Are artists receiving their fair share of the expanding profits?

The Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) recently reported about the uncomfortable reality of profit distribution that those in power seem to be ignoring. According to their report, the Korean music market is growing faster than ever. The size of the music industry in 2010 recorded at $3,028,900,000, a 12.7% increase from 2009, where the industry recorded at $2,740,700,000.�However, despite the size of the pie supposedly growing bigger, artists are still left with empty plates. Why is that? Choi Sung Hwan, a researcher for Yu Hwa Securities Co., revealed his investigations and found that for each song that is downloaded, 46% of the profit went to the distribution company, 40% to the agency, 9% to the composer and lyricist, and just 5% to the actual singer. For online music sites like MelOn, where they offer 150 song downloads for $11 USD a month, each song basically amounts to 7.3 cents.�Per download, the artist receives less than 0.4 cents per track, thereby lending weight to the 'empty plate' argument. Source: Sisain via Naver