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HOW TO WEATHER THE UPS AND DOWNS OF THE MUSIC BUSINESS

2/23/2021

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.” ~Hunter S. Thompson

There is no doubt that the music business is tough. But so is the “Medical” business, the “law” business, the “teaching business”, etc. You get the picture. Things are tough all over. But the music business is full of things that look promising and fall through, things that are “guaranteed” and don’t happen – on and on it goes. By this point I have shared some of my disappointments. Holds that were all but a “sure thing” and didn’t happen. Singles that were promised on Sam Smith and never came to be.

The list is long and sad. And these are maybe less than 5 percent of the disappointments. But important is if you are going through these disappointments, you don’t give up and just use these rejections or unfortunate indicants as lessons and start again, stronger. So, how do you stick with it when the “downs” start to pile up? I learned the hard way that you have to have a plan. The plan I came up with was this.

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LEARN TO SPEAK MUSIC BUSINESS

2/16/2021

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Lots of songwriters I know just want to become better writers for their own pleasure not for being in the business – and that’s awesome! Another significant group in I know are trying to write commercially and to break into the music business – which is even more awesome. If that’s your goal, you need to learn to speak the music business language, or you’ll wind up looking like you don’t know what’s going on when you encounter people already in the business. Every industry has its own terms and words might have different meaning than their original meanings. Here are some proper uses of music business words.
HOLD. A hold is a request by an artist or a representative of an artist to give them first right of refusal on a song. If Katy Perry puts your song on hold, it means that she’s asking you not to give it to anyone else before she decides for sure whether or not it will make her record. It is some sort of saying that they had “shortlisted” your song and probably a couple of other songs and now they are debating which song have to get the final move.

Record labels, producers, managers and artists themselves put songs on hold. Publishers do not. If someone tells you that your song is “on hold” and it’s not one of the groups listed above, they are blowing smoke and hyping you up.

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ETIQUETTE FOR SONGWRITING

2/9/2021

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Our pitch to publisher webinar recently reminded me of several points that I think bear bringing up every now and then. Almost everyone involved in the song submitting process behaved professionally. One or two did not. One of those people e-mailed me after the event claiming that I must not have listened to their songs because they submitted two songs that were better than anything that was played. They went on to say that they would hate to have my job because they could not stomach passing over great songs and playing weak songs that were more commercial instead. I am pretty forgiving, and I have very thick skin, but I want to remind everyone that doing something like that with a publisher or other industry professional will mean the end of your relationship with that person. I have seen it happen.
My first publisher was the most kind, generous person. He would spend time with anyone off the street that came in my office. And he would bend over backwards to help them.

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CO-WRITING ETIQUETTE

2/2/2021

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Recently, we’ve had several people write to me concerning issues with co-writers. So, I thought I’d remind everyone of a few co-writing etiquette “Do’s and Don’ts”. Co-writing a song with someone enters you into a business relationship with them. Once that song is done, the two (or three, or five) of you have created a legal entity that will live on for 75 years after the last one of you passes away. That’s a big commitment. Because it is a big deal and it is important to know how to properly behave in regard to that little song baby that you create. It is seriously required to be taken highly seriously! Here are some things to keep in mind.

Ideas thrown out in a co-write are not for you to write on your own later. You pick one to write that day in the room and the other ideas “belong” to the person who brought them in. Taking the ideas you didn’t use that day is uncool and unethical.

Come up with your own ideas and respect the ideas of your co-writers. Unless if something is your idea and you are the one coming up with it and it is not being used in the co-write session, then later you can work on it alone or with another co-writer but if the other person comes up with it, it is not yours, no matter what.

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HOW TO WEATHER THE UPS AND DOWNS OF THE MUSIC BUSINESS

LEARN TO SPEAK MUSIC BUSINESS

ETIQUETTE FOR SONGWRITING

CO-WRITING ETIQUETTE

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