Songwriter Sells His Stake in Korn and Black Veil Brides Songs (and Others) for $31,000
Write just one hit song and you can live off the royalties for the rest of your life, or so goes the old adage.
That’s easier said than done, of course, but there are hundreds of songwriters the world over — who often operate behind the scenes, completely unknown to the public — who do just that. And one of them recently sold the rights to his catalog of 131 songs — including hits by Korn, Black Veil Brides, Good Charlotte and others — for $31,000 at a public auction via Royalty Exchange.
The catalog includes the rights to performance royalties, meaning there’s a small payout every time a track is played on the radio, at a nightclub/hotel/restaurant, or streamed on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, etc. The collection had averaged over $1,000 in earnings per quarter over the last two years, and generated over $6,000 in just the last 12 months, meaning the songwriter was able to earn 5x to 8x his yearly haul in one shot. Not bad!
Who is this mysterious songwriter? A representative from Royalty Exchange tells MetalSucks he was a co-writer on two Korn songs, one of which, “Narcissistic Cannibal,” is responsible for 25% of the entire catalog’s earnings (the other, “Way Too Far,” also appeared on the 2011 album The Path of Totality). Credits on three Black Veil Brides songs (of 10 total by the band in the collection) — “Fallen Angels,” “Legacy,” and “Rebel Love Song” — comprise another 25% of the catalog’s earnings.
The Wikipedia entry for “Narcissistic Cannibal” lists Luke L. Walker as a songwriter alongside the band members and Jake Stanczak (better known as Kill the Noise, an EDM producer who guests on the track). Walker’s page at Discogs.com lists the other Korn track mentioned above and shows credits for both Black Veil Brides and Good Charlotte, among Filter, Jeffree Star and others. Indeed, all signs point to Walker as the new owner of 31,000 smackeroos.
Of course, The Path of Totality was Korn’s blatant sellout dubstep album. So perhaps the adage in this article open should be changed to “There’s money in dubstep.”
Anyway, congrats, Mr. Walker! That’s not a bad haul. Hopefully you’re sipping a margarita on a beach right now instead using this payment as a bail bond.
More info on the auction and its contents and earnings history at Royalty Exchange. No word on who the new owner of the catalog is.
