators without rewarding them fairly. We must put the value of music back where it belongs – in the hands of music makers.

Streaming is quickly replacing radio as our main means of music communication. However, the law has not kept up with the pace of technological change and, as a result, performers and songwriters do not enjoy the same protections as they do in radio.

Today’s musicians receive very little income from their performances – most featured artists receive tiny fractions of a US cent per stream and session musicians receive nothing at all.

To remedy this, only two words need to change in the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. This will modernise the law so that today’s performers receive a share of revenues, just like they enjoy in radio. It won’t cost the taxpayer a penny but will put more money in the pockets of UK taxpayers and raise revenues for public services like the NHS.

There is evidence of multinational corporations wielding extraordinary power and songwriters struggling as a result. An immediate government referral to the Competition and Markets Authority is the first step to address this. Songwriters earn 50% of radio revenues, but only 15% in streaming. We believe that in a truly free market the song will achieve greater value.

Ultimately though, we need a regulator to ensure the lawful and fair treatment of music makers. The UK has a proud history of protecting its producers, entrepreneurs and inventors. We believe British creators deserve the same protections as other industries whose work is devalued when exploited as a loss-leader.

By addressing these problems, we will make the UK the best place in the world to be a musician or a songwriter, allow recording studios and the UK session scene to thrive once again, strengthen our world leading cultural sector, allow the market for recorded music to flourish for listeners and creators, and unearth a new generation of talent.

We urge you to take these forward and ensure the music industry is part of your levelling-up agenda as we kickstart the post-Covid economic recovery.”

Damon Albarn OBE
Lily Allen
Wolf Alice
Marc Almond OBE
Joan Armatrading CBE
David Arnold
Massive Attack
Jazzie B OBE
Adam Bainbridge (Kindness)
Emily Barker
Gary Barlow OBE
Geoff Barrow
Django Bates
Brian Bennett OBE
Fiona Bevan
Aflie Boe OBE
Billy Bragg
The Chemical Brothers
Kate Bush CBE
Melanie C
Eliza Carthy MBE
Martin Carthy MBE
Celeste
Guy Chambers
Mike Batt LVO
Don Black OBE
Badly Drawn Boy
Chrissy Boy
Tim Burgess
Mairéad Carlin
Laura-Mary Carter
Nicky Chinn
Dame Sarah Connolly DBE
Phil Coulter
Roger Daltrey CBE
Catherine Anne Davies (The Anchoress)
Ian Devaney
Chris Difford
Al Doyle
Anne Dudley
Brian Eno
Self Esteem
James Fagan
Paloma Faith
Marianne Faithfull
George Fenton
Rebecca Ferguson
Robert Fripp
Shy FX
Gabrielle
Peter Gabriel
Noel Gallagher
Guy Garvey
Bob Geldof KBE
Boy George
David Gilmour CBE
Nigel Godrich
Howard Goodall CBE
Jimi Goodwin
Graham Gouldman
Tom Gray
Roger Greenaway OBE
Will Gregory
Ed Harcourt
Tony Hatch OBE
Richard Hawley
Justin Hayward
Fran Healy
Orlando Higginbottom
Jools Holland OBE, DL
Mick Hucknall
Crispin Hunt
Shabaka Hutchings
Eric Idle
John Paul Jones
Julian Joseph OBE
Kano
Linton Kwesi Johnson
Gary Kemp
Nancy Kerr
Richard Kerr
Soweto Kinch
Beverley Knight MBE
Mark Knopfler OBE
Annie Lennox OBE
Shaznay Lewis
Gary Lightbody OBE
Tasmin Little OBE
Calum MacColl
Roots Manuva
Laura Marling
Johnny Marr
Chris Martin
Claire Martin OBE
Cerys Matthews MBE
Sir Paul McCartney CH MBE
Horse McDonald
Thurston Moore
Gary “Mani” Mounfield
Mitch Murray CBE
Field Music
Frank Musker
Laura Mvula
Kate Nash
Stevie Nicks
Orbital
Roland Orzabal
Gary Osborne
Jimmy Page OBE
Hannah Peel
Daniel Pemberton
Yannis Philippakis
Anna Phoebe
Phil Pickett
Robert Plant CBE
Karine Polwart
Emily Portman
Chris Rea
Eddi Reader MBE
Sir Tim Rice
Orphy Robinson MBE
Matthew Rose
Nitin Sawhney CBE
Anil Sebastian
Peggy Seeger
Nadine Shah
Feargal Sharkey OBE
Shura
Labi Siffre
Martin Simpson
Skin
Mike Skinner
Curt Smith
Fraser T Smith
Robert Smith
Sharleen Spiteri
Lisa Stansfield
Sting CBE
Suggs
Tony Swain
Heidi Talbot
John Taylor
Phil Thornalley
KT Tunstall
Ruby Turner MBE
Becky Unthank
Norma Waterson MBE
Cleveland Watkiss MBE
Jessie Ware
Bruce Welch OBE
Kitty Whately
Ricky Wilde
Olivia Williams
Daniel “Woody” Woodgate
Midge Ure OBE
Nikki Yeoh
https://www.nme.com/news/music/paul...oris-johnson-to-fix-streaming-economy-2924096

 

You think anyone would listen to the poor ones? Taylor Swift has done some amazing work in getting unknown artists paid a decent amount.

 

Tik Tok SoundOn: free music distribution and marketing tools
https://audiosex.pro/threads/tik-tok-soundon-free-music-distribution-and-marketing-tools.63958/
www.soundon.global

 

At the end, there is a capitalist class AND a proletarian class.
Capitalist class steal proletarian class production : they are rich BECAUSE you are poor.
When they drink champagne and sniff cocaine with a prostitute ... it is YOUR money.
Being "musician" or whatever you define yourself.

Talking about anything else is just pure bullsh1t to avoid the REAL question : WITCH CLASS are we ?

You all know the answer ...

 

obviously because they have the most to lose

 

The money flows from the bottom to the top. You own the big media and as long as people still believe your lies, your game continues. You only want willing consumers and they should leave the thinking to the rich and powerful, because only they know what is good for you. We need education and people who have been treated like human beings. We need more appreciation, more love and solidarity.

The Internet offers the opportunity to exchange knowledge among themselves free of charge. You can upload music. Earning money as an artist is a breadless art. You as a musician do all the creative work and you sell that and share the profit. In between, millions are still earned with advertising. Against it only helps to turn off the TV and not to buy their products anymore.

Fuck the rich champagne-drinking coke-snorting - do not make yourself their accomplice.
They always wave some money, resist that and you will be free.

 

I must admit that I am a bit surprised by many of the comments that have come in this thread.

I had an idea that people who subscribe to this place are either musicians, composers or the like - that is, people who care about the industry and its future in general and not least their own opportunity to make a living in the industry.

When Paul McCartney, Kate Bush and a number of other old and well-known artists start to distance themselves from streaming platforms such as the Spotify market model, it gives a kind of hope that things can change for the better ..... not least for the new and unknown artists .

Art is not just art it is work. Work must be paid fairly, otherwise people will stop working - it's that simple.

by the way, I will completely refrain from commenting on the fact that streaming music definitely gives the customer the worst sound experience ever ;-)

My advice is still: Buy the music directly from the artist so you are sure that it is the artist and not a parasite streaming service that gets the money.

Off topic but still:
I just bought an older Denon Cassette player in the best quality, so now I can get access to my many old cassette tapes that have been in my basement for many years ...... I'm looking forward to it.

 

Last edited: Mar 12, 2022

@phloopy Discussion is a little more complex than that: All those people who signed the letter have been making money for decades with this rotten mechanism. They are only waking up now that their earnings have dropped significantly; what I mean is that their position seems absolutely correct to me, but a bit hypocritical in timing.
I am a sensitive person: I feel that these superstars - Paladins of Justice - are not speaking for artists like me, but right now they are only looking inside their wallet.
Streaming platforms have an easy solution to silence them: pay higher royalities for composers who make more than 10millions clicks
At that point, the ranting of millionaires will magically end and for me, poor artist, absolutely nothing has changed

We can discuss any subject, but don't touch my bottles of Champagne

 

You are right ! I still want to get rid of a few positive thoughts. One would need an unconditional basic income.
You can upload your stuff to SoundCloud and YouTube for free. You can create your own website and send email for free. You can post your music here in the forum and have it discussed. You can communicate with people thousands of miles away.

There is a lot of free software.And of course there is Robin Hood in the form of Team Air and others who steal from the rich by hacking the software. So we're not that bad off.

 

Used to take the trash out at BMG, so many artists solicited and all sending demos, who got any attention but those with cash, nice butts, willing to eat out men, etc etc, mainly anyone with 10k a meeting got some airplay on republic radio, now republic records UMG, the industry is worse then rigged, even artists like Madonna are in on the action to assure they topple everyone else, she gets billboard charts and 100s of million likes and views even if there where only 10 listeners watch Money and Avery lipman go from 300k views to 8k and 3 comments

then 69 rapper revealed that people use credit to pay their way on the billboard charts so banks are convinced in investing, basically pass contracts..https://www.nme.com/news/music/bill...ustin-bieber-of-rigging-hot-100-chart-2672297 but the truth is that the same music industry thugs still around alike politicians are behind all this with bankers., who ever is using the shadow music industry claims that their label is bigger and better then the artists and who ever wants to get on board must conform to their brand is only that, a talentless brand...Republic records is all a brand aside Black Sabbath and few artists behind the shares., look it all up yourselves cause when you do read the rest of this you will connect the dots and find your way out., Paul and Kate are worried cause they don't want these companies to run the show and they end up like Bob Dylan., zero air time and sold his publishing...basically forced out.

As for streaming, fallow the money, Madonna and a few other artists basically invested in these companies cause the same record industry thugs (not monty and Avery) but their older generation basically keep passing the buck between each other like bank investment hedgfund manager, in fact some are lawyers, but the point is that Jeff Price already revealed the scams about streaming and collusion with senators and banks, they made a law saying that if an artists does not claim their streaming money the banks keep it while anyone here who has an account thats 20 years old can still withdraw whatever they had in the bank.....whats interesting is they used glitches to hold up the artists , anything from similar names, genre, brand disputes and kept their money! https://www.fyimusicnews.ca/articles/2015/11/18/jeff-price-music-biz-broken-and-it-needs-be-fixed

But I (mr or miss no one) will reveal to you something no one ever did right here and right now so if your planning or are an artists or even a developer who creates products for artists and musicians, EVERYTHING you see and hear in government owned mainstream media (yes the military have staff in all broadcast networks like Bassar Assad, the Kremlin, etc etc where did you think they put the red alert underground White House central red alert missile systems, the first choice for terorrists before etc was WCBS cause they found out the armed forces communicated via one of the broadcast channels between all the bases across the country) now you can check all this too but my point is the so called cancel culture is aka character assassination, these criminal stalking networks where banned, yet you ou see it on tv all the time, Johny Depp smeared while names of accused are not even mentioned in EU networks like the UK, but in the US air time is money.
My point is the music industry does the same thing, thats right!, in the 90s and after I witnessed major labels discussing how to eliminate artists who threat their investments, find dirt white a hooker, frame them, get them attacked but make it look like a robbery, chase them distract them and the worse they could do is offer them a deal and hang them dry in a closet so no other label signs them..., even already rigged artists like Mariah Carey openly attacked George Michael's tour, stage props and all in the 90s after seen a rehearsal, all whining at Tony her husband from Sony.....this is how the biz is guys, watch your backs, lets see what happens to the wife beating Paul who has been living in America to avoid the UK going after him about his past lol

 

I can to some extent admit that you have some important points but if the whole payment part shall be changed for the better it does not happen by small and unknown artists speaking out ...... unfortunately.

The best thing would be that the artists created their own platforms for music distribution with a fair payment as a result. But my experience is that far too many musicians have very individualistic approaches to their own careers and are stunningly indifferent to the well-being of their colleagues. So it's probably just a utopian dream.

 

For example, you can join forces with other artists and form an artist collective. You can also start your own label, like a cooperative, where everyone earns their own money. You can also form a support association to make donations tax-deductible (this varies from country to country). They can rent rehearsal space or studios together and share the space.

You can organize street festivals and present your music there. Some artists have a regular part-time job that they do 3 - 4 days a week to get the housing/electricity and food costs together. You can apply with a CD at radio stations. However, if you sit alone in front of the PC, it is very hard to keep up with the worldwide competition. So team up.

 

Exactly @BEAT16
but it requires musicians to stand together and stop believing their dream of fame starts on Spotify. They must start believing in self-created initiatives that, for example, require solidarity with colleagues !!
This has been done before but it always ends up with individualism winning and solidarity disappearing - sadly

 

That's right @phloopy. At least we were able to analyze the problem and it is now here in the forum, accessible to everyone worldwide. Yes as you say a sad thing ...

 

I do not believe that the occurance of new markets is responsible for the lack of understanding from these people for how these markets work.
It's like Avid or Steinberg complaining about piracy or hardware producers complaining about the occurance of Software Plugins.

Mostly it's just the lazyness of being innovative.

 

Lots of disagrees on this post but not many answered it directly. What is wrong with what Malachi said?

 

Right and on top of that it's ignorance and stupidity.
Now let's move from analysis to action - your suggestions to change something are needed !