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MUSIC BIZ INSIGHT #41 Power Reading for Busy Music Professionals Hope you're hungry! MUSIC BIZ INSIGHT is published for musicians, songwriters, managers, label reps, booking agents, entertainment attorneys, studio owners, music publishers, and all others involved in the music business. Its purpose is to help boost your business, find new markets, make the right connections, develop professionally, work smarter and improve your bottom line. "As a general rule, the most successful people in life are those who have the best information." Benjamin Disraeli Written and published bimonthly by Peter Spellman, Director of MUSIC BUSINESS SOLUTIONS: Turning Music Business Data into Useful Knowledge. Career-building books, articles, training, consulting and more. P.O. Box 230266, Astor Station, Boston, MA 02123-0266, USA Phone: 888-655-8335 Email: success@mbsolutions.com Web site: http://www.mbsolutions.com © 1997 - 2006, Peter Spellman, MBS Business Media, www.mbsolutions.com Please feel free to redistribute with above credit and copyright notice.
LOOK TO THE FOREST FLOOR If you were to judge the health of the music scene by the mainstream press you would have to conclude that things look pretty bleak. Last month the RIAA and the IFPI both released their respective data reports on CD sales around the globe and things are not improving. In real dollars the industry has been essentially flatlining for four years running. The key word here is "industry". It's important for those in the biz to make the distinction between the music "industry" and the music "trade." The former is primarily the domain of transnational corporations and organizations like the RIAA; the latter is the domain of most musicians and a tremendous diversity of small music enterprises, most "under the radar" and perceived by the former as basically insignificant in the larger picture. But if anything is clear to me as a student of history it's that "the next big thing" is...well...small. There are clearly forces at work that are taking the rug of necessity out from under large sectors of the industry, and not just the music industry either. The same thing is happening in almost every other industry sector you can think of. But the same forces that are undoing long-standing industries are empowering small-scale players. There is power in the corner of individuals that there has never been before. To flip Paul Simon's lyrics from "Can't Run", "the music business suffers while the music thrives." The coolest stuff has always come from outside the industry. Now the music trade has a chance to control its own processes, apart from the pressures of corporate imperatives. The tools, the reach, the power of creation is in your hands. Fear not the slow death of the big old tree. Look to the forest floor for shoots of life. BIG PHAT BAND Big Band Jazz is not exactly au courant, but try telling that to certain teenagers -- especially those "in school and college music programs," as reported by Mireya Navarro in The New York Times (3/9/05). "People would think that a lot of people supporting these jazz guys are older people, but a lot of them are high school and college kids who are exposed to the music," says Edward Protzmen, a high school band director. Indeed, "student are a natural market for big bands because these are the most common type of ensemble in most schools." In other words, "students connect better with big bands because more of them could see their instrument being played." Riding high on that reality is Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, a 17-member ensemble that is greeted like pop stars by teens at its concerts. Gordon Goodwin, the band's leader, had previously tried and failed -- twice -- to launch a big band in the '80s and '90s. He didn't make it work until he played a gig at his alma mater, California State University at Northridge. That led to more gigs at schools, and the Big Phat Band was on its way. "His music is so well known by kids that kids want to hear the band," comments Jim Warrick, who coordinates jazz studies at a Chicago-area high school. In part, Gordon's music is known and loved by kids because he's composed music for movies including The Incredibles. Gordon also attributes part of his music's appeal to the fact that he records "with the latest technology," and promotes "the band through email messages, a website, gordongoodwin.com, and music publishing, and doing what pop stars do: offering CDs and T-shirts for sale at concerts, for instance, and staying on with other band members afterward to sign autographs." As far as band members are concerned, the kids make for great audiences: "They're really appreciative," says Andy Martin, a trombonist. "They stand up and yell and scream." The Big Phat Band will play the Hollywood Bowl on June 12, is set to open Disneyland in Hong Kong in the fall, and is now working on its third CD, set for release next year. USELESS WONDERS:
PERSONAL RADIO None is profitable -- yet -- but a small group of innovators is disrupting the airwaves with "peer-to-peer" radio, reports Vaughini Vara in The Wall Street Journal (2/16/05). At Mercora.com, for instance, consumers "can create playlists of their favorite music, and with a few clicks of the mouse, 'broadcast' them over the internet to fellow users." Over at Last.fm, a database of "each user's favorite music" is used "to search for 'neighbors' with similar tastes. Then it creates a customized broadcast for each listener, based on what their neighbors are listening to." And it's not just small players on this field -- America Online "offers a similar service called Shoutcast, shoutcast.com, which attracted close to 200,000 listeners on a recent afternoon." It's all very legal because the music is streamed, not downloaded. The P2P stations also "pay annual fees and royalties" just like traditional radio stations do. The appeal to listeners is pretty clear: "When you've got only 30 slots on a radio dial, you're going to be programming to a lower common denominator," says Raghav Gupta, COO of Live365.com, another P2P radio station. "This opens the world to much more variety and diversity." P2P radio fans also "like the sense of community that comes with listening to playlists compiled by other listeners. Some say it reminds them of rifling through a friend's CD collection." At Mercora, consumers even have the option of joining a chat among fellow listeners as they enjoy the "broadcast." Tom Mara of KEXP, a Seattle radio station, thinks traditional radio should pay attention here: "It's no longer a case of a person in a booth broadcasting to people anonymously ... Now we need to figure out new modes of interaction -- not only between the listener and the station, but between listeners." The P2P stations, meanwhile, need to figure out how to make money. At Live365, you can listen for free, but if you want to "broadcast" it's $9.95 per month. The site also runs some banner ads, as well as some "video and audio commercials during broadcasts. It also offers, for an extra $5.95 a month, a premium service with higherquality sound, more 'stations' and fewer ads." Mercora is running Google's contextual ads, and gets a cut every time a user orders music via Amazon. Last.fm runs ads and solicits donations. None is profitable, although Mercora just nailed a $5 million round of financing. Not everyone thinks that's a good bet, though. "People think they want choice, but they don't want too much choice," says Richard Wolpert of RealNetworks, whose Rhapsody service puts "together individual computerized broadcasts based on survey information," as does Yahoo's Launchcast. Then again, there's Davin Jindrich, happily reports he discovered Japanese pop music through Mercora. Oh, wonderful radio, marvelous radio ... GREEN (YESTER) DAY "The biggest selling artists aren't the ones who make the most money," says Joe Levy, deputy managing editor of Rolling Stone magazine, as quoted by John Leland in The New York Times (2/13/05). "The artists learn the hard way that money comes from concert tickets and T-shirts, not selling records. That's the lesson -- you build a brand over time, and you can sell the brand even if you can't sell the albums." He also notes: "This always comes as a shock to fans." So, yes, hate to break it to you, but Green Day and Gwen Stefani have nothing on Phil Collins and Cher when it comes to making lots of money with their music, according to the "top 50" money-making "pop stars published in Rolling Stone." It's true: "Half of the top 10 headliners are older than 50, and two are over 60. Only one act, Linkin Park, has members under 30. The annual list, which entails some guesswork, reverses the common perception of pop music. Not only is it not the province of youth; it's also not the province of CD sales, hit songs and (racy) videos." Yes, 26-year-old Usher, usherworld.com, did sell the most albums last year, but he "ranked only No. 16 -- well below the rumpled Phil Collins, 54, who ranked No. 8, or Jimmy Buffett, margaritaville.com, age 59, who keeps his abs comfortable and safe behind Hawaiian shirts, and who ranked No. 5," right behind "Elton John, No. 4, Simon and Garfunkel, No. 10, and Sting, No. 15." Pretty much tied at the top of the list are "Prince and Madonna, two 46-year-olds, each of whom earned over $50 million in 2004, having long since stopped driving fans into music stores." Fred Goodman, author of a book called the Mansion on The Hill: Dylan, Young, Geffen, Springsteen and the Head-On Collision of Rock and Commerce" thinks this tells us something about the record business: "It tells you that the record business stinks," he says, adding that "the consumer money is not in the record marketplace." As John Leland observes: "If old songs create more profits than new ones, in a business that claims to sell newness as hipness, then the business is at odds with itself." Tom Calderone of MTV goes as far as to suggest that "musicians aren't just creating new songs. They're creating future old songs." He predicts: "In five or six years, your' going to see Echo and the Bunnymen and New Order and the Cure getting the high ticket prices." You can check out the complete top-50 list at Rollingstone.com.
))) FEATURE Copyright Insight: A "CA" Form Makes it Easy to be Covered by Peter Spellman When a songwriter writes a song it is considered "copyrighted". That is, it is fully protected from infringement or unfair use under U.S. copyright law. However, most writers purchase additional copyright "insurance" through formally registering their works with the Office of Copyright at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. In the music business the two most common registration forms are the PA and SR. The PA (Performing Arts) form is used to register a song (only the musical composition and lyrics) and the SR (Sound Recording) form is used to register the "embodiment" of the song in a sound recording. A person may register as many songs as they wish on a PA or SR, call it "The Collected Works of Joey Singer", Vol. 1", and be granted full copyright protection for each song listed on the form. This is great because for one $30 fee each song gets protected. But what if someone hears one of these songs and wants to cover it? How will they be able to find it in the Copyright Office records? "They won't", says Page Miller, a senior copyright information specialist in D.C. "This is why we created the CA form." The CA (Corrections & Amplifications) form allows you to "amplify" your PA or SR filing so that each of your songs can be individually indexed at the Copyright Office. Now if a band or artist wants to cover a song you've written or recorded, they would be able to look up your name as the song's copyright owner. If the song in question was merely one of, say, ten songs registered on a PA or SR form, it would be protected but it would not allow a person to find it in a copyright search. A CA form registration has nothing to do with giving the song additional protection, it just provides a tracking path to the song's author. You file the CA after you receive your registration number back from the first filing. The total process can take several months. So for a total amount of $60 ($30 for each registration) you can register and protect all your songs, and provide a tracking route to them. Office of Copyright contact info: Download any form you'll need at: http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/forms/ If you want to speak with an Information Specialist at the office of Copyright call: 202-707-5959 Address: Register of Copyrights Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 20559-6000 ))) BIZ SMARTZ: How to Win at Telephone "Tag" Telephone tag, the seemingly endless cycle of calls and returned calls that are missed, is one of the more time-consuming frustrations of business life. Beat the frustration by organizing your telephone tactics. If the person you want to talk with isn't in, and you do want him to call you back:
TO SUBSCRIBE to MUSIC BIZ INSIGHT: send email with the message in the body, "subscribe" to success@mbsolutions.com It's not an autoresponder so feel free to include any other comments, ideas, suggestions, etc. you may have. About the PublisherPETER SPELLMAN is Director of MUSIC BUSINESS SOLUTIONS, a business and marketing consultancy to the music industry, and Director of Career Development at Berklee College of Music, Boston. He is the author of several books for music entrepreneurs and teaches music industry courses at Northeastern University (Boston) and the University of Massachusetts (Lowell). A musician since he was ten, Peter continues to spin riddims in the improvisational collective, Friend Planet and sing Cat Stevens' songs to his kids every night before bed. BLOOM WHERE YOU'RE PLANTED! Quote of the Month-- "It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition. My discovery was the result of my musical perception."- Albert Einstein (when asked about his theory of relativity) Written and published bimonthly by Peter Spellman, Director of MUSIC BUSINESS SOLUTIONS: Turning Music Business Data into Useful Knowledge. Career-building books, articles, training, consulting and more. P.O. Box 230266, Astor Station, Boston, MA 02123-0266, USA Phone: 888-655-8335 Email: success@mbsolutions.com Web site: http://www.mbsolutions.com © 1997 - 2006, Peter Spellman, MBS Business Media, www.mbsolutions.com Please feel free to redistribute with above credit and copyright notice.
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