Digital Music News strives to answer that age old question.
Short answer: It depends.
Another thought: If nobody knows who you are, it probably doesn’t matter who is screwing you.
Like Billy Preston once said: “Nothing from nothing leaves nothing.”
Digital Music News: Top TV Producer: “It’s Amazing That We Still Pay Artists Anything for Music…”
Because it’s all about exposure right?
Personally, I find this attitude to be B.S, and I hope people will think twice before falling prey to it.
That being said, it’s also important to remember the following: If your song gets played on television in a commercial or on a television show, you can still make performance license money from that, even if you don’t receive an upfront licesing fee. I’ve known people who did quite well just of the performance royalties.
So the most prudent approach is to take each licensing opportunity on a case by case basis.
Beyond that, the collapse in master/sync fees also underscores that there is a lot more “good enough” music out there these days. Recording technology is much more available (and affordable) than it was 20-30 years ago. Many more people have learned how to use it. So licensees have more options to choose from.
–from Digital Music News.