Everytime I listen to madonna on the radio, does she get royalties?, etc etc. I would think that big artists would want money whereas smaller artists would do it for free to get publicity to sell albums and singles. How much do you think it would be?

You'd better believe it.

Greg Kihn is a Bay Area Disc Jockey and he says everytime one of his songs gets played, he receives $0.02.

Since he's on a classic rock station, I've always wondered why he doesn't just play more of his own songs. He'd get a better paycheck that way.

"I lost on Jeopardy, baybee."

Sometimes it's the other way around, if a label wants to "break" a new artist. I think it used to be called payola.

The song-writer is the one that gets paid, not the singing artists. That is why music publishing is such a big business.

When you watch these "Behind the Music" specials, and they talk about the artist signing a poor contract, that most likely means that they signed away some or all of their publishing rights. You may remember a few years back, that Michael Jackson purchased the publishing rights to many of the Beatles early works, causing a major rift between him and McCartney.

The last figures I saw, the payout is .04-.05 per play. The checks are written out quarterly, to the record label, then distributed to the writer by the record company, the amount dependant upon the contract that the writer signed.

However, radio stations do not simply play any old song, then write out a fat check when they like a song. Record companies hire middlemen, called "indies", that go to radio stations and try to allign them with the label. The indie gives the station promotions, freebies, payouts (as high as six figures) to align with a label. Then, each time the station adds one of the label's artists, the indie gets paid by the record label.

Since there are thousands radio stations in the U.S., the indies do not concentrate on all of them. They go only to the top 10 percent or so (in the big markets) to get their records played. Those stations add a two or three songs to their playlist each week. The indies get paid each time that song gets introduced.

Since 60 percent of the radio stations in the top 100 markets are owned by three companies, the indies concentrate on a few station managers and company execs. They then rely on those top stations to make a song a "hit", trickling down to the other stations, spurring record sales and concert tours, which DO help out a singers bankroll. Record sales are a split (once again, dependant upon their contract) between label, writer, producer, and artist.

This is why many artists will start out with their first and second albums using skilled songwriters to make the singles "playable", then will write their own stuff once they have established a fan base. (See Garth Brooks, Shania Twain, NSync, etc.)

And, by the way, MTV does not have to pay for playing videos.

Radio is a big scam.

There's more money flowing from the labels to the radio stations than the other way around.

Payola is still alive and kicking in the U.S. Most major labels pay radio stations for adding a song to their playlist. It's widespread, well known, and often necessary for mainstream success.

However, while labels pay for radio adds, the amount of spins it receives is a whole different issue. Spins are somewhat based on consumer demand (sometimes perceived demand from the station manager).

I have many articles to cite if anyone is interested.

- Matt