....Which Beyonce' gets none of because she neither writes nor produces her own music. She pays to have her name written on the liner notes. Beyonce's money comes from touring (this is where artists make much of their money.) and her endorsement deals. Owning the rights to your music is where a good grip of the money comes from which is why in the 60s/70s many artists were fighting record companies for just that. That means not only do you get a larger percent of royalties, but you can control how your music is used and you get paid whenever you allow it to be used in various medias (for instance in movies; commercials; etc). Thats also why Paul Newman fell out with MJ when MJ bought the rights to the Beatles' music. TLC went bankrupt because they had a horrible contract with their record company and management that was gauging a huge percentage of their income. Writing and producing, however, doesn't go that far after the record is sold -- they just get royalties. Writing & producing brings a big bang for your buck up front because you get to set a fee that the record company pays to you to produce/write their artist's material.