lcionline Chapter 071 Mother Tape
Chapter 071 Mother Tape
"The two songs we finalized today, 'Today is Your Birthday' is a bit complicated. We only got the lyrics and music copyrights and credits. The subsequent copyrights will definitely be handled by the station and relevant departments."
"But—" Yang Du paused, "the 'Lone Warrior' project will be done by our Qiuniu Studio."
Yuan Xiuqing immediately understood: "We'll acquire the master tape copyright ourselves!"
"That's right." Yang Du nodded. "Too much profit has already flowed into other people's hands. We must keep the master tape copyright of 'The Lone Warrior' in our own hands."
In the Chinese music scene and even the global music industry, the copyright of a single song is actually clearly divided into two parts in practice and in terms of profit distribution—
Copyright of lyrics and music, and copyright of the master tape.
The copyright of lyrics and music is easy to understand.
As the name suggests, the copyright of whoever writes the lyrics and composes the music naturally belongs to them, and there is no room for dispute.
As long as the lyricist and composer don't lose their minds and voluntarily sign a buyout agreement, this portion of the revenue will always be protected by copyright law.
Even if a singer loses their voice or a record company goes bankrupt, as long as the song is still being played and covered, the lyricist and composer can make money without lifting a finger.
But master tape copyright is governed by a different set of rules.
Mastering copyright refers to the ownership of the specific recording file that is finally presented after a song has undergone recording, audio editing, mixing, and mastering.
Generally speaking, whoever funds the production of a single owns the copyright to the master tape.
Yang Du quickly reviewed all his assets from his debut in mid-May to the present in his mind.
All told, he produced a total of five singles.
The original "Flammable and Explosive" and "Red Rose," which just won the gold charts for the second consecutive year, were both recorded with funding from Kingstone Music.
From the recording studio and musicians to the singers, everything was funded and coordinated by Jinshi, so the master tape copyrights of these two songs are undoubtedly in the hands of Jinshi Music.
Even as the producer, Jinshi pays producer fees and producer points—these are all Jinshi's costs.
The case of "Painting Heart" is a bit special. It was a custom-made single by the production company, but it went through the production channels of Jinshi, so the copyright of the master tape still belongs to Jinshi.
As for the song "Singing and Smiling" performed on CCTV's Children's Day Gala, its master tape copyright should have belonged to the Beijing Conservatory of Music, but the school was too embarrassed to ask for the copyright of its own student, so it simply gave it to Yang Du.
Later, at Yang Du's behest, Yuan Xiuqing collaborated with the Beijing Conservatory of Music to establish a dedicated rural music education fund with the proceeds from the song.
After much deliberation, it wasn't until recently, with the song "Birthday Blessing Song" delivered to Lao Yi Lao Hotpot, that Qiu Niu Studio truly acquired its first song with master tape copyright.
"Since we own the master tape copyright, we need to be clear about some things," Yuan Xiuqing said. "In today's streaming era, a song usually goes through three rounds of profit distribution from production to release."
"In the first round, when digital singles are released on music platforms, a 30% channel fee is taken without fail."
"The remaining 70% is the basic distribution between music companies and creators, which is the second round of distribution in the industry."
"The remaining 70% is denoted as Unit 1, of which the lyrics and music copyright accounts for 10% and the master tape copyright accounts for 90%. Taking your song 'Painting Heart' as an example, after the platform takes its cut, you, as the lyrics and music author, get 10%, while Jinshi gets the remaining 90%."
"Of course, this 90% of the gold and stone will be distributed in a third round, with a portion shared with the producers and singers."
"Given Jiang Yan's status as a newcomer at the time, the maximum she could earn was 8% of the artist's royalties. Of that, 3% would be set aside as producer points for the boss, leaving Jiang Yan with 5%."
"Based on this calculation, Jinshi will secure 82% of the profits. Ultimately, the bulk of the gains still come from capital."
Yang Du nodded in agreement. This was the fundamental reason why so many music creators were impoverished, while music companies could make a fortune.
He said with a smile, "But the situation is completely different when it comes to 'Birthday Wishing Song'."
"Tuya is a well-established singer who receives 15% of the artist's royalties, which is the market rate, but the remaining 85% all goes into the pockets of Qiuniu Studio."
The difference between earning 13% of the revenue from a single song and earning 85% is absolutely enormous.
"There's no other way; it's an inevitable process. When you first entered the industry, although you were talented, you lacked fame, funds, and resources. So you had to temporarily make concessions to allow Jinshi to set sail."
"But now..." Yuan Xiuqing said with a smile, "Boss, you've made a name for yourself in the industry. Qiuniu Studio has the confidence and the qualifications to break free from its dependence on Jinshi and produce singles independently."
"So for this song 'The Lone Warrior,' we invited Lin Xu to sing it. We only need to pay the artist's share, and the remaining copyrights of the lyrics, music, and master tape belong to Qiuniu Studio."
"Of course, if we do it this way, we'll have to bear the costs of producing the single in the early stages and the market risks later on ourselves."
"There's no risk in 'The Lone Warrior'," Yang Du said nonchalantly. "If this song still loses money after being featured on CCTV's National Day Gala, I might as well just kill myself."
"Hahaha." Yuan Xiuqing couldn't help but laugh out loud, "The production and copyright issues are settled, so what about distribution?"
Yang Du sighed: "Let's entrust Jinshi Music to handle the distribution. They should still get their share of the distribution fees."
There's nothing we can do about it, or rather, it's the wisest choice at the moment.
Although we have long entered the era of streaming networks, traditional physical records are long dead. Music distribution is no longer the dead end that relied on cassette tapes and CDs and was monopolized by the three major music companies.
As an independent musician, Yang Du could easily register an account and release singles on platforms like Tencent Video and NetEase Cloud Music.
But the problem is, even the best wine needs advertising. Aren't there plenty of projects that have failed because of inadequate promotion?
No matter how good a song is, if it's uploaded to a music library on a platform where hundreds or thousands of new songs emerge every day and go unseen, it won't even make a ripple.
As one of the top three in China, Jinshi is a leader in the industry, whether it is in online promotion of music platforms for recommendation slots, playlists, and charts, or in offline promotions such as radio stations and shopping malls.
For professional matters, it's best to leave them to professionals.
Entrusting the distribution to Jinshi will allow "The Lone Warrior" to maximize its profits in the shortest possible time.
"If we go through an agency for distribution, as the distributor, Jinshi will take a 10%-20% agency fee from the single's revenue."
Yuan Xiuqing smiled confidently: "However, 'The Lone Warrior' will be performed on CCTV's National Day Gala, and the singer, Lin Xu, is a member of Jinshi. I am confident that I can reduce the agency distribution fee to the lowest price of 10%."
"That's right, keep it as low as possible!" At this point, Yang Du suddenly remembered something, "Oh right, there's also Lin Xu. He's still a newcomer. I asked Sister Hong about it, and he gets 8% of the artist's royalties. We'll also pay him 8%... no, I also have 3% of the producer's points, so we'll pay him 5%."
Jinshi takes 10%, Lin Xu takes 5%, plus the 30% taken by Penguin and Yiyun in the first round...
Yang Du suddenly realized the pain Fang Lei had felt when he switched Fang Lei from net profit sharing to revenue sharing.
It hurts too much.
Yuan Xiuqing understood Yang Du's feelings at a glance and said with a smile, "It's a good thing you're not in the film industry, otherwise you would be even more heartbroken."
"Making movies is riskier. You spend hundreds of millions of dollars to make a blockbuster, but the theaters and cinemas take 57% of the total box office, leaving less than half for the production company."
"In comparison, the downstream end of our music industry only takes a 30% cut, which is incredibly generous."
Sure enough, happiness is always relative. After hearing what Yuan Xiuqing said, Yang Du felt much better.
"However—" Yuan Xiuqing looked at Yang Du and said with emotion, "Being able to be mindful of money means you're starting to be a qualified boss, and you have the potential to become a capitalist in the future."
Having made a small joke, Yuan Xiuqing got up and prepared to contact Jinshi.
"By the way, Sister Qing," Yang Du called out to Yuan Xiuqing, "when you talk to her later, mention Jiang Yinglan briefly. Jinshi will know what to do. Their current counterattack is not strong enough."
"Don't worry, boss. Even if you don't say anything, I'll take the opportunity to remind them."