Licensing – the way to make some $$

May 18th, 2012

Few music artists ever reach the iconic status that comes with hours of annual airtime and major downloads to financially support their lifestyles and families.  That being said, many artists are able to make a living through their art by performing live and taking advantage of LICENSING!

Yep, licensing!, That magic word that makes musicians drool and cower all at the same time.  So many questions and so much confusion… What are my options for licensing? Where do I start? Where can I make deals to license my music?  Well, I’m not a music purchasing expert, but I can tell you what I know and get you moving down the path with a bit more confidence.

1) there are many options beyond movies and TV shows,

2) start as soon as you can and don’t be afraid of making mistakes,

3) license where it makes sense.

Sounds simple, but it is a lot of work.  Let’s take them one at a time and give a bit more guidance.

1) Options – Most artists are familiar with music placement in movies and TV shows, but there are large amounts of money to be made in other visual media.  TV commercials can bring thousands of dollars if played in prime-time spots, and let’s not forget GAMING – either internet or plug-in, video games are a prime example of a fantastic licensing opportunity.  Then there are the up-and-coming web-shows, YouTube and Vimeo each have “Sitcom” like shows that need music, and what about videos produced by software companies, how-to companies, business groups, etc… there is a lot of potential out there if you just look.

2) So how do you get your music to the music purchasers?  Well, the best way is to introduce yourself and your music to the purchasers, but if you don’t know who they are…. you can offer your music for licensing on large ‘warehouse’ like sites that get your music in front of purchasers. Some of the more popular include Rumblefish and greenlightmusic, although there are more than 100 such companies.  These companies provide an excellent service; however, you should always understand what the contracts for each of these services are and what they mean to your music.  Make sure that you are not signing an EXCLUSIVE contract for the licensing firm to represent your music.  If that is the case, then any deal you make on your own or through other representatives still has to go through that company and you loose a cut.

Don’t be afraid to contact independent film producers or production companies to start getting your name and music out.  Personal contacts often work better than large warehouses, but you can do both at the same time if you didn’t sign and exclusive deal.

3) License where it makes sense.  This comes from understanding the agreement with the licensing company.  You need to make deals that make sense for your music and your comfort level.  If you are not open to having your music licensed for a Sexually Transmitted Disease commercial, for example, then you should try to retain some rights as to where your music is used.  Does this make sense?

Again, making money from your music starts with you understanding your rights of ownership, your rights of copy, so to speak.

I encourage you to jump into the pool of licensing with cautious enthusiasm.  After all, what do you have to loose?  I mean, it won’t get licensed if your music just sits on a shelf with no-one but your friends and family listening.

Incidentally, BandwithRadio, LLC – we that run bandwith.org and bandwithradio.com – hope to start representing musicians in licensing deals with film, TV, and GAMES in the near future…. so please stay tuned!!

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Another FAQ – why do I have to sign a contract?!

April 23rd, 2011

“Transparency”. A catch-word in politics now-a-days, to be sure, but something that should be considered with signing or agreeing to anything when your property is involved. This is more true today than ever before, with artists, writers, and musicians using the power of the internet to get “discovered”.
So what do I mean about ‘transparency’. Well, as you can imagine, placing your works on the internet with a distributor comes with contracts and terms of services (TOS). You know, those long explanations of things we all just “agree to” without reading?!
Let’s relive the last song you recorded:
Here it is, you’ve worked months on creating the perfect song. You’ve mastered and re-mastered it. You’ve cleaned up all of the clicks and added all of the effects. Now, let’s get it out there! So you burn through the distribution site and click the “I Agree” button without reading or, potentially, understanding the TOS agreement.
Is this dangerous? Well not in all circumstances, but wouldn’t you like to know what risks you are taking?

Now I may be painting a bleak picture here, but I am often asked by bands and small labels, “why do I have to sign a contract to place my songs on bandwith.org?… I didn’t have to with (fill in the blank) company”.

Sorry to burst bubbles here, but the majority of sites that allow/encourage uploading songs, art, etc. include a contract. Now before I get a bunch of hate-mail, explaining that ‘I’ve never had to sign a contract!’ – go back to the site(s) of interest and read the TOS agreement. Somewhere in there is language that pertains to your music… i.e. a contract. If you clicked the “I Agree” you’ve essentially signed it.

This isn’t a bad thing. Contracts are meant to protect the artist as well as the company running the site. But you still should know what you’ve agreed to. I mean, it just makes sense, doesn’t it?

When we here at BandwithRadio, LLC wrote our contract, we had discussions about “hiding” the contract in the TOS so that bands would click “I Agree” without reading. We decided however that this would be against the reason we built the site… to help musicians in an open and transparent manner. We hope you agree.

Thanks for reading this long rebuttal to artists that have dinged us for asking them sign a contract. We didn’t mean to scare anyone off, we just wanted to be up front about what we are doing. Oh, and by-the-way, our site allows all band members to sign the contract, thus giving equal rights to all members with regards to joining the site. Again, to protect the artists involved.

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The final push

February 28th, 2011

I’ve begun thinking about building my own home studio recently and decided to get some books on the subject. Now this blog isn’t about the many different books about home recording or the recommended equipment, or even a request to send your personal feelings on the subject… It’s about a statement in one of those books that really hit home.

“90% of the time [in recording music] should be dedicated to the last 10% of the project.”

You may be asking… “What does this mean?”

I’ll tell you… “It’s all about the mastering.” For those of you that have a hard time with percentages… that means for every 10 hours recording there should be at least 90 hours of mastering. Overkill?! Not sure, but here are some things to think about.
The recorded track is how you will sell yourself to non-fans, music industry, social media sites, music publishers, licensors, and labels. If you make a mistake live… no big deal, we are all human; but to settle for less than near perfection on a recording meant to represent your talent, should be unacceptable.
In addition, an off note or lousy vocal track in a permanent recording can be the difference between getting someone to continue to listen and turning you off. The worst part is that it only takes ONE of these “off notes” to make most listeners reach for the power button.

This may sound harsh, but it is the truth. At the end of the day the Music Business is a Business with a lot of other artists pushing product at the public. If you have an inferior product… it will get passed over.

What can you do? Well, here are my suggestions. This is only based on my opinion, so do with it what you will.

1) If you are buying time in a studio – be organized so you don’t loose any time and buy enough time to do 8 songs. When you have your 8 songs chosen, pick 2 and stick to them. Record each of these songs multiple times. Retain the masters so that you can work with them at your pace. Trust me, 2 well recorded tracks/masters are better than 8 crappy ones. Hell, even 1 good tune is better than 8 okay songs.
2) Don’t let your friends listen to them… send them to someone or pay someone to listen to them and give you an HONEST critique. While it is hard to hear criticism, none of us grow without taking lumps. Trust me, constructive criticism is worth its weight in gold.
3) Listen to each track again and again. Put it away for a few days and listen to it again and again. A record label executive told me that they won’t sign a band that they can’t listen to 500 plus times per song. Why? Because that’s how many times they’ll listen to each track to master it.
4) Be willing to change the recorded sound. This is your child, it is something that you love and you want other people to like… We teach our children to behave in public by changing them… you may need to change your music a bit to make it ready for public play.
5) At the end, your name is on this… your reputation… You need to be proud of it and yet strive to improve it. Ozzy Osbourne was asked if there was an album he was most proud of… he said he hasn’t made his Abbey Road yet. Corny? Maybe. But this multi-million dollar artist is still striving to make something he can be proud of. Take note… having a “that’s good enough” attitude may not be good enough.
6) Obviously, having someone know what they are doing, when mastering, is important. So if you aren’t that person… find someone to teach you. Get a book… play around with sounds until you can get them to do what you want.

I hope this helps all of you talented musicians, to put something out that gets attention. Good luck!

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How to MAKE IT!

January 12th, 2011

The question that plagues many musicians. I’m no expert on ‘How to make it’. I suspect there are a lot of factors in reaching the top of that mountain… hard work, talent, help, luck, etc…, but there is one thing that should always be there…. The Love Of Playing.

Sounds silly I know, but let me tell you about a band I saw a few months back that truly inspires me, and, by-the-way, I’ve since become a huge fan of.

It was a long night of music at a local venue in a Northern-Wisconsin college town. The crowd was thin, but energetically cheering the first band of the evening. They bounced along with the musicians and continued to drink while the set crunched onward. The crowd remained in high spirits for the second band, but as the alcohol had started to take affect, the bouncing had diminished. Sadly the majority of the crowd began to worry about how they might feel the next morning and drunkenly stumbled home by the time the last band took the stage. The final audience for the “headliner” was around 10 people. That included me by the way.

This headlining band had been in the audience for the previous bands. They had watched the crowd dwindle, but didn’t seem to care. When their turn came, they were prepared and professional. They took the stage and, get this, played like they were playing for 10,000! not 10!!

A few times during the blinding set the lead singer, drenched in sweat and full of what I describe as serious engery, took the mic and expressed sincere thanks to the fans still there. He didn’t make fun of those that had left, he didn’t ask why the others had gone, he didn’t say anything like, “aren’t you glad you stayed?”. He simply said, “We know that you have a choice of places to be, and you are here to listen to us play… Thank you”

The statement was all class. There was no malice in his voice, no passive aggressive message, he meant what he said and thanked the small audience with kind words and a kick ass show.

A few weeks later my brother had the opportunity to see this same band. Incredibly, the same set of events took place. Again the band thanked the 4 in attendance and put on a “great show”.

Now, this band often plays to large crowds, and I guess that’s why I’m so impressed.  They play hard for every show and are happy to play for as many or as few as are present.

I’m not writing this to say that fans need to drink less or bands need to play earlier (although in this particular college town it might not hurt). I’m writing this because this band is what I think of when I think of great bands: hard working, talented, and obviously LOVE TO PLAY. Hopefully this solid trio known as FanOffBirdSafe (http://bandwith.org/bands/fanoffbirdsafe) will find some help and/or luck and deservedly “make it”.

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Is Free play, Good play?

December 4th, 2010

I’m frequently asked, “how does giving my songs away help my music career?” This is obviously a loaded question, as giving all of the rights to your songs away would destroy, rather than help, your music career. However, “giving” your songs away, at least in a controlled manner, can be advantageous. In fact, it is a tactic used by musicians and labels all the way up the preverbal ladder of success.

So how can NOT getting paid be a good thing? Well, let me ask you… how many places are you NOT getting paid already?

Do you get paid for MySpace plays when someone finds your band’s MySpace profile page?  Answer, No. Because you give control of your song to MySpace and the viewer of your page.

Do you get paid if someone listens to one of your songs on YouTube?  No. This is complicated because in some cases you and your band have a legal right to be paid, but that is another story.

Do you get paid if a college station plays a song of yours?  Well, you should – but in reality “Sometimes yes and sometimes no…”. Each of these scenarios dives into the COMPLICATED issue of music based royalties, rights and ownership, and, quite frankly, a topic for another day.

Back to Free-play…
While you may not get paid for these listens, I bet most musicians consider it part of the game. Putting these ‘free listens’ out there can help bring attention to your music. Thus turning NOT getting paid, at times, into a smart thing financially.
Long story short: these “freebee” tactics can lure music fans to your site and music, expanding your fan-base. This fan-base will then potentially buy albums, attend shows, and buy merch. Thus getting exposure can often be worth some ‘up front’ lost performance royalties.  This happens in music all the way up the food chain.  Even hugely popular bands give away free music, free interview time, free appearances, and even free performances to generate BUZZ . This is generally called a marketing push or campaign “making the rounds” or “pressing the flesh to push the vinyl” – did I just show my age?.  The thing is, bands of any size or popularity can take advantage of these tactics at different levels. Playing for free at an Open Mic Night, having a free attendance CD release party, handing out new CDs at a release party, giving a free CD to a local DJ, giving your songs to internet radio sites, podcasts, etc. While seemingly random, a properly planned release of info can be successful. And any such plan should include the internet for a few big reasons. 1) MP3s don’t have production costs like CDs, therefore giving a digital copy of your song(s) doesn’t cost money up front, 2) the internet reaches more people than your local gig, although you’ll eventually need the support of both to be successful, 3) all of your competitors use it, so you’d better too, and 4) because of how the internet works – fans can be directed to new music through various pathways making ‘the right place’ and ‘the right time’ bump into each other more frequently on the internet than anywhere else.

For example, imagine you placed one of your songs up for a free podcast.  Now imagine that podcast getting 100,000 hits.  Now imagine that the podcast showed a link for your homepage or iTunes space for your album when your song was played.  Even if only 0.5% of the listeners followed your link, with 10% of them buying the album and 40% buying the track. That would be 50 album sales and 200 track sales. Not bad for 5 minutes to upload your stuff to the site.
This is obviously a positive story generated to make a point. “The internet and free gigs, plays, etc can lead to good things”. But as all things in life, there are two sides to every coin. What if the ‘upload for play’ on the free podcast didn’t come with a limit? The next thing you know other podcasts start playing your song with no link to your album… people are hearing you everywhere without a way to buy… then streaming stations are playing your songs as pirated material… what then? Obviously, the more you know about the “free play” the better.

In the worst case, giving free use of your songs can lead to mass pirating and loss of public control of your property. Why is this bad? You can loose your profits and potentially your property.  If you simply give a web-station your song without protecting yourself, the station could release the use of your song to sister stations or continue to play it for free for several months or years… change the words of the song, rerelease it under a different name… steal it! While this is rare, it can happen (just ask Jake Holmes, the man that wrote Dazed and Confused – it wasn’t Jimmy Page… well, that is still in court). How can you protect yourself? Give your music away with some strings attached, or make sure the sites you are giving your music to only ask for limited licensing (perhaps limited to their site only). This way they can’t legally give your songs to other stations or websites.

What limits are good limits? That is up to each artist. My only advice is that you truly understand the limitations of use so that you know where your protections are.  If you’re not sure, ASK! Most sites and stations should have contact numbers and someone willing to talk with you about the licensing and its limits. The trick is to control your music and how it gets out, as much as possible.
The take home message? Two points: 1) the internet is a powerful tool in music, so use it (be sure to do so wisely) and 2) be familiar with the licensing you are signing off on so you can better control your property.

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