# Does The Sale Of Recordings Help Support Classical Recording Artists?



## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

There is the old trope about the proceeds of recording sales not going to the artists and the like, but one would presume that artists enter recording contracts that are remunerative to them.

Does the purchase of recordings help support not just the recording industry, that makes the recordings available to us, the listeners, but also the artists who perform the music and the composers who write the music?


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

I know that my iTunes purchases have helped them. Every artist I bought so far haven't got out of business.


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## pianississimo (Nov 24, 2014)

Presumably there's a wider benefit in the extra exposure for tha vast majority of classical artists who don't sell CDs by the tonne but it must make them something or else why bother? 
A lot of people seem to buy at concerts. The local music seller has a handy table set up outside the hall and it's good to see an artist whose performance you've enjoyed being snapped up in cd recordings - even if they are at inflated prices compared to online.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

pianississimo said:


> Presumably there's a wider benefit in the extra exposure for tha vast majority of classical artists who don't sell CDs by the tonne but it must make them something or else why bother?
> A lot of people seem to buy at concerts. The local music seller has a handy table set up outside the hall and it's good to see an artist whose performance you've enjoyed being snapped up in cd recordings - even if they are at inflated prices compared to online.


Amen I agree. I wish that they did this more often at the Utah Symphony.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

brotagonist said:


> There is the old trope about the proceeds of recording sales not going to the artists and the like, but one would presume that artists enter recording contracts that are remunerative to them.
> 
> Does the purchase of recordings help support not just the recording industry, that makes the recordings available to us, the listeners, but also the artists who perform the music and the composers who write the music?


Depends how the contracts are done.
Some labels do royalties, some do a flat fee.
I can't imagine there are any classical artists for whom recording represents a high proportion of their income.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Nereffid said:


> Depends how the contracts are done.
> Some labels do royalties, some do a flat fee.
> I can't imagine there are any classical artists for whom recording represents a high proportion of their income.


I am sure that Lang Lang makes bank on his recordings.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

I believe there are some instances where Classical performers are paid nothing. The exposure is supposed to be its own reward.

I think iTunes and the like have pretty much been a bust from an artist's standpoint. Remember all the talk about how artists would get a much larger cut in the digital age? That didn't happen. The article below states that the artist gets 7-10 cents from a 99 cent download. Streaming pays micro-pennies per listen.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/b...-model-for-royalties.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

GreenMamba said:


> I believe there are some instances where Classical performers are paid nothing. The exposure is supposed to be its own reward.
> 
> I think iTunes and the like have pretty much been a bust from an artist's standpoint. Remember all the talk about how artists would get a much larger cut in the digital age? That didn't happen. The article below states that the artist gets 7-10 cents from a 99 cent download. Streaming pays micro-pennies per listen.
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/b...-model-for-royalties.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0


ITunes has been much better for artists than Spotify easily.


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