TalkMusicBiz, Music Promotions & Using Social Media Site YouTube

I know my readers yearn for tips on getting there music heard, so I went to one of my favorite social media sites and video-sharing sites, YouTube, and subscribed to TalkMusicBiz because they always upload videos geared towards the music business and give proven to be successful ideas on how to market your business or just some new twists on music promotions.  In this new video that I’m going to talk about today, the speaker George discusses social media skills along with music marketing and other “geo-tagged methods” one can adapt to on YouTube. I wanted to share these tips he used for a band with you, my readers, because they will beneficial and advantageous to you and your music exposure. 

It was nice that he brought up keyword threading and how important that is for promoting music on social media networks and indeed, your choice of keywords are of the upmost importance in any social media campaign and for social media optimization, but that I will save for another blog post. He began to talk about this local Hawaiian band called Kapala that he only did a slideshow for because at the time they could not afford a video. They were a brand new band and he promoted their song on YouTube by using demo description type keywords that were Hawaiian related. For example, in the subject title for the slideshow, he included the title of their song, their name, and Hawaiian music, all in the same title. And then in the description box, he put Hawaiian music, their location and zip code, and clubs they had played at, both recently and awhile back.

(youtube.com)

George even created tags with Hawaiian keywords and that helped boost their views up to 1,200 on the first two days of the upload! He made a good point in that the title of your YouTube video should have included in it the style of your music and perhaps the sub culture group within that style because that will help people find you. I agree that you should always take time and put information in the description box because I do notice that people forget to fill that out and it is a decisive move that can help get your video placed well in a search engine query. Another tip he suggested was to put your performance list and what town you are from in your description box. All of these YouTube promotional tips can bring in large audiences that may otherwise skip over your video while searching for music without these extra keywords or added descriptions.

Adding your url with the whole protocol, and the http, is always smart to have completed for any online promotion when using social media. You must also have an active url so people can actually see and hear your music or videos when they click on the link! Thank you George and TalkMusicBiz for these great music promotions tips and I will be giving more disserts about this channel and their tips very soon for you guys so join my mailing list so you don’t ever miss out!

Source: http://youtu.be/xLkh-JCYqNE

Are Digital Downloads Making the Cut or Are They Steadily Dropping the Ball?

I just started a new Digital Marketing course at Full Sail University and I wanted to write a blog post this week based on some fresh ideas on songwriting and the digital evolution. I can tell this will only be the beginning of my quest of connecting the industry and the digital  download world because the two will only continue to coincide with one another as time goes on. As I am always searching online for both new and experienced bloggers in the industry, I stumbled upon music strategist Jay Frank’s blog titled “FutureHit.DNA”, and I thought the name of the blog was super catchy to the eyes of a songwriter. Browsing though his row of informative posts, I found one that seemed to really have some solid truth to it and I wanted to share my thoughts on his opinion about the future and power of digital downloads.

The post is titled “Digital Downloads Still Key For Future Hits” and he starts off asking the question if one has ever moved 12. 5 million units of anything, and my first reaction was no, but I sure would love to! I was a little mystified myself when he started to talk about how global tech and business research companies such as Forrester Research felt about what that 12. 5 million units in digital downloads may mean for the music business. Music insiders probably strongly feel that because the increase only represented a 1 % increase from 2009 to 2010 compared to the 13 and 28 % increases they saw from the year before, that that automatically means the digital downloads format is failing the music business and is dropping dead. I do not believe that to be true because all I hear from other music lovers is whose album they just recently downloaded from iTunes or Rhapsody or their favorite artists’ websites.

I agree with Jay Frank that digital downloads is actually growing, and that it will be big business for the future songwriter. As he mentioned, digital downloads have grown 10 % and added almost 44 million downloads to last year’s total downloads and that is an industry that is not faltering by any means. I was amazed when he said that digital downloads have had three times more growth this year than it did all of last year! Songwriters and artists are readily catching onto the digital landscape more and more each day and are starting to think more about how to utilize the digital concept for increased sales purposes.

The author went on talking about “ the wider breadth of songs being sold in decent numbers” and the rise of on-demand video streaming for example, and I have to agree again. There are so many artists and songs out now in digital format, everyone can now get a comfortable piece of the digital market pie, not just the top 5 selling artists. Well, they are always going to have a more ample share but at least a less known or popular artist can strive to reach those same formerly only traditional means of selling millions of units through the indie digital route. Consumers download from so many sites and purchase downloads from both known and unknown artists and will download whatever they can from songs to videos to podcasts. 

(futurehit.dna.com)

 I have also noticed how platinum selling artists have lately begun to stick with promoting just singles and not albums and in many ways, that is a very smart move, because people aren’t seeking to buy entire albums anymore and give a thousand reasons why they don’t any longer, from bad contemporary music being produced to the economy. Artists are making money from leaking singles even before the album is complete and heavily promote them for more massive results. Selling huge numbers of units based solely on singles seems to be the path the digital music world is taking and is based on the current mindset of the new digital consumer.

I encourage you all to visit Jay Frank’s blog when you get a chance.

References:

Here is a link to Jay Frank’s blog on the Internet: http://blog.futurehitdna.com/

Are e-Readers Wiping out Paper Books For Good?

Kindle. Nook. iPad. These are all examples of what is called an e-reader. An e-reader is a portable electronic device that people use primarily for the purpose of reading digital periodicals and books. I was actually thinking of purchasing one myself since it is one of the most booming technology buzzes around. One can even turn his or her iPod Touch into an e-reader just by acquiring e-reader applications. As I was contemplating that, I came across a YouTube video titled “What e-Reader Means for Books”, since I am also of thinking of self-publishing my own urban fiction novel in the future. That is a project in the making.

The video itself is a clip from CBSnews.com and is a matter-of-fact discussion with journalist and author of “What Would Google Do?” Jeff Jarvis. It starts off with the gentlemen talking about the soaring sales of the Kindle e-reader from Amazon and whether or not paper books are heading to extinction. I did not realize that back in Christmas of 2009 that Amazon actually sold more electronic books than real physical books. I agree with Jeff that everything that can become digital, will become digital. You can store so much on these e-readers and they are portable and convenient; info comes to you right at the speed of light practically.

The publishing business has to be able to keep up with the changes of authors not needing a middleman much longer because the format of the book is changing. An author can just put his or her book on Kindle on their own time in a quick second, and really may not need the publisher or retail chain to get their books out to the public. I agree with the author that the decline in popularity that has been happening with newspapers will happen with physical books as well. However, I am enjoying the idea that once a digital book is published, an author can still go back and edit and correct things and that that book becomes searchable online, unlike the traditional solid book. I am praying that printed books will still be around in the next decade because there will never be anything close to the joy that comes with the pleasure of opening up a physical book, holding it in your hands and turning the pages as you get more and more into the story. 

Reference: http://youtu.be/6JzjN7MvbRo

Cecil Murphey's Writer to Writer Blog

Hello all! I am excited to say that I have just begun the start of the second week of my new class called Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution. In our class, we have to participate in what is called a Collaboration Assignment where each student is required to add helpful links and comments on the board every week that they have researched and used or that they think someone else may use. It has proven to be very beneficial to the class already. One student posted a link to blogger Cecil Murphey and earlier this week I decided to click on it and check him out and I was happily surprised at the content I found on his blog, Writer to Writer. Here is a YouTube video with Mr. Murphey about the start of his blog:

As the video mentioned, Murphey originally was going to write a book for writers and it didn’t work out. He was also working as a mentor working with writers and that became too much for him to do everyday. His assistant finally insisted that he do a writer’s blog after the book idea was flat lined. Murphey decided he would then do a twice a week blog where he will write short blog entries that give bits of informative advice from a longtime writer to other writers searching for help.

Cecil has more than a few hundred followers on his blog and most are likely writers themselves. I really like how his blog gives real world advice and gets to the point. For this class, I was fascinated by his knowledge on how to approach possible agents and where to go to find them, like writing conferences. He gives writers a list of do’s and don’ts based on his own experience. He makes excellent points about how to make money writing and what to look for in a contract. These are all vital things a new writer needs to know. Murphey even has blog entries on the other roles a literary agent plays in a writer’s life other than negotiating contracts and I thought that was very savvy of him.

All of his followers’ comments have been positive because he has helped them in their quest to becoming better and more profitable writers. I have decided to follow his blog as well and have provided the link below to that and his website. On his blog, he has a few other links to other websites of his from his radio show to male survivors of sexual abuse. In his member profile on blogger.com he states, “The more I give, the more I receive. Or to put it another way, the more I teach others about writing, the better my own writing.” And that is true about everything in life.

http://themanbehindthewords.com/
http://cecmurpheyswritertowriter.blogspot.com/

An Evening Interview with Entertainment & Business Attorney Alonzo Alston

I was happy that for my last week in my Advanced Entertainment Law we were given the assignment to search for a potential attorney to interview that has experience in our fields and can assist us in our business plans. I went about on my search and hit gold very quickly when I was referred to a Mr. Alonzo M. Alston of North Carolina and was even happier when he decided to have a two hours plus long chat with me at the end of his busy workday. Below is an excerpt of the conversation that Mr. Alston and I had as we exchanged questions, thoughts and opinions on common legal matters in the music industry and for independent recording labels.

Attorney Alonzo M. Alston ( lawyers.justia.com)

Q: Hi Mr. Alston. How are you? Can you please state your name and job title and what it is that you do in entertainment business?

A: Yes. My name is Alonzo M. Alston aka Mac (giggles). I am an Entertainment and Business attorney in North Carolina. I mostly deal with litigation and IP work.

Q: How do I best protect myself against copyright infringers on my clients’ and staff’s lyrics and sound recordings?

A: Please have a legal budget for copyright infringement lawsuits at your company. Get business insurance and get incorporated. Everything needs to be registered. Do not forget about producer agreements. Honestly, I do not think piracy is as big an issue as people think. If you are going to do a website as you say you will for your business, only provide snippets of your artists’ music on it.

Q: What are some website concerns a business like mine should watch out for, in your opinion?

A: Look out for hackers! YouTube is always amazing for promotion on your website. Try to always control your sound/editing on your website. Be careful what you put on your site and don’t think that no one is paying your site any attention. As you grow in popularity and even before, someone will notice lol.

Q: How do you reduce liability issues with software or websites?

A: Try to keep everything in-house with your staff. Just like you said you were in reading about in class, make sure all of your workers understand the privacy laws and electronic agreements. Get the right permissions and keep what you can keep “original” content on your website. Like you mentioned, have a website disclaimer apologizing if you were to infringe.

Q: What do you think about these 360 deals that record labels are creating in order to gain on all the profits an artist is ranking in?

A: For the most part this is great for the record labels and bad for the artists. The relationship an artist has with his label is important in this deal. It is only good when the artist is able to get 50% of everything and the label has the artist involved in many parts of the industry.

Q: Have you ever come across a client claiming joint ownership on a work after the fact?

A: Oh yes. Agreement is highly important! Anyone can claim they did a song so you need a formal agreement in place. Registration has to be done in the beginning. People tend to forget that when they’re making music, they have to get their business together too. There aren’t too many cases of attorneys wanting to do these types of cases and a lot of times it is because the client is broke!

Q: What is the best method for when negotiating a license fee for a permission request?

A: Read as many books as you can on this. Know what the compulsory royalty rate is. Negotiate for a fraction of the cost if you are only using a fraction of a song. Research the sample and explain to the copyright owner that you just need a master license so you can make them rich! Do your best to talk directly with the copyright owner because that will help you.

Q: What are some works/products/services that in your practice you have seen recording labels trademark or copyright most often when starting a business?

A: A lot of urban recording labels are very slow when in comes to copyrighting their music until the business grows. They lose out. They only get more serious when merchandising is involved. I will like to stress the importance of having an accountant and lawyer around for any contracts and to keep track of your revenue streams and numbers as much as you can as an owner or music publisher, if you choose to go that route. Allow the attorney to help you manage.

Me: Wow, great advice. Thank you Mr. Alston for the wonderful expert advice this evening. Excellent. 

Mr. Alston: You’re very welcome. Have a good evening and I hoped this helped and call me for anything else and for any questions you may have in the future. Goodnight! 

Mr. Alston can be reached at the following:

http://lawyers.justia.com/lawyer/alonzo-m-alston-1485208

and

http://www.McAlpinePLLC.com/

Who is Suing Who in Entertainment? 3 Copyright Infringement Stories to Learn From

Hey readers, I am back! I was browsing through some recent controversies online today and came across three of many stories revolving around copyright infringement and liabilities in the music industry that people are talking about and wanted to share my opinion on each of them.

I first visited the infamous allhiphop.com website and noticed a picture of Southern rappers the Ying Yang Twins and saw the title next to their picture saying “Rappers Sue CBS, CNET for Millions Over Illegal Downloads” and I could pretty much guess what was coming next lol. The article said how they and other money-making rappers, including 2 Live Crew and Pretty Ricky, were suing CBS’ Interactive’s website CNET because they were the main distributor of Limewire, the oh so popular peer to peer sharing software. They claimed CBS made large sums of money off of the downloads and advertisements people saw while using Limewire and basically are suing for copyright infringement and are seeking millions in damages, court costs, attorney fees and I am sure other things will pop up as this goes on.  (allhiphop.com)

Now I do agree that CBS does owe these rappers some compensation, but I wonder how will they calculate an exact amount? Royalties themselves aren’t even 100% accurate. Truthfully, a number of the rappers the article mentioned seem to be struggling financially period and I don’t think Limewire or CBS or CNET should take all the blame for their dire situations. I feel like a fair judgment will be made in this case but I feel this may later sprawl out of control because if they win a considerable amount, that opens the door for every singer or rapper to file suit against CNET and that will be a whirlwind circus because artists will be asking for more than what they are even owed thinking they should be overcompensated for their losses.

 http://www.allhiphop.com/stories/news/archive/2011/05/04/22743559.aspx

On to the next one! I was on the urbandaily website and saw an article about superstar rap mogul Jay-Z that I actually heard on the radio the other day so was more curious to read up on it because it involved another country and their moral rules. Jay-Z is being sued a 2^nd time for his sampling of Baligh’s Hamdy song “ Khosara Khosara” for his big hit in 2000 called “Big Pimpin”...one of my fav records I must say. The family is actually suing others including EMI and MTV in the suit and said that in 1995, they only licensed the right for Jay-Z to mechanilly reproduce the song for sound recordings while Jay-Z and his team thought they obtained all the proper permission...but maybe not so, according to Egyptian law. Egyptian copyright law holds different standards for what they call economic rights (which is solely what the family offered Jay-Z) versus moral rights, which the family says Jigga did by “mutilating” the original song by sampling it and changing it up and did so without the permission of his Hamdy’s four children.

This was interesting to read because the Judge in this case is actually “willing to entertain the nuances” of what the Egyptian law says despite a lack of U.S subject matter jurisdiction. I do not think the plaintiffs will win this case based on moral rights alone and because they are up against the “big dogs” in entertainment, but I am positive there will be a case here and that the end result will set a precedent for future similar cases that will arise in music because the industry has evolved internationally and more artists will be using samples of songs from other countries and cultures. Everyone is so focused on getting permission and licenses to use compositions and sound recordings for economic uses as the article says, and never allow any moral uses or rights or possible issues to come into play in their decision to use these original records. It is a lot for an artist or label to think about because of the possible costs and aggravation associated with trying to prove you took all the right steps and got all the legal permissions and licenses to use a foreign sample. I think for Jay-Z it was all worth it and he will think that even after the case is over.

http://theurbandaily.com/music/theurbandailystaff2/jay-z-being-sued-over-big-pimpin-sample/ (youtube)

The third article that I had to check out was titled “ Rihanna being sued for ‘S&M’ music video” and I said ohh boy! It was funny because I am a fan of Rihanna and thought this was a great visually appealing and fun video. Famous fashion photographer David LaChapelle , who directed Gwen Stefani’s ‘Rich Girl’ and Britney Spears ‘Everytime’ video to name a few, said in his lawsuit that the video is based on eight of his photographs and Tweeted “ The next time you make a David LaChapelle music video you should probably hired David LaChapelle.” He claimed the video duplicated and copied the mood, tone, props, wardrobe, and composition etc of images he produced and hasn’t disclosed how much he is seeking in damages. Riri’s people have yet to release a statement about the video or his lawsuit.

(youtube)

Her video now has over 24 million views on youtube and is probably due to the controversy surrounding the video itself like the overtly sexy content the article mentions, but hey, the song is called S&M! I agree with the director Melina Matsoukas because the video could not be played down, it was supposed to have whips and leather and other crazy stuff to live up to its name. I am anxious to see what LaChapelle is asking for and if he can really prove that they stole his images because what some of the things he mentioned are images I would conjure up myself for a video of this nature. I honestly think this case will just be settled in monies if he can prove that his copyrights were truly infringed upon because I am sure all of his images are copyrights and known to be and would be obvious to others because it is one of her most viewed videos on youtube.

http://www.mb.com.ph/node/304570/rihanna-being-

I will post future updates on these current music lawsuits as facts come along, but be careful out there musicians and composers of the world! 

What is the Artist Manager's Role in Our D.I.Y Era?

I was browsing for articles related to the topic of artist management because I have taken an interest in what it takes to really be successful as an artist manager and wanted to explore what it really meant to work in artist management. Here’s a brief overview of an article written by Jeremy Rwakaara on a special new emerging era of artist management.

D.I.Y stands for Do It Yourself and typically new independent artists choose this route either because they feel they are capable of handling all the necessities about their career on their own or perhaps because they could not find a manager or label willing to help them. The article brought up a great point that nowadays, the artist fan relationship is of critical importance to an artist and it is easier now more than ever to build that up in our digital world. We now have management resources such as ReverbNation, one of my favorite sites to check out new artists, and other tools that allow an artist to engage in direct contact with fans of theirs. Some sites like Sonicbids allow an artist to book their own venues, and music distributors such as CD Baby allow artists to distribute music to fans via iTunes and of course all the social media networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook are enormous channels of publicity and promotion an artist can use and reach millions in an instant.

It sounds as though the role of a traditional artist manager has been severely limited or maybe even completely washed away, but that isn’t true. It has simply transitioned into one where they are no longer just concentrated on getting their artist a record deal but about finding ways to generate more income and ways to increase their artists’ fanbase via they ways I just mentioned above. “The manager’s role in the D.I.Y age is less that of an advocate and cheerleader, and more that of an analyst and advisor.” This is so the artist can focus on recording, their live shows and supporting their fans. Using a well rounded combination of resources, an artist manager can sit and think of new products that need to be added, which pay models work the best, see which of the artists’ products sell the most, learn of any new trends or patterns, or what are the most useful widgets. They can even figure out what videos, songs, or t-shirts fans love the most, what ways do fans love to engage and interact the most with their artist, and even through analyzing, reveal the real costs associated with their artist’s operations and that is important.

This article opened up my eyes to the fact that even though the artist may be able to do much of this on their own, to be able to have time and energy to record their best songs or for a tour or to truly engage with their fans, they need to leave all of this “dry” work as the article says to their manager and the manager still has to have the right strategy in mind for their artist that will bring them both lots of revenues and success and knows how to get the most out of their resources available to them. The artist manager must show the artist that they need them or else they will be washed away and that will not be a good look for the industry overall. Everyone needs some help in getting to where they need to be and for me the artist manager and artist will always go hand in hand in order for true success to be reached by an artist. 

http://www.artistmanagementresource.com/helpful-articles/45-what-is-the-artist-managers-role-in-todays-diy-era.html