| Band Membership Agreement |
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| Written agreement defining terms of your business and legal relationship |
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| Covers all recording expenses and any monies paid to the band in the form of an “artist advance”. |
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| Factored into a band’s recording budget and are the union mimimum scale wages to which each musician is entitled for recording an album. |
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| Percentage’s the record company pays to you for the sale of your record. |
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| Digital Download Royalties |
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| Royalties of the sale of your music sold as digital downloads on music download sites like itunes. |
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| (aka. Mobile ring tones) for the sale of your music used on cell phones. Are also the same as your record royalty rate. |
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| (Film, TV, Video Games) When a record company licenses the recorded masters of your music in film, tv, video games and advertisements, it will pay you 50% of the monies it receives. |
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| Audiovisual DVD Royalties |
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| Royalties from the sales of your DVD. (MTV, VH1 are used as a promotion) |
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| Interactive Webcasting Royalties |
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| When record companies license the master recordings of your CD or Video to “Interactive subscription services” like Yahoo!, AOL, MSN….the record company will collect a fee and pays you a split of these earnings. (Listener has a choice in what they hear) |
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| NonInteractive Webcasting Royalties |
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| When Master recordings on which you are a “featured artist” are broadcast on noninteractive internet sites, a webcasting royalty is due. (Like XM radio, DirecTV, where a listener doesn’t have a choice in what they hear) |
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| Monies received for live performance |
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| Music Publishing Royalties |
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| Can be split into an individual effort or it can be a collaborative effort involving any combo of band members. When two or more people collaborate on writing a song and each writer contributes either musically, lyrically, or in both ways the ownership is split pro rata…unless there is a written agreement between the writers that stipulates otherwise. |
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| Your record company pays you a licensing fee, or mechanical royalty for the use of your songs on a record. |
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| Any Public venue that performs you music is required to obtain a license and pay a fee or performance royalty. (Radio stations, tv networks, cable stations, satellite networks, colleges and universities, nightclubs, internet websites and mobile carriers) |
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| When motion picture companies, tv broadcast stations, video game developers, and any company who wishes to synch, a synchronization fee is required. |
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| When print companies are authorized to reproduce your music in sheet music and music books, a print royalty is paid on sales. |
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| Music Downloads on itunes, ring tone sales with carriers like Verizon, “Interactive” streaming audio and video services like Yahoo!, and “Non Interactive” streaming with sites like MusicChoice; that are not new types of income but rather sources that encompass the various incomes previously discussed. |
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| Another source of income you may receive when your music is published overseas. Encompasses the various incomes already discussed. |
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| An advance recoupable from future song earnings that should be divided among the songwriters in proportion to their individual shares. |
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| Business owned by one person |
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| When two or more persons engage in common business, a partnership is presumed by law. |
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| A separate legal entity (Which could consist of one or two more people) |
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| LLC (Limited Liability Company) |
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| An entity with limited liability but fewer formalities that a corporation. |
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| A separate legal entity with 35 or fewer shareholders. |
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