Music & Marketing: URBANIZED!

Jason de Wilde Head of Audio at the Australian Institute of Music gives another Pro Tools 8 tutorial, this time on saving & copying files in Pro Tools 8. Ever wanted to save projects in different version of Pro Tools?.. well here's how..

A serious sound chain requires a serious computer. ENVY 15 blends our topmost equipment, from screen to processor to battery, for an unrivaled music delivery system. The Beats Audio Interface, combined with Traktor LE software, lets you fine-tune all the audio functions of your ENVY for maximum playback quality and seamless song mixing, either on the go or in the club. More than an amplifier, more than a mixing board, ENVY 15 combines Intel Quad Core235 performance with Beats Limited Edition clarity and deep bass to let you hear music the way the artist intended. All the audio tools you need, all at your fingertips.

If you want to become successful in the music industry, there many things you need to know and do. But even if you get all that right, you can prevent yourself from reaching big success by making critical mistakes along the way (and there are many potential mistakes one could make, when not being careful). After coaching and mentoring many musicians and bands seeking a career in music, the same patterns of false assumptions, problems and mistakes appear over and over again. Here are the top 10.

Mistake #10 - Not having a compelling image that is congruent with your music. Most musicians (and bands) severely underestimate the importance of their image. Yes, music is about 'music', but music business success is about a total package that includes music, image and visual stage show among other things that need to be fully developed in a congruent way.

Mistake #9 - Trying to 'get your name out there'. Although this seems to be a main goal of most musicians and bands, it is the wrong approach to start with. Before trying to be seen and heard as much as possible, it is often more important to focus on 'converting' the people who hear and see you into becoming actual fans. This 'conversion' is the first key to your promotional success, NOT getting seen or heard as much as possible.

Mistake #8 - Believing that social media websites are the keys to online music promotion for musicians and bands. Social media websites are a tool. They are ONE piece of the online music marketing puzzle. Music industry companies (record labels, artist managers, booking agents, etc.) are far more interested in the popularity of YOUR website, not how many friends you have at MySpace, YouTube, Facebook or any other website that you do not own and control. Want to impress the industry with your band's promotion? Build your website traffic.

Mistake #7 - Not investing enough time into building your music career. Most musicians spend most of their time on music, but put very little effort into the many other critical elements needed to make it in the music business. If you are already a talented musician, you should invest at least 50% of your time into starting or advancing your music career. If you are still developing your musical skills, you should still invest around 25% of your 'music' time into building a future music career.

Mistake #6 - Surrounding yourself with people who are negative, lazy and lack ambition. If you are very serious about becoming a professional musician and building a great career in music, then you absolutely must surround yourself with like-minded musicians.

Mistake #5 - Having merely mediocre live performing skills. Many musicians, who are not yet in a good band, put off developing their live performing and stage presence skills. This is a big reason why talented musicians don't get into really good bands that they audition for. Your music may be good, but a live 'show' requires more than great music. If people only wanted to hear the music, they would listen to you at home. Both fans and record labels want (and expect) to see a REAL show. Neglecting this area results in talented musicians and bands becoming quickly forgotten.

Mistake #4 - Focusing on increasing the 'quantity' of fans instead of the 'intensity' of your fans. The 'number' of fans you have should always be your secondary focus (not your primary one) if you want to become successful in the music industry. The fact is, it is not the number of 'fans' that matters most, it's the number of FANATICS which will contribute more directly to your success (or lack of it). This is particularly true in the beginning of a band's music career. Focus more effort on converting your existing fans into raving fanatics. Learn to do this and the number of your overall fans will increase through powerful word of mouth.

Mistake #3 - Not enough cash flow to support your music career. Like it or not, it takes money to build a music career. Even if other people/companies are paying for your record, tour support, merchandise, etc. you still need to have the freedom to pursue opportunities as they come. Sadly, many musicians miss opportunities because they can't afford to take advantage of them.In addition to a decent income, you also need the flexibility of being able to take time away from that income source to go into the studio, go on tour, etc. That is why learning how to teach guitar is such a great way to achieve both if you learn how to become a highly successful guitar teacher.

Mistake #2 - Not enough depth in your music relationships. There's an old expression, "It's not what you know, it's who you know." In music this is often modified to, "It's not who you know, it's who knows you." The truth is, it's not about either. The most important aspect of connections within the music industry is how deep are the current relationships you have now and will develop in the future. You don't want to simply know people or be known, you want people who know you to have a real deep connection with you so that you are always on the top of their mind when opportunities present themselves. Ask yourself, "What can I do right now to deepen my existing relationships further on an ongoing basis?"

Mistake #1 - Having a fundamental misunderstanding about what record companies look for - and expect from new bands. This is a huge topic, but in a nutshell it's very useful to think of record companies like a bank that lends money to people or small businesses. Record companies make most of their decisions about whom they will work with and what the terms will be in much the same way that a bank will determine who they will loan money to and what the terms of the loan will be. Both record companies and banks basically want to see 3 things:

1. How much value do you bring to the deal right now.
2. How much risk do you bring with you right now.
3. How much potential value and risk might you bring to them in the future after they invest in you.

If you want to buy a house, the bank wants to know a lot about the specific house you want to buy and EVEN MORE about YOU. Record companies are the exact same, they want to know about your music, your talent and your band, but they also care as much (or more) about YOU (and your band mates) as people. What about YOU makes a record deal a good or bad investment for them?

CULVER CITY, Calif. – Dr. Dre and Timbaland went back to school Wednesday night.

The rapper-producers shocked students when they appeared at a Culver City High School graduation party. Dr. Dre introduced Timbaland, who performed the tunes “The Way I Are,” “Promiscuous Girl,” “Carry Out” and “Say Something” on a stage inside the school’s gymnasium. Students invited had no idea the hip-hop masterminds were the guests of honor.

“When we walked in, we were like, ‘Whoa. Is this a second prom?’” said 17-year-old junior Saul Salmeron.

The surprise performance was sponsored by Hewlett-Packard and Interscope Records, who have partnered with the aim of improving digital sound quality. The promotional event, which was recorded for an online documentary, also featured free food, photos and a raffle of HP gear. The company said it was donating $10,000 worth of computer equipment to the school.

“Y’all got a curfew?” Timbaland asked the audience at one point.

Students held up their camera phones and gathered around the stage to get a glimpse of Timbaland and Dr. Dre, who sneaked a peek of the crowd before he took the stage. Dr. Dre, who is currently working on his next album, did not perform with labelmate Timbaland, whom he’s never worked with before.

Is a possible first-time collaboration is in the works?

“We should be so lucky,” said Jimmy Iovine, chairman of Interscope, Geffen and A&M Records, who attended Wednesday’s event. “I can only get them so close. The rest is up to them.”

How do you measure the success of a blog? By the number of visitors it receives. Traffic is essential to the survival of a site. So, what are easy and efficient ways to get it?

from wagtiradio.com



1) Provide quality content
Quality over quantity is a motto that should be in every blogger's mind. As such, editing and proofreading are two prerequisites. Before you publish anything, make sure that your content is as typo-free as possible.

2) Provide useful content
A blog is like a product. If you want to sell, your articles must be unique and visitors must relate to them. At times, it may be difficult to come up with new ideas. To overcome this problem, you could:
- set up Google alerts to receive news in your inbox. When you find an interesting article, share an extract in your blog or write something on the topic.

- visit websites like AllTop or Mashable and subscribe to valuable blogs in your niche.

And if you are an entrepreneur, why not check out the questions asked by members of LinkedIn? Some will fuel your creativity.

3) Write great titles
Titles are the main attention grabbers. When written well, they will make visitors read the articles attached to them. For example, if you want to offer tips on book promotion, something like X [number] Great Tips to Promote Your Book would work. Remember that people love numbers and lists, so organize the post as such. Be clear and concise.

4) Blog often
A blog regularly updated will bring traffic. So, try to contribute to its growth at least twice a week.

5) Ask questions
Asking questions is the best way to engage readers and show them that you care. There are three proven ways to do it:

• Ask a question in the first paragraph of your post. This will draw their attention to the problem that you are trying to solve.


• Ask a question in your conclusion in order to open the discussion. Visitors will leave comments more easily.


• Invite people to suggest future topics. Why not conduct a survey?

6) Tag, Tag, Tag
Tags or keywords are specific words that describe an item. When blog articles are published, they will be indexed by search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.) according to those specific words. Without them, search engines may overlook the posts and they will end up at the bottom of the pile. So, tag all your articles and pictures.

7) Share your posts
Share your posts on sites like Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Delicious, and Stumble Upon. Search engines love them. Use Hootsuite and Ping.fm to update all your networks at once.

8) Allow visitors to subscribe to your blog
By using a tool like Feedburner, you give visitors the opportunity to stay connected with your blog by subscribing to it. Every time you publish a new article, subscribers receive a notice. It is a great way to build up a loyal audience.

9) Submit articles to directories
This is a very efficient way to get your name out there. EzineArticles and eHow are the best article submission directories right now and rank really high in search engines. Let me give you an example.

A while ago, I submitted one of my previous posts to EzineArticles. The article got accepted. Type 'rejection reviewers' in Google search and you will see 'Authors & Six Tips to Avoid Rejection from Reviewers' appear third on the first page of the search engine.

10) Answer comments & visit other blogs
Too often, bloggers do not follow up with readers comments or emails. They do not even take the time to visit others blogs or sites. Imagine a company that would not care about its customers. It would lose business very quickly. A blog works like a company. If you do not set aside some time to provide good customer service, you will get no traffic.

Should you really have no time to connect with those who contact you privately, just let them know that you will respond to their messages later. And make sure that you do!

11) Add a link to your blog in your signature
In this day and age, we all use emails. It takes a couple of seconds to add a link to your blog in your signature block. And it may bring a LOT of traffic.

12) Be patient
Solid and constant traffic does not happen overnight. So, continue working hard and do not lose heart. Good things happen to those who wait!

Now, are there other tips that I may have forgotten?

Now that the Jesus of the genre has been so kind as to drop his instant classic, Thank Me Later (the obvious, hands-down winner for album of the year) it is time for the rest of the industry to step it up or face some of those harsh realities that 50 Cent once warned us about. Hip-hop, as we knew it, may be in need of a funeral service. Nas, being the prophet that he is, called it in early in 2006, but the doctors are now giving up hope and sending for the coroner. Let me tell you how I know: There was a time (specifically 2006) when things were getting so bad that Nastradamus proclaimed that it was all over. The difference was that there was someone left to dissent. And that is what we have lost.

After a while, the voices of the people who wanted to see hip-hop survive got drowned out by those who didn’t really care about the music, the culture, the people, or really anything besides the damned money. What happened to us? We used to stand for something. But the entire rap genre has somehow transformed into a corporate liaison where albums are audio commercials for brand name clothing, jewelry, alcohol, and vehicles. Concerts have become the catwalk for these airheaded clowns to parade themselves and their crews around in the items that are available for sale. Have we really gotten to the point where the stuff you hear on the radio is actually what we’re all about? Do people really pay money to see Drake perform? Is it really possible that labels are bankrolling blogs? Something is rotten, word to Hamlet.

But this morning, it hit me. That isn’t death in the true sense. In reality, the inception of hip-hop was the beginning of a movement that represented a culture of lack. This thing that we love is the auditory representation of the people that it caters to. It was the music of the “have-nots” but we have seen it bent, stretched, morphed, and disfigured to encompass the many people who wanted the style without the struggle. And that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Hip-hop doesn’t have to always be grimy. It doesn’t always have to be about life in the street. But what it must be, by necessity, is representative. It must embody the state of its people.

When cruising the troubled blocks of Los Angeles’ city streets listening to 2pac, one can see and feel the culture. If you happen to be on the right block, the same is true of the New Boyz as youngsters in the Fairfax district “Jerk” to their heart’s content in acid-washed skinny denim . A few years ago, looking out onto Lake Michigan and rubbing shoulders with Chicagoans, I could genuinely feel that College Dropout was truly the music of people. Sadly, I can’t say the same about much of the music by many of the artists that attempt to live under the hip-hop banner today. I would argue that the inordinate number of drug kingpins who are allegedly trafficking kilograms of cocaine daily at wholesale rates according to self-aggrandizing mixtape lore (See: Trap or Die) represent a farce that relates to hip-hop but is so far from true that the hyperbole is laughable and embarrassing (Bawse). The same is true of the non-criminal braggadocio of the highest success stories of the urban music scene. Maybe one day, rapping about international flights that garner millions of dollars in purely legitimate profits will be generalizable to this culture of ours. But that day is not today; not in the America where an oil spill was the biggest thing to hit the trap since Katrina.

In truth, the music that most call Rap or Hip-hop today is actually Pop, Top 40, or Club/Dance music. And sadly, even within that genre, it is still less representative of its people than that of Lady Gaga, The Ting-Tings, Miley Cyrus, and David Guetta; all of whom actually sing about situations that could legitimately happen to a person (if they were a sophomore in High School) and don’t aspire to do anything more than make people dance.

But don’t stop reading just yet. There is a silver lining.

The fortunate side effect of rebranding fake rappers as pop artists is the same as blowing away chaff to reveal the wheat. Hip-hop, the remainder after we divide the fake from the authentic, is alive and well. If you believe KRS-One, we will be here forever (and ever) but if you need a little more assurance than that, I have a plan. Much like the blowback against Wal-Mart when people became informed of their business practices, I think that we will find that the way to combat being force-fed the empty falsehoods of the corporate, urban music landscape is to buy local. Imagine the impact on your favorite local artist if your region had decided to spend its 13 dollars on their project rather than squandering it on a pretty package of lies from across the country. I bet his next LP would be easier to find at Best Buy.

When importing a tick-based audio file to the Region List, Track List, or empty space in the Edit window from the Workspace, your prompted to either import the tempo from the file or use the default session tempo. This tutorial explains how to import samples to automatically match the master tempo of your Pro Tools 8 session.

NEW YORK – A free concert by pop band Hanson and up-and-coming Canadian rapper Drake was canceled Tuesday after twice as many people as anticipated showed up and many became unruly, police said.

The show started at about 6 p.m. with an opening act at Pier 17 on Manhattan’s South Street Seaport, a popular summer locale for concerts. Hanson, the Tulsa, Okla., brothers behind the 1997 hit “Mmmbop,” and headliner Drake, whose album “Thank Me Later” debuted Tuesday, were to appear on stage soon after.

Organizers were anticipating about 10,0000 people but nearly 20,000 showed up, police said. Many people climbed roofs and started throwing bottles, as concertgoers smashed together toward the stage, police said.

Witness Tamika Johnson told the Daily News newspaper: “People in the front started leaving because they were getting crushed.”

The concert organizers asked the New York Police Department for help dispersing the crowds around 7 p.m., police spokesman Paul Browne said. Two people were arrested on minor charges; six suffered minor injuries, police said.

The concert was part of the “Sounds Like Paper” series presented by Paper magazine, an independent magazine focusing on arts, culture and music. The magazine apologized on its website: “Wow, the crowd was much larger than we anticipated, and unfortunately the show was canceled. But we will make it up to you guys!”

The magazine posted several updates on Twitter during the night: “It’s a total madhouse — in a good way” and “get off the roof!”

Telephone calls by The Associated Press to representatives for Drake and Hanson weren’t immediately returned Tuesday night.

A spokesman for Drake, whose album features Kanye West and Alicia Keys and debuted to positive reviews, told the Daily News the rapper was disappointed the NYPD dispersed the crowds before he could perform.

Hanson’s “Mmmbop,” from the trio of brothers’ album “Middle of Nowhere,” was one of the biggest debut singles of all time.

If the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) gets its way, the file-sharing company LimeWire will get blasted out of existence with a billion dollar fine. Meanwhile, British Petroleum, with its oil spill, that's on its way to the ecology disaster level of a Chernobyl, is liable for up to $75-million under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. What's wrong with this picture? That's a best case estimate. The RIAA actually thinks LimeWire owes them $1.5 trillion.. They came up with that number on a fine of $750 dollars per copyright infringement multiplied by 200 million estimated occurrences of copyright infringement. Aren't you sorry now that you didn't just buy Barnes & Barnes' Fish Heads from the iTunes Store for 99 cents?

Of course, BP may yet end up getting sued to death as well, but I think we can all agree that BP's 'mis-steps' were just a wee bit bigger than LimeWire's enabling users to share music files. So, why is LimeWire the one getting knocked about?

The court system is a train-wreck. But, anyone who follows the madness that is the U.S. patent system in the courts already knows that. All we can do is shake our heads in disgust.

LimeWire's executives are hoping for some kind of deal that will let them survive. I can't see that happening. The RIAA has asked for a permanent injunction on LimeWire's services. Let's face it, the RIAA has LimeWire where it wants them: On the way to bankruptcy court.

There's no question that LimeWire was used to trade music tracks and other proprietary files. Yes, that's not good. I'd feel a lot better about this though if whatever money the RIAA squeezes out of the LimeWire stone went to musicians and other content creators. It won't. It will go to the corporations that have totally failed to realize that the digital revolution was wrecking their old physical media-CD, DVD, and tape-based business.

The RIAA companies could have figured this out. Instead, like buggy whip vendors trying to outlaw horseless carriages, they keep suing both companies, like Napster and individuals like Joel Tenenbaum, who was hit by a $675,000 fine in a RIAA lawsuit for distributing thirty (yes, 30) songs over a peer-to-peer network.

And, what has all this done? In 2000, when Napster was the RIAA's bogeyman, the RIAA claimed that 1.08-billion units (read albums) were sold. In 2009, while physical units continued their decline, 309.5-million, the RIAA's numbers showed, that legal digital music downloads were up to 1,236.8-billion. Of course, in 2000, the RIAA wasn't even measuring digital downloads.

What was the cause of this improvement in business during a truly awful time in the economy? It wasn't lawsuits, or half-baked DRM (digital rights management) that only gets in the way of legal users. It was companies like Apple, which embraced digital downloads. Showing just how dumb they are, the RIAA has feuded with Apple over how it delivers music.

Listen, get into the 21st century already RIAA. So what if you beat LimeWire into the ground? Another file sharing service will just arise to take its place. Slam more individuals with ridiculous fines? Watch your customers get even more annoyed with you.

The 20th century and many of its business models are done. Get over it. Start working with the Internet and its users. In the long run, it's the only way you'll survive. What's to stop an Apple or some other forward-thinking companies to start signing recording artists? If you don't change with the times ... well, seen many buggy whips on sale lately?

Producer Pharell Williams was on CNN being interviewed by high school principal, Steve Perry. In the interview, he credited his high school band-teacher for success and claimed that he was planning on starting a school for at risk children.

In celebration of Black Music Month, Itunes will be offering a selection of albums for a discounted rate of $7.99 an album. Black Music Month was created on May 31st, 2002, during the Bush administration, in order to recognize Black musicians, singers, and composers, for their impact on the music industry as well as American culture.

Many recent and classic albums will be offered, including select titles like Kid Cudi’s “Man On the Moon: The End of the Day”, Lauryn Hill’s “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”, T.I’s “Urban Legend”, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, and many “best-of” albums like Nat King Cole’s “The Very Best of Nat King Cole”. This offer ends at the end of June, so you might want to take advantage of the offer while you can.

NEW YORK (AP) — Rapper Kid Cudi has been arrested on criminal charges in New York City.

Sgt. John Butorn says Cudi was arrested Friday on charges of criminal mischief and criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Cudi was scheduled to perform early Saturday at Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Tennessee. After taking the stage, he said, “I really wanted to be here tonight.”

Cudi released his debut album “Man on the Moon: The End of Day” in 2009. The Cleveland native also co-stars in the HBO cable television comedy series “How to Make It in America.”

The music licensing industry is a great way many independent artists are making money. Here are five reasons why you should focus more of your time building your music licensing business:

Reason 1: It’s getting very difficult to get a record deal

The old way of making money in the music business is dead. In the past, the big record companies controlled the distribution of music, because they were the only ones who had the money to manufacture records, promote the artist, and pay for radio play. Napster started the music business revolution by allowing peer-to-peer file sharing of music. It has lead to the demise of record companies. As you know, there are lots of signed artists who are making very little money from record sales. What many people don’t know is that many of these artists are still making lots of money because they are licensing their music to movies, tv, and video game makers. They are starting to realize that music licensing is where the bulk of their money will come from. That means you better hurry before they take over the market!

Reason 2: Level Playing Field

Licensing your music gives you the opportunity to play on a level playing field with the big labels, because you don’t have to spend money to get your music licensed. All you have to do is build strong relationships with music directors, music library owners, and publishing companies. It’s not easy, but you can develop these relationships over time. The best thing about music licensing is that many independent film makers can’t afford the prices that the major labels are looking for. That means that these independent film and video game makers will look to independent artists like you for music to license.

Reason 3: Multiple Streams of Income

If you sell 100 albums to your fans, you will probably make about $1000 if you sell the albums for $10 a piece. You made $1000, but the sale ends there. In music licensing, you can make money from the same song in many different ways. When you license the song for a movie, tv show, commercial, or video game you will make a licensing fee (most times) up front. It can be anywhere from $100 to $100,000. The best part is that’s not the only way you can make money from that license. Everytime your song is played; you will get a performance royalty from your PRO. I mean EVERYTIME it’s played. Think about what could happen if your music gets licensed in a TV show that is in syndication like the Cosby Show. You could be getting paid from one song for years!

Reason 4: International Potential

Remember, if you license a song, you get paid every time it gets played. Most shows we have here in the US are also played in other countries. You can set up accounts with PRO’s in other countries to get paid for international royalties. If you sit and think about the possibilities, you will understand how some musicians make one song, and are considered set for life.

Reason 5: Depend on You

If you want to sell music to fans, you have to depend on radio play, marketing budget, and your image. In music licensing, all you have to do is worry about the quality of your music. The music supervisors are accessible, and they are looking for music to license because that’s how they make a living.

1) Licensing music is a loss of copyright control.


Licensing music is not a loss of copyright control but a transfer of the right to use a song for a certain purpose. Under the laws of the United States, a song is copyright as soon as it is fixed into a tangible medium of expression. Basically, as soon as you record your song it is automatically copyright. (Note: If you want to take someone to court for a copyright violation, you must be able to prove you recorded a song by a specific date. This is why registering with the US Copyright office or other public registration is important). As the copyright holder, a songwriter has multiple rights which they can license separately or all at once. Some of these rights include the right to sync music with images (sync license) or distribute a song via digital downloads (mechanical license). The copyright holder still maintains control of the copyright to the song and the other party has a right to use the song depending on the type of license. A license CAN limit the future use of a song from the songwriters perspective, especially when an exclusive song license is used.

2) Music licensing is always for money.

This is not always the case. Although it is nice for the songwriter to receive an upfront amount of money for the right to license their song, a song can be licensed in exchange for any benefit. For example, if I need music for my video, I may work with a songwriter to license their song in exchange for a prominent placement in the credits. In another case, a composer may license a video game theme song in return for guaranteed mechanical royalties down the road. In a time when thousands of new songs are uploaded to the internet weekly, it’s important to realize the benefit of exposure for a song while also taking into account a songwriter’s needs to be paid adequately for use of their work.

3) Most unique writing projects are legally work-for-hire.

Work-for-hire tends to be misunderstood and overused as a means to commission a song. There are two ways a song can be written as a work-for-hire. The first is if the songwriter is an actual EMPLOYEE creating the work within the scope of employment with a company. And were not talking about the IRS’s definition that basically says anyone you pay is an employee. The employer must actually be “directing, or supervising the creation of the work, in a very specific way.” As a songwriter is usually given the right to compose the piece as they see fit, it would be difficult to apply this definition to most writing cases.

The other option is if the composition meets certain rules to actually be considered as a work-for-hire. If all of the following criteria are not met, then the work is not a work-for-hire and the songwriter still owns the copyright:

-The work must be comissioned (created at the request of someone)

-It must be created under a written agreement

-And it must be created for use in one of the following: A motion picture or other audiovisual work, a collective work (a collection of individual works), a compilation, a translation of a foreign work, or a supplementary work (a work supplementing another work like an intro to a book).

The language here is a bit tricky so always be careful with work-for-hire scenarios and ensure a lawyer is consulted so that everything is in compliance.

4) Royalty-free music license means the songwriter never gets paid again.


This again depends on the way the song is used. The person licensing the song will probably not have to pay further royalties in the future to the songwriter (unless they decide to sell the song – see mechanical license above). The networks that are distributing the song cannot use music royalty free and WILL pay royalties if the song is played on their network. This is most always the case for public performance of a song. So if a company comissions a jingle song on MusikPitch, they will only pay the one-time prize amount. When that ad jingle is later played on the radio or TV, the station playing the song will pay the performance rights organizations (PROs) for the right to play that music. Those societies will in turn pay the songwriter. If a film underscore is written, then the studio will only pay the one-time fee for the music and won’t have to worry about paying royalties for each play of the song in the movie during theater showing. If the movie makes it onto NBC television later, then NBC will pay performance royalties to the PROs. So it is true that the initial purchaser of the music will be getting royalty free music, but it doesn’t mean that the music is royalty free for everyone who plays it.

5) Music licensing has to be done through a label or music publisher.

Although this may have been the case a couple of years ago, this is definitely not the standard today. It is still common for an organization seeking music to license that music from a label or music publisher. Labels control a large portion of popular music from the past couple of decades along with music publishers. In order to use a popular song, one must discover who owns the rights to that song and work with them to license it for their purposes. This can be a hassle and many film/TV studios, music supervisers, and others have realized the benefit of using independent artists. The licensing costs for using independent artists are much less than trying to license a song from a record label or prominant publisher. If a studio really likes a specific song that is out of their price range, they can always commission a composer to write a similar sounding piece at a much lower price. Their are also tons of music libraries online to search for inexpensive music to license. Of course, the newest option of crowdsourcing music on sites like MusikPitch may be the easiest (and most fun). Simply run a contest for the music needed and let songwriters around the world compete by composing or searching their catalogs for the perfect song match.

I like thinking about mastering as a type of black magic. Filled with taboos and unapproachableness. Everybody and their grandmother has an opinion about how things should be recorded and mixed, but when asked about mastering most people hush up and shrug. Mastering is a trickier subject to tackle than mixing I feel, and the delicate touch and subtleties a mastering engineer gives to a final mix sometimes sadly goes unappreciated.

However, there are certain things you mixing engineers can do to make the voodoo doctor’s work easier. Mastering takes a few oddball songs that were recorded in various places by various people and makes them sound like they were actually recorded, if not in the same room, at least on the same planet. So help out the mastering process by making sure your mix is ready to be mastered.


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1. Find a Mastering Engineer
Like any good product or service there is difference in price and quality. Find a dedicated mastering engineer that has some specialization instead of some guy that will happily take your money in exchange for putting a limiter on your stereo track and boosting the hell out of it.


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2. Finish Your Mix
You need to be absolutely certain that you like the mix the way it is right now. A mastering session is no time and place to start worrying about if your vocals are too low or if the kick drum doesn’t sound right. Make sure you are in love with the way your mix sounds so that when mastered, it will only sound better.


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3. Make Sure Your Mix Isn’t Overloading the Master Fader
A mastering engineer can’t do anything to a mix that has already maxed out the stereo buss. If the master fader is blowing steaming red all the time, chances are there is no headroom for the mastering engineer to work with. Make sure your faders aren’t overloading the master fader and try to have a nice headroom on the master fader. The amount of headroom a mastering engineer wants can vary so check with your guy how where he wants the peaks of the master to reach.

By having enough headroom on the master track you give plenty of room for the mastering engineer to work with, and he can compress and equalize and boost your mix to a mastered perfection without worrying about digital clipping. If your mix is already maxed out, select all the faders of your mix and collectively lower their volume until the master buss has a lower level to it.


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4. Put Your Mix In the Right Format
Ask your mastering engineer how he likes working. Some people like breaking the mix down into separate groups, creating an added advantage to the mastering process. Does he want a typical stereo track or does he like separate instruments bounced in stems?

Making the setting up and loading up time quicker means more time and money is spent on actually working with your music.


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5. Bounce to the Correct Format
CDs are 44.1 kHz, 16-bit format. That does not mean that your mix should be bounced to that format. If you recorded at 48 kHz/24 bit, it’s generally a good idea to leave it to the mastering engineer to bounce the track down to CD format. The mastering engineer will want all the headroom he can get so leave the format the way you recorded it in.

And never, ever, under any circumstances bounce your tracks to MP3 for them to be mastered. It should go without saying, but MP3s cut the quality immensely so in reality, there’s probably not a lot left to be mastered.


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6. Take Any Mastering Plug-ins Off Your Master Fader
Before you bounce your tracks to a WAV file, make sure you don’t have any crazy mastering plug-ins already on the stereo buss. Maybe you put up a nice mastering patch to impress your friends or girlfriend, but leave it off for the mastering engineer. He will not be impressed, I promise you.

I think that since Vh-1 loves to honor hip hop every year, it’s time that we think a little more carefully about how they might do their jobs effectively. Don’t get me wrong, much of the greatness of hip hop should be celebrated, and having such a powerful awards show gives rappers yet another chance to be on TV. The added exposure creates money-making opportunities, and I’m always down for that.

But let’s be real: Is the entire hip hop industry really worthy of being honored all the time? Should every popular artist or well-known song be celebrated, or should some be maligned? To say that every impactful group or song in the history of hip hop is worthy of an honor is like saying that we should celebrate Adolf Hitler’s birthday just because he was famous.

So, to help Vh-1 out on this, I thought I would come up with my own awards show. I call it the “Dr. Boyce Watkins Hip Hop Dishonor Awards,” going to every song and/or artist that has disrespected or undermined progress within the African American community. Here are the nominees:

1) NWA for the creation of gangsta rap: To show you just how much of a conflicted soul I am, NWA is actually my favorite group of all time. As a rebellious teenager, I loved what they brought to the table, and I’ve expressed that in other articles. But I must also be critical of myself by saying that my appreciation for NWA’s art is overwhelmed by the guilt I feel for the fact that this group inspired a multi-billion dollar industry that makes a profit by teaching black men to be thugs and black women to be hoochies. So, as of today, I am going to give NWA the Self-Destruction Award and disavow at least some part of my love for their music (give me some time though, it’s sort of like dismantling a bad bank).

2) Black Entertainment Television (BET): BET must be acknowledged for being the channel through which the most poisonous and ruinous forms of entertainment have been transmitted to the black community. If toxic hip hop was the dope, BET was the dope man. Bob Johnson made a billion dollars off this deal with the devil, and in the end, he completely lost his soul. The fact that Johnson’s wife, Sheila, had the audacity to go public and say that she is ashamed of what BET has become only adds insult to injury. Sorry Sheila, I don’t believe you. Give the money back and then perhaps your critique might have some credibility. That’s like robbing a bank, keeping the money and saying that you will never do it again. So, the Most Dishonorable Media Outlet in America Award goes to Black Entertainment Television.

3) Lil Wayne for Wanting to have sex with every girl in the world: Did we not learn anything from the experiences of Eazy-E and Magic Johnson? It would be my dream that for every song we write about having sex, we write another song about kids without daddies, or nasty venereal diseases. The desire to have sex is a natural part of our human lifeblood, but abusive and irresponsible sexual behavior should not be taught to our kids. I have some degree of respect for Weezy’s lyrical abilities and business acumen. I also give major props to the solid music produced by Young Money, even standing up to support Drake against criticism by my friends like Marc Lamont Hill. But I have almost no appreciation for the fact that Wayne encourages other young men to be irresponsible in their choices. I have no doubt that Lil Wayne is a genius, which is part of what frustrates me the most. The only thing worse than an unintelligent black man is a brilliant black man who is smart enough to convince us that he’s stupid. So, The Dishonorably “Ignant” Negro Award goes to Lil Wayne.

4) Hypocritical Schizophrenic of the decade award – Ice Cube: OK Cube, let me get this straight. First, you start off as 100% gangster, saying that “Life ain’t nothing but b*tches and money,” but you turn around 20 years later and have a lyric in which you complain about young rappers by saying that “All you rap about is p*ssy and money.” Then, right after leaving NWA, you suddenly become a non-pork eating, assalamu alaikum Muslim, and then years later go back to making gangsta rap where you are calling women b*tches and hoes, and bragging about shooting other black men. If that’s not enough, you then start making family movies (’Are We There Yet?’ and ‘Barber Shop’), while putting out gangsta rap albums at the same time. But again, perhaps I am as hypocritical and confused as Ice Cube, because he actually happens to be my favorite artist. Similar to the great Tupac Shakur, Cube reminds us that a great artist can also be a very complex human being. So Cube, you are the Dishonorably Conflicted Schizophrenic of this year’s show.

5) Clear Channel and all the other major media companies that are buying up urban radio stations and playing nothing but garbage all day: Most of the hip hop we hear on the radio doesn’t represent the essence of the genre. Since the telecommunications industry was deregulated during the Bush Administration, many smaller urban radio stations have been turned into little capitalist drones connected to the same musical brain. They are told to play the same crap repeatedly and to drain the station of any meaningful or intelligent dialog. In other words, the end result is a massive corporate brainwashing exercise of the entire African American community. I am hopeful that President Obama opens more doors to black-owned media and pushes the FTC to show added respect for diversity within this industry. So, the Dishonorable Media Conglomerate Award goes go Clear Channel and Big Radio.

So those are the nominees for the 2010 Dr. Boyce Watkins Hip Hop Dishonor Awards. You might have nominees of your own, and I’d love to hear them. We should certainly celebrate the greatness and cultural contributions of hip hop music, but we must also recognize the fact that we’ve got to do better. Unfortunately, I must admit that among those who need to do better, I am at the top of the list. I am personally going to try to become more positive.

Vocals can add flavor and emotion to your tracks. This article lists 15 sites where you can find vocal samples and loops for free. If you don’t have your own choir or backing vocalists – or just can’t sing – this list might be just what you’re looking for.

1. VocalDownloads.com
Vocal Downloads.com have a free samples section (linked to above). They also have an inexpensive $1 a day membership that allows you to download anything in their catalogue.

2. Rapid4me
Rapidshare Search has a “Free Vocal Sample Packs 2009″ section with many links to sample packs on other sites. If you’re after something unusual, or a wide range of vocal styles, it might be a good place to start.

3. Looperman
Looperman have a wide variety of royalty free vocal loops and samples. Free registration is required before you can download.

4. Vipzone Samples
Vipzone Samples let you download their 250 MB free sample pack when you subscribe to their newsletter. The pack includes a capella and vocal samples.

5. Rob Meulman
In a KVR Audio forum thread, Rob shares:

After many years of roaming the Internet and downloading tons of free stuff, especially Vsti’s, Soundfonts and Samples, I decided to do something back for the music community.

I have made a sample pack with my own vocals. Some created especially for the pack, others are cuts of vocal tracks taken from my recordings. The styles are: R&B, Rock, Pop and Old school.

The pack consists of 3 construction kits and 7 songsets.

All samples are standard 16 bit wave files. Recorded with a Sennheiser evolution 835a microphone. Download links (for FileFactory and Youshare) are included in the thread.

6. www.Sampleoidz.co.uk
www.Sampleoidz.co.uk are offering a Free Vocal Samples pack in WAV format. This is taken from their Ragga Jungle Vocals series. There are only 100 free downloads available, so get in quick.

7. The Freesound Project“The Freesound Project is a collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds.” Many vocal samples are included.

8. Acapellas4U.co.uk
Free a capella downloads, and a great forum. Free registration is required.

9. Crowley’z World
Crowley’z World contains many zipped samples, including a vocals section linked to above.

10. Soundproz
Soundproz have a free samples section featuring a number of royalty free vocal samples.

11. Sampletracks
Sampletracks have a Free Vocal Loops section. Free registration is required.

12. esounds
esounds have a Freesoundz section that includes several construction kits (Apple, REX, WAV) with vocal samples.

13. PlatinumLoops
PlatinumLoops has a “Free Loop Downloads” section that includes “Vocal Samples and Vocal Loops”. All loops and samples are 100% royalty free. Each file is available in MP3, WAV, REX2 and AIF formats.

14. ccMixter
ccMixter is a collection of Creative Commons content including an a capella section.

15. SampleSwap
SampleSwap contains professional quality free audio samples and electronic music – including a set of 1,200 samples of vocals and the spoken word.



Did you find this list useful? Please let us know which links were most helpful in the comments – and add any great sites we forgot. Feel free to tell us your tips for using vocal samples effectively.

This tutorial explains how to add swing to your already quantized tracks within Pro Tools 8 for more natural sounding performances.

I personally cant wait for this to be released. I also love the idea of being able to have up to 8 samples loaded on 1 Dr. Rex rack. Check out the video to see one of the new updates...

Here are some of the best things I’ve learnt since I started mixing.

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Tip 1: Rest Your Ears
If you’re mixing for a long amount of time you may be thinking your mix is going well when in reality it’s not. This can be a problem for people who refuse to stop until they are 100% happy with their results. I do this sometimes myself.

But your ears will eventually begin to get tired and you start hearing things that aren’t really there. That awesome guitar you’ve spent hours mixing will end up sound like crap the next morning when you listen back to it.

Your ears can neglect certain frequencies when your ears get tired and you pay too much attention to specific frequency ranges you lose sight of the bigger picture.


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Tip 2: Mix At Lower Levels
This is very important. I think most of us know that loud music always sounds better because it allows the frequencies to spread out more.

Our ears are most sensitive to mid frequencies, but by playing music louder it evens everything out making high and low frequencies stand out more.

This is why loud music is more appealing. Why do you think venues play music so loud? It’s not always so everyone can hear. They sometimes keep the master volume down 5 dB until the last song then put it up, so the last song sounds better making the audience leave with a more positive opinion on the show.

So which is the best level to mix? You should usually check your mix in different levels to make sure it sounds fairly level-proof. A multi-band compressor on the master track can also help compensate for this. Usually mix at about conversation level – if you mix sounds well at a quiet level it should sound amazing at a high level.


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Tip 3: Mono Listening
Checking a mix in mono is very important to make sure everything is sounding balanced. You may notice holes in a mono mix that you might not hear in stereo.

This may seem pointless as most things are now stereo but a lot of places still use mono. AM radio stations broadcast in mono. Cheap TV’s with 1 speaker and so on.

If you hear very little difference between switching from stereo and mono you might want to consider more panning.

50 dropped over 50 pounds for his starring role in the upcoming movie Things Fall Apart. In the film adaptation of Chinua Achebe’s classic, 50 plays a football player who’s been diagnosed with cancer. This man is the epitome of dedication.


from therapup.net

Listen to Kanye West's new track featuring Dwele called "Power" from the upcoming album 'Good Ass Job'.

from AZCentral.com

Zack de la Rocha has issued a statement on behalf of an organization called the Sound Strike urging music fans and fellow artists to boycott Arizona "to stop SB 1070," which he labels an "odious" law.

Among those artists joining de la Rocha's boycott are Conor Oberst, Kanye West, Rage Against the Machine, Rise Against, Cypress Hill, Serj Tankian, Joe Satriani, Sonic Youth, Tenacious D, Street Sweeper Social Club and Michael Moore.

In de la Rocha's words, the new law "sanctions racial profiling, straight up," forcing "cops to hunt down and target anyone they 'reasonably suspect' that may be undocumented. And if the people they harass don't have proof that they were born in the U.S., they can be detained and arrested."

He goes on to note that "Some of us grew up dealing with racial profiling, but this law (SB 1070) takes it to a whole new low. If other states follow the direction of the Arizona government, we could be headed towards a pre-civil rights era reality. This unjust law was set into motion by the same Arizona government that refused to acknowledge Martin Luther King Jr. day as a national holiday. When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, they arrested her. As a result, people got together and said we are not going to ride the bus until they change the law. It was this courageous action that sparked the Montgomery bus boycott. What if we got together, signed a collective letter saying, 'We're not going to ride the bus?' "

The website includes a petition urging President Barack Obama to take action.

"Arizona's new law is an assault on the US Constitution and an affront to the civil rights that were earned by generations who came before us," the petition reads. "When states disregard the Constitution, when they sanction mistreatment of communities, it is the imperative of the Executive Branch to take the lead in defending the U.S. Constitution."

The Sound Strike's call to boycott follows recent protest cancellations by Cuban-American rapper Pitbull and Latino rappers Cypress Hill. A Phoenix New Times blog says this latest development feels like it's "only the tip of the iceberg," while AEG Live president/CEO Randy Phillips told Billboard he believes "the economic impact on the state from losing even a couple of tours might be enough for the legislature and the governor to realize that there is still a political concept called the tyranny of the majority which is just as dangerous to our democracy as illegal immigration, maybe more so."

The goal of recruiting is to find the right person at the right time. Logically, that means one source is never enough. You’ll want to tap into diverse mediums to find the best candidates. Social media is no exception. Each platform has its own unique demographic. You’ll want to consider that audience when making the decision about which applications to use for your recruiting efforts.

Regardless of the application, there are some common elements to using social media for recruiting. Here are six things to consider when using any social media application for recruiting.
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1. Create an Online Presence That Reflects Who You Are
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Having a nice avatar, succinct bio and current contact information will make people want to connect with you. Be sure to organize your social media profiles to provide potential contacts with a better idea of who you are so they have a reason to communicate with you and form a relationship.

“It’s about being human”, explains Bill Boorman, author of the Recruiting Unblog. “People connect with people, not brands. Connect with everyone because you never know who will make that referral or connection for you.”

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2. Make the Most of Your Time
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A large part of any success with social media is involvement. This is especially true if you want to use social media for recruiting. While mobile applications can help with this, Boorman agrees, “It takes a big investment of time to build a talent community.” To target your efforts, he suggests asking people directly which channels they use and looking at what your competitors are doing. “Consider directing your messages to a single point, like a relevant blog or company website.”

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3. Individualize Your Approach
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At some point, you have to connect with people you don’t know and become a part of their conversations. “I actually find it easy,” says Chris Havrilla national recruiting manager for Hitachi Consulting, a global leader in delivering business and IT strategies. “I have found if you communicate with people in a meaningful and thoughtful manner, you can never go wrong.”

Havrilla’s approach is to connect with people who have a genuine interest in his business and industry. “I follow or connect with people related to that space, ‘listen’ to and learn from the conversations, and participate when appropriate. If you are connecting with someone directly, be ‘individualized’ in your approach — take the time to understand who you are reaching out to and be respectful of their time and attention.”

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4. Be Authentic
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Recruiters always want to see the ‘real candidate’ and in order to do that, they have to be real as well. Amanda Hite, founder and CEO of Talent Revolution Inc., says when it comes to social media: “Remember it’s NOT about the tools it’s ALL about the relationships.”

So don’t be afraid to be yourself. Hite adds, “Being the authentic, unapologetic you is totally on trend. But more importantly when you embrace your own authenticity and stay committed to ‘being you’ no matter what, you’ll attract the kind of clients and employees that do the same and are the best match for you.”

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5. Share Interesting Stuff
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All work and no play is boring. So sharing news, tidbits, etc. of general interest can create what might be the equivalent of “social media small talk,” which leads to bigger conversations. Sylvia Dahlby works for SmartSearch, a leading talent acquisition system and recruiting business software solution firm. She works from home and lives in Hawaii. “Before social network sites like Twitter() and LinkedIn(), I belonged to dozens of old-style online newsgroups. Now, I leverage the new social networks much in the same way,” Sylvia explains it’s still important to interact with others.

One of the things Sylvia mentioned was her Twitter account because she mixes her recruiting knowledge with Hawaii tidbits. “My Twitter() account is for personal branding and making connections. I mostly tweet about my work, my product and the recruiting industry during business hours, chat with friends and business associates throughout the day, and throw in a mix of my hobbies and certain interests (such as Hawaiiana). I treat Twitter as my office ‘water cooler’ or after-hours ‘cocktail party’ where I can catch the news and buzz from people in various online communities around the world.”

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6. Focus on Substance
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If someone directs a question at you via social media, find a way to respond, even if it’s to take the conversation offline. “The key is substance,” says Steve Browne, executive director of human resources for LaRosa’s Inc., a Cincinnati based regional pizzeria with 63 locations. “I’d recommend people using social media for recruiting [focused] on substance and not just resume information. Look at how the candidate is connected in the social media arena, and are they contributing to their profession, or just lurking. If they’re engaged online, chances are they would be engaged working for your company.”

Many recruiters realize that when it comes to recruiting, social media tools are just that – tools. The real value is in how the tools are used. Havrilla explains, “Social media can give you a great and efficient way to engage with your community – candidates, clients, customers, partners, prospects, etc. – on a very level playing field with the companies you are competing with for talent (or business). The key is to make sure you have the time to invest in to it. At a very basic level this is all about networking. The use of social media tools has greatly enhanced my ability to build, grow, and nurture my network. These tools are not a magic bullet though — to get value from your network, you have to add value to it.”

I've been asked about this topic quite a few times, so I decided to post a tutorial to help out my fellow producers. This tutorial from www.winksound.com shows you how to use Reason in Protools with Rewire. This is great if you ever wanted to incorporate the sounds from Reason with live instrumentation recorded in Protools, and/or any other music software you may use for production. Check it out!

These 5 things are the components of a word I hear over and over again from Supervisors in describing the type of music and artists they are looking for… “sync-able.” Sync-able doesn’t just refer to lyrics and melodies. There is a nuts and bolts element to it as well. Before you can even think about hearing your music in Grey’s Anatomy, you need to check these off the list. Let’s jump in, shall we!

1. Master Quality Recordings

No demos allowed. (Step up onto soapbox) Do demos even exist anymore? Considering how easy and economical it is to record high quality stuff now days, why would anyone limit that recordings’ opportunities by making it a demo. (Step off of soapbox)

If you’re confused about how to define “master quality recordings,” the easiest thing to do is listen to recordings and artists that have been successful in the TV/Film world already. I recommend you go listen to a few friends of mine like Perrin Lamb and Lee Hester. Of course, you can go listen to my stuff as well. We’ve all been lucky to have some successes with placements, and it’s partly because of our high quality product. Some other indie artists that get used a lot are Tim Myers, Katie Herzig, and Matthew Perryman Jones.

2. 100% Ownership

If you’ve got a major pub or record deal, you’re reading the wrong blog. There is a reason why Supervisors use indie artists. Because they don’t have to deal with slow, haggling publishers and record labels.

A lot of times (especially in TV) a Supervisor doesn’t have time to get 5 people to sign off on a license. And they might not have flexibility in a budget to negotiate for 200 more dollars. These are all things that are avoided when a single artist can sign off on a use.

3. General Themed Lyrics

In TV and Film, music compliments the dialogue and visual. As oppose to driving it. With that said, lyrics should be general or metaphorical enough to be interpreted in as many ways as there are viewers. The song should fit into the story that the viewer is seeing. What the viewer is seeing CAN’T be forced to fit the song they are hearing. It doesn’t work like that.

In other words, if you are detailed story teller, then you are going to have a hard time in the TV/Film world.

4. Feel Good and Break Up Style Production

Obviously, there are a million different music needs out there. But, in my experience, a good 80% of the uses fall into two musical production styles. I call them “Feel Good” and “Break Up.”

Feel Goods are uplifting, anthemic, mid-tempos. Usually with positive, universal lyrics. They do exactly what their title says… make you feel good. Think U2 and Coldplay. Here’s an example of a Feel Good. It’s my song, “Not Today,” and it’s been used in Grey’s Anatomy and The Real World.

The other style, Break Ups, are broken down, acoustic or piano, relationship-themed ballads. Here’s another one of my songs as an example. It’s called “Step Outside,” and it’s been used in The Hills.

5. Instrumentals

If you don’t have instrumentals for all of your songs… get them now. Sometimes Music Editors need to work around dialogue. Or, maybe they love a track, but lyrically it doesn’t it work. You want to give them that flexibility. They will love you for it. Not to mention it will give you a ton more opportunities.


All of the things I’ve listed here will make you and your music more sync-able. But, more importantly, it builds a foundation of something that is essential in a relationship with a Supervisor… Trust.

The chart on the left comes from marketing guru Seth Godin's blog from a post entitled, The Circles. Seth relates the chart more to customer acquisition, but I want to use it as it's related to an artist's fanbase in regards to sales.

•At the bottom in white we have the "True Fans," sometimes described as "superfans," 'uber-fans,' or as Seth calls them, your "tribe." These fans love you and everything you do, and as a result, will purchase the most obscure product that is of no interest to virtually anyone else, even the artist himself. Think rehearsal recordings, studio out-takes, sound check jamming and stained undershirts of the artist. The True Fan wants it and will pay for it.

•"Fans" are a bit more casual about it. They like you but don't love you. They'll buy certain items but could care less about anything obscure. They can be turned into True Fans, but it will happen either over time or the release of that one song that puts you over the edge.
We'll skip "Sneezers" and "Customers" because they don't apply to our model and go right to "Listeners."

•"Listeners" are the next down the totem pole of sales. These are people who have heard of you and maybe even heard some of your songs. They neither like nor dislike you. They may turn into fans at some point, but just as likely might not.

•Next comes "Friends." Notice how low in influence circles that your friends are at. Don't ever rely on them for sales or spreading the word. They're your friends. Like know you and hopefully like you, but it doesn't mean they like your music. In fact, most of them probably don't but will still support you because of your friendship. You probably don't have enough of them to make any significant sales impact anyway.

•Last comes "Strangers." They've never heard of you before. Maybe they like your kind of music, must most likely not. They are blissfully unaware of your existence as an artist.

Here's what we can gain from this chart:

1) Don't waste your time trying to convert friends to fans. It's such a long shot that it's not worth the time or effort, and can even be detrimental to keeping your True Fans happy.

2) Don't waste time on your friends. You don't have enough of them to worry about, and they're probably only being polite anyway.

3) Be aware of your listeners, but don't try to convert them to fans. The chances are it won't happen.

4) Fans are important. They already like you and have told you so, probably by buying product, signing up to your email list or friending you on a social media site. They can be turned into True fans, but at this point, you can't count on it so you can't spend a lot of effort trying.

5) Your True Fans love you. They will walk to the ends of the earth to tell others about you. They are your evangelists and will covert others into Fans and True Fans for you. They are to be embraced, coddled and cultivated because they are your future.


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Follow me on Twitter @dxvidbeatz for daily news and updates on production, music business, and marketing.

Check out my blog for discussion on marketing music, production tips and tricks.

Licensing is a great way to make money by placing your songs in film, TV, commercials and video games. This article explains what licensing is and how it works so that you can join the legions of music artists who are enjoying additional income from having their music licensed.

What is licensing?

Licensing means granting permission for the use of one’s music to which you own the copyright.

Certainly the goal of an artist who writes their own music (a la the copyright owner) is to maximize the revenues generated by the musical composition.

When you license the use of your song, say in a TV show, you not only get a fee for the use of the license, but it gives the song and the artist greater exposure to the listening public, which can increase one’s fame and fortune. The use of music in the TV program, “The OC,” has launched the careers of several previously unknown independent artists, Rooney, in particular.

Before we dive into how to get your music licensed, we need to go over some terms that are commonly used with licensing.

Copyrights

Be sure to file a completed copyright form along with a copy of the music with the US Copyright office before attempting to license your songs.

You can find the forms and instructions at www.copyright.gov. There are two copyrights for a song; a copyright for the sound recording (Form SR) and a copyright for the underlying song (Form PA). For our purposes here, let’s clarify that we are talking about licensing original music of an Independent Artist who is not signed to a label or a publishing company and who owns both these copyrights.

Publishing

Publishing is one of the most complex parts of the music business and yet it can be the most lucrative area of income for musicians. Music publishing is the owning and exploiting of musical copyrights. A song is made up of two equal shares: the writer’s share and the publisher’s share. Songwriters affiliate with Publishers because their main job is to commercially exploit (increase use and value of) songs. Most independent artists/musicians are their own publisher, and therefore own 100% share of the song. If that is you, then this is why you want to get educated on how to pursue licensing for your music.

Licenses

The license for use of the sound recording is called theMaster Use License. The license for the underlying song is called the Synchronization License (aka synch license), used when a musical work is synchronized in time with visual images, either background, theme or feature use in TV shows and Film.

Now we know the basic terms…time to learn what to do next.

Do your research by watching existing TV programs and write down every show you think your songs would fit into. From TV programs including reality TV, types of scenes in movies, video games, and commercials. Learn to think and listen visually; everything visual has a potential sound accompaniment.

Music & Presentation

What you will send will be a CD of your music with the track listing and contact information on both the CD case and the CD label, and a great cover letter indicating the genre, maybe who you sound similar to and which production would fit the music. Do not send a bio, reviews, photo or any extraneous paper because the music is what is being considered, so the rest will just be thrown away and not strengthen your case.

Research & Relationships (DIY licensing)

This side of the business is like all the others, driven by relationships. Start networking and reaching out with purposeful letters, calls or emails to those in the film and TV industry.

A really good start for the Independent Artist is to work with college students who are working on independent films. Although there will most likely be too low of a budget to pay you, you can begin building your resume/reel of having your music placed.

Next, begin researching who the music supervisors are on the programs you seek. Check credits in TV shows and movies. Go to film festivals and conventions such as The Film & TV Music Conference that music supervisors attend and meet them. Other sources to locate them are “The Film & Television Music Guide” (www.musicregistry.com) where you can find contact information for Music Supervisors and Music Publishers specializing in film and TV placement. You can also get leads by reading trade magazines like “Hollywood Reporter” and “Variety.”

The Music Supervisor

Music Supervisors are constantly looking for music of independent artists who release their own CDs. Independent artists are willing to negotiate for a lesser amount (with the risk that a TV show may not even survive the season, music supervisors try to keep costs down) and can create new music without having to get permission from a label or have a label delay the time sensitive process.

If you are a fan of a particular show and your music seems to you that it would be perfect, send a letter to the musical supervisor and let them know you are a fan and you have a song that you believe will work for the show & tell them which situation/ mood it would be best for.

The better you know the business of licensing and the terms used, the more likelihood for establishing a relationship with a music supervisor who finds you easy to work with and that, along with your obvious talent, can build a lasting alliance. An insider tip from a music supervisor told me if you
write “all sync & master controlled” or “pre-cleared” on the CD label and CD case, that they will know immediately your music is ready for use which is invaluable to them when time is an issue and that alone can help your song beat out another’s.

Negotiation & Getting paid

They want your song! Now what? A good idea when first licensing your music is to have a manager or attorney or someone who really understands licensing to help you evaluate the deal for use of your music. Things to be considered are intent of use, scope, and fee. Once there is a verbal agreement, make sure to get it in writing as well.

It is important not to devalue the song by licensing it for whatever a user offers. But also be aware that music supervisors may let you know their budget constraints give them no room for negotiation; that’s when you determine if the exposure is going to make the deal worthwhile. Think of unknown group, A3, placing their song “Got Yourself a Gun” in the then un-known HBO pilot, “The Sopranos.”

Walk away from any deal that asks for 1. your publishing 2. exclusive rights to your songs 3. your music in any way they want and for any length they want.

Good Songs in the Right place

There will always be a demand for good songs and music is used in every visual platform, so you, the artist/musician/ songwriter, have a great opportunity to make money in this business through licensing. Continue to educate yourself about publishing & licensing, continue to nurture relationships with people who place music, and continue to write and record fantastic songs.

Kerry Fiero is an Artist Manager, Director of the San Francisco Chapter of NARIP (National Association of Record Industry Professionals) and an adjunct professor at San Francisco State University teaching Music Artist Management and Music Marketing. Her company is Strive Management.

Author: Kerry Fiero
Article Source: ezinearticles.com

An example of some of the music available for licensing on audio jungle!



You can also check out some other loops, sound effects, idents, jingles and more here... http://audiojungle.net/user/dxvid/portfolio

Being a musician seems glamorous to the outsider. The truth is, there is paperwork to be done and legal precautions to take, just like in any other business—whether you’re selling millions of tracks on iTunes every week, or you’re losing money.

Here are five forms and contracts that every musician needs; some you should have ready and printed, on hand around the office (or studio or bedroom…) and others aren’t used so frequently but you should have a document ready to be printed and put into use.



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1. Licensing Agreement
While licensing in general is one of the business practices prevalent in the industry that is actually quite profitable for artists, what I’m talking about here is not necessarily about licensing you or your band’s material to others. For that, you want to perform negotiations with professionals involved.

Band members and collaborators come and go all the time, so when your guitarist decides it’s time cross the country, it’s a good idea to have an agreement that will license from that individual the right to negotiate and make decisions for the intellectual property on behalf of that person.

The only other option is to demand they assign you their rights in full, and that’s the kind of chicanery that should be left to the rotting mainstream music industry.

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2. Non-disclosure Agreement
Non-disclosure agreements give you the freedom to share your plans with others without fear of that information getting out to the public. While it could still happen, at least with an NDA in place you can get some monetary compensation from the individual through legal channels.

You don’t need to have people sign an NDA just to hear your demos, unless you’re fighting Axl Rose for the World’s Most Paranoid Artist title, but when it comes to topics like your campaign strategy, it’s certainly important if there’s something unique about your campaign. Also, if you’re making a deal with another party, you may want to consider their wishes for confidentiality before informing someone without an NDA.

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3. Assignment of Copyright
You won’t usually need the Assignment of Copyright to assign music into or out of your name, but mostly for paramusical elements such as your band logo. When you get that baby designed, you don’t want to take any risks and rely on the subtleties of work-for-hire law; you want to make sure that you own the rights to your logo in black and white.

If you have a copyright foul-up with a song, that’s not so bad. That’s one album or digital release to worry about. Your logo, on the other hand, will be on all your albums, all your posters, t-shirts, mugs and beer holders, and if retroactive royalties are charged, you’re screwed. Get an Assignment of Copyright ready and use it!

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4. Live Performance Contract
When you or your booking agent secures a gig, whether it’s at a big venue or just the local bar where they never clean the toilets, always ensure a live performance contract is signed, and make sure that you or your agent can whip out your form before the venue produces one out that favors them.

Freelancers use contractor agreements to ensure they get paid since so many clients will try and get out of it by using lousy excuses like, “We don’t like it.” In freelancing, the agreement ensures you can say tough luck, you ordered it, we made it, pay for it. Since musicians working multiple venues are essentially freelancers, it’s the same thing; make sure venues can’t weasel out of paying you with the old, “we just weren’t into it” line.

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5. Band Partnership Agreement
This doesn’t apply to solo artists, but if you’re in a band where all members are stakeholders (rather than a Nine Inch Nails style band-for-hire situation), the band partnership agreement is an essential part of your operation.

The agreement sorts out essential details that can avoid big fights and collapsing bands down the road, such as who has authority and over what, what the band rules are and grounds for dismissal are. It includes information about the rights and responsibilities of each band member, or legally speaking, each partner ( though you can have members who don’t have an interest in the business aspect of the band and essentially serve as contractors), the division of revenue, and the way decisions are made (usually through a voting process).

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If you don’t have all the above documents at the ready, set aside an afternoon sometime this week and get your hands on them. You can often find standard forms for free on the Internet, or you can pay for packages that include just about every legal agreement you need to run a band. Make sure you run your forms by a lawyer before betting your life on them, of course.