What Mariah Carey does from 'All I Want For Christmas Is You'

“I don't want much for Christmas / There's just one thing I need / Just one question answered / Mariah Carey song royalties estimate, please?”

No, my moving lyrics aren't as catchy as the opening lines of Carey's “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” the 1994 jingle that became almost ubiquitous across the airwaves around the holiday season.

But they raise a question that goes into the black box of music business economics: How much money is the song earning for Carey, the performer of the song and known as “The Christmas Queen“Every year?

Measure income by Tableau suggested she made perhaps $2.7 million to $3.3 million in 2022, for example, from song downloads and on-demand streaming. It excludes other potentially lucrative revenue streams such as Christmas TV specials.

But it's difficult to know an exact amount, largely because contractual details between Carey, her music label and public song publishers are lacking, experts said. The pop star's publicist, Chris Chambers, did not return a request for comment sent to his company, The Chamber Group, about her royalties.

“Whatever it is, it's a lot of money,” said Natasha Chee, a music, entertainment and intellectual property attorney at the law firm Donahue Fitzgerald.

Spotify name this month the anthem became the first holiday song to surpass 2 billion streams worldwide. It has been the No. 1 song worldwide on Christmas Day every year since 2016, Spotify said.

The port is only popular: Total US audio streams will rise to 249 million in 2023, up about 49% from 167 million in 2019, according to Luminate, which tracks industry data. ' music.

(As of Dec. 12, total U.S. song streams this year were down 8% compared to 2023, Billboard estimates. That's partly due to the shortest holiday season since late Thanksgiving, experts said .)

The song “is a money maker,” said George Howard, a professor at Berklee College of Music and former president of Rykodisc, an independent record label. “It's a real phenomenon,” he said.

Howard, who also does consulting work to value music copyrights, estimates the chart-topper makes $2 million to $4 million in revenue. annual total.

Similarly, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, which specializes in music industry law, estimates that the hit generates $3.4 million a year.

Over its 30-year run, the song has earned about $103 million in earnings, according to the law firm. The projections include global streaming and non-streaming revenue sources, according to Manatt, who created Billboard's royalty calculator.

The song's 2 billion global Spotify streams alone earned $9.8 million in royalties, according to the calculator.

But Carey will only receive a portion of that earnings.

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Musical works are different from other works such as books or paintings.

That's because there are two distinct royalty streams — one for music composition and another for sound recording, said Jordan Bromley, partner and head of Manatt Entertainment. Think of the former as the sheet music sitting on your piano (the songwriting), and the latter as the recorded song you hear, he said.

Each has its own royal structure. Songwriters and publishers receive the royalties for music composition, while those for sound recordings are paid to songwriters and their labels, said Howard.

Carey owns both the copyright to the song and the sound recording, so she gets paid on both sides,” said Howard.

“She's getting paid six ways until Sunday,” he said.

Songwriters and publishers – and not the musicians – get the royalties when a song is played in a public place, such as on TV and radio, or in restaurants and retail stores, experts said. . The US is one of the few countries that has such a rule, Howard said.

This means that Carey (and Afanasieff, her co-writer) will receive a royalty when a cover version of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is played in the public domain. Over 150 musicians have covered the song, according to to ASCAP, a performing rights organization.

Carey and Afanasieff shared writing credits with publishers including Universal Music, Sony Music and Kobalt Songs Music Publishing, according to to ASCAP.

However, recording songs usually brings in four to five times the income from songwriting, Bromley said.

“If you're a songwriter without a higher income, it's hard to make a living even if you're making hits,” he said.

The artist's take of the recording revenue versus the label can vary widely, anywhere from 20% up to 90%, depending on the contract, Bromley said. “All I Want for Christmas Is You” was released by Columbia Records, which is owned by Sony Music.

Afanasieff, Sony Music and Kobalt Songs Music Publishing did not return requests for comment. Universal Music Publishing Group declined to comment.

Copyright for works published after January 1, 1978, usually remains whole for the life of the author, and 70 years after the death of the author, according to Chee of Donahue Fitzgerald.

In the case of collaborations with two or more authors, such as “All I Want for Christmas Is You”, the rule applies to the last remaining author.

That means Carey's estate will likely be involved in royalties for decades, until the song finally enters the public domain, she said. When that happens, the song joins Christmas classics like “Jingle Bells” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” which can usually be. freely shared and modified.