Episode 11 – Licenses & Distribution Deals

Posted: 24th February 2012 by IreneB in Distribution, Licensing
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Everybody knows what a record deal is -or at least they should-, a record label gets interested in you as an artist and either buys your record (that you’ve already recorded) or puts money to record an album -let’s be honest, this doesn’t happen that often anymore-. They put it out, they put the money for marketing & promotion, tours, manufacturing, etc. At the same time they own everything after that (especially now, with the 360 deals, that I will talk about in another episode).

But, what happens if you don’t get a record deal? Does the world end? Is there any other option for your music to get out? Of course! Don’t panic!

It all depends on how much control you want to have over your music, and what kind of a budget you have as well. Also, is your product good enough? Because it all starts there… you HAVE to HAVE a good product! :)

I would like for you to learn what other options you have, for that it is mandatory that you know about licensing deals & distribution deals:

LICENSING DEALS

A license is something like a “permit” to use your master recordings, it can be just for broadcasting them, selling them, synchronizing them with an image, etc. Or you can have them all in one! Here are a few licensing deals you might be offered:

– Mechanical License: This means a record label or any other company wants to use your music (sometimes a full record or just a single song) to sell it! This can happen either worldwide or on a specific territory. For that, they will normally pay a licensing fee (to negotiate with the record label). In this case, if the record label wants to license your music, you still own your copyrights, it just means in that territory they will make their efforts to sell your music, since they put the money to license it & put some promo behind it.

– Sync License: This kind of license is the one that a company will nee if they want to synchronize your music with an image: Movies, advertisement, TV shows, etc.

There are some more licenses, but these are the main ones you need to know about :)

DISTRIBUTION DEALS

A distribution deal is something completely different than a licensing deal, and most artists get them mixed. In a distribution deal whoever the company is that gives you the deal WILL NOT pay for any marketing, promotion, etc. They will only make your music available in the different outlets they have contacts with.

– Physical distribution: Because of the lack of physical sales, these kind of distribution deals are hard to come by, and if you find them they are normally full of small print letter that says that if you don’t sell a stupid amount of records, you will owe the distribution company/record label money. In these deals the company will put your CD available in all the physical record stores around a territory (worldwide distribution deals are rarely seen, because of the licenses needed for that).

– Digital distribution: Thanks to the internet we are able to get in contact to digital distributors (also called digital aggregators) & put our music out very easily. This is the easiest way to get your music out there (please, read/watch episode 8 to know how). The digital distributor will make your music available in all the digital outlets (iTunes, Amazon, etc.) and they will take a percentage of every download sold.

I hope this can help you find the best outlet for your music!! If you have any questions remember you can always email me!!

 

Episode 10 – Sharks

Posted: 3rd February 2012 by IreneB in Starting Out
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Sharks, sharks, sharks… the music industry is full of them. We gotta know it & accept it. And… be aware! They hide behind the name of managers, producers, promoters, artists, even friends!

Let me tell you something, first thing you have to do in your artist life is to decide what way to take, once you’ve done that the next steps will be easy… I recommend you to choose the right way! Which normally is not as easy as we think, but not as difficult as we would think either. Know one thing, in the music industry there is one gold rule: THERE IS NO GUARANTEES.

So following that rule, anybody telling you they can GUARANTEE something should raise a red flag in your mind. So here you have a few scenarios that should tell you to RUN:

– You are working with a producer, but you happen to find ANOTHER producer that tells you that the producer you’re working with is too expensive, doesn’t have experience, blahblahblah… (it can come with different words after, however, the second producer is always trying to imply that he’s better than the first one) that HE can do better than that and has better contacts to get your music signed to a major record label. RIIIIGHT….

– A manager comes in BEFORE (or even while) you have something going on and tells you: “You know, for THIS MUCH money, I can get you to sign with this major record label, open up for “place-big-artist-name-here” & you will be the next big thing”. WRONG!!!!!!! Managers should always be paid by commission, you should never have to pay for them to work: you make money, they make money.

– “For this much $$$$ I can get you a sit down with the A&R for “place-big-record-label-name-here” – For what? For them to say NO? That’s if you even get to sit down with anybody from that record label, furthermore, do A&Rs exist anymore? LOL! NOOOOOPE, SCAM ALERT!!!!!!! (I’ve seen SO MANY of these)

– Promoters: “For this much money I can get your song played all over the US”. This exists even though it’s illegal, it’s called PAYOLA. It’s your call if you want to pay them… I don’t play with that

– Artists: “With your music, if we did a collaboration, it would be FIRE!”, ahaaaaaaaa… it sounds to me like you want to attach yourself to me in some way…

These are just a few of examples of the different kind of sharks you can find in the music industry. You can find them in various shapes & forms.

You HAVE TO remember:

If you had NOTHING going on nobody would be interested in attaching themselves to you and they would definitely won’t have all kind of opinions about you. They would just go with the “oh yeah, that sounds cool” thing.

So, once you’ve learnt your rounds (hopefully without making any mistake, at least any “not-fixable” mistake) & you’re working on making everything happen for yourself, don’t listen to anybody who try to discourage you or get into your pockets. Keep on doing what you’re doing and listen only to professional advice (commonly known as “entertainment attorneys”, hehe).

Episode 9 – An Introduction to Copyrights

Posted: 27th January 2012 by IreneB in Copyrights
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Hey indies!

I know it’s been a while, but I gotta be honest, this subject that I’m gonna touch today is one of the most intricate ones. People don’t give enough credit to copyrights, with the internet piracy, creative commons, the whole discussion about the SOPA, PIPA, etc. we are starting to realize that it is important to have your music copyrighted (even when I don’t agree with the bill).

At the same time, there are things that are true in these subject and there are complete myths that are hard to break. The other day I was in a “Copyrights, Patents & Trademarks” class and even here, all the way in Spain, I heard the myth again: “The Poorman’s Copyright”. You know, that story about sending yourself a copy of the music & not opening it and blahblahblah… just so you just know, that DOES NOT hold any protection in the eyes of the law, so if you do that, somebody steals your music & you think you’re protected because you did that, YOU ARE WRONG! Alright? So tattoo this in your forehead if needed: COPYRIGHT OWNER CANNOT SUE FOR INFRINGEMENT UNLESS HE HAS REGISTERED THE WORK. With that said, you better pay attention to this video! :)

The basics:
There are 2 types of copyrights (when talking about music):
– Sound Recording (SR): The actual recording. Also called “masters”. Normally Record Labels/Artists own this copyright. If you own everything (composition, lyrics, production, etc.) you can also copyright it all in the “Sound Recording” session.
– Work Of Performing Arts (PA): The composition, encompassing music, melody & lyrics (if applicable).

How long does a copyright last?
From the date of registration til 70 years after your death.

Can you transfer copyrights?
Yes, but you have to do it in writing

How much does it cost?
It’s $35 per claim (if done online). You can do it by song or collection of songs if the same authors are shared.

Is it international?
Not really, each country has its copyright office, however, if you copyright your creations in the US Copyright Office (www.copyright.gov) you are protected in most of the countries in the world, thanks to relationships they have with other countries offices. For a full list please click here.

To read more about copyrights:
– Copyright Basics

Para leer mas sobre copyrights:
– Fundamentos de los Derechos de Autor

Episode 8 – How to sell your music on digital outlets

Posted: 17th January 2012 by IreneB in Distribution
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I’ve got this very interesting question in one of my previous episodes. Although I wanted for this diary to be more in order, from beginning to end of an artist’s career (hopefully it never ends right?), I can’t help to start receiving this kind of questions. So I figured out, whoever is interested in this episode will watch it, it doesn’t matter the order, right? And I prefer to do an episode to answer than just do a personal answer, since I think more people will be interested in this matter.

In this episode I take you through the steps to be able to sell your music on digital outlets, such as iTunes, Amazon, etc. This is basically what you will need to do/have:

– Have your music properly produced & clear of samples
– Have your music mixed & mastered
– Copyright your music (www.copyright.gov)
– Get your own UPC/EAN (depending where you want to sell it) code & ISRC Codes
– Have/make a cover artwork
– Find a digital aggregator

If you do this step by step, you shouldn’t have a problem putting your music for sale. Make sure you allow between 3-4 weeks for release once you’ve uploaded your song/album to the aggregator’s system.

By the way, from now on you guys can send your questions/comments/suggestions to indieartistdiary@ireneb.com. I will try to answer by email or with an episode, depending of what the question is about!

Episode 7 – Impatience Killed The Artist

Posted: 13th January 2012 by IreneB in Starting Out
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Today I went to a class about taxes in Europe, yep! It may sound boring, but if you’re gonna be an artist and eventually create a brand of yourself, you have to learn tricky & boring things about taxes, benefits, losses, etc. That way you will be in total control of your finances (even if you have an accountant or somebody who helps you do your taxes).

However, it is not about taxes that I came to talk about, it is about something far more interesting than that that I see over and over. I see artists being impatience and doing the wrong moves because of that, hell! I even made that mistake with the release of “Forgive Me Now”! But I learnt guys, because I had to work double to recover from that mistake. Some artists though don’t have that luxury & we see great talent wasted because of choosing the right timing to do things. These are my advices for you not to make the same mistakes I made:

– Don’t quit your day job before you’re established as an artist or you have enough money to live doing JUST music. I also had to work in a boring job that I didn’t like to save money to do what I really wanted, go to the US and record a bad a** record!

– Don’t release songs that are not finished: You want to be seen as a professional, in this music business there should be NO DEMOS! Only between producer & artist, not to be released to the world. When your song hits the world it has to be properly recorded, mixed & mastered!

– Don’t release songs/singles before you have all that you’re gonna have recorded & ready to go. It doesn’t matter if it’s a single, EP or album. You should have everything COMPLETELY ready before you release anything.

– Don’t start performing songs that you have NOT for sale (I’m talking original songs, you can do covers! of course!). The important thing about performances is to reach NEW audience that go & buy your record. If your record is not for sale, you’re gonna loose the audience, since most regular people ARE NOT gonna wait until your album is out for sale, they’ll just go to the next artist. People, in general, are volatile & have a very short attention span.

I think that’s all for today! Don’t make the same mistakes I made! Be patient, it is the secret to a music artist’s success!

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