MAJORS CALL BERKLEE REPORT “PROPAGANDA” (POST)

Berklee Institute’s latest report on the economics of the industry is drawing the ire of the major labels, the New York Post’s Claire Atkinson writes.

The report, released last week, alleges that the majors are keeping too much of the revenue they receive—“anywhere between 20% to 50% of royalties do not make it to their rightful owners,” it states. What’s more, there’s a lack of transparency in detailing where revenue flows, in part because the labels lack the technological know-how.

Label reps say they weren’t contacted by Berklee to respond to the claims.

One unnamed label exec told Atkinson his company is now questioning its support for Berklee’s internship program, given that their companies were used as a “propaganda tool.” Another described the report as a “long advertisement for Kobalt,” which recently took in Google Ventures as a shareholder.

And here, Atkinson notes, is where the plot thickens. The labels are at war with Google on several fronts, but largely over YouTube’s continued monetization of their videos, which are generating big bucks for YouTube, as mentioned on Google’s earnings call.

But Berklee Institute Managing Director Panos Panay explained that “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.”