With mechanical royalties, the rate paid per song is currently 9.1 cents. This amount is often divided between co-screenwriters and publishers. I hope that this summary of how songwriters make money, and how much they make, will inspire you to think broadly in terms of your career and your earning potential. BMI, along with ASCAP and many others, are caught in the middle of a major legal battle between songwriters and streaming companies.
There are so many variables as to how much a song can earn, so it's almost impossible to say how much a song can earn. A music publisher adds you to their list and is expected to write songs for their artists to record and publish, usually in pop and country genres. In general, successful songwriters often have multiple sources of income, including royalties, live performances, product sales, and music licenses. Especially if you're a freelance composer, you'll need to create and take advantage of an important network to take advantage of those opportunities, in addition to having a product that meets the needs of the musical supervisors who manage the projects of video games.
If you're even more excited about the possibilities of your own songwriting career, strengthen your songwriting skills and check out How to Write a Song for some super practical tips you can start using today. Songwriting is a unique and timeless art form that focuses on capturing emotions and reaching others through melodies and lyrics. Film producers, music supervisors, content creators and major brands are always looking for musical themes for their new shows, new commercials or big budget Hollywood movies. Ryan Tedder is the leader of OneRepublic and the composer of a lot of famous and catchy songs, such as “Halo” by Beyonce, “Bleeding Love” by Leona Lewis, “Rumour Has It”” by Adele and many others.
Most record labels are looking for artists and writers who are already “excited” about a recent viral song that exploded on YouTube. Every time you play your songs live in a public place, an interpreting rights organization (PRO) such as BMI or ASCAP owes you royalties as a composer. Songwriters can go years without receiving any significant royalty payments, and if a song succeeds, the government requires that the royalties be paid immediately. Royalties from printed music are more common among classical and film composers, but if you write a popular song that other artists want to cover or that students want to learn, printed royalties they can come into play.
