The always excellent TechDirt has a breakdown and an embedded video from an entertainment lawyer about record label contracts. RIAA Accounting: How To Sell 1 Million Albums And Still Owe $500,000
I knew about some of these line items, but “reserves” and “breakage”?
We should all keep these numbers in mind the next time a label boss says he needs legislation allowing him to charge copyright violators with a crime and not merely a civil offense.
When label bosses whine about how “no artist will want to make music if they can’t get paid”, ask that boss if his artists ever got paid.
Here’s the vid: