I was wondering how does BMG make money from Low In High School? Do they get a % of each CD sold, do they get any money from the tour, etc. Basically I was wondering how Moz is so rich if his albums don't exactly earn millions. I know Moz has been a millionaire since his early solo years and owns a lot of properties, and touring is lucrative, but surely Moz or BMG can't be making much from the album sales.
It is actually Morrissey the one who gets a % of each CD that gets sold (i.e, Morrissey obviously CAN'T ask a factory to burn some 2,000 LIHS CDs and sell them on eBay... BMG would sue him).
I assume it is the same than with books and I have published books by different authors. The copyright belongs to the author, but the author concedes SOME of the rights to the publisher, as you can see here:
(The copyright symbol doesn't say "Morrissey", but "BMG Rights Management").
Depending on the contract he has signed, the publisher has different rights... but those rights are limited by the contract (the two parts have limitations... i.e, Morrissey can't ask another label to publish, say, a dance remix of the songs... but BMG can't publish a dance remix of the songs either unless there is a written agreement that allows such thing -in the same way that I have the exclusive rights to publish some books, but I can't even change a comma in their content).
Contracts are a true hell and only lawyers understand them (and I am not one!).