Bruce Broughton – Composer fees massively slashed

From 1967 through 1977 I worked for CBS Television Music Operations. After that time, I was freelancing as a television composer so I'm well acquainted with the fees, which were stable during that period. CBS paid composers $2,000 for their services on a one hour television show. This was a fee; not a package deal. Other studios, like Universal, paid as much as $2,500 for an hour show. Some smaller independent producers paid $1,800. The deal was essentially similar everywhere. Adjusting for inflation and using two different inflation guides on the web, $2,000 in 1970 is worth approximately $12,055.52 in today's dollars. Unfortunately composers are still often paid about the same DOLLAR amount as in the late '60's, $1,500-$2,000 per episode. To make it worse, that is no longer a fee: it's a package deal from which the composer must fund the production.