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May 02, 2004

Comments

Shawn Fumo

John, just for clarification on NetMusic, you said they get 50%. So you get 25% and the artist gets 25%? The tracks are 89c each, so around 22 cents for each song to the artist?

I know iTunes has the DRM and this doesn't, but how do the two services compare in terms of money toward the artist?

Also, does each artist have to explicitly agree to each of these venues, or is that rolled into a general online purchasing umbrella?

BTW, just started to listen to DJ Markitos, and it is nice work. :) I'm a bit less active than some, so I could probably use it for exercise at the current bpm.. ;)

John Buckman

"I know iTunes has the DRM and this doesn't, but how do the two services compare in terms of money toward the artist?"

iTunes gives 70% of the sales to the label, and then a label's agreement with it's artist kicks in. Assuming the "recoup point" has been hit (ie, the Label's books show a profit on the album, something which rarely occurs), the artist would get around 15% of the sale price, or about 10 cents from an iTunes 99 cent sale. However, major label record contracts frequently apply discounts to revenue made online, so the major label artist could get less still.

On Netmusic, they give us 50% of the 89 cents, as we give 50% of what we get to the musician, about 22 cents. Obviously, Magnatune musicians make a LOT more from sales of their music off of Magnatune, but it's another venue, so it's worth trying.

"Also, does each artist have to explicitly agree to each of these venues, or is that rolled into a general online purchasing umbrella?"

It's all rolled into agreeing to have Magnatune sell your music. NetMusic is one of many online stores I'm signing contracts with to sell our music (and most stores only will deal with record labels).

"BTW, just started to listen to DJ Markitos, and it is nice work. :) I'm a bit less active than some, so I could probably use it for exercise at the current bpm.. ;)"

We're actually thinking about releasing an album of all 138BPM version of DJ Markitos', since we made most of those versions for an exercise CD already.

-john

Shawn Fumo

"iTunes gives 70% of the sales to the label"

Ok, so about 34 cents for a song in iTunes for Magnatune artists. Not so bad..

"We're actually thinking about releasing an album of all 138BPM version of DJ Markitos', since we made most of those versions for an exercise CD already."

Cool.. variety is always nice. :)

zborgerd

I've only been buying from Magnatune for about a month, but I've found that I'm just not able to find enough time to go through all of the great music and pick out the stuff that I want to buy. I've got a backlog of a few artists' music that I wish to purchase, but I'm trying to slow down a bit. I've already puchased about $90 worth of music last month, from Magnatune (paying at least $13 per CD). Considering that I had other things to buy (like clothes and groceries, and I'm gearing up to pay for a for Summer quarter at school), I'm kinda glad that you're slowing down the rate at which new artists are added. ;)

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