Mariah Carey performs “All I Need for Christmas Is You” on the 2023 Billboard Music Awards.
Gilbert Flores | Penske Media | Getty Pictures
“I do not need lots for Christmas / There is only one factor I want / A solution to only one query / An estimate of Mariah Carey’s tune royalties, please?”
No, my makeshift lyrics aren’t as catchy because the opening traces of Carey’s “All I Need for Christmas Is You,” the 1994 jingle that grew to become virtually ubiquitous over the airwaves round vacation season.
However they do pose a query that probes into the black field of music-industry economics: How a lot cash does the tune earn for Carey, the tune’s performer and so-called “Queen of Christmas,” every year?
Income estimates by Billboard counsel she made maybe $2.7 million to $3.3 million in 2022, for instance, from tune downloads and on-demand streaming. It excludes different probably profitable income streams like Christmas TV specials.
However it’s onerous to know a exact sum, largely as a result of contractual particulars between Carey, her music label and tune publishers aren’t public, specialists mentioned. The pop star’s publicist, Chris Chambers, did not return a request for remark submitted to his agency, The Chamber Group, about her royalties.
“No matter it’s, it is some huge cash,” mentioned Natasha Chee, a music, leisure and mental property lawyer at regulation agency Donahue Fitzgerald.
The tune might have earned $103 million since 1994
“All I Need for Christmas Is You” is a yuletide juggernaut.
Spotify introduced this month that the anthem was the first-ever vacation tune to surpass 2 billion international streams. It has been the No. 1 tune globally on Christmas Day every year since 2016, Spotify mentioned.
The tune’s reputation has solely grown: Whole U.S. audio streams rose to 249 million in 2023, up about 49% from 167 million in 2019, in keeping with Luminate, which tracks music {industry} knowledge.
(As of Dec. 12, complete U.S. streams of the tune this 12 months had been down 8% relative to 2023, Billboard estimated. That is partly a operate of the shorter vacation season from a late Thanksgiving, specialists mentioned.)
The tune “is a cash machine,” mentioned George Howard, a professor on the Berklee School of Music and former president of Rykodisc, an impartial document label. “It is an actual phenomenon,” he mentioned.
Mariah Carey performs onstage throughout her “All I Need For Christmas Is You” tour at Madison Sq. Backyard on Dec. 15, 2019 in New York Metropolis.
Kevin Mazur | Getty Pictures Leisure | Getty Pictures
Howard, who additionally does consulting work to worth music copyrights, estimates the chart-topper makes $2 million to $4 million in annual gross income.
Equally, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, which focuses on music {industry} regulation, estimates the hit generates $3.4 million a 12 months.
Over its 30-year existence, the tune has made about $103 million in earnings, the regulation agency estimates. The projections embody international streaming and non-streaming income sources, in keeping with Manatt, which created Billboard’s royalty calculator.
The tune’s 2 billion international Spotify streams alone earned $9.8 million in royalties, in keeping with the calculator.
However Carey solely will get a portion of these earnings.
Why Carey is probably going getting paid ‘six methods to Sunday’
Mariah Carey performs through the opening present of Mariah Carey: All I Need For Christmas Is You at Beacon Theatre on Dec. 5, 2016 in New York Metropolis.
Jeff Kravitz | Filmmagic, Inc | Getty Pictures
The ecosystem of music royalties is notoriously convoluted.
Cash flows to many contributors, like writers, performers, producers, sound mixers and document labels. Payouts to every individual can fluctuate from tune to tune, relying on contractual phrases, specialists mentioned.
The phrases of Carey’s royalty offers aren’t public information.
“No matter it’s, it is some huge cash,” mentioned , a music, leisure and mental property lawyer at regulation agency Donahue Fitzgerald.
Natasha Chee
senior counsel at Donahue Fitzgerald
The singer is probably going getting a “larger chunk” of income than most artists, Howard mentioned. That is due to Carey’s a number of credit on the tune: She’s listed as the only performer, in addition to its co-writer and co-producer. (Walter Afanasieff is the opposite co-writer and co-producer.)
Such a large number of credit is uncommon to see, Howard mentioned. And it is an vital consider Carey’s final take-home pay.
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Music royalties are completely different from these of different works like books or images.
That is as a result of there are two distinct royalty streams — one for music composition and one other for sound recording, mentioned Jordan Bromley, associate and head of Manatt Leisure. Consider the previous just like the sheet music sitting in your piano (the songwriting), and the latter because the recorded tune that you simply hear, he mentioned.
Every has its personal royalty construction. The royalties for music composition are obtained by songwriters and publishers, whereas these for sound recording are paid to tune performers and their labels, Howard mentioned.
Carey “has each the copyright to the tune and the sound recording, so she’s getting paid on each side,” Howard mentioned.
“She’s getting paid six methods to Sunday,” he mentioned.
Svetikd | E+ | Getty Pictures
A tune’s writers and publishers — and never its performers — get the royalties when a tune performs in a public house, similar to on TV and radio, or in eating places and retail shops, specialists mentioned. The U.S. is likely one of the few international locations to have such a rule, Howard mentioned.
Which means Carey (and Afanasieff, her co-writer) will get royalties at any time when a canopy model of “All I Need for Christmas Is You” performs within the public area. Over 150 performers have coated the tune, in accordance to ASCAP, a performing rights group.
Carey and Afanasieff break up their writing credit with publishers together with Common Music, Sony Music and Kobalt Songs Music Publishing, in accordance to ASCAP.
Nevertheless, tune recording usually brings in 4 to 5 instances the income of songwriting, Bromley mentioned.
“For those who’re a songwriter with no document income, it is onerous to make a dwelling even in the event you’re making hits,” he mentioned.
The artist’s take of the recording income relative to the label’s can swing broadly, wherever from 20% as much as 90%, relying on the contract, Bromley mentioned. “All I Need for Christmas Is You” was launched by Columbia Data, which is owned by Sony Music.
Afanasieff, Sony Music and Kobalt Songs Music Publishing did not return requests for remark. Common Music Publishing Group declined remark.
Why Carey might have remodeled $2.7 million in 2022
Santa Claus and Mariah Carey throughout a pre-tape efficiency for NBC’s Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Heart on Nov. 27, 2012 in New York Metropolis.
James Devaney | Wireimage | Getty Pictures
Specialists observe that earnings from document gross sales and licensing can fluctuate enormously from 12 months to 12 months, whereas income from streaming and efficiency is extra predictable.
Of the aforementioned estimated $8.5 million in international income and publishing royalties that “All I Need for Christmas Is You” earned in 2022, the Carey grasp recording introduced in $5.3 million and publishing royalties accounted for the remaining $3.2 million, Billboard mentioned.
What was Carey’s lower?
She made about $1.9 million of the grasp recording income, Billboard estimated, whereas her label, Sony, stored the opposite $3.4 million.
She’s getting paid six methods to Sunday.
George Howard
professor on the Berklee School of Music
Carey additionally earned an estimated $1.6 million of the publishing, assuming she and Afanasieff break up the writing 50-50. However her take-home pay would have been much less, relying on her publishing deal — maybe starting from about $795,000 to $1.4 million, Billboard mentioned.
All advised, these estimates counsel Carey might have made about $2.7 million to $3.3 million from recording and publishing in 2022.
This excludes income from any monetary preparations for soundtracks from Christmas TV specials, that are possible profitable, in keeping with Billboard. It additionally excludes cowl variations of the tune.
“There is a ton of income that opens up” for a pop star who is nearly “co-branded” with Christmas, together with offers for model endorsements, dwell performances, cosmetics, residence items and attire, Manatt Leisure’s Bromley mentioned.
The reward that retains giving
Image Alliance | Image Alliance | Getty Pictures
The tune is the reward that may maintain carry on giving for years, specialists mentioned.
The copyright for works printed after Jan. 1, 1978, usually stays intact for the creator’s lifetime, plus 70 years after the creator’s loss of life, in keeping with Chee of Donahue Fitzgerald.
Within the case of a joint work with two or extra authors, similar to “All I Need for Christmas Is You,” the rule applies to the final surviving creator.
Which means Carey’s property will possible rake in royalties for many years, till the tune finally passes into the general public area, she mentioned. When that occurs, the tune would be part of the ranks of Christmas classics like “Jingle Bells” and “We Want You a Merry Christmas,” which might usually be freely shared and tailored.
