Read Sony Music’s letter promising to pay royalties to thousands of unrecouped musicians
On Friday, Sony Music sent a letter to thousands of artists who were not being paid royalties because they had not recouped their advances.
Sony Music will now start paying all royalties to artists with record contracts prior to 2000 even if the artist’s balance sheet was in the red based on their original deal.
It’s a huge win for the artist community who has become increasingly vocal as to the fairness of many record deals.
Read the full text of Sony Music’s letter to artists:
June 11, 2021
Dear Sony Music Partner:
Today Sony Music Entertainment is announcing an expansion of the comprehensive support we provide to thousands of our artists around the world, with the launch of a new initiative called Artists Forward, prioritizing transparency with creators in all aspects of their development.
Legacy Unrecouped Balance Program
To enhance our level of service under Artists Forward, we are unveiling a Legacy Unrecouped Balance Program, creating more payment opportunities for our long-standing artists and participants around the world.
As part of our continuing focus on developing new financial opportunities for creators, we will no longer apply existing unrecouped balances to artist and participant earnings generated on or after January 1, 2021 for eligible artists and participants globally who signed to SME prior to the year 2000 and have not received an advance from the year 2000 forward.
Through this program, we are not modifying existing contracts, but choosing to pay through on existing unrecouped balances to increase the ability of those who qualify to receive more money from uses of their music.
In addition, those eligible for the Legacy Unrecouped Balance Program can join other qualifying Sony Music artists in being able to receive advances on projected earnings using Real Time Advances, a new feature available through the Sony Music Artist Portal enabling instant account advances. It is currently available in the U.S. and U.K. and will be rolling out in additional markets around the world later this year. Qualifying artists and participants who use the Sony Music Artist Portal will also be able to request a withdrawal of all or part of their payable balance each month as soon as it becomes available using our industry-leading Cash Out feature.
Artists and participants who qualify for the Legacy Unrecouped Balance Program will be notified of their eligibility separately in the weeks ahead.
A Continuing Commitment to Artists
We’re driven by our mission to provide artists with the best levels of service. The program we are announcing today is part of that continuing work and further builds on our initiatives and investments in modernized contracts, flexible deal options, advanced data and analytics insights for creators and more.
For more information, please speak to your local label representative or visit the Sony Music Artist Portal (sme-artistportal.com).
Best,
Sony Music Entertainment
Bruce Houghton is Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank and serves as a Senior Advisor to Bandsintown which acquired both publications in 2019. He is also the Founder and President of the Skyline Artists Agency and a professor at the Berklee College Of Music online.
