I got you babe, but where’s the money babe?

 

Quite a high profile case at the moment, with Cher filing a lawsuit in the the Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming that Universal Music Group had executives “engaged in wrongful tactics” designed to hide revenue from two hit compilation albums.

Whilst we don’t know any details regarding this case, apart from the allegations made, it goes to highlight that the nature of the “money†side of the music business can be as much about interpretation as it can about clear and agreed facts.

 

Over a period of time, and certainly a long career like Cher’s, there will often be mergers and acquisitions, and reorganizations, within record companies.

 

These will very often involve changes and restructuring in the way in which royalties are reported between partners and within what are, after all, global companies.

 

So, royalty audits are an important tool at the artist’s disposal, by which to keep on top of any changes that have occurred, and ensure that all royalties have been reported correctly and in a timely fashion.

 

Record companies are the same as any other business in that they are constantly striving to improve and streamline their procedures, and by updating their systems and the technology that they employ.

 

This naturally means that from time to time, things get missed, payments are delayed, data is corrupted or lost. It is possible to keep on top of these things by regularly conducting royalty audits of the record companies, or indeed by reviewing and tracking royalties and other income each quarter or half-year when the royalty statements arrive.

 

Royalty Audits tend to cover a period of several years, which may include several releases by the artist concerned. Tracking royalties and reviewing the statements on a more regular basis has the benefit of possibly highlighting more obvious errors, which can be corrected in the next accounting and hence bring more income to the artist sooner. Hopefully then, if there is still a full audit covering several periods, the process won’t be as expensive and time consuming, as errors will have been corrected along the way.

 

Whatever your opinion about good / bad publicity that could be generated by a lawsuit, these are the kind of thing that can be avoided and don’t necessarily reflect well upon the artist, record company, or industry as a whole.

About the Author

Brighten_Jeffrey_James specialises in managing the financial and business affairs of a wide range of clients, including prominent personalities from the world of entertainment and sport.

We enable entertainment, media, sports industry talent and other busy individuals concentrate on their careers whilst we handle the financial aspects of their lives.

We are committed to providing our clients with a personal service of the highest standard and a level of attention unrivalled in the industry.

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