Electronic Music Library’s Blog

The rock and roll swindle is still live and kicking!

News that Pump Audio reduce royalty rates from 50/50 to 65/35 means
that artists signed to Pump will see a reduction in their incomes of 30%.

Pump make the excuse that .. ??this move is being made to support the growth
of our business on a global stage??

So, effectively, they are using the cash that would have gone to the artists
to invest in growth. I guess that?s one way to find money when there is no
cash in the world for new investments. Lets think about that for a moment..
Its like taking money from investors without asking them and also not
allowing them to get a return for their investment!. Its like telling
suppliers that they are going to get less for their products that you sell,
then make it more painful by saying its for business development.

I think this is a big mistake by Pump Audio. How better could you alienate
your artists. As far as I am concerned, once you have that split figure
agreed, you should never change it. Don?t forget also, this is a share of a
sale. Its the ?cost of sales? pretty much. There isn?t much else to add to
each sale. Overheads and indirect costs however, are another thing. A
company getting too big, bloated with fat managers in offices full of staff
doing stuff they feel is above them… Now that?s where a company starts to
bloat operating costs.

Before this announcement Pump Audio would get 50% from every sale PLUS a
share of the publishing earnings from performing royalties. Was that not
enough for them?

What really is going on at Pump Audio? Cash crisis? Sales reducing?
Customers looking to reduce their costs by licensing royalty free music
instead?

This is another nail in the coffin of the performing royalty related music
licensing industry. More and more artists will look to new innovative ways
to sell their music and, with the growth of royalty free music rising they
will see that it is a real and attractive alternative to the costly
lisensing and royalty fee process that is more costly to license buyers.

With the credit crunch redefining the way businesses think about the costs
of their business there has never been a better time for artists to build a
catalogue of royalty free music and never been a better time for businesses
to strip a layer of cost from their businesses by purchasing quality royalty
free music.

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