After Writing

What Rights Are In A Copyright? Compulsory Licenses

2007-02-01T10:26:00.000-06:00

Copyright: the right to control the copying and use of a protected work. Songs are copyrighted works. A song is considered as one whole work, so if it consists of both music and lyrics, and if one person wrote the music and one person wrote the lyrics, there is only one copyright and both authors are holders of that copyright. Each person who was an author of a song is a part copyright owner, no matter how many people there were. However, songs that were written under a "work for hire" agreement belong to the person or company that paid the writer to write the song, and the actual writer has no interest in the copyright. It's important to understand that there is a distinction between the song itself, and any particular recording of the song. Recordings are separate works, and a separate ownership right exists in the recording. Recordings will be discussed in future posts. Generally, a copyright holder completely controls the right to use a work, other than narrow exceptions for reviews and educational use. But songs have an extra peculiarity. Once the song has been recorded and publicly released, any person can acquire what is known as a compulsory license to record the song again. The compulsory license includes a statutorily determined mechanical royalty, so although the copyright holder cannot keep someone from recording the song, the copyright holder must be paid for that use. Right now the mechanical royalty fee is 9.1 cents per song manufactured. This means that if 1000 copies of a CD with your song on it are manufactured, then the recording company or artist must pay you - usually through the Harry Fox Agency - $91. Digital downloads are now the purchasing medium of choice for many people. They are covered by the same compulsory license rules and royalty rate as the traditional CD recording. The only difference is that the seller pays periodically based on the number of downloads sold. Uses of the song other than making a recording are not covered by the compulsory license and statutory royalty rate.

The Bottom Line to Selling Songs

2007-01-29T17:55:00.000-06:00

You may by now be wondering why a lawyer is talking to you about setting performance goals and joining associations. Shouldn't I be talking about how to copyright your songs? The truth is, unless you are good at what you do, organized about how you do it (even if you depend on someone else to keep you organized) and up to date on trends in music, you will never need a lawyer and it'll be a waste of your money to register anything with the copyright office. That's the bottom line. No one will "discover" you if you don't put your music "out there" somehow, and no one will buy it after it's discovered if you don't know who owns what. And if no one's interested in the music, you'll never need a lawyer. So I want you to do well, I really do. And here is your bottom line, stated another way: 1. Study your craft and constantly seek to become better at what you do. 2. Create opportunities to let as many people as possible hear your music. 3. Learn about the business of music - what paperwork do you need, what registrations do you need, what sorts of agreements do you need with your musicians? And then do those things. If you need help with those things, that's perfectly okay. Most musicians have someone in the background who keeps up with papers and the like. But it is up to YOU to make sure that someone is attending to those three things. Because when you are a songwriter, you are the product, and you are ultimately responsible for whether you succeed or fail in the business of selling your music.

Music Business Plan, Part 8

2007-01-29T10:43:00.000-06:00

The last two questions on your survey are related, but different issues:

I have material registered with the copyright office - both songs and recordings.

I have a complete list, somewhere, of what I have written, who wrote the songs, who played on the recordings, and written agreements with those players.

Copyright is a fairly simple concept, with some confusing elements. The gist is this: Any person who creates a "work" owns it and is entitled to determine whether and how it is used. The copyright exists the moment the work is created. You give notice of your copyright by putting the familiar c in circle mark, or simply writing the word "Copyright" followed by the year of creation and the name of the owner. In the United States, the ownership of that copyright can be registered with the US Copyright Office, which gives the owner the right to enforce their rights of copyright in the court system, if necessary. It is not necessary to register works that you do not intend to do anything with, but when you begin to pitch songs, you should make sure that you register those pieces with the copyright office. The second question is actually the more important of the two, and often much harder for artistic minded songwriters to answer positively. The nature of the music business is such that there is often a very long time period from creation to use, and as such it is extremely important to keep records of your material. Particularly if you are selling finished recordings for use in various media, you will need to be able to show that you have full rights to sell the use of the recording and to collect money for it. Which means, of course, that you have to have those rights and have the records and contracts to prove it.

I'm sure this is useful somehow

2007-01-26T11:05:00.000-06:00

MySpace is still a bit of a mystery to me. I continue to slowly stumble around and figure out what can be done with it. This morning I discovered something that I haven't seen talked about, although I'm sure there are people out there who know this. My musical specialty area is what I am increasingly calling "country that's not really country" because a consistent name for the genre seems to be quite elusive. Various terms include americana, alt-country, and roots rock - among others. This morning I was searching on myspace for profiles that enjoy that type of music. I searched all three terms and discovered an interesting bit of trivia. The term of choice in Texas and North Carolina seems to be americana. The term of choice in the rest of the south is alt-country. And roots rock is the term of choice outside the US and in Hawaii. Keep in mind these are probably statistically unreliable studies, but it was striking to me that the regional differences stood out so clearly. So if you work in a type of music that is not clearly categorized, keep in mind there may be regional differences in how people will recognize what you play - when you need to describe your music it is invaluable to reference similar artists as well as type of music.

Associate Yourself

2007-01-25T09:18:00.000-06:00

Music Business Plan, part 7 The next questions on the survey are: I belong to the following music related associations: Of these, I find the following to be useful: Of the others, I have/have not taken advantage of their services. y/n For a working songwriter that hopes to sell, you must be at least somewhat involved in the industry. Which means you should know something about the business of music other than what you learn in the celebrity newspapers. There are lots and lots of music related associations out there, and many of them have valuable services and networking opportunities available. Joining an association will not ensure your success, but joining the right ones and taking advantage of all they have to offer you will certainly move you forward on your overall business plan. Look for national associations as well as local or regional associations, and attend meetings when you can. Conventions are great networking opportunities. Read newsletters and magazines they provide. Check out the discounts and benefits they offer (some even offer things like group health insurance plans!) . Read their membership lists and use your common membership as the basis of opening an information interview with successful people you want to learn from. If you currently belong to one or more associations, evaluate whether you are benefitting from your membership. If you are not, check the association out the door and look for one that is a better use of your money. The Texas Music Office has compiled a great list of music related organizations to get you started. You will be overwhelmed when you see the number of groups that are out there, but it will be time well spent for you to plow through and find groups that are of interest to you. Just the information on the websites alone will make it worth your time, even if you never join a thing. So check it out here.

Music Business Plan, part 6

2007-01-22T11:08:00.000-06:00

Do you have an answer for this question? The right market for my music is _________ Songs are used in LOTS of places. We tend to think about songwriting in conjunction with what we hear on the radio, and country, rock and pop acts do in fact buy songs. But there are also huge amounts of music used in other places. Some examples:

movies
television shows
video and computer games
cable tv shows
national commercials
local commercials
event videos (weddings, graduations, memorials, etc)
political campaigns

These sources use all different types of music - all genres, with and without vocals, all tempos, short, long, simple to complex arrangements - and many of these markets can be approached without needing to find a publisher. Try this experiment - carry a notebook with you for two days and write down everytime you hear music, where it was and what type. Don't forget telephone hold music and even ringtones. At the end of the two days, you will have a good list of markets to think about.

Music Business Plan, part 5

2007-01-22T10:37:00.000-06:00

How did you answer these questions: I have sold a song or two (or more).

I know what genre the music industry would classify my music as. y/n

If you are a songwriter, you should be trying to sell songs.

The exception is if you write only songs that you, your band, or a specific band with which you are associated perform, AND that band is successful enough that you are making your whole living from it, AND you are only interested in writing the type of song that band uses AND you only write enough songs for that band.

Unless the above exception applies to you, you should be trying to sell songs if you are a songwriter. Oh, I just thought of another exception: you have a trust fund and don't want anyone to know who you are.

Anyway, you get the point. If you write songs, at some point you a) want those songs to be heard, and 2) would like to make a little money. So you should be trying to sell songs. The tough part is doing it. If you have already sold one or two, great. Think about how you sold them - was it a pure fluke? Or did you seek out a market and make a pitch? Did you make your own pitch, or do you have a publisher that made it for you? Think about whether you can capitalize on your prior sale. Even if the sale was a fluke, are there contacts that you made as a result that you can nurture? If you sought out the sale, maintain the contact that you made. Good contacts can also be a source of industry information or related contacts. You must have networking skills to do this - or you must associate yourself with a partner, publisher, or agent of some sort who has networking skills. Now think about genre. Musicians have a tendency to rebel against categorizing their music, but to sell you must be able to do this. You don't necessarily have to write to a genre, but you must know the genres, you must know how the industry, rather than your fellow musicians, understand those genres, and you must be able to fit your songs into a genre. Song buyers use words to describe what they are looking for, and they will typically use words that describe a genre - and then they will throw in references to well-known acts, tempos, and possibly the emotion or feel of a song. So you'll have to know what the genres are, how they relate to your music, and you'll also have to know the major acts in those genres.

Music Business Plan, part 4

2007-01-15T13:19:00.000-06:00

Next question: I perform as much as I would like, yes or no? If the answer is no, here are some things to consider. Not all will apply to everyone, of course, so find the items that might make sense for you, and put them on your "think about it" list.

find a new person to handle your booking
if you have a pretty good regular audience draw, approach a professional booking agent
expand your performances into a new geographical area
replace current band members with ones that can commit more performance/travel time
tap into the corporate event market
tap into the summer festival circuit
if you do only band gigs, develop a solo/duo version that can perform happy hours and smaller venues
if you do only solo/duo gigs, add a band to perform in larger venues
pair up with another working act and open on their regular gigs, let them open for you on your regular gigs
revamp your promotional materials
get some sales training if you are doing your booking

Music Business Plan part 3

2007-01-15T11:14:00.000-06:00

How did you answer this? I record demos and am happy with how they sound y/n If you are a working musician you need a demo, and in most cases you need many demos. You need demos for booking gigs. Your demos should match the type of performance you are trying to book, so if you work with both a band and solo, you need demos showing each style. If you book gigs of mostly covers, you need a demo of covers. Booking personnel want to hear a demo that sounds like the thing they are trying to book, so unless you only perform one kind of show, you should have a variety of demos to choose from. You need demos if you are selling music. For each song you'd like to sell, you need to demo it. The demo need not be elaborate, but it should be musically sound, with vocals that stay on pitch, and with high enough sound quality that the listener does not need to strain to hear it. You may also need demos if you are looking for an agent, a label, a manager, or a producer. If you review your demo collection and determine that you don't have all you need or that you need to upgrade your quality, make a plan. Will you buy home recording equipment (these days, even low end equipment and an operator who understands how to record can produce fairly high quality recordings)? Will you book studio time? Do you need to take a class on using equipment you already have? Do you need to find more/better musicians for your recordings? Do you need to bring in an experienced engineer or producer?

Music Business Plan part 2

2007-01-11T10:57:00.000-06:00

Today let's look at those of you who identified yourself as one of the following:

a songwriter
an arranger
a producer
an engineer

Again, the goal here is to make more money, so we look for ways to either expand your opportunities, or better exploit those that already exist. A songwriter might consider expanding into one or more of the other three areas. This would potentially save money in creating demos, if you've been paying other people to do these things, or it would improve the quality of your demos if you've been doing it yourself without real skill or knowledge. Taking the time to learn one or more of these other crafts could expand your opportunities. Songwriters should also consider improving or learning new music related skills. Are you a strong lyricist but know limited music theory? Consider taking theory classes or partnering up with an instrumentalist for your songs. If you play guitar, you could consider piano lessons to expand your musical knowledge, hopefully to the benefit of your songwriting. Also consider the types of songs you write, and whether you can expand your area. A wider variety of songs may be the answer to more song sales - or maybe just shifting to a type with wider appeal and, therefore, wider sales potential. This doesn't mean you have to give up a type of song that you love, but if the market is small for your niche, then you'll have more opportunities to make money if you add either other niches or one larger market.

Music Business Plan, part one

2007-01-09T11:32:00.000-06:00

Now that you've had time to think about the survey in the previous post, it's time to use that as the basis for building a plan for the new year. The plan I want you to build is one that is designed to earn money from your music, so I'll be focusing on two things as I go through the survey in the next few posts: areas where you can expand your opportunities to make money, and areas where you can better utilize your current opportunities to make money. The first two questions were : I am:

a performer
a songwriter
an arranger
a producer
an engineer

I write: Lyrics /Music /Arrangements

And our review is based on finding areas where you can either expand your opportunities or better access yoru current opportunities.

So let's start with those who identified themselves as performers. The base question here is - how much time do you have available to perform, and how much would you like to have available? If you have a fulltime day job, then you are basically available to perform in town on weeknights and out of town on Saturday. And that's it. If you want to expand the amount of money you make from performing, then you either need to create a strategy to reduce your dependence on a fulltime job, or you need to create a strategy to increase the proceeds from the few gigs you are able to do.

If you want to increase your proceeds without increasing the time, you should be looking at which types of performance pay the best - maybe you want to market yourself more as a hired studio musician, or you want to up your chops and market yourself as a locally available side guy for big acts who need subs. Maybe you could devise a way to get a piece - or a bigger piece - of merchandise sales by creating new things to market. Maybe you simply need to move to a different band that gets paid better than your current band. Maybe you need to take on additional duties in the band that would give you a bigger share of any money made. Or maybe you need to find a series of regular weekly or monthly gigs with a variety of bands that would keep your schedule full on a regular basis. Or maybe you have a good series of gigs now, but your draw has increased over time and you can approach the venue about increasing your pay.

Next up: Songwriters and ways they can increase money opportunities.

Goals to Move Your Music Forward

2007-01-03T20:55:00.000-06:00

Yes, it's cliche, but this is a good time to review your life and career. If you are a musician, you are almost certainly self-employed, which means motivation and focus is all on you. This is a good time to review your self-business plan, and to make some plans and goals. In the next few days I'll discuss some things you should consider doing based upon where you are now.

I am:

a performer

a songwriter

an arranger

a producer

an engineer

I write: Lyrics Music Arrangements

I record demos and am happy with how they sound y/n

I perform as much as I would like.

I have sold a song or two (or more).

The right market for my music is _________

I know what genre the music industry would classify my music as. y/n

I belong to the following music related associations: Of these, I find the following to be useful: Of the others, I have/have not taken advantage of their services. y/n

I have material registered with the copyright office - both songs and recordings.

I have a complete list, somewhere, of what I have written, who wrote the songs, who played on the recordings, and written agreements with those players.

Next time we'll talk about some goals you should consider setting for yourself.

Why Are You Making a Demo?

2006-12-19T12:08:00.000-06:00

Writing songs is a business. A creative business, but nonetheless a business. And to be successful at converting your songs to money, you have to think strategically about everything you do after the song is written. Starting with the demo. Suppose you write a song. You're pleased with it, you think it has potential to be successful. So you whip out your 4 or 8 track recorder and make a demo. Or maybe you like the song so much you whip out your credit card and book some studio time. When your demo is done, and you're happy with it, you start to think about what you want to do with it. Some options:

use the demo to teach your own band the song
use the demo to pitch your act to live venues
use the demo to pitch your act to record labels
use the demo to pitch the song to a music publisher
use the demo to pitch the song to a specific artist
pitch the song for use in a soundtrack (movie, tv, internet)

With the exception os useing the demo as a work tape for your own band, the demo for each of the above options must meet certain requirements in order to work for each purpose. If you didn't record the demo with the purpose in mind, there is a really good chance that your demo will not be of use to you.

For example:

if you recorded it solo acoustic, it won't work to book a four piece electric band (and vice versa)
a rough cut demo won't give a label a good enough idea of your sound
a medium quality recording may be sifficient for a msuci publisher who pitches only the songs themselves, but a high quality recording will be necessary if the recording itself is to be pitched, as in to movie and tv productions
demos for a specific artist typically need to be in a key and voice similar to the artist you are pitching
any use of your original recording in a film, tv, internet or other similar project will require you to demonstrate that you have the right to license the work. That means you will have to be able to produce clearances on the use of the performance from all musicians and others who worked on the recording. Did you have contracts with the performers?

Rough cut demos made with your own equipment will never cause you a problem, but they may very well not be what you need. On the other hand, an elborately produced recording for which you spent money on a studio and musicians may turn out to be a complete waste of money if it's not right for your ultimate purpose.

Before you spend money or substantial time on a demo recording, BE SURE you think through the purpose of your demo and get all your details in order so that you can move forward with the demo as a valuable part of your business plan.

Consider Music Publishers

2006-12-14T11:42:00.000-06:00

I attended a mixer hosted by the Austin Music Foundation the other night. (This is a really great group, by the way, which offers a wide variety services to musicians who are serious about building a career. It's worth checking out if you are in the central Texas area) During a conversation I was having with a songwriter, she made the comment, in passing, that of course she was planning to keep her own publishing rights because she understood she would make more money that way. I've heard that before, and I think it is a pretty common belief among many musicians. Most large record labels require their acts to sign over the publishing rights to their songs as another way to make money - or recoup their expenses, depending on how you look at it. For most acts, little to no benefit is gained by the act in that type of arrangement. But the truth is that a good music publishing company is well worth looking into. The publishers' job is to sell your songs. And they do have incentive to do so, because that's how they make their money. A good publisher will have lots of industry contacts to keep posted on who is looking for music. They'll also subscribe to the insider tip sheets - valuable material for someone serious about selling songs, but very expensive for an individual who is only selling their own catalogue. Bottom line is that if you want to sell songs, you should be courting music publishers as well as the end user buyers. But choose a publisher carefully. Research and ask questions like these:

what is your major market
what is your marketing plan
what is the average number of placements each month/year
what is the retention/turnover rate of your artists
how large is your catalogue
how many people in your sales force
how are your sales representative recruited
how are sales representatives trained
what are your genres

Ultimately, what you are looking for is a publisher that actively searches for opportunities and has a sales plan to includes all of its catalogue. Answers to these and other questions will help you find a publisher that can actually make you money.

Craft is Step One

2006-12-12T11:26:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to be clear that the information in this blog is aimed at people who have good, completed work already. I'm a lawyer, not a songwriter, and I can't help you write a song. I can tell you how to be in a pretty good position to sell your song, and I can tell you how to make good decisions about your business. Business? Yes, if you are a songwriter or an author, you have a business. And you need to do business kinds of things, like having contracts and seeking business, legal and tax advice. You may not need to do all that now, but if you start to make money with your songs, you will need to do that or find yourself losing out later on. So here's what I want you to do: 1. Study your craft, whatever it is. Continue to study it. Learn not only all the technical aspects, but stay up on new equipment, and new techniques of whatever it is that you do. 2. If you plan to make money with your craft, study the industry. Continue studying the industry. You must know what people want to buy.