“It has to be the best £50 ever spent. Exactly 200 years ago, Britain’s Royal Philharmonic Society commissioned Beethoven to compose his ninth symphony,” writes Josh Sper in Friday’s (8/4) Financial Times (London; subscription required). “Now, just as in Beethoven’s time, classical music is the definition of a gig economy…. Yet … while Beethoven has 2.5m monthly listeners on streaming service Spotify, Katy Perry has 22m. The main way of making a living … occurs when orchestras, festivals, broadcasters or (occasionally) private individuals ask a composer for new work…. The fees are often vanishingly low…. The task of [music] publishers is to create, filter and recommend these opportunities, shaping careers, and ensuring fees stay sufficient.” Tom Coult—whose composition St. John’s Dance was performed the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Proms in July, estimates he earns £10,000 a year from composing. He “supplemented his income with a funded PhD in composition and, as of October 2017, will undertake a two-year residency at Trinity College, Cambridge, with an annual stipend of £25,000.” Included is discussion of radio, TV, and streaming royalties; the relationships and fees between composers publishers; composers who choose to self-publish; and the difficulty of securing later performances after a world premiere.
Posted August 8, 2017
