I was lucky enough to get a chance to talk with Eric Palmquist of Disney Music Publishing about (i) publishing income, (ii) when writers should be paid, and (iii) what writers can do to make sure they are receiving royalties when they should be.

Here is the interview:

What is a Royalty Statement and when should writers be receiving them?

A royalty statement outlines what money you are getting paid for the use of your song.  Some royalty statements are paid quarterly, some twice a year;  it depends on what you negotiated in the contract.

When should writers receive a royalty for the use of their song?

You have basically 4 types of royalties: mechanical, performance, sync, and print.  So if we go through them one at a time:

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I am still somewhat surprised how so many bands, even in tech savvy San Francisco, still are not doing all the basic things that are needed to establish a platform best suited to efficiently take advantage of the Internet.

Here are the very basic items I still see bands/musicians not doing:

1. Website. You need a website to be the hub of an information related to your band. Just having a myspace page will not cut it. Or just using facebook. These tools will change constantly, but your website will be your center, always.

2. Email addresses. Use the band’s website for your email address. Drop yahoo, gmail or whatever strange domain name you may now be using. Matt(at)VolumeEleven.net is what I use here, even though I have other person emails. Same concept.

3. Web chatting. You need to be engaged with fans on certain chat rooms related to your genre or musical interests. This is one of the major advantages the Internet has to offer – connecting people over dispersed geographical areas. To not fully take advantage of this opportunity is …

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We all know self-promotion is neither fun nor easy, but in this day and age you need to do what you can. This post has some good examples to motivate musicians to try even harder at self-promotion during their gigs.

Good luck!

http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2009/04/topspin.html

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Not surprisingly, many executives in the TV and film industry are interested in working with independent musicians, for a few reasons: (1) it is easier striking deals with indie musicians because there are less management and label hurdles, (2) their music can be licensed for less money than signed acts, and (3) there is a [...]

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