How PROs Collect & Distribute Royalties (Part.1)

Authors, composers and publishers have the right, but not the obligation, to register with Performing Rights Organizations (a.k.a Collection Societies, internationally) for the collection of royalties.
The primary function of PROs is the intermediation between copyright holders and entities who wish to use their music publicly (ex. a business establishment that broadcasts background music).

They can take the role of your lobbyist, your “agents”, and most importantly, your royalty collectors.

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Redefining the "Hit Song"

Go to any service that reports “hit songs” and what you read is based on downloads, song sales or spins. How to determine the top spots on a “hit song” list was conceived by major record and radio industry players years ago; with the exception of adding “downloads,” it remains pretty much the same. Major record and radio industry players literally define “success,” and they keep the number of successful music groups low (to maximize profits).

The change is this: With an increase in internet music play and sales outlets over the past decade, tens of thousands of quality artists have an ability to reach fans in ways that are not measured. My hunch is that even if there were a universal system, the radio industry and record labels would refuse to acknowledge the numbers.

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Make Money From Your Music - Songwriter Royalties

Making money from your music.

All those hours spent working out tunes on the guitar, or those long nights in front of the computer finishing your hip-hop track. You obviously enjoy making music, but you would like to see some financial reward for your effort. We all know making money is hard work, but this article looks at songwriter royalties and some of the issues you need to be aware of.

If you are a songwriter and wish to earn money from your songs then you will most likely need to sign an agreement with a publisher.

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Amplage: 0.5 Facebook - Passive Consumption.

Hey readers, I know this might not be best fitting to a music technology blog however I think it is necessary I annoyingly voice my opinions and thoughts on this new manner of passive consumption I have found in the complex of Facebook. Being that I freelance in a media saturated industry I do my best to keep in touch with as much online journalism in the music industry as I can.

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Music Marketing 2.0: Bethel Music Leverages Affiliate Links to Boost Revenue

Musical group Bethel Music now earns additional revenue on top of music sales by promoting its newest album–For the Sake of the World–through refer.ly iTunes affiliate links, giving them more resources to make the music that they and their fans love.

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11 tips/tricks I used to make a following on Soundcloud with 4 CiTieS

In this article I will review the things I did to get 3,500 followers and 20,000 plays on soundcloud. Eleven simple and helpful tips/tricks that will definitely help you gain more activity in your soundcloud profile. The article contains also a 14 minutes youtube video where I go through each point with examples from my experience in the such social network.

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Gaining Your Instrument’s Respect

Brilliant! Imagine, instead of spending hours and hours of practicing, all you have to do is put your pillow on your guitar, enter dreamland and when you wake up you overnight evolved from a clueless guitar noob to the next Jimi Hendrix. Admittedly, an appealing idea…

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How to Get More Fans on Facebook

During a consulting session earlier this week, I was asked “How do you get more fans on Facebook?”

I began by talking about the usual techniques: advertising the Facebook page, better cross-promoting with other sites, increasing engagement, etc. However, the more that I thought about the question, the more I realized it was the wrong question. Many artists are constantly looking for ways to increase the number of followers on their Facebook or Twitter. They even buy fake followers to do so. But the bigger question isn’t amount how to get more fans on Facebook, it should be more about how to get more fans, period.

When you are staring at your Facebook fan page and are thinking about how to increase the number of likes, think about the bigger picture: how can you increase the number of fans. Who cares if you have a large number of followers but no one buying your music or attending the shows? When you increase the number of genuine fans, your social media metrics automatically increase.

So how do you get more fans? Many of the important thoughts about this are covered in The Best Social Media Site for Bands as well as in How to Develop a Hardcore Fan Base. Enjoy 

2nd Life LIVE at The Corner House Pub

Midweek Rock! 2nd Life will be LIVE on stage every Wednesday evening at The Corner House Pub in Fourways. Be there, No Cover Charge

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Amplage: 0.4 Small Word of Advice - Working as a sound engineer

Today I’d like to discuss with you some invaluable information about working as a sound engineer. Whether it is in the studio or as a live engineer you are always providing a service for a client/customer and you must do your best to accommodate their needs.

This rant is brought on by my music ventures of Friday. I went to watch some amazing musicians perform for a University event and the musical content was completely butchered by a tech team who seemed to be a bit in the dark of their job role. Then later on during the day I watched Evermore and Maroon 5 perform at Rod Laver where I saw some people who obviously are very much into their job and were in complete control of the situations.

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Finding Your Online Voice

When you are just getting started online – whether it’s a blog or you’ve just taken over a Facebook fanpage, or you have to do a video or put out a podcast, I won’t lie, it’s going to feel weird and it’s going to feel like everyone will judge you. You’ll feel awkward, you might sweat, you’ll start to find excuses for not doing the thing you have to do and before you know it, you’ve probably hit the whisky and passed out on the couch. I’m here to tell you that EVERYONE feels like this the first time. The trick is to work at it and have fun with it and most of all, don’t beat yourself up over it.

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UK Musicians get double dose of good news

UK Music, a body representing musicians and others in the UK music industry, which suggests that as many as 13,000 venues in England and Wales could now potentially play host to live music for the first time ever.

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Practical Music Theory

There’s some debate among musicians and songwriters about the value of learning music theory. At one extreme are those who feel that learning a set of “rules” will only limit their creativity, and at the other end are those who are truly interested in understanding how the parts of a musical piece work together.
Both extremes have some validity to their viewpoints, but they ARE extremes – most people fall somewhere in the middle. They see the value in knowing more than they do, but may be intimidated by the topic or may not see the value in knowing about it.

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Free peek at broken system of music reporting rights

Dirty secret: Musicians and songwriters all know that if their music is being played commercially, the reports they are getting back are more than likely wrong. Cue sheets and affidavits are routinely entrusted to interns to fill out – sometimes by hand. One misspelled song title and the artists wave goodbye to their royalties.  In fact, over 80% of music played commercially is either unreported or misreported.

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