American Songwriter » Publishing

TuneSat Now Tracking Music For All Rights Holders

Davis Inman — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 16:53:42 +0000

Following the growing music industry trend of making enterprise-level technology available in a self-serve format, the audio fingerprinting platform TuneSat announced on Tuesday that their service will be available to all rights holders. Founded in 2007, TuneSat monitors the web and television broadcasts for music usage. The company has focused on monitoring 200 major stations in the U.S., UK, Germany, France, and Italy, and are now adding eight more major European markets such as Norway, Denmark, and Spain, to their tracking map. TuneSat has previously helped major music companies like SESAC, Universal, and Sony track their songs. Using the new service, artists will be able to upload their songs, which TuneSat fingerprints and begins tracking for usage across television broadcasts. TuneSat provides analytic data for clients, making it easy to detect any discrepancies between what's been played and what they've been paid. TuneSat's expanded reach and new self-serve initiative come on the heels of the company's $6 million funding earlier this year, from investors including the General Electric Pension Trust. Chris Woods, a songwriter and composer who co-founded TuneSat and currently serves as the company's Chief Operating Officer, says that 80% of music played on television is not reported. "Our vision was always to make TuneSat accessible to any size copyright holder who cared about how their songs were being used," Woods said in a press release. "Now anyone can quickly and easily get started using TuneSat to ensure they are getting paid what they deserve for the use of their music.” The new subscription rates are based on how many song titles an artist chooses to track in how many territories, but according to the company, the rates can be as low as $10 a month.

Top Indie Publisher Starts Record Label

Davis Inman — Mon, 16 May 2011 19:09:31 +0000

The Ettes have been signed to the new label, Krian Music Group. The Royalty Network, a New York-based independent publishing house that represents a diverse spectrum of songwriters and producers from the likes of Pete Seeger and Justin Townes Earle to Buck$ and Sizzla, has just announced the formation of a sister record label called Krian Music Group. Krian, which will be distributed by Universal/Fontana, will release upcoming albums from Nashville's The Ettes, dance-rockers VHS Or Beta, as well as Buck$ and Richie Loop. Interestingly, Frank Liwall, the President of both Royalty and Krian, says the company was inspired to launch the label after seeing a gap in the marketplace. "We looked at artists we had been publishing, with successful film and television licensing histories, and realized a number of great acts were without a label home," says Liwall. While record labels have done their best to weather the downturn in the sales of recorded music, publishers have stayed afloat in the changing industry by maximizing exposure for artists through things like film and T.V. placements, as well as lucrative video game placements. With Royalty's lead, it wouldn't surprise many in the industry if more publishing entities used their existing networks and relationships to provide label services for artists.

Inside The ASCAP “I Create Music” Expo: Rufus Wainwright, Lindsay Buckingham, Sara Bareilles And More

Mike Berick — Wed, 04 May 2011 17:39:49 +0000

The 6th annual ASCAP Expo got musicians and songwriters out of the dark clubs and into the light for 3 days of check out panels, do some schmoozing and even hear a little music. The Renaissance Hollywood Hotel served as host from April 28-30 to attendees from around the globe. Over 2,500 badges were handed out to folks coming from 42 states and 14 countries. (Van Dyke Parks, Rufus Wainwright. All Photos by PictureGroup) This year’s theme was “I Create Music,” and the opening panel certainly featured two creative musicians: legendary songwriter/producer Van Dyke Parks and clever singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright. The two go way back - Parks helped Wainwright get his first record deal – and it showed in their fun rapport together. The sagacious Parks shared stories from his long career, revealing how he turned down joining the Byrds because he “didn’t want to be screamed at” by ardent concert-goers and that Randy Newman impressed him with the battle plan he had to create story-songs and avoided “the problem of self-revelation.” While Parks proclaimed that America totally succeeded in exporting rock around the world, he said his interests run to indigenous roots music, like calypso. He suggested that songwriters “go everywhere you need to go to be inspired,” adding that “individuality is a case that should be made in music.” Wainwright jokingly explained that one reason he likes opera is because “you don’t understand a damn thing.” He believes that high culture now offers a “bit of a refuge – (where there’s) music for music’s sake.” He described himself as “an unholy alliance” between his father’s (Loudon Wainwright III) and mother’s (Kate McGarrigle) songwriting styles - Loudon being more mechanical/analytical and Kate being spiritual. However, he also talked about being inspired by Nina Simone’s music; he loves the way she welded classical sensibilities and pop flair, “and not to be afraid of being too dark or too depressing.” Both men played a couple songs at the piano. Parks performed an old calypso tune, “Roosevelt In Trinidad,” which revealed his historical, observational approach to music. Wainwright, meanwhile, shared his more personal song, “Martha,” about dealing with his mother’s ultimately losing battle with cancer. He revealed that “songwriting was the only option” to deal with that emotional situation. (Rodney Crowell) One great thing about the Expo was it let participants get to the pick the brains of acclaimed songwriters. At a Thursday “master session” with Nashville songwriter titan Rodney Crowell, the audience got to ask him questions for over an hour. He talked about how he got his start in Nashville after being befriended by Guy Clark, Mickey Newbury and Townes Van Zandt. After joking that what he learned from Van Zandt was to “stay away from heroin,” Crowell rhapsodized how Van Zandt could form a “liquid combination of music and language, with no holes in works.” He also commented that today’s country music could be smarter, stating that Kris Kristofferson “aimed for the A students in Bixoli, but D students got it too.” Crowell admitted that as he has gotten older, he has become more conscious of technique and labeled some of his early hits as poorly written. While he is “grateful for the early broad bursts of inspiration” of his youth, he now finds that he wants to get more specific in his songwriting. His goal is to have all rhymes be hard rhymes. When someone asked about getting bogged down trying to make a song perfect, Crowell responded that, “perfection is a great thing as long as you know that you can’t achieve it.” He later proclaimed that “if I tell a song what I want it to be, it’s not as good as when the song tells me,” adding that songwriters should “find the language of (their) heart.” He recommended that writer be honest with their work and be a good self-editor. At the session’s end, he was asked what song he wished he had written, he performed Van Zandt’s “Pancho & Lefty,” and got the audience to sing along with him. Also valuable for aspiring songwriters were the Song Feedback Panels. For both the Pop/Rock and Country sessions, a panel of industry pros listened to eight different pre-selected songs and then offered their critiques to the songwriters in the audience. The Pop/Rock Panel (songwriter/producer David “DQ” Quinones, producer/composer Scott Jacoby, BMG VP Suzan Koc and musician/Universal Music VP Jennifer Blakeman) offered a nice, diverse perspective for songwriters. For a song written for a soundtrack Kuc shared how there is “no junior league” for soundtrack writing; “it must be as high quality as possible.” Quinones, meanwhile, offered more general advice that sometimes “a chorus works better as a verse” so songwriters really need to examine their lyrics. Regarding another song, Blakeman urged lyricists to make the extra effort to “find lines that create ‘chill bomb’” for listeners. ASCAP’s LeAnn Phelan moderated the Country Song Feedback Panel, which featured producer/songwriter Ben Glover, singer-songwriter Jonathan Singleton, songwriter/record exec Chris DuBois and Big Machine A&R VP Allison Jones. Curiously, the songs selected here weren’t particularly country tunes, so the comments wound up being made for the country market and more general songwriting. In praising one song, DuBois stated that lyrics were worth extra work and recommended that songwriters “write so there are no questions for listeners.” Glover, responding to another tune, stated that songwriters need their tunes to be memorably enough to connect with the busy mom listening in her car. In general, the panelists offered suggestions about hitting the chorus more quickly, to question whether a bridge is needed for the song and, as Jones remarked, “to craft something deeply personal yet universal.” DuBois was also part of the Indie Music Publishers Panel, which let songwriters hear from a range of executives on what they are looking for. Moderator Brendan Okrent from ASCAP started off with the smart, but sometimes overlooked, advice of researching the publishing companies and their personnel before you contact them, to see if you are a good fit. Dubois shared that it is important, particularly in Nashville (where young songwriters are teamed with more established ones), for “new writers to show up prepared.” He also revealed that in country performers nowadays are brought in to finish writing a song – “Nashville is now more artist-driven.” Disney Music’s Barbara Vander Linde commented that writers “often write for where an artist has been, not where they should go,” and echoed statements from other panels that writers should let a song go where it wants to go. Justin Kalifowitz (president of Downtown Music Publishing) talked about how a young songwriter impressed him creating songs for him overnight. Peermusic’s Sam Kling advised songwriters to be persistent while also projecting that you’re someone who’s easy to work with. Vander Linde similarly stated that songwriters must be flexible and have thick skins while reminding everyone that “publishers are only as good as what writers give them.” Tom DeSavia, a VP at Notable Music, added the practical advice of “putting your best foot forward” when you contact a publisher and send only a song or two, not 60. All the panelists agreed that it’s helpful and wise for songwriters to make things convenient for publishers (like putting your contact info on your CD and adding your songs to Gracenote database) because publishers have little time to listen to new material. (Erik Philbrook, Claudia Brant, Trevor Rabin, Fergie, Mike Elizondo, Kevin Rudolf) The Expo also attracted top talent to its big “Create Music” discussions held in the hotel’s Grand Ballroom. The room was packed on Thursday afternoon for the “We Create Music” Panel featuring the Black Eyed Peas’ Fergie, hit songwriter Claudia Brant, producer/songwriters Mike Elizondo and Kevin Rudolf and musician/composer Trevor Rabin. It was entertaining, as well as informative, to hear about how this quintet started out, how they achieved their various successes and what lessons they had to share. Elizondo, for example, stated that, as producer, he is willing to do what it take to make a recording session succeed, from being a musician to playing a psychologist, while Brant said she likes to spend time with an artist before starting work with them. Fergie, meanwhile, admitted that she regrets not learning to play the piano, or Spanish, when she had the opportunity to when she was younger. (Lindsay Buckingham, Sara Bareilles) On Friday, Lindsay Buckingham was presented with ASCAP’s Golden Note Award. After a tribute montage spotlighting his years with Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist, he sat down for an interview done by singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles. Bareilles, who admitted to being a little intimated at the prospect of this interview, led an engaging, interesting conversation with Buckingham to a full room. He revealed coming to songwriting on the late side, not really starting until he was 21 or 22 when Buckingham/Nicks formed. He called solo music-making as a very zen, subconscious process, “like a painting,” while working with a band as “like a movie” – a more conscious and more political process. Buckingham described, probably not for the first time, Fleetwood Mac as “five people who don’t belong to be in a band together, but that’s what made it so great.” In talking about his time in Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham quoted Nietzche’s famous line: “what doesn’t kills us makes us stronger.” Besides being applicable to his Mac tenure, it can also summarize life as a musician. However, events like the ASCAP Expo can make songwriters and musicians more knowledge about their careers and, hopefully, make this life less of a struggle.

Bellamy Brothers Question Dr. Luke In Britney Spears Case

Davis Inman — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 21:21:51 +0000

The Bellamy Brothers' lawyer questions Dr. Luke's "track" record. "Gotta be a song left to sing, 'cause everybody can’t of thought of everything," sang Gillian Welch on 2007's "One Little Song." But, really, how many hooks are left? Recently news came from Florida's Bellamy Brothers that they would seek legal action against Britney Spears for copyright infringement on their 1979 song, "If I said You Had A Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me" - or, as Idolator put it, for using their "terrible pick-up line." Today the Bellamy Brothers' attorney, Christopher E. Schmidt of Nashville, released a statement in which he explained the campaign against the pop star. "In my opinion, it is not necessarily the similarity of the titles that is of legal concern," said Schmidt in the statement. "This would be more of a trademark issue. Rather, the issue is whether or not the exact lyrics 'would you hold it against me' are used in the same way in the hook of the song." Schmidt goes on to say that the real cause for concern is in the precedent set by the songwriting team behind Spears' "Hold It Against Me." That would be Los Angeles rainmakers Dr. Luke and Max Martin. "For me, the scale tips substantially in knowing that Dr. Luke not only co-produced Britney's song with Max Martin, but that Dr. Luke also co-wrote the song with Max Martin and others," says Schmidt. "This isn't the first time Max Martin and Dr. Luke have been accused of copyright infringement." Schmidt points out other examples where Dr. Luke compositions have been called into legal question, including Katy Perry's "California Gurls" (The Beach Boys' label has filed a diminutive claim for credit and royalties), Daughtry's "Feels Like Tonight" (a copyright infringement suit in 2008), and, most notably, Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend," for which a suit was filed and settled in 2008. In a recent interview, Dr. Luke told American Songwriter that he'd never heard the song that he was accused of lifting for "Girlfriend." "There are standard chord progressions that everyone uses," Dr. Luke said. "There are plenty of songs that are really similar and they never sued each other. We are a very litigious society today. You can fall on the sidewalk and sue the city." Listen to the two songs in question below.

For Musicians, Some Things Change, Some Don’t

Davis Inman — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 21:41:01 +0000

A musician performing at a street fair in New York. Photo courtesy of Ed Yourdon. Berklee College of Music’s Career Development Center recently compiled a study of music industry salaries. Over the phone from the college’s office in Boston, Massachusetts, the career center's Director, Peter Spellman, says he wanted to show the realities of working musicians and music industry professionals - “behind the promises and propaganda.” Income would seem to be a touchy subject for the quickly-changing music industry, though Spellman says he’s had very few negative reactions so far. “It’s pretty accurate. We were very careful. We spent a lot of time talking to a lot of people.” Spellman mentions an A&R rep who said salaries in his field generally start at “$85,000 plus.” He’s also had some music journalists point out that it’s hard to make a full year’s salary working freelance. “The music journalist occupation isn’t what it used to be,” he says. [Editor’s note: Ouch.] But largely, Spellman says, what the study shows is how varied the music industry is. Before he joined Berklee 18 years ago, he says he learned that fact firsthand as an independent musician, putting on various hats like manager, booking agent, and label director. “People tend to think about music from where it’s sold - off the stage or out of a store, or on iTunes - but once you start thinking about where music is used, it opens up so many more possibilities for career opportunities.” Spellman says that while the study looks at jobs and salaries, he realizes that most people in the music industry don’t have jobs and salaries. “They have gigs and fees,” he says. But with any survey over an industry, especially one with continued shrinking returns, there’s inevitably a wistful look back at the way things were. “The recording part of the industry has probably gone through the largest transformation as any segment of the business,” Spellman says, but also mentions the adaptations other sectors - like publishing, live music, and musical products - have been making. “The changes kill some jobs but create new ones.” Spellman says that people with label jobs have found work with other digital companies and the million dollar studio has been replaced with the desktop studio. “It’s enabled my niece to whip up dance tracks in her bedroom using Garageband. That’s democratizing music-making. There’s a good side to that; there’s a bad side to that.” The new generation of “digital natives,” Spellman says, have so many opportunities to leverage technology and become entrepreneurs. They’ve learned how to build micro-businesses and become brands, such as the many bedroom-run indie labels that have sprung up in recent years. “They aren’t handcuffed to the legacies of the ‘old model’,” he says. Spellman also points out that the industry is still in a transformation period. “It’s like between radio stations - lots of static and low visibility - the dust hasn't settled, especially in the music rights area,” he says. “Once we figure that out, I think there’s going to be an upswing in the whole business.” No matter what changes occur in the music industry, Spellman says a lot of the skills will remain the same. Basic things like communication skills and punctuality and a positive attitude haven’t changed, and writing good songs and delivering strong performances are still a musician’s most important skills. “How you get the word out - the dependence on record labels - has changed a lot,” says Spellman. He says more artists have to be independent today, and now their teams include new roles like a search engine optimization specialist, a social networking person, and someone who understands micro-sponsorships. “The way the content is distributed has changed,” says Spellman, not so much the medium. “It helps us to remember that no matter how much technology changes. The song makes the industry go round, the performing of the song in a live setting is the most ancient and still most highly regarded experience a human can have with music. That is a wonderful affirmation of a golden thread that runs through the industry no matter what changes.”

PJ Harvey Signs Publishing Deal With EMI

Evan Schlansky — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:03:30 +0000

British singer-songwriter PJ Harvey, whose new album, Let England Shake, drops on Valentine's Day via Vagrant Records, has signed a global co-publishing deal with EMI Music Publishing. Harvey was previously assigned to EMI Music Publishing from 1992-2001. The new publishing deal covers Let England Shake as well as Harvey's back catalog, from 1992's Dry to 2000's Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea. "With a new album coming out next month, and her amazing catalogue of songs, we have a strong foundation upon which to build a lasting creative relationship," said Daniel Lloyd-Jones, EMI Music Publishing's Senior A&R Manager. "I see no limit to what can be achieved with PJ. As a songwriter, producer and musician she's right up there with the very best that Britain has to offer, and we're looking forward to working with her to help her maximise the reach of her music." Harvey, who will play this year's Coachella Festival on April 17, will perform April 14 at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco and April 20 at Terminal 5 in New York in support of Let England Shake.

Industry Spotlight: Harry Fox Agency

Davis Inman — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 13:20:24 +0000

A funny thing happened back in the Brill Building days of music publishing. Before the National Music Publishers Association, better known as the NMPA, was formed in 1917, there was a music publisher’s trade association in New York and a guy named Harry Fox worked there. For whatever reason, Fox was the guy who doled out mechanical licenses for the songwriters and publishers when someone wanted to reproduce a copyrighted work. In those days, the copyright was issued most usually for sheet music, rather than ringtones or downloads. The mechanical license, which gives someone the right to reproduce the recording, sheet music or lyrics to a copyright that someone else owns, thus became affectionately known as a “Harry Fox license.” Gary Churgin, President and CEO of the Harry Fox Agency, says that, over 90 years later, a lot has changed since the days of the "Harry Fox license." The Harry Fox Agency, or HFA, was created by and is wholly owned by the NMPA, the publisher's trade organization, and issues many of the licenses publishers grant each year. (Record labels and individuals who want to reproduce a song can also go directly to the publisher or another provider, such as Rightsflow, for a mechanical license.) To make the process of obtaining a copyright license even easier, HFA has created a tool that anyone can use called Songfile®. In the interview below, we talk to Mr. Churgin about the changes publishers face, Songfile, and all those lyrics sites online. What, in your opinion, have been the biggest changes for music publishers over the last ten years? Five years? Last year? Gary Churgin: Throughout history, technology has been extremely disruptive to the music industry. Many of these technological advancements were thought to be the demise of the industry, but turned out to be the prelude to the next evolution and drove increased success for the industry. In the last ten years, the most impactful changes for music publishers have undoubtedly been the advance of the Internet, iTunes and the widespread use of mobile devices. And while technology has completely revolutionized the distribution and consumption of music creating endless opportunities for both consumers and a new breed of entrepreneurs, it has negatively impacted the revenue streams of publishers, who are dealing in a micro-penny business. Who would have thought we need to manage the processing of royalties that are less than a penny per use? Additionally, the Internet has enabled new piracy opportunities that were non-existent in the physical world. Publishers have had to adjust to a new business paradigm where CD sales are sliding and revenues from digital have not materialized as expected. In more recent years, technology remains a factor in the evolution of the music business and continues to have an impact on the publisher community. The continuing shift or migration from one music consumption format to another, cloud-locker services, where consumers have access to music collections from anywhere, and Net Neutrality, which advocates that no restrictions be placed on Internet use by service providers, are just few of the items that will shape music publishing. What have been the keys to your success in ushering in technological advancements as President and CEO of HFA? It’s our people - their breadth of rights management expertise and their collaborative approach to technology that sets us apart from other companies in this space, and what has really advanced HFA. HFA’s executive team and I believe in an agile leadership model, which allows us to respond to changes in the marketplace quickly and effectively. Additionally, we strongly support the collaboration and teamwork of our incredibly talented employees - fostering ownership, conviction, and passion toward our business. The success of the company is a direct result of our ability to embrace change and welcome technology, which enables us to keep pace with the ever-changing music marketplace. What things should music publishers be doing in the digital era to more aggressively pursue revenue? Like HFA and the rest of the music industry, music publishers need to embrace change and welcome new opportunities. In a time where technology is changing at the speed of light and new revenue streams abound, their music catalogs need to be accessible for them to take advantage of these opportunities. Publishers should take advantage of the many opportunities that HFA provides through various agreements we procure with DSPs, content aggregators, independent record labels, and other music-related organizations. In this ever-changing digital age, publishers need to give new innovations a fair chance to see what works and what doesn’t. One of the great benefits of music publishers affiliating with HFA is that we can efficiently handle the administration of their catalogs, while allowing them to focus their energy on the core business of pursuing revenue, which is identifying and developing new talent. They can also leverage HFA’s expertise in all areas of rights administration and management to ensure that they are properly compensated for their work. Publishers should also affiliate with the PROs as being properly registered is key to faster payments. What led HFA to create Songfile®? HFA is committed to our publisher clients and created Songfile to assist them with smaller quantity licensing – making the process completely automated and seamless. Since the launch of the service, cover songs have remained a popular part of our culture, exponentially bringing Songfile into the mainstream. Today this trailblazing service has more than 75,000 registered users, who obtain licenses quickly, easily, and without any paperwork or hassle. Additionally, royalties for these catalogs are paid to publishers commission free. With Songfile, the entire process takes minutes. Users can pay by credit card and licenses are automatically emailed to users. If you’re undecided on what song to cover - Songfile allows users to search through millions of songs in our catalog. We are glad to offer such a popular service that is very user friendly for musicians. We invite readers to check it out at www.songfile.com. What is your opinion on the abundance of lyric sites online? Lyrics have become part of the fabric of our culture. More than ever, users are searching the Internet to find lyrics - pointing to the increase in consumer demand for a complete and integrated music experience. As such, there are a growing number of lyrics sites out there, many of which are not compensating songwriters fairly for the use of their works. HFA has partnered with a number of lyric sites to ensure proper licensing of publisher works resulting in additional revenue for songwriters. HFA is the nation’s leading music rights organization so we are very concerned about the unlawful distribution of lyrics and we work to promote and facilitate a means by which these sites can secure licenses ensuring the proper use of songwriter’s intellectual property. With your background in banking, what similarities and differences do you see between the financial services sector and the music industry? What could they possibly learn from each other? Although there are not a lot of similarities, both industries have had to face the growing pains of adapting to the digital age. Technology has also increased competition for both industries, to which the response has been to become more customer-focused. I think they can learn from each other to never take clients for granted and be thankful for the business they have.

Dust Off That Indie Manuscript: CDBaby Launches ‘BookBaby’

Davis Inman — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 19:10:13 +0000

CDBaby is still the web's largest distributor of indie music. According to their website, their store has sold 360,000 different albums and 3 million digital tracks -- that math comes out to about $157 million in revenue that they've helped indie artists earn. Not bad. While CDBaby was one of the first games in town, now they see competition from similar services like Bandcamp, which has taken off with the cool kids. CDBaby actually stocks and sells physical copies of your record too, and, in that, they are a little different from newcomers like Bandcamp, which doesn't warehouse or ship anything for artists. (Bandcamp does allow you to sell physical goods side-by-side with digital, and provides stock control, though the artist -- or a fulfillment partner -- would be responsible for all shipping info and costs.) To go along with the company's flagship, CDBaby has also launched FilmBaby (for distributing indie films), HostBaby (for helping indie artists make websites), and, following the rising trend of e-reader devices, now BookBaby. Essentially, BookBaby will work quite like CDBaby. You sign up for an account, which costs $99 and includes conversion to the ePUB digital format. There are loads of add-ons like registering for an ISBN ($19), adding images ($99) or video ($150), but a Table of Contents feature and up to 30 chapter headings come with the basic $99 account. BookBaby focuses their distribution efforts on four main partners: Apple's iBookstore, Amazon's Kindle Store, Barnes & Noble's Nook store, and Sony's Reader store. That should keep you pretty well covered in the e-reader world. While self-publishing has been an increasingly popular solution for aspiring writers for a long time, the explosion of the iPad last April and the steady rise of e-readers like the Kindle and Nook over several years has clearly inspired CDBaby to launch a service that zeros in on indie authors. I guess it's time to dust off the manuscript for that "Great American Novel" you've been writing at night in your closet.

BMI Introduces New Program For Live Royalties

Davis Inman — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 15:38:14 +0000

Today Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) announced a new program called BMI Live that will allow songwriters to register live performances for consideration for royalty payment. BMI has created a new portal on their website at www.bmi.com/live for BMI-registered songwriters to track and record their performances at live music venues. The program is specifically aimed at smaller performing artists. While many aspiring and professional songwriters and artists register with performing rights organizations, such as BMI or ASCAP, the bulk of royalties are paid out to artists whose radio play is significant. In a press statement, Mike O’Neill, Senior Vice President of Repertoire and Licensing at BMI, says, “Small venues and clubs are the lifeblood for songwriters and bands. These venues support live, local music, as well as touring artists and are the cradle of tomorrow’s stars. We’re committed to helping songwriters get paid for their music in these venues, which provide a vital stage for their music.” Songwriters should visit the new site and can register any live performances within the last six months. BMI plans to begin paying royalties on qualified performances to songwriters and their publishers in June, based on performances from July - December 2010. Songwriters have until the end of March 2011 to register for the June distribution. For more, visit www.bmi.com/live.

A Good Year For The Indies

Davis Inman — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 12:54:46 +0000

With 273 Grammy nods this year, independent labels picked up just over half of the award nominations. Jim Mahoney, Vice President of the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), a trade organization that represents independent record labels, says that when he worked at indie labels in the '80s and '90s - like Profile Records and Roadrunner - winning a Grammy award wasn't as important to independent labels as he thinks it may be now. "I never really thought the Grammies were for me," Mahoney says. While he doesn't want to credit the trade association with the indie labels' recent Grammy success, he hopes that as a byproduct of A2IM's community building efforts that more independents are engaging in the Grammy process. But what does it even mean to be an indie in the day and age when Taylor Swift, one of the biggest artists in the world, is on an independent label? Jim Mahoney says the psychological and emotional meaning of "indie" is purely with the listener. He pulls out a copy of Billboard and picks out Ray LaMontagne's name - number 30 on that week's chart. LaMontagne's record God Willin' and the Creek Don't Rise is listed under RCA. "It's been a long time since RCA could claim to be independent," Mahoney jokes. But, for LaMontagne, Mahoney says, "Someone is assigning psychological feelings like 'that sounds indie'." On the other hand, people feel that Swift couldn't possibly be indie because she's so mainstream. "While we are of different sizes, different genres, different business models, different distributor types, we're all independent when it comes down to the might. There's the majors, and then there's everybody else," says Mahoney. Those psychological responses also contribute to the fact that many artists feel they have to sign to a major label to achieve success in the music industry. But, while majors can make big waves, they also work records less time, acts change more frequently, and executives bounce around. There are plenty of indie labels that carry the same weight as majors. Glassnote, Beggars, XL, Matador, and Domino have artists like Phoenix, Mumford & Sons, Vampire Weekend and Animal Collective. Mahoney says Stones Throw, an L.A.-based label, has found recent success with Mayer Hawthorne and Allo Black, two artists who the label believed in and worked for a long time – and who are starting to see dividends. "I see how they're taking on the challenges of the marketplace. They're working different angles and finding ways to do business that works for them," says Mahoney. Mahoney says the most successful indie labels today have mastered the art of staying alive. He learned the mantra of successful labels during his stint working at indies in the '90s: "Work the projects hard, but let each amount of money that you put out on that artist show and prove something before you put more money in." Mahoney brings up the example of Ghostly International, a Michigan-based indie label who has built up success with significant electronic artists like Matthew Dear and Gold Panda. "Ten years ago, Ghostly invested time learning and mastering the licensing business, publishing, the value of controlling master copyright and songwriting copyright so that they could make more attractive offerings to people who want to use their music for TV and film." "But today," Mahoney says, "success and or failure happen faster than they did 10 years ago." He says that just because licensing may have been an indie's best weapon in 1999, today it's something else. "All of [the successful labels] whisper to me, 'It's my direct to fan business. I got into it a couple years ago and now my fans know to come here to get special products'." Plenty of companies like TopSpin, Nimbit, and AudioLife have popped up to service the direct-to-fan business, while some labels have built their own proprietary systems. "People think 'DIY' and they think about DIY artists who are unsigned, but labels are doing DIY. It gives you tools, it doesn't dictate how you do business." But Mahoney says doing-it-yourself – and competing against the better-heeled majors – isn't easy. "DIY is brutal, and artists are finding that out, but at least the tools are there," he says. Mahoney says the same rules apply to unsigned artists and independent labels. "The more things you can do for yourself, the better off you're going to be down the path," he says. "That doesn't mean keep on doing it forever. Just make sure you know how that job works." For more information and updates on independent labels, visit A2IM's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/independentlabels.