Royalty Audit

If you are an artist, writer or producer, then you may be asked if you receive all the income that is rightfully yours.

Sure, your record or publishing company have always been good to you, are very helpful, and seem like a good group of guys. Certainly they would not be retained income from you?

The fact is they are probably, but not necessarily intentionally or with intent to steal money. But there are many examples and reasons why you should consider an audit of royalty;

Human error

Even with all the technology available today, at some point it is perfectly normal human being, who was involved in setting up systems or tasks that directly affect your income. This can be as simple as a percentage of charges that were implemented in a computer system incorrectly, or charge recoverable who was debited from your charge account in error. Remember, record and publishing companies have an ever increasing number of customers and catalogs, which is more and more each year. Small errors that can mean many things you will probably go unnoticed.

New technologies and formats

Are you receiving all the royalties that are owed to you of all things weird and wonderful new opportunities such as digital downloads and online streaming?

In fact, the record company did not know that they receive all appropriate returns on your behalf?

And once they have money, they know what to do with it, how to integrate their systems, and therefore spend a little money on you? Working in service charges is an intense and challenging, and if there is a bit of money they can not handle, then he will sit around in the bank account until the company figures Who is it for someone and pay.

These are the types of questions that must be asked.

Vague and contractual unnecessary

Remember your contract? Sure you do, that 85 doors of the page that appears to have been written with a lot of big words and no punctuation. You've probably signed many years ago and had a lot of money at the time made you feel very good.

Well, this contract has grown and evolved since the early days of the recording industry, when lawyers run the show, and many artists left with nothing because of some very unfavorable contracts signed.

Indeed, the song by Bruce Springsteen "Held without a gun" includes the lyrics;

"Some fool with a guitar walks in the street

Is not that having nowhere to go, is not nothing to eat

The man with a cigar says "sign here son"

Held without a gun "

There are a number of clauses in the contract that you will understand in a way different from the record company. And because they hold the purse strings, they will pay you on how they understand the contract. This is partly because they have always done it, or it may be that their systems can not or does not calculate your fees under the terms of the contract.

Anyway, to undertake an audit of royalty, there will almost certainly areas where there is a strong argument that you have not been paid enough, or not properly.

Follow the money - Where does it come from all

You have received your return royalty on page 347. It's a big pile of numbers and a confused picture of not very descriptive items that appear to be reported in the world.

This is a truly international - so can you trust your record company know when and where they should receive your income from? In f.