There's a rant from an indie musician floating around on the 'net, where he describes the BS he had to put up with from recording companies before he stopped bothering. YMMV on orchestra music, as presumably the orchestra has a better lawyer than your average Spice Girls wannabe. But 0 % does not sound far fetched.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
Conductors get most of the cash for both.
This feature explains how the system works.
The recording revenues might show up in "ticket sales" or in "corporate sponsorship." With the level of detail given, it's hard to tell.
Or they may use the recording to fund other parts of the business in a direct quid-pro-quo that for some reason (tax rules, if I had to wager a guess) bypasses the budget. It could be that the recording company pulls some strings with their contacts in advertisement, or something like that.
But I really don't know - you're right that the numbers given don't seem to make sense at face value.