Quote:
Originally Posted by Rain Man
I think his time on this is worth far more than $255 per hour. I think it should also include a significant share of his residuals because that money is rewarding both his playing and his composing.
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As I explained earlier, the "Artist" (in this case Led Zepplin, which consisted of four members) would receive compensation from the record company, which is generally 14% of retail price. That 14% is then split among the four members, their management, lawyer(s), etc. so in the end, it's quite a paltry number.
Since the Stat Rate in 1971 was 2 cents, the songwriter's share of publishing income (i.e., mechanical album and single sales) would have been .015 cents per song, which in this case would have been shared 50/50 with Robert Plant, so Page's share would have been .0075 per unit sale.
The Performance Income, which is income from radio play, restaurants, bars, gyms, etc. would have risen over the years with inflation, advertising spending, etc. and so on. Since those statements aren't accessible, it's really difficult to ascertain just how much money Stairway To Heaven has earned since it's release. As I mentioned earlier, I find it extremely hard to believe that it's earned $10 million per year, which is the figure it would have needed to earn to reach the different between the total album sales and the number provided in the article that was linked. I was at Uni when Alanis sold 28 million records, with her song was blasting on the radio in heavy rotation for years and never saw anything near that number. It was closer to $800k for a year, no where near $10 million.
For perspective, in the Film & TV world, we're generally paid to compose Per Music Minute. That fee can vary anywhere from $100 Dollars Per Music Minute to John Williams & Hans Zimmer's $5,000 Per Music Minute. We receive Performance Income from Local, Cable and OTA airings, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, et al but generally speaking, no money from radio. Even Radio pays zero money for commercial advertising, so the only money I see when licensing music for a Radio Ad spot is the initial Sync Fee.
Anyway, it's difficult to put a dollar value on Page & Plants per hourly rate for creating
Stairway To Heaven. Maybe with this information, you're able to put together a formula that works.
