Mariah Carey performs “All I Want for Christmas Is You” on the 2023 Billboard Music Awards.
Gilbert Flores | Penske Media | Getty Images
“I do not need quite a bit for Christmas / There is only one factor I would like / An reply 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 Want for Christmas Is You,” the 1994 jingle that grew to become virtually ubiquitous over the airwaves round vacation season.
But 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?
Revenue estimates by Billboard recommend 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.
But it is exhausting to know a exact sum, largely as a result of contractual particulars between Carey, her music label and tune publishers aren’t public, consultants stated. The pop star’s publicist, Chris Chambers, did not return a request for remark submitted to his agency, The Chamber Group, about her royalties.
“Whatever it’s, it is some huge cash,” stated Natasha Chee, a music, leisure and mental property lawyer at legislation agency Donahue Fitzgerald.
The tune could have earned $103 million since 1994
“All I Want for Christmas Is You” is a yuletide juggernaut.
Spotify announced 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 stated.
The tune’s recognition has solely grown: Total U.S. audio streams rose to 249 million in 2023, up about 49% from 167 million in 2019, in response to Luminate, which tracks music {industry} knowledge.
(As of Dec. 12, whole U.S. streams of the tune this yr had been down 8% relative to 2023, Billboard estimated. That’s partly a operate of the shorter vacation season from a late Thanksgiving, consultants stated.)
The tune “is a cash machine,” stated George Howard, a professor on the Berklee College of Music and former president of Rykodisc, an impartial document label. “It’s an actual phenomenon,” he stated.
Mariah Carey performs onstage throughout her “All I Want For Christmas Is You” tour at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 15, 2019 in New York City.
Kevin Mazur | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Howard, who additionally does consulting work to worth music copyrights, estimates the chart-topper makes $2 million to $4 million in annual gross income.
Similarly, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, which focuses on music {industry} legislation, estimates the hit generates $3.4 million a yr.
Over its 30-year existence, the tune has made about $103 million in earnings, the legislation agency estimates. The projections embrace international streaming and non-streaming income sources, in response to Manatt, which created Billboard’s royalty calculator.
The tune’s 2 billion international Spotify streams alone earned $9.8 million in royalties, in response to the calculator.
But Carey solely will get a portion of these earnings.
Why Carey is probably going getting paid ‘six methods to Sunday’
Mariah Carey performs in the course of the opening present of Mariah Carey: All I Want For Christmas Is You at Beacon Theatre on Dec. 5, 2016 in New York City.
Jeff Kravitz | Filmmagic, Inc | Getty Images
The ecosystem of music royalties is notoriously convoluted.
Money flows to many contributors, like writers, performers, producers, sound mixers and document labels. Payouts to every individual can differ from tune to tune, relying on contractual phrases, consultants stated.
The phrases of Carey’s royalty offers aren’t public information.
“Whatever it’s, it is some huge cash,” stated , a music, leisure and mental property lawyer at legislation 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 stated. That’s 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 stated. And it is an necessary consider Carey’s final take-home pay.
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Music royalties are totally different from these of different works like books or pictures.
That’s as a result of there are two distinct royalty streams — one for music composition and one other for sound recording, stated Jordan Bromley, companion and head of Manatt Entertainment. Think of 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 stated.
Each 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 stated.
Carey “has each the copyright to the tune and the sound recording, so she’s getting paid on either side,” Howard stated.
“She’s getting paid six methods to Sunday,” he stated.
Svetikd | E+ | Getty Images
A tune’s writers and publishers — and never its performers — get the royalties when a tune performs in a public area, corresponding to on TV and radio, or in eating places and retail shops, consultants stated. The U.S. is likely one of the few nations to have such a rule, Howard stated.
This signifies that Carey (and Afanasieff, her co-writer) will get royalties every time a canopy model of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” performs within the public area. Over 150 performers have coated the tune, according to ASCAP, a performing rights group.
Carey and Afanasieff break up their writing credit with publishers together with Universal Music, Sony Music and Kobalt Songs Music Publishing, according to ASCAP.
However, tune recording usually brings in 4 to 5 occasions the income of songwriting, Bromley stated.
“If you are a songwriter with no document income, it is exhausting to make a residing even when you’re making hits,” he stated.
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 stated. “All I Want for Christmas Is You” was launched by Columbia Records, which is owned by Sony Music.
Afanasieff, Sony Music and Kobalt Songs Music Publishing did not return requests for remark. Universal Music Publishing Group declined remark.
Why Carey could have revamped $2.7 million in 2022
Santa Claus and Mariah Carey throughout a pre-tape efficiency for NBC’s Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center on Nov. 27, 2012 in New York City.
James Devaney | Wireimage | Getty Images
Experts observe that earnings from document gross sales and licensing can differ drastically from yr to yr, 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 Want 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 stated.
What was Carey’s reduce?
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 College of Music
Carey additionally earned an estimated $1.6 million of the publishing, assuming she and Afanasieff break up the writing 50-50. But 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 stated.
All instructed, these estimates recommend Carey could 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 doubtless profitable, in response to Billboard. It additionally excludes cowl variations of the tune.
“There’s a ton of income that opens up” for a pop star who is sort of “co-branded” with Christmas, together with offers for model endorsements, stay performances, cosmetics, dwelling items and attire, Manatt Entertainment’s Bromley stated.
The present that retains giving
Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
The tune is the present that can hold carry on giving for years, consultants stated.
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 response to Chee of Donahue Fitzgerald.
In the case of a joint work with two or extra authors, corresponding to “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” the rule applies to the final surviving creator.
That means Carey’s property will doubtless rake in royalties for many years, till the tune finally passes into the general public area, she stated. When that occurs, the tune would be part of the ranks of Christmas classics like “Jingle Bells” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” which may usually be freely shared and adapted.
