「一発屋」はロイヤルティを永遠に失うことができますか？

ニューウェイブのロックバンド、ザ・ナックのことを聞いたことがなくても、1979年の曲「マイ・シャローナ」は間違いなく聞いたことがあるでしょう。伝えられるところによると、15分で書かれた「マイ・シャローナ」は、未知のバンドの大ヒットとなり、「ビルボードホット100」チャートで1位に6週間滞在し、わずか13日間でザナックのデビューアルバムの50万枚を売り上げました。

40年以上後、「マイシャローナ」はクラシックロックラジオの定番であり、映画やテレビコマーシャルで取り上げられています。ザ・ナックはアルバムを作り続けましたが、「マイ・シャローナ」の成功に匹敵するほどにはなりませんでした。

はい、ザ・ナックは「一発屋」の教科書の例ですが、その一発屋は金鉱でした。ザ・ナックのギタリストであり、バンドの故リードシンガーであるダグ・フィーガーとの「マイ・シャローナ」の共作者であるバートン・アヴェールに聞いてみてください。

「人々が言うとき、 『あなたは生計を立てるために何をしますか？』「私は月に数回メールボックスに行きます」とアヴェレは2015年にワシントンタイムズに語った。「その歌は私にとってとても良かった」。

一発屋の作者にとって「良い」別の曲を知っていますか？1982年にゲイリー・ポートノイという名の壊れた若いソングライターによって録音された、ヒットしたテレビ番組「チアーズ」の主題歌「誰もがあなたの名前を知っているところ」。

Portnoyは、曲の作成と演奏（バックグラウンドボーカルを含む）の両方を行い、演奏されるたびに使用料を受け取ります。参考までに、「Cheers」は40か国でシンジケートされている275のエピソードに加えて、ストリーミング（Peacock）とデジタルダウンロードを撮影しました。

ポートノイが2012年のインタビューで、「乾杯」の使用料で生活し、二度と働けないかと尋ねられたとき、ソングライターは笑って、「はい、快適な生活でした」と言いました。

それはその時でした。今日はどうですか？

TheKnackのPortnoyやAverreのような一発屋は非常にまれです。彼らは、1970年代と80年代に、何十年にもわたってかなりのロイヤルティを生み出し続けた世界征服のヒット曲を書くことで、ポップミュージックのパワーボール宝くじに相当するものを獲得しました。

しかし、それだけではありません。ウェブサイトCelebrityNetWorthは、Don（ "American Pie"）McLeanが毎年合計30万ドルのロイヤルティを獲得し、GerryRaffertyが1978年の曲「BakerStreet」から年間10万ドルを獲得したと推定しています。

The question is, can today's artists still hope to strike it rich with one massive hit and ride off into the royalty-filled sunset? Now that the music industry is dominated by streaming platforms that pay fractions of a penny per play, can musicians even make the equivalent of minimum wage from royalties alone?

We spoke with Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan, co-authors of "Making Money with Music," to make sense of the confounding world of music royalties, and to find out how today's musicians can still make bank from a big hit, if they play it smart.

Copyrights and Royalties — Why It Pays to Be the Songwriter

ChertkowやFeehanによると、音楽業界は最も規制の厳しい業界の1つであり、証拠が必要な場合は、絶望的に難解な音楽使用料のシステムにほかなりません。多くの異なるエンティティがすべての曲をカットします。あなたがバンドのリードシンガーであるという理由だけで、ヒットからでもかなりのお金を稼ぐことを意味するわけではありません。

簡単に言うと、すべての曲には、録音と作曲の2種類の著作権があります。これらの著作権は両方とも、異なるロイヤルティのセットを支払います。悪いニュースは、アーティストが最後の列に並ぶことが多いということです。

Let's start with the sound recording. Every time a song is streamed, downloaded or sold in a physical format (record, tape, CD), the "rights holder" to the sound recording copyright gets paid. Unfortunately, for most bands signed to a record label, the rights holder is the record label, not the musician.

Chertkow says that you can only collect sound recording royalties if you own the masters (original versions) of your recordings, which is uncommon for young musicians, who are lucky if their contract gives them a small cut of the sound recording royalties.

The composition rights are a different story. The songwriter holds the copyright for the composition. So, if you actually write a hit song (versus recording somebody else's song), then you can collect serious royalties depending on how much you have to share with the record label, publishers and other rights holders.

"The songwriter back in that day was the one who could actually make a living off of and really sail away into the sunset," says Feehan. "That created some of the bitterest arguments that you've ever seen, though. If you perform on an album and your guitar solo is THE famous guitar solo and the song is huge, you're still not making money on the songwriting at all. That's why a lot of bands broke up over money."

Here are the different types of composition royalties paid to the songwriter:

ストリーミングだけでは金持ちにならない理由

音楽ファンがまだ物理的なレコード、テープ、CDを購入したり、iTunesから曲をダウンロードするために1.99ドルを支払ったりした場合、ソングライターは少なくとも数セントを獲得するでしょう。しかし、ストリーミングが音楽業界を支配するようになった今、これらのロイヤルティの支払いは急増しています。

According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), streaming now accounts for 84 percent of all of the money made from music in the United States. Physical CDs and records account for only 10 percent of music sales and digital downloads are down to 5 percent.

While it's very hard to pin down exact numbers for how much artists make per stream — payouts depend on whether the listener is a paid subscriber and where they live, among other factors — the highest rates are still around half a cent per stream. And the truth is that most signed artists are only seeing a fraction of that fraction of a penny.

"The reality is a lot of that money is going to the labels and they're giving a tiny portion to the artist," says Feehan.

Even if an unsigned, independent band managed to release a viral hit, they would be hard-pressed to recoup the equivalent of minimum wage from streaming alone. According to Digital Music News, a musician from California would have to score more than 455,000 streams a month (5.46 million a year) just to earn the state's minimum wage, which is $14 an hour.

"Even if you're independent, I still think it's rather challenging to make enough money just off of royalties, even if it's a really big hit," says Chertkow. "We really find that need multiple sources of income."

In Some Ways, It's a Great Time to Be a One-hit Wonder

Successful one-hit wonders like The Knack are so rare because they broke out during an era when only a small handful of record labels were the all-powerful gatekeepers. Of course, some mega-artists of today like Adele and Drake still make huge money off music sales and downloads, but they are the exception.

While it's true that today's artists can't expect to retire off of royalties alone, they have so many platforms for reaching music fans directly and bypassing the money-grabbing middle men (record labels, publishers, etc.).

"As an independent musician today, you have more opportunities to become a successful 'one-hit wonder' by getting your songs out there through today's technology," says Feehan.

Truly independent musicians function as their own record label and own their masters, which means they can collect all royalties including the sound recording.

But the key, write Feehan and Chertkow in their book, is 1) to register for all the copyrights and royalties that you're due (there are 17 different steps to complete across multiple agencies), and 2) to parlay the short-lived fame of a viral hit song into long-term steady revenue from multiple different sources.

Touring is a big one. The pandemic shut down live shows, but traditionally touring is where musicians cash in. According to a former executive from MCA/Universal Music, a band with just one hit song can still rake in between $10,000 and $50,000 a show. And even better, the band itself keeps between 85 and 95 percent of that, sharing the rest with their manager.

One 2013 Northwestern University study on working musicians and income showed on average, performing made up 28 percent of their income and teaching another 22 percent. Money made from songwriting and recording made up just 12 percent of their income (we assume most or all of these musicians never scored a big hit). Around 70 percent of the respondents earned less than $50,000 a year.

In their book and on the Making Money with Music website, Chertkow and Feehan detail more than 300 additional revenue sources for independent musicians who want to turn their passion into a lucrative career. Today's one-hit wonders may not be able to "collect checks for a living" like The Knack, but they can build a loyal fanbase and take control of their finances like never before.

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Now That's Cool

In the U.S., if you register as the copyright holder of a song, that copyright will last your entire lifetime, plus 70 years, meaning your grandkids could still collect fat royalty checks.