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posted by Fnord666 on Saturday August 11 2018, @05:35AM   Printer-friendly
from the cashing-out dept.

CEO Steve Cooper said that the sale resulted in $126 million “credited to artist accounts on their June 30 royalty statements which are issued around the world in August and September.” A rep confirmed that distributed labels are included in that amount, if their deal terms call for it.

“In February 2016, we were the first major to announce a policy to share proceeds from equity in streaming services with artists,” Cooper noted. However, Music Business Worldwide reports that unlike Sony Music, which is also sharing proceeds from the sale of its Spotify equity, Warner is not overlooking artists’ and labels’ unrecouped balances, which means that the proceeds could go not directly to the artist but to Warner as part of the recoupment of an artist’s advance and/or other label expenses. A rep for WMG did not immediately respond to Variety‘s requests for comment or confirmation on that matter.

Of the other three label groups, Sony Music sold approximately 50% of its shares for an estimated $750 million, the company revealed in a public filing in May, while independent label collective Merlin sold 100% of its shares for an amount estimated at upward of $125 million and immediately distributed the earnings to its members. Universal Music Group has not sold its shares, perhaps in anticipation of parent company Vivendi’s plan to sell 50% of that business unit.

UPDATED: In its earnings call on Tuesday morning, Warner Music Group announced that it has now sold its entire stake in Spotify, realizing $504 million. CEO Steve Cooper said that the sale resulted in $126 million “credited to artist accounts on their June 30 royalty statements which are issued around the world in August and September.


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  • (Score: 2) by fishybell on Saturday August 11 2018, @03:47PM (1 child)

    by fishybell (3156) on Saturday August 11 2018, @03:47PM (#720317)

    CEO Steve Cooper said that the sale resulted in $126 million “credited to artist accounts

    Were they contractually obligated to do this?

    Did they actually give away millions, just because of good corporate citizenship?

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  • (Score: 2) by ilPapa on Sunday August 12 2018, @06:09AM

    by ilPapa (2366) on Sunday August 12 2018, @06:09AM (#720485) Journal

    Were they contractually obligated to do this?

    Did they actually give away millions, just because of good corporate citizenship?

    I'm saying yes to the first part and no to the second part.

    Plus, and I have this on good authority, that "crediting to artist accounts" is not the same thing as paying artists. Remember, when an artist signs with a record label, all of the advance money is against future earnings, and more importantly, all expenses that the label dishes out for recording a record, marketing a record, promoting an artist, tour expenses, etc, are all charged to the artists. This is how you get situations where some overnight success sells a ton of music but ends up still in debt to the label.

    So, my bet is that "crediting to artist accounts" is basically Warner Music Group paying themselves, but by passing it through artist accounts they get a huge tax benefit.

    --
    You are still welcome on my lawn.