Who gets what from the sale of a CD

[davidmjs]

Interesting article on the BBC News website about the breakdown of income from the sale of an £8 CD...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23840744

[Tim Fletcher]

I would be interested to know how it works out for CDs bought direct from the artist at a gig for instance. How much of that £10 or £12 do they actually see?

[Miguel Cajon (Mick)]

It depends on the artist Tim. As an example, we are unsigned so get 100% of the £10 we charge for albums at gigs. However, we had to pay up front for all the costs associated with making the CD and only broke even when we sold around 400 CDs. Signed artists will get differing amounts depending on their deal. Selling through shops and online is different again. Digital downloads are pretty straightforward - iTunes charge us (again as unsigned) an annual flat fee (not much) and then we get everything we sell. It will be different for labels selling online through iTunes/Amazon etc I expect.

There are many advantages nowadays in doing it yourself - crowd funding is especially good if you have a fan base (ask Ollie!) as you are essentially selling pre-orders to finance your record. However, the biggest advantage of being signed is the PR and radio plugging that comes with it. It's all very well making a record, getting people to listen to it is the problem!

[jude]

As a 'signed' artist I am able to buy CDs from the record co at £5 plus Vat each = £6 per copy.And I have to pay for them up front for those.
 I don't get royalties from those that I buy so I have to sell them to make up for that. Plus I have to buy packaging and post them when they are bought directly from me via my shop. I do hardly any live gigs so I sell very few that way. And there's always the chance that they may get lost in the post..

All in all people might as well buy from Amazon or direct from the record co or any of the other online outlets.
 

[YaBB Master (Colin)]

Going back a few years but:

1000 off CD (CD, 16 page booklet, case, tray, glass master) = £1000
I did once get sent the wrong invoice for 10,000 off and it was 34p ea.

Recording is the expense and if you want a product that is going to get air play, it has to be professionally mastered and look good.
So maybe £10K.

Generally a distributer would give you £4 or so, but could send them back to you.

Some very nice shops, like HMV Oxford Street would buy direct from the artist at a 30% discount.
CDs sold directly or at gigs are the way to go.

To play with the big boys, get played on national radio and proper distribution, you had to sell about 2,500 copies to break even.

[Ollie]

Crowdfunding is great. I've got just shy of £3000's worth of pre-orders for my album - there is no way I'd ever be able to save up that sort of money to make an album. It will be coming out on a co-operative deal with a label. Not sure whether this means I'm signed or not. They take 30% of all sales from their website (a lot easier than setting up my own online shop and having to deal with all the postage), but I get 100% of everything that I sell at gigs. Not sure what's going on with iTunes etc.

[geeeaidan]

Think of it like this, How much has to be split between a £1 download haha, or even worse a 5p per stream..

Nobody makes money off selling music anymore

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/9-ways-musicians-actually-make-money-today-20120828

[Simon spoons]

I got my last prs statement a while back. in one territory in Europe I had 8500 streams...I got 36p

indeed very difficult to make any money - but hey emotionally rich

[jimc]

I got my last prs statement a while back. in one territory in Europe I had 8500 streams...I got 36p

Mmm, but you can be satisfied with the feeling that a bunch of rich executives have got even richer on the back of your efforts, which I'm sure gives you a nice full feeling in, well, nowhere really...