Recent events in the music industry emphasize the maxim - while hit recording artists may have the flash, hit songwriters get the cash. At least, the parties who ultimately control the songs get the cash. That’s not always the songwriter because many songwriters eventually transfer or sell their song catalogs to music publishing companies.
Song Revenue Versus Recording Revenue
Songwriters and their music publishers have multiple music licensing opportunities and can often live on royalties from hit songs for decades. In contrast, a recording artist’s royalties may dry up just a few years after release of a hit CD. That’s why in this age of rampant music recording piracy, recording artists are scouting for additional source of revenue. Songwriting revenue seems better insulated from the effects of piracy than recording revenue.
The Rodgers & Hammerstein Catalog Purchase
Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote most of their song classics – for Broadway musicals such as The Sound of Music, South Pacific, and The King and I - in the 1940’s and 1950s. Fifty years later, their catalog of songs has sold to Imagem Music Group, a music publisher owned by a Dutch pension fund. While Imagem did not disclose the purchase price, Wall Street Journal reporter Ethan Smith reports it to be as much as $200 Million.