Just got home from singer-songwriter convention
Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 5:04 pmIt was in Cape May Fri-Sat.
What an eye-opening event!
We went and talked to tons of marketing reps, publishers, artists, etc... They had a LOT of fantastic info, so here I am to share what I've learned-
What I found interesting was that they declared the arena rock band "dead". They even issued us a challenge to come up with ONE major rock act that has been signed by a major label in the last 5 years. Nobody could come up with one. Coldplay was about the most recent at 6-7 years, and probably one of the last major rock acts to be signed. Sad. But some new rock bands are emerging on their own, being their own business, etc.. we've discussed this here before, and the insiders confirm it. Your success is your company/band, all up to you.
Labels arent' interested in developing artists anymore, the ONLY interest they have is slapping some lipstick on a tween princess and sending her into the media hype with a bunch of 3-chord progressions and a few hooks. Same for the tween boys minus the lipstick.
There's a TON of opportunity in film and tv right now, that industry still grows, and there's no age limit on it, but there's also a ton of competition because of that. You must have serious songwriting skills, and a hefty catalog (50-100 songs).
They discouraged signing up with libraries or using services like TAXI, mostly because of the legal issues which I will explain further. Services like Taxi basically toss everything you submit at the wall and see what sticks. Decent publishing companies will NOT touch music from libraries and the only people who might are indie labels and middle-men 3rd rate publishers who will not serve your best interests. For instance, if you submit a song through Taxi, and it ends up rolling for 4 minutes in the next 'blair witch', and then earns 12 grammys.. chances are the service sold it to them flat out for $200 bucks, which you probably got 70% of...
Mid-high level publishers would have negotiated a contract with sales volume clauses, and you could have earned $50k+ for the exact same thing...
The legal issues are that publishers need you to own the copyrights to the music, as well as, owning the masters. Any other artist contribution also requires contracts so the publishers knows how to legally distribute the royalties. Basically, the copyrights are the 'intellectual property' where the masters are a separate 'physical property' (the studio 'created' them). Always make sure to have the studio sign releases of the masters and any demos.
Marketing (performers, not tv/film publishing musicians)-
You have to have an image (brand your band), style, look, etc... Almost goes without saying, but many bands just ignore this and believe that making great music is good enough. It isn't. Pepsi branded themselves as the "new generation", "generation next", etc.. Still the same old pepsi, but they managed to steal half of Coke's market just by projecting a well thought out and crafted image. Bands have to do the same to differentiate themselves from the other bands. Still need great music, but great music just isn't enough anymore.
There's a ton more, but my brain is toast, so I will end with this pic of me, Valerie, and Brendon from Wheatus
What an eye-opening event!
We went and talked to tons of marketing reps, publishers, artists, etc... They had a LOT of fantastic info, so here I am to share what I've learned-
What I found interesting was that they declared the arena rock band "dead". They even issued us a challenge to come up with ONE major rock act that has been signed by a major label in the last 5 years. Nobody could come up with one. Coldplay was about the most recent at 6-7 years, and probably one of the last major rock acts to be signed. Sad. But some new rock bands are emerging on their own, being their own business, etc.. we've discussed this here before, and the insiders confirm it. Your success is your company/band, all up to you.
Labels arent' interested in developing artists anymore, the ONLY interest they have is slapping some lipstick on a tween princess and sending her into the media hype with a bunch of 3-chord progressions and a few hooks. Same for the tween boys minus the lipstick.
There's a TON of opportunity in film and tv right now, that industry still grows, and there's no age limit on it, but there's also a ton of competition because of that. You must have serious songwriting skills, and a hefty catalog (50-100 songs).
They discouraged signing up with libraries or using services like TAXI, mostly because of the legal issues which I will explain further. Services like Taxi basically toss everything you submit at the wall and see what sticks. Decent publishing companies will NOT touch music from libraries and the only people who might are indie labels and middle-men 3rd rate publishers who will not serve your best interests. For instance, if you submit a song through Taxi, and it ends up rolling for 4 minutes in the next 'blair witch', and then earns 12 grammys.. chances are the service sold it to them flat out for $200 bucks, which you probably got 70% of...
Mid-high level publishers would have negotiated a contract with sales volume clauses, and you could have earned $50k+ for the exact same thing...
The legal issues are that publishers need you to own the copyrights to the music, as well as, owning the masters. Any other artist contribution also requires contracts so the publishers knows how to legally distribute the royalties. Basically, the copyrights are the 'intellectual property' where the masters are a separate 'physical property' (the studio 'created' them). Always make sure to have the studio sign releases of the masters and any demos.
Marketing (performers, not tv/film publishing musicians)-
You have to have an image (brand your band), style, look, etc... Almost goes without saying, but many bands just ignore this and believe that making great music is good enough. It isn't. Pepsi branded themselves as the "new generation", "generation next", etc.. Still the same old pepsi, but they managed to steal half of Coke's market just by projecting a well thought out and crafted image. Bands have to do the same to differentiate themselves from the other bands. Still need great music, but great music just isn't enough anymore.
There's a ton more, but my brain is toast, so I will end with this pic of me, Valerie, and Brendon from Wheatus
