20
Things to keep in mind:
1. Networking is about being genuine and authentic
2. Figure out what you are trying to accomplish so that you can select who can be a suitable candidate to help you get what you are looking for.
3. Focus on quality contacts as opposed to quantity.
Read the rest of this entry »
02
Do music artists fare better in a world with illegal file-sharing?
It shows the fate of the three main pillars of music industry revenue - recorded music, live music, and PRS revenues (royalties collected on behalf of artists when their music is played in public) over the last 5 years.
from artistpaid
25
Pretty convenients service….anything similar in Canada anybody?????
The UK-based event payments company, GigPay last month launched an online tool that allows bands to generate and manage live performance contracts.
The service allows a musician or anyone hiring them, to draw up a customised live performance contract, by providing information relevant to their event or gig. Using answers, figures and dates provided by the user, GigPay’s system generates the relevant legal clauses covering the scope of input. The result is a contract that is tailored to the user’s specification. At this point the user can email or fax the resulting contract to the other party who can print, sign and return the contract, or go to GigPay.com to electronically agree to it.
Having been legal for many years, electronic signatures are starting to be widely adopted. GigPay’s offer of e-signature as a signing option is a good move.
The contract itself can be changed at any time prior to agreement and the sender can make changes at the request of the recipient. After agreement the contract is indefinitely available online, allowing both parties the benefit of an unchanged, centrally stored contract. In addition, GigPay’s contract has an easy to read format that displays a contract’s key facts and then the detail following that. This seems to be a way round the ‘long form’ and ’short form’ contract system used in the industry.
The service is targeted at live musicians, promoters, booking agents and DJs, though it can be used for most types of event bookings to manage and track the status of contracts drawn up by the system.
My opinion is that rather than solving a problem in the industry, this tool aims to improve the workflow associated with live performance agreements.GigPay are offering the service for a per-contract fee of $1.80/£0.80 or a soon to be determined annual fee (allowing use of the system for no extra cost). The indication is that the annual fee will be no more than $25.
Caught over at knowthemusicbiz.com
23
My man Jim Bond from Dynamic Producer has a dope blog. Here is his Music Industry behind the scene stories. Great infor for Newcomers and Vets.
Chapter I - Small World
Five years ago, I was in negotiations for a 10 song production deal with an indie label. At the time, I had not sold a beat for more than $150 and hadn’t worked with any known artists. Needless to say, this deal was going to bring in a lot more money than that. After working out the basic terms, I was eager to sign the dotted line. Even though I got a lawyer to check out the paperwork when it came, I was so impatient, I decided to get some free legal advice online first. I did a search for “Entertainment Lawyers” and anonymously instant messaged a random entertainment lawyer to see what he thought about the deal.
I talked to this guy about the deal for a bit then just started to BS with him. Turns out he was in NY. He was also working as a consultant on an MC’s project. Out of all the MC’s in the world this guy could have been working with…, it was an MC who was from the same camp I was about to sign the song deal with. He asked me to come through to the studio a few days later. I came with some tracks and he chose two, which ended up being my first big check (Which was cut before we finally straightened out the song deal).
Lesson Learned: It’s a small world, especially in the music industry. Treat it as such.
Applications: This is an extreme case, but this exemplifies the value of networking. If a producer can randomly contact an entertainment lawyer online and turn that into good money, there is no reason for any producer to waste any chances he may have to network. Also don’t forget to treat everyone you may come across networking with respect. Assistants and interns are future executives and as a rule, respecting people can only help things…
You can also look at this as a cautionary tale. Because if you do ever decide to badmouth someone (Which is pointless 99.9% of the time), you never know who knows who and how it can come back to bite you.
28
NYpost published an interesting article about the growth of vinyl sales and Best buy trying to catch some market shares…
Vinyl sales grew 15 percent year-over-year in 2007 and 89 percent in 2008, making the 1.9 million vinyl albums purchased last year the most since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. This year is shaping up to be even better, with 670,000 vinyl albums sold through mid-April.
[...]
“Our goal is to occupy as much square footage as possible with music products,” said Atlantic Records CEO Craig Kallman, whose personal vinyl collection numbers more than 300,000, making it one of the largest private collections in the world.
I doubt this very much so…remeber this guy’s collection
I doubt that I will start buying records at best buy but if this can help the vinyl culture I am all for it.
28
Here is another project to try to generate $$$ in the music business downfall….Corgan says it is to do a work of art out of it but I mean 40$ subscription?????
The latest band to go direct to fans is the Smashing Pumpkins, with mainman Billy Corgan launching a 12-week $40 subscription service for “access to various media updates detailing the creative process within the studio” as he records the band’s next album.
That means exclusive video footage and photos, if you’re wondering, plus music. It specifies a minimum of five studio updates a week, with each being a minimum of five minutes in length - so subscribers will get five hours of audio/video stuff for their $40. Oh, and the whole thing will be turned into an “art film” at the end.
“It is my goal to far exceed the normal docmentary process and use the moment to create something that invokes synchronicity, electricity, and faith into a moment that is ever unfolding,” says Corgan. Yeah, but will it be as good as Siva or Cherub Rock, hmm?
Caught this over at Music Ally
08
Great blog post by Joey Maker over at xxlmag.com about tips for the beat placement hustle
Chasing Placements 101
Face it, producers - beatmaking is the new rapping. Right now, chances are your whole block is filled with kids packing a pirate copy of Fruity Loops and a “Dr. Dre Drumkit”, all hoping they can become the next Timbo.
So how are you going to separate yourself from them?
* HAVE BEATS, WILL TRAVEL - CONFERENCES AND SHOWCASES
Like rap battles, beat battles are a great way to get the crowd hype and to pit your skill against other cats trying to make it on the same path. Unlike rap battles, however, beat battles might actually lead to a career (no shots).
They can be expensive, but if you’re serious about your beats, any producer who has been to one of the many events now held all around the US will tell you that they are worth the cost.
Even if you’re not competing in the battles, producer conferences and showcases are a great place to network with A&Rs, managers, and other producers on the same grind - and, if you’re lucky, you might get a chance to meet a famous rapper or producer, who often volunteer their services as judges and panelists.
- Dynamic Producer [www.dynamicproducer.com]
- One Stop Shop [www.moneymanagementxl.com]
- iStandard Producers [www.istandardproducers.com]
* NO PLANE? NO PROBLEM - BEATMAKING ON A BUDGET
If you can’t afford the time or the money needed to travel, or live overseas, there are still other options. Australia’s M-Phazes used his manager as a proxy at last year’s One Stop Shop beat battle, which he was able to win. For those of us not lucky enough to have that opportunity, the web is full of sites allowing you to showcase your tracks in different ways. There are too many sites to list, so here are some of the big names:
- Loud.com recently finished up a producer contest, offering $15,000 and a three track deal to the winner. J Cardim took it home, and is already working with rappers like Saigon - hopefully Loud will bring back the contest for another season.
- DynamicProducer.com, PMPworldwide.com and MusicPlacements.com offer industry opportunities regularly. The staff filter through all the tracks that are submitted for the opportunity and pass on the best of those to the A&Rs. A great option for those who haven’t yet been able to make their own connects within the industry and labels.
- There are a vast number of sites where you can sell your beats online, but RocBattle.com is one of the most prominent. The site also offers regular online beat battles.
* INCREASE THE LEASE
Many producers will tell you one man’s trash is another man’s treasure - the beats they think are throwaways will sometimes be the ones that make the rapper’s eyes light up. That being said, sometimes you need to make some quick cash, and can’t afford to wait around for a big placement.
Leasing beats is an online hustle that’s emerged over the last few years, offering non-exclusive (e.g. resellable) use of beats for a lesser fee - but don’t be so quick to make your whole catalog online. We’d suggest going through your portfolio with some friends, getting some feedback, and using that to categorize your beats into top tier bangers, solid heat, and bottom of the barrel Dre knockoffs. Put the lower grade material online and save your top stuff for bigger opportunities.
Leasing a beat doesn’t mean you can never sell it exclusively later on down the track, but something you are making readily available is a less attractive commodity. In a year or two, your perception of a red hot banger will change, and your old A-grade material may filter down anyway.
Do it yourself on [myspace.com] or [soundclick.com], or use one of the many sites out there like [IveGotBeats.com].
* MIX GAME PROPER
If you hear a track with a raw beat and mind-blowing lyrics, but the rapper has a sub-par voice, chances are you wouldn’t be interested in hearing more from that artist. The same goes with your beats - you might have a great idea, but unless your mixing is right, it’s not going to cut it when you’re trying to land a major placement. Why give something that could potentially sound good a chance, when they have a hundred other CDs with clean mixes?
Don’t stress - the pros are here to help. For advice from some of the top engineers in the game (Just Blaze’s engineer Ryan West, Grammy winner Bassy Bob Brockman) head to [elementsofmixing.ning.com].
* STAY STRAPPED
It’s common sense, but always have a copy of your hottest beats on you. Make sure you always have your latest tracks, too, so you avoid a situation where you’re trying to explain why “my new stuff sounds much much better… but I don’t have it with me…”. If CDs are too unwieldy, try carrying around low capacity USB drives - they’re small and can be reused if you need to update your catalog. Just make sure you label them.
* BROADEN YOUR HORIZONS
Always remember that there are other ways to make money from music without landing that number one single. TV, radio and movie placements are all ways for producers to make money, and they are often looking for tracks in the hip-hop/rap/R&B genre - we’ve all see the infamous clip of Bleek in a shampoo commercial [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVRkYBp4pjA]. Check out [www.taxi.com] and [www.the3030career.com] for more information.
* FACE THE MUSIC
Finally, nothing is more useful than getting out there and making connections, face to face. Build with your local DJs, who can connect you with local artists. Build with your local artists, who may tour with more major acts. Be seen and heard - people knowing your face and knowing your sound, even locally to start with, is invaluable. At the end of the day, it could be the difference between your success as a producer, or forever being DresApprentice418 on MySpace.-Joey Maker
06
My roomate Scruff just picked up the new Wired magazine ( yes we still buy magazine….for the can!) and the first article, Here it Goes Again: Games like Rock Band pump up music sales. So why record labels want to take the air out? by Jeff Howe pertains to the post I wrote this morning.
“The amount being paid to the music industry, even though these games are entirely dependent on the content we own and control, is far too small.”Edgar bronfman Ceo of Warner music group
…….Guitar Hero and Rock band have become an industry in their own right, raking in more than $2.3 BILLION over the past three years.
Wow that right on the money. They still try to control and maximize any and every profit. The only people trying to stop the sharing of the media are the one in control. The ones that are loosing money from it. This could be a nice income stream for the music industry, like Howe puts it
With more entries to come in the play-along genre, and networked hardware to play them on, the game themselves could evenbecome an online music retail channel to rival with iTunes.
I think the numbers that these games have pulled in the last 3 years could be enough to jusity them as a great opportunity. Why not cooperate with the game studio? Why not open the vault of the label? Yes you will loose some money on the Publishing( lets be real, this side of the business is also dying) but think about all the futur income and possibility it could generate. How many kids knew about Molly Hatchet, Deep Purple or The Who before Rock Band ? Probably not many 7 to 17 years old (teen and tween market segment)…..see my point?
Aerosmith has reportedly earned more from Guitar Hero:Aerosmith than from any single album in the band’s history.
Try to build with these channels instead of aiming for that deal with a major that probably will end up in you making little to no money and not owning the rights to your master recording. INDY all the way baby!
06
Sincock over at Illmuzik posted a great clip about intellectual property within a historical content starting the from the days of the Gutenberg press. It highlights that continuous repulsion the media companies always towards new technologies (i.e: cable tv, vcr, mp3 player, peer 2 peer…). History has shown us that these new technologies seem to always prevail and become the norm. A great quote from the clip is the head over at Getty Images said Intellectual Property is the oil of the 21st century. It is the ones who used to profit from the copyrights are the ones who are resisting this evolution. You hear the RIIA, Record companies, a few bands but you never hear any new artist complaining about the file sharing because that’s their channel, that’s how they get their music out to the people. Why does the man, Steve K over at OGHipHop has to go through something like this
A few days ago I received a Cease-And-Desist letter from GrayZone, Inc and their legal team, stating that my Miami-based website, The305.Com, was infringing on copyrights by posting a stream of a recent music video for Flo-Rida’s “Right Round.” Their claims were that I was encouraging “bootlegging,” by letting the video stream. The video was not EVER available for download on The305.Com. It was simply embedded as a stream from a third-party video hosting website.
With that, my hosting company also received a letter from GrayZone and immediately shut my website down due to the actions and accusations. Yet, the video has stayed on the video hosting site untouched…”
The record companies are still trying to fight the sharing of music but history proves the fight is already lost. What next??? Well now that the people who use to buy music can now record, produce and distribute their music totally independently with very little costs. The power is shift and that why the music industry is in a downfall. I don’t have a solution for the labels( which are way to busy trying to create that crossover hit to save their ass for another quarter). I know for sure that any artist out there should record their music at home, build a blog, cooperate with other artist, participate in communities (forums, social network sites) and BE ORIGINAL. The attention of span of people on the receiving end of any media is getting shorter and shorter( I opened at least 8 tabs while i wrote this post). The search for the newest piece out is full speed. Why take time to over polish everything? I think people should do what they think is very good, don’t do it to the standards of other do it for you. The key is sharing. Share opinions, talent, network, ideas, work… Once the people involved in music understand this I think we will able to progress again because now we are stagnating. Independent Digital Labels, Music blogs/website (like NMC, Hiphopdx), pay what you like album release…these are all valid options and should be explored….thats enough for now…I’m sure i”ll com back to this subject.
BE CREATIVE, EXPLORE DIFFERENT AVENUES(video game, indy animation, indy movie….) SHARE!!!
Check the movie, it’s worth it if you’re interested by this subject:
06
Guru breaks it down real clear and simple at 01:42 mark. I got to say I agree 100% with him, they have to restructure the whole business, we are doing a full circle. Back in the days, the rock & roll, Jazz, Blues days, when the industry we know started. They started printing out 45″ and 12″ to promote the show. It wasn’t about how many scans or how hot an album was. It was about the songs AND the show. Thats what got people hooked on an artist. The people are done getting jerked off their 20$(12,99$ nowadays) for a sub par album of 18 album fillers and only 2 smash and a half.
Nowaday, I think we can all agree that the net is the equivalent of the radio back in these days. Imho, I think we need to start focusing on …..actually I dont think, this is what we are noticing, we need to start focusing on the song per song aspect of this game. And please to all you new artists, learn to rock a good show. Watch was done and think of something new. My man Chubb Rock, always told me that all the promoter make him close the show even if the hottest new artist is on the card(a la Soulja Boy) because he can rock the SHIT of of the crowd!!!!!
A great(more complete) take on this can be found at Your Favourite White Boy
Its ironic that a “mogul” with a video blog is so convinced that in 2009, DJs still hold the same sway as they once did in “breaking” a record. Music is changing. In fact, we all know its been changing for quite some time. Radio stations are not unlike record companies - they are in a difficult transition in dealing with the new online digital music paradigm where there were 1.7 billion downloads last year alone.
While radio listenership is fairly steady, radio advertising is down - especially in the current economy. Radio is now competing heavily with other mediums for scare advertising dollars. In this sense, radio faces three formidable opponents: satellite radio, the internet and online music sites. These are all places where music lovers can get more music in a more segmented, specialized formats. This is known as the “long tail effect”.
Gone are the days where you had to listen to 25 R&B records to hear one dope rap record. Now, you can sample and download music without EVER listening to a radio station. You can see videos and interviews from your favorite artists and read their blogs. And even if you do want to hear the latest radio interview or the “hot new song”, wait 30 minutes after it aired an a radio rip - from one listener - will be online for download, ad free.
