Music labels are fuming over Berklee Institute’s latest report on the economics of the industry.
The report from the Boston-based music school released last week suggests that music labels are keeping too much of the cash and have a lack of transparency in detailing where revenue flows, in part because they lack the technological know-how.
The report states that “anywhere between 20 percent to 50 percent of royalties do not make it to their rightful owners.”
Some music label executives told On the Money they are now questioning their support for Berklee’s internship program, given that their companies were used as a “propaganda tool.”
Some label executives describe Berklee’s report as a “long advertisement for music publisher Kobalt,” which recently took in Google Ventures as a shareholder.
The labels are at war with Google on several fronts, but largely over YouTube’s continued monetization of their music videos, such as those of Taylor Swift, which are creating big bucks for YouTube, as mentioned on Google’s earnings call.
Labels say they weren’t contacted by Berklee to respond to the claims.
“We spoke to many people and organizations and gathered data from many institutions with respect to the findings of this report. We did not base findings solely on data from Kobalt Music,” said Panos Panay, founding managing director of Berklee Institute.