The Difference Between Singers and Songwriters
The difference is mostly in how and when they get paid. In the recording world, well-known singers get well paid. Songwriters, though, can be virtually unknown to the general public and still get paid a lot of money. Here’s why: songwriters are paid royalties everytime their song is recorded (or downloaded) or played in public. Being played in public means in concert, in stores, on TV, in movie theaters, or in an elevator. Singers, on the other hand, are paid either at the time they make the recording or based on how many copies of the recording are sold, depending on the deal they made with the recording company, and they are paid whenever the song they sang is played on an internet radio station. They may also get a royalty when the song is used in movies, tv, cable shows, etc, depending again on the deal they made with the recording company.
The above is somewhat of a simplification, but the point is that it is possible to perform on a hit record and make less money than the songwriter - a concept that surprises a lot of people since the singer is front and center.
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