This is from 2004:
Quote:Long and Winding Road: Music Royalties
... Anyone who has reviewed a royalty statement from a music publisher, record company or performing rights organization will understand the old saw "music is a business of pennies."
... Scores of new uses including covers by new artists, synchronization in films, television commercials and constant radio airplay, all produce income for the owner of the musical composition copyright.
... By the way, synchronization license fees are an exception to the "business of pennies" maxim. "Synch" fees for national commercials commonly exceed $100,000, and for feature films, can be as much, in each case with performance "pennies" to follow from airplay on television broadcasts and from theatrical licensing in countries other than the United States.
http://www.ober.com/publications/939-lon...-royalties
The largest "synch" fees probably go to well-known songs.