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Who am I supporting?

I'm a guy who uses a streaming service to find new music.  Periodically, I'll make a list of the things I want to go ahead and buy in some form, and buy them.

I buy basically as a way of "voting" for the music I like, and to support musicians.  Something I've always wondered about, though, is who am I supporting when I buy the music of deceased artists?  Not the artists, obviously.  I assume in many cases their families get some royalties.  But where does the money generally go?  Is the label just gobbling up those dollars?

I listen to a lot of jazz and blues, and the bulk of the artists are no longer with us.
trentmemphis
roberjerman
4,319 posts
 
Your dollars are in many cases going to the corporate owners of the copyrights for the music. Look at what Universal did Monday - bought Dylan's 600 song catalog! There's gold in dem dar hills!
jafant's avatar
jafant
19,580 posts
 
trentmemphis

Big Jazz Hound here. If there are any living family members/trusts and/or owners of the copyrights per roberjerman.

Happy Listening!
whart's avatar
whart
3,036 posts
 
The business of music is a business, just like any other. Where the money goes in the case of a deceased performing artist or songwriter depends in part upon the deals they struck and whether they’ve been renegotiated, contracts terminated, popularity of the content at the time of release, and a host of other factors, including the popularity of the particular songs or recorded performances today.
When the industry got whacked by file sharing, the consumer benefitted at the expense of both the industry and the artist community due to the "free" exchange of music over the Net. Now that streaming in its various forms has become established, it’s no longer the record label as gatekeeper but big Data.
Yes, Universal (who bought Dylan’s catalog) is big, but the money paid for those copyrights seemed to reflect an assessment that there were some enduring songs, many covered by others, but in some respects the numbers were low compared to the days of yore. Dylan is a prestige name to have in the roster of a back catalog. Universal’s holdings are vast. It would be great fun to plunder that catalog for reissues.
There are too many stories of musicians who never saw a dime. Who signed with bad business people, had their records released haphazardly and got lost in the vast trove of popular music that was being exploited from the youth explosion in the ’60s ’til now. Some of that music simply got lost- whether it was private label or small independent releases that were never legitimately reissued. And that assumes a demand for the music. Some of it is simply forgotten or neglected, occasionally to be brought back by some savvy music director--e.g., Badfinger’s Baby Blue during the finale of Breaking Bad.. There are a lot of stories in the naked city and few of them are happy ones.
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