Music Business For Dummies®
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Copyright © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2015941027
ISBN: 97-811-1904965-4
ISBN: 97-811-1904946-3 (ePub); ISBN: 97-811-1904944-9 (ePDF)
There’s nothing else quite as incredible as being able to make a living in music. Mixing up a schedule that includes making music, recording music, performing music, and handling the business side of music is more obtainable than ever. Whether writing, performing, recording, marketing, studying, or just listening to music, as a fan, a hobbyist, or an aspiring full-time musician, make the most out of every element.
By taking the most responsible steps on the business side of music as you experience all the fun and enjoyment the creative side can bring you, you can find a true joy and a security in the world of music.
Becoming a full-time musician or working in the music business today is easier than ever with recent changes. It’s now easier to record music more affordably. You can reach people through social media on a daily basis where you never could before. And there are simple ways to connect and network, as well as promote and market yourself to venues, investors, and record labels.
All you need is a basic understanding of the different elements of the business of music. And that’s exactly what this book is about. I cover the array of all the fundamentals for a successful career in the music business of today.
This book contains the tools and the basic blueprints to help you build the specific and personalized career you want. This book isn’t a lecture, however. You don’t have to read it from beginning to end unless you want to. The chapters are organized in a way that most music business careers progress — in other words, what needs to be done first before continuing to the next step.
This book
I also include the best habits to build and maintain success as well as the top ways to present yourself so you can impress industry professionals.
Peppered throughout this book are helpful icons that present special types of information to enhance your reading experience and help with your forward motion in the music business.
If you have never looked at the business side of music, this book covers all the different aspects that need to be addressed, considered, and applied for success. I assume you have no prior knowledge on the business side of music … the contracts, the terms, the marketing, and the business techniques.
However, if you want to be a musician and are ready to jump into the business side of music, this book is a great resource for you. You’ll find concepts and ideas to apply so you can protect yourself, your music, and your career. In short, this book is for any musician who realizes there’s a business side to music, and it’s a business that you want to learn.
There is much more information available from your author, and from the Dummies brand, for your learning pleasure. Check out these resources to learn more about the music business:
www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/musicbusiness
www.dummies.com/extras/musicbusiness
You can start anywhere with Dummies books, but there’s a logic to the motion of the book. If that’s not in your personality, consider starting with Chapter 4 to see what your music business plan needs to look like. Then head to Chapter 7 to learn about the basic branding steps you need to take and what you will be presenting both artistically and content wise.
You might have some apprehension about the business side of music. Check out Chapter 2 to get some ideas on what has changed in recent years and how that can help you.
Chapter 14 takes a deep look into the touring and performing elements of the music business, which for many people is the best part. This chapter gives you ideas and angles on how to get out there that much more so you can play that much more often.
Chapter 10 digs in to the website and social media presence elements, which are a very large part of your marketing and promotion. Read this chapter to get the best ideas for creating the best content, and learn how to post it to reach, engage, and stay connected with your current fans as you connect with new ones.
My advice is not to rush through the book, but let the different ideas set in. There’s a lot of information here, and all of it will help you have a greater understanding of the music business. Look a little deeper, don’t buy into the rumors or hearsay, and look at the bigger picture of the music business. You don’t have to be a business expert, but the more you understand, follow, and comprehend the business side of your creativity, the more success you can find.
Part I
In this part …
Chapter 1
In This Chapter
Discovering the best musical path for you
Jump-starting your plan to get what you want
Knowing who to listen to and who to avoid
Differentiating between the music and the music business
The journey into the music business starts with two steps. The first step moves you forward toward the creativity, writing, performing, and love of the music and the art. The second step takes you toward the organization, optimization, planning, and structure of the business side. The best path to achieving the greatest results in the music business mixes the creativity of the music with the budgeting and organizational nature of the business side. It combines the spontaneity of the music with the planning and contractual structuring of the legal side; a yin and yang mix of freedom to create with the conformity of recordkeeping.
This chapter gives you an overall look at the two sides of the music business. I talk about social media and a little about the legal stuff you need to know about conversions and your music business plan. Odds have it, you’re already familiar with the creative side of this industry, and you now need an insight into the business aspects. Throughout this chapter (and the book, actually), I stress that the music business is a career. Hopefully it’s your career.
There’s a big difference between your music and the music business. That might sound like a “big duh” statement, but take a minute to think about it. As much as you’re already established on the creative side of music, you might have little to no experience in the business world or the business side of music. A great musician might have no knowledge about or experience in business — one discipline encourages freedom to create; the other demands left-brain practical thinking. Music and business are truly two entirely different forms and practices.
All too often, the lines blur between the two and cause musicians to make big career mistakes that cost them in the moment and often in the long term. As much as the lines get blurred, always remember that your music is your art. Whereas you might be in the beginning stages of business, never let anyone make you doubt the music you create and love. That’s the creative part, not the business part.
Some claim there are formulas to writing hit songs, and million-dollar successes bring all the fame in the world. But the reality is that for every formula presented or example of how the ten best songs of any given year were hits, there are millions of other songs that went nowhere that followed the same exact structure and at least another ten songs that did just as well in completely different molds.
Even though you need to know the business side of the music industry, regardless of the job or role you take, trust in your art and your creative side so you can learn and grow in your craft. Don’t make the music all about business, or there will be nothing creative to it.
Many different tasks are presented to and required from you throughout your career, but those activities make up the business side. When you separate and differentiate the two, both are much easier to do and give you a greater understanding of how they both work together.
You don’t need to go to business school and get an MBA, just like you don’t need to learn every aspect of the music business to succeed. Still, taking business and accounting classes as well as intellectual property, copyright, and marketing courses can help to supplement your knowledge. Learning about each position, each expense, each revenue, basic legal and copyright information as well as the fundamentals of contracts inside and outside of your music, your band and the people involved with you gives you a better understanding of everything happening around you. Also, networking and connecting with the right people can also help. Never feel bad about asking questions regarding contracts, copyrights, and other legal aspects.
When you have a basic knowledge of what goes on in your career, you have a better idea if you’re going in the right or wrong direction. In turn, you can make better decisions when things are going wrong and make things grow even larger when things are going right.
The music business can be compared to a buffet composed of tables with platters of copyrights, publishing, sync licensing to television and movies, CDs, performances, digital downloads, download cards, T-shirts, hats, glassware, posters, bags, performance royalties, mechanical royalties, online advertising revenues, and many other revenue-generating and tasty choices.
Sitting at these tables with you are producers, mixing engineers, managers, publicists, publishers, promoters, graphic designers, SEO people, mastering engineers, lawyers, investors, web designers, distributors, photographers, videographers, consultants, songwriters, talent buyers, venue owners, booking agents, insurance agents, radio promoters, fundraisers, and others who want their share of each dish.
It can seem overwhelming and intimidating; many avoid it all together. But the best way to simplify everything while still addressing every detail is to make sure the following five elements are covered for every person and every product.
You don’t need to know every aspect of every job and every detail, but the more familiar you are with the basics of all the different people, jobs, companies, and requirements, the better the decisions you make and the more you’re able to take for yourself at the music biz buffet.
Understand that on any given day, you have to focus time on the business side of things to make your music thrive and succeed. This takes time and effort away from actually making music. Just keep in mind why you’re in the music business and the business side will be less stressful and tedious.
Creating the plan for your career or any career in any business is a great first step, but if you aren’t using responsible tactics in your plan as you begin to execute that plan, it could cost you a lot in the long run. By asking all the questions that you need to know, preparing for the best and worst-case scenarios and getting everyone working with you on the same page, both conceptually and legally (signed contracts), you can keep the confusion, misunderstandings, and potentially devastating problems to a minimum. At the same time, you reinforce the clear expectations you have with others and what they can have with you. More about the plans and the planning in Chapter 4.
A great number of musicians work from the mindset that after they connect with the right people, agent, manager, label, or investor, everything gets taken care of as far as the business side is concerned and they get to live the rock-star life.
Not to completely discredit that view, but less than half a percent live that dream, which actually is a nightmare. Never forget that when you have someone doing everything for you, they can take everything from you.
Your music, art, and creative vision are priceless to you. When you bring that to the music business, however, what it takes to get you, your music, and your brand out to the world without your help means the bulk of profits end up with those who had control. Plan to stay involved in the business side of your career.
Create a basic music business plan that you can begin to implement immediately, regardless of where you are in your career. This blueprint helps to map the path of where you want to go while showing others just how far you can go. The organization early on helps you start on the best path to lead you to the most opportunities and the most connections to get you where you want to be. More details about music business plans are discussed in Chapter 4.
The more you can put together and the more you can take care of yourself, the less you require from others. Sounds simple, right? But think about it — if you can create the basics for others to work from, you create and have the rights to that much more of your branding, graphics, and foundational elements. You’ve done that much more work that you don’t have to pay others to create.
Many musicians get so wrapped up in the idea of numbers that they don’t create any real or pertinent numbers for them or their careers. The amount of friends, followers, likes, views, plays, and shares builds nothing other than numbers if there’s no conversion. Would you rather have 100,000 followers on Twitter or $100,000.00 in conversions to revenues for albums, downloads, product sales and so on? More about your conversions as well as tracking them in Chapter 17.
Social media has helped reach many people and yet at the same time has taken some musicians backward with the idea of how to engage all those people and convert them to fans who buy music, merchandise, and show tickets. In the past few years alone, artists boast and brag about the number of views on YouTube, the number of followers on Twitter, or the number of likes on Instagram like they measure success. When they’re asked, however, how much music has been sold, how many gigs they have lined up, or what opportunities are coming from those numbers, most give a blank look and answer with very low numbers.
Simply summed up for the music or any other business, regardless of having the biggest budget in the world or not having a penny in the bank, it’s the same — using social media for marketing and promotion is a requirement that most understand. Still, using social media with the most responsible tactics to create the best engagement and conversions comes from thinking of every post as a marketing and promotional tool that helps you today, and reinforces and compounds what you posted yesterday as it helps to push tomorrow’s post and solidifies all posts in the future.
Those who just sell, sell, sell and bore their existing fans with the same pitch over and over, with the same videos or posts over and over, end up losing their existing audience as they reach to grow it larger. The content is key and with the addition of an editorial calendar and basic posting plan for online marketing, you can keep the existing fans engaged, reach for new fans, and continue to sell without spamming, boring, or pressuring your existing or new audiences. Chapter 11 goes deeper into organizing and posting content.
Responsible tactics also include how you behave and present yourself in emails, phone calls, and in person. An arrogant approach and a rock-star persona attitude are all too often presented to music industry people who have seen it all too much and are sick of it.
Take that extra second before you post online or send that email to make sure your Is are dotted and your Ts are crossed. Thinking about not only what you are presenting, asking for, or looking to discuss, but also thinking about your communication, the volume of your voice, the confidence in your tone by mixing humility, integrity, and respect helps you be seen as that much more of a professional. From how you dress to your posture, and even your eye contact, a great deal of your first impression creates that many more opportunities for you.
Even as things go wrong or when others do wrong by you, take the high road. Going online to bash whoever you feel did you wrong is usually not going to help you get what you need. It also presents an immature and reactive image and a lack of professionalism that may drive away potential music business professionals and companies. No one wants to work with those who hang their dirty laundry out to be seen by everyone.
Keep that stuff offline and out of marketing, and handle your business like a professional business person. That doesn’t mean being taken advantage of or letting the business steamroll you. It means that you will contact the right people the right way to try to make things right and stay offline and quiet about it. Your existing fan base and the new fans you are reaching out to don’t need to see this side, so don’t show it to them.
There are times when letting go is the better option over continuing after something that will never get fixed, never get you paid, and never be right. It’s good to right the wrongs; righting a wrong from someone who wronged you is even more desirable. Still, if you spend a hours, money, and energy to chase after something from the past, it can end up stalling you from moving forward.
Responsible marketing and sharing both online and in interviews can help keep your fans interested in you. Social media has turned into a cesspool of over-sharing, however, both with celebrities and normal people alike. Then bring in the paparazzi, TMZ, and rumor trains, and you have way too much over-saturated information that has infected the online world.
Keep your pages about your music and your business. Whereas sharing personal aspects about yourself can work in your favor, make sure the info ties directly to something that can lead these people to want to find out more about you. Just sharing, “I like scrambled eggs” and showing a picture of scrambled eggs is pretty boring, mundane, and pointless.
From doctor’s appointments to private jokes to other pictures of food, keep the personal stuff personal, and keep the marketing for your music pages. Think before you post and stay responsible! Is this post going to be good for marketing, promotion, and helping to reinforce your branding for new and old fans, reviewers, booking agents, investors, and other music business professionals? Can this post be effective in two years? If the answer is no to these questions, don’t post it and keep it private, or put it up through personal channels.
Keeping the personal stuff private and not sharing too much can also add to a mystery and a mystique about you. It’s that much more refreshing for new and old fans to know that when you post, it’s something they might want to see, as opposed to being inundated with too many posts that don’t give them the information to build better engagement.
Think of the brand new fans who have come upon you by accident. Do you want to have to make them scroll through page after page of meaningless posts that have no tie to your music or marketing? Or should they immediately get a sense of your music and you?
Jumping back to the scrambled eggs update (see the earlier section, “Keeping your online info in check”), each social media site has different best practice rules for posting.
As shown in the earlier section, the post was eggs and just “I like scrambled eggs” for content. And, yes I have seen this come across my feed from a musician in the past. This isn’t made up. Now, if you shared a picture of scrambled eggs shaped in your band’s logo, the logo next to scrambled eggs, or on a plate with your logo super-imposed over it, then band’s the caption, you get what’s seen in Figure 1-1. Nice, hm?
Here is the breakdown:
In Google+, you can get some pretty amazing optimization on words and photos if you post correctly. They offer this as a push to get more people on Google+, so take advantage of that! The post can still be shared to all your other pages, as well.
The post can draw in a new fan, keep an existing one engaged, and help with search engine optimization (SEO) and the uniform branding that needs to be there. Taking those extra steps to come up with a post and then tailoring it for the best results gives you a serious leg up in social media.
There are a lot of people with a lot of claims that promise you the world, fame, riches, and success as long as you listen to them. Unfortunately, the truth usually boils down to anyone who’s promising the world, fame, riches, and success right out of the gate is most likely a scammer or part of a scam. There’s money to be made in the legitimate music business, but it doesn’t come close to the totals that have been made off fake record labels, consultants, coaches, producers, studios, managers, and agents who prey on the sensitivity, lack of experience, and ego of many artists.
From taking money to getting these artists signed into contracts that can have a negative effect for years to come, one of the most important elements of thriving and sustaining in the music business is to clarify and watch out for the scams/scammers who are all over it and a major part of it.
Take it all in, but choose wisely who you listen to and what advice you choose to follow. From research to references to due diligence, things can still go wrong, but the chances are much more in your favor that they’ll go right if you know what to look for.
These people present themselves by feeding in to a musician’s dreams, their weaknesses, and their desires as they look to make money off them. There are some with the best intentions to make things go that big, but their lack of experience, knowledge, and problem solving mixed with their abundance of ego, ignorance, and foolishness set themselves and the artists up for failure.
Let me repeat this section heading — you don’t need a life coach or cheerleader. If you need someone to help you find the drive to do the work that’s required to be successful in music, you might be in the wrong profession. You do need those who can guide you, who have the experience and proof to help in today’s music business. You need to track the results of what you’re doing to see what’s working and what isn’t. You need you more than anyone else to ask the questions, follow up on the claims, do your due diligence, and be patient with what you’re creating.
Watch for the morphing of opinions that turn into facts, just as you keep an eye on those who discuss theories that somehow shift into proof. You’re smarter than you give yourself credit for. By taking simple steps to ask questions and then question the answers you get, you can to surround yourself with honest people and make better choices about the direction to take your career.
Looking up and addressing those elements and finding out the details can help you in any business, but especially in the music business. Think of yourself as a card-carrying red-flag holder who’s ready to raise that red flag as soon as something sounds too good to be true or hits you the wrong way. And realize there are so many different personal approaches. This is not a one-size-fits-all business.
Find out as much as you can whether an opinion is worth its weight in gold and truly can be justified as a fact or is just an opinion with nothing to truly substantiate it.
Not every opinion can be proven as a fact, but in that case look at the track record of who’s supplying that opinion and other facts they have supplied in the recent past. Although facts and proof are best, the opinions and theories from those who truly know the music business can give you reason to believe them to be true.
It’s actually one of the best things you can say and one of the best things you can hear. If you don’t know something, then don’t pretend to know it, and don’t make something up. It’s not cool. Would you want someone to make up something to try to come off cool? Probably not.
Take a path of honor and honesty by being honorable and honest about what you know and what you don’t know. I wasn’t the greatest drummer by far, and I wasn’t the best music producer either. I never claimed to have all the answers and I still don’t claim to. One of the things that got me a lot of work and connections, though, was being the first to say I didn’t know something. That humility you carry in the music business will take you far.
As I shifted to becoming a music industry consultant, speaker, and author, being able to say “I don’t know” got me even more opportunities. It reinforced the belief from others that when I said I knew something, I really did, and it built trust that I wasn’t making things up when I said I didn’t know but I would find out.