Record contracts, historically, are miserly toward the artist. Example: Elton John’s initial 1967 contract with This Record Company was for a royalty equal to: “20 per cent of all net monies recieved by the company in respect of the master recordings, after the cost of musicians, singers, musical directors, orchestrations, copying, cartage of musical instruments, studio-rentals, technicians, tape-costs, editing, dubbing and re-dubbing and all like expenses incurred by the company in respect of any of the master recordings shall first have been recouped by the company.” [pg.90, Elton, by Philip Norman]. These terms are not untypical of the era. Note: this does NOT mean 20% of what a record might sell for at retail, it is from NET profit to the record company, not GROSS profit or sale price.

The Allman Brothers contract is interesting: What it covers is uses of the music that weren’t concieved of within the contract, and specifies the rate of payment: 50% of profit.

Is Universal paying the correct amount under that contract? It isn’t clear from the article, but considering they are suing for royalty payments my guess is that they believe they are not getting their 50%.

Whether new methods of distribution are covered by that same rider is probably open to debate.
Given (as is pointed out) that the costs of digital distribution are minisule, the portion of profit is much larger than the physical distribution model ever allowed.

Do I think it is fair that the record company gets 50% for “doing nothing”? (“doing nothing” may be the general perception but it is inaccurate – development of the 1000+ other artists that never make it and thus fail to recoup that investment has to be funded from somewhere; but they also have their expenses covered before paying the artist.) I’d prefer to see a sliding scale that tilts toward the artist at the upper end, but that isn’t the contract that is before the courts.

you may wish to contact Kelvin or Quintin who are looking for a band that is tight, experienced and ready to record material written by a well known writer of rock music.

commerce@lawcomex.com

The Allman Brothers are American Southern rock and started in the late 1960s and were popular through the 70s on the album rock charts. They are one of the big acts that made album rock popular I think, with others like Lynyrd Skynyrd. Ramblin’ Man must be their biggest song.