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MC Lyte Says She Only Earned A ‘Slight’ Amount From Her Publishing Royalties, Commends Today’s Artists For Being Transparent About Their Music Deals
Lyte’s earnings from her music would ultimately come from touring, which led to her next major purchase.
“When I started touring is when I started making money, and then I got a house, and then without budgeting or anything by the time I furnished the house, I had nothing to cover my windows with, and so I had to put sheets up in the window and have my manager stop by and be OK with that scene,” she explained on The Breakfast Club. “And it wasn’t until I went out on the road the next time that I could finish the house.”
She added, “There’s so much more money being made in this business, and I can only hope that the youngins are doing the right thing with it because there are ebbs and flows.”
The MC is speaking from experience when mentioning the highs and lows of the industry. Despite selling more than 1 million records, she admits to not receiving enough compensation from publishing royalties.
She recalls receiving a “slight” amount “but nothing like you know I should have. I mean this is a treacherous game,” according to the podcast.
MC Lyte continued, “What’s interesting is on the internet now in every nook and cranny you can see truth being told. You got some people that are just like ‘Look this is how the record deal works,’ which I think is really admirable of those people to kind of speak their truth.”
Later in her career Lyte would reclaim more ownership in her artistry. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, she has full ownership of her catalog and was able to maintain it in the aftermath of a divorce, court documents from January 2023 reveal.
This was made possible through a prenup, which also permitted the artist to maintain “other creative property, including royalties in connection to her creative works.”
She had not obtained ownership of her stage name until 2021.
If songwriting is the key... How is that songwriters in other genres are multimillionaires and rappers most of whom automatically write their own material...arent?