The Fickle Fate of Fortune For Songwriters: Just So You Know...

In a recent post entitled "A Brief History of Praise and Worship,"  I mentioned that I make a substantial amount of my songwriting income from CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing International), a collection and distribution hub for songs performed in the church. Another source of my songwriting income is derived from BMI, of which I receive radio, movie, and other types of live, non-church performance royalties. When a recording is sold in stores, or through online downloads, I receive royalties through the record company that releases the product. As you may gather, a songwriter's income is derived through many "streams," the sum of which keeps a roof over my family's head, pays the light bill, and hopefully paves the way for more songs to keep the income river flowing along.

A songwriter's future is precariously balanced on the hope that our songs will become classics, to make their way onto "greatest hits" packages or collections. For a new song catalog, writers must stay viable in a fickle market where changing fancies rule. We must stay on top of trends, styles and musical fashion to keep writing what artists want to record. The chances of making a continued income on songs for years, even decades, is an honor for a fortunate, single-digit percentage of songsmiths. I have been extremely blessed over the past twenty years as a songwriter in the Christian music field to see income steadily streaming in from songs written long ago. I am currently an active songwriter with new cuts slated for production on recent projects.

I received my quarterly royalty statement Saturday. Most will grab the check and leave the rest of the reading material from the publisher in the waste bin. This time, however, I read the cover letter from the head honcho, (not before eyeing the amount on the check!). The message from the president of the company who sent the royalty made some interesting remarks about the realities of songwriter income and the music industry.

In 2011, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, the revenue generated from digital music sales (50%+) surpassed the sales of physical music. The purchase habits of music consumers have shifted over the years and change continues today.

In 2012, it was reported that 15% of music consumption was from streaming, through companies like Spotify and Pandora. You see, it's no longer a matter of music ownership that is important to consumers, but rather the accessibility to songs. According to ASCAP (a royalty collection and distribution company like the aforementioned competitor,  BMI), the song Someone Like You, written by Adelle and Dan Simpson, had a total of 169,000,000 streams of play on Pandora. The writers only received $9,000. People aren't buying records anymore, they're streaming! Record companies have lost the goose that laid the golden egg, and are scrambling (pun intended) to find new ways to profit.

My point in all of this is: a successful songwriter isn't necessarily rich, and if your motivation to write songs is to make it big, then you'll most likely end up disappointed. I still get giddy when I hear my songs on the radio, or on outlets like Pandora. The fickleness of music for me is still overshadowed by the fact that I am making a living doing it. Rich or poor, I, like Paul the Apostle, am content...blessed is a better word. What we are challenged to do as an industry, and what Integrity Music's C. Ryan Dunham said in the cover letter from my royalty statement, "...we must look at new economical ways to bring music to the market." It's time to reinvent the wheel, folks!