BLOG - Flipside

ENTERTAINMENT LAWYERS: WHO? WHAT? WHEN? WHERE? & HOW MUCH?!

1/26/2019

As an artist or creator in the entertainment industry you do not need to know everything about the business in order to succeed, but you should hire people who do. When I was a teenage recording artist, I can remember being intimidated by the "suits". Now that I am on the other side of the desk, I have a broader perspective. I am here to tell you that those "suits" can help you; provided, however, that like any other aspect of your life, you use your instincts in making your selection.

HOW TO PITCH YOUR MUSIC

1/23/2019

There are a lot of people approaching me or respond to my approach for either publishing their music or using their demos for pitching to the bigger names in the industry. I can say about 40% of the demos are receive are okay in sense of professionalism but the other 60% usually have some sort of issue which makes the project to don't move forward. Here I list down some of the common issues and the solutions for them.

Decide what you want. Before sending your track or your demos to a publisher or a producer, make sure at least you know what you want, and it would be even much better if also be open for their suggestions too. When you are sending them a demo, do you something in mind? If you had the power to get the song in whatever direction that you wanted, what would you do with it? All these and things like these are what you need to prepare before sending your demos out. Don't be confusing and don't make people confused. At the end of the day, this is your project and you want it to move forward, right?

PATIENCE!

1/18/2019

Being a musician comes at a cost. An expensive cost that would never be paid back until you actually make it at least to a certain point in music industry. It's your time. It’s your energy. It’s your life you are spending on it. This industry is opposite of what many dream. It’s not that Disney world that you enter and from first day you are walking on the red carpet! This is music industry for God’s sake. You need to work harder than you can imagine and you need to learn very well on how to deal with rejections.

SONGWRITERS WHO ARE DREAMERS

1/16/2019

Through years of working at Flipside, I met a vast array of people wanting to become professional songwriters. People of all ages, races, backgrounds and economic situations, most of whom would love to achieve some degree of commercial success with their music. As a student of people and a guy in love with studying psychology, I have studied what causes some people to succeed and others who are equally talented to fail in that quest.

YOUNG ARTISTS WITH ATTITUDE

1/12/2019

Few days ago, a singer friend messaged me and asked, “As a producer, what are you looking for in an artist?”. His question was actually very hard yet very easy to answer! I, same as most other producers, managers, labels and promoters, are looking for fresh talents with proper attitude. Here is why:
At least when it comes to Entertainment industry, when they say one is having some "attitude" problems, it is not only limited to being arrogant or ignorant or full of themselves, but it also includes issues such as bad time management, lack of commitment, not having a good common sense and in general anything that would make a person not very lovely! Remember, it’s entertainment. If you want to be shitty, and you can’t entertain even yourself to be a good person, how do you want to successfully entertain your listeners?

ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH ALL THE INCOME SOURCES FOR SONGWRITERS?

1/9/2019

Income sources for songwriters differ from other industries because songwriter incomes come from multiple royalty streams and advances. The major forms of songwriter income include performance royalties, mechanical royalties, sync fees, and advances.

Here is a very brief summery of how these types of payment would work for you as a songwriter.

HOW TO RESOLVE SPLIT DISPUTES IN SONGWRITING

1/5/2019

Today's international music industry is extremely dynamic. Such a large and evolving industry comes with questions of song contribution, so how do you determine who created what? Two words: Split Sheets.
It is extremely common for songwriters to collaborate with other co-writers to create new pieces. Many songwriters are left unpaid as a result of split disputes when co-writers cannot agree on split portions. The performing rights organization and record company involved will withhold royalties for a song if a dispute involving ownership arises.

Sennheiser Momentum Review

1/2/2019

Here is a general fact I think we all can agree on, which is “in-ear headphones can deliver awesome sound” simply because of their design. And they are considered as great for daily use due to their small designs and mobility. But many of us might not be aware of just how good they can be because we insist on using the cheap sets included with our smartphones and never find the time - or money - for an upgrade. But the thing here is that most of the time these headphones don't have to cost a fortune, yet they will deliver that great sound which you need to hear! These little guys can achieve an ideal sound isolation from the outside world and stop what you're listening to from spilling out.

IMPROVE YOUR SONG DEMOS

12/26/2018

There are many ways to make a demo better without spending more money on it. Try these quick tips to get better results.

Do all of the pre-production you can BEFORE starting to record the demo. Figure out the exact tempo. There are great phone Apps out there, just to nae one there is one called BPM that will let you tap out a temp and get the beats per minute. This saves studio time and it keeps you from recording the song too fast or too slow. Also go in armed with the key of the song already noted. If you are able, recording a good solid guitar or piano/vocal demo in the right key and at the right tempo can give you more time in the studio to work on more important things! It’s always a good idea to go in knowing the exact arrangement you want and even having the song charted in advance. The more time you spend before you are in the studio, the more time you have to experiment and get the song right IN the studio.

GET THE RIGHT SHOT THE FIRST TIME

12/22/2018

This blog is dedicated to all the photographers who continually agree upon wasting time and their hard-earned assignment money on post production. Sorry Photoshop guru's, I too enjoy the diverse applications of Photoshop but the reality is that so many photographers are lazy and rely too heavily upon post production work. A clear example was this past Monday while watching an instructional video on photographic lighting, while he had great content to discuss he kept making references to "Let's just remove that later in Photoshop". Keep in mind it wasn't a building or some extremely large item but rather a cable and a night table.

YOU ARE NOW A STAR

12/19/2018

When I first started out in the music business, I believed that someone was going to walk through a door where I was performing and make me a star! As I grew older, I started to face the reality that a minor percentage of the musicians and artists who have that dream, actually accomplish their goal. So, what is left?
realizing that being a star is secondary to expressing your soul and releasing from your spirit an energy, which is given to a very small percentage of the public. If you hone your craft, then you will draw the public to your front door. I will then guarantee you; the music industry will be standing right behind them trying to figure out how to make a buck off of your talent.

WHY NOTHING WILL EVER COMPARE TO PRINCE

12/15/2018

There's always been a notion that if we could emulate the lives of those we admire, then our lives would have the same outcomes as theirs – talented, successful, rich, famous, happy, whatever. That, of course, explains all the "Seven Secrets of…." books and the popularity of biographies as treasure maps to our desired fortunes. Although the lives of successful music artists fall into that same category and there are certainly crafts and skills to be mastered, there are two areas that cannot be duplicated, which are, unfortunately, the two most important things required for success – artistry and luck. Which is why nothing compares to Prince. His was the perfect storm of skills, artistry and luck.

UNWRITTEN RULES TO SUCCESSFUL NETWORKING IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS

12/12/2018

Networking and relationship building is such an important skill for success in any business specially music business, where these relationships can take you to places you wouldn’t even imagine. You can gain value by attending events or loose credibility pretty quick when you meet people at events. Here are some tips to help YOU on YOUR Journey!

Do your homework. Research the people who will be at the event in advance. If it is a #1 party, find out who the songwriters are and research the writers and publishers to learn a little about them before you go.

IS YOUR PAYMENT AND AGREEMENT PROCESS LOSING YOU MONEY?

12/8/2018

Collecting your money is a big "MUST" if you are to survive Nashville music business. If you get paid for playing, producing, managing, and/or promoting, collecting payment is crucial to your operation. And yet, perhaps you've made it an afterthought.

Here are the types of scenarios we are seeing as an agency when asked to review client agreements. Agreements such as the one that follows feel like gigantic turn-offs that manifest themselves before an agreement is even finalized.

TOP 5 THINGS “NOT” TO SAY TO A CO-WRITER

12/5/2018

Based on a true story(s). Going to count them short and sweet, in this case pretty much bitter tho. Just never say these to your co-writer.

1. I was up until 4 AM drinking and I’m really hungover.

2. I’ve got no ideas. What about you?

3. I think we can beat that. (Without offering any suggestions for beating it.)

4. It doesn’t have to make sense, it just has to sound cool.

5. I think it would be so cool to write a song where you say “grass” and people think you are going to say “ass” on the rhyming line, but you say “well” instead.

TODAY’S MUSIC SUCKS!

12/1/2018

Years ago, in Iran, my publisher convinced two different Hall of Fame writers to write with me, the new kid in the industry. I had been writing for years and written hundreds of songs, but never with writers this big. I was pumped!

Sennheiser HE1 Experience

11/28/2018

Today was an exciting day for me and I think any other sound engineer who would get to know that Singapore’s one (and so far, the only) Sennheiser HE1’s experience station had been launched in Connection IT, Somerset 313. This headphone is world’s most expensive headphones, standing at €55,000. The announcement was in presence of Sennheiser’s CEO, Mr Daniel Sennheiser and the hands on, 1-to-1 experience with "the beast" was the highlight of the event to me! Here is why.

STAYING TRUE TO YOURSELF WHILE WRITING COMMERCIAL SONGS

11/24/2018

Here are some ways I try to stay authentic to myself while at the same time trying to get a cut from the commercial song we are working on, specially when the song is ordered by a client to be in a specific way or topic or direction.

4 THINGS I LEARNED FROM MY FIRST CUT

11/21/2018

1. It takes a LOT longer than you think it will in the beginning. I had written for 3 years on my own and about 3-4 years into a writing deal with ZERO cuts before I landed that first one. I was really fortunate that it went to #37 on the charts and became my first Top Forty hit.

2. There is a huge learning curve when you are trying to write commercially. It’s not as simple as “writing a really good song”. There are lots of other elements that go into making a song commercial and getting a song cut.

WHY DID YOU START SONGWRITING?

11/17/2018

Even as professional songwriters, sometimes we get to the point that we keep asking this question over and over to ourselves. Why on earth I started writing in the ﬁrst place?

The situation can get rough. There can be times that you might think of doing any other job, and just give up on writing, at least professional writing! But that exactly is when you need to remind yourself about your goals and dreams when you ﬁrst started this path. What were you looking for? Where were you seeing yourself in 5 years from the time you started? Had you achieved those?

WAYS SONGWRITERS SHOOT THEMSELVES IN THE FOOT

11/14/2018

In an almost 15 year music career as a producer and a songwriter, I’ve shot myself in the foot so many times that it’s amazing I still can walk.

I thought I’d share some of them to help you avoid doing the same thing.
Here are some of the worst “shots” I’ve taken in the foot.

Don’t shoot your size 12s the way I did. Learn the easy way – not the hard one!

GUIDE TO BECOMING AN EMPOWERED OR NON-EMPOWERED SONGWRITER

11/10/2018

It struck me today that there are basically two kinds of writers I work with. There are empowered writers and non-empowered writers. Here is how I describe the difference:

PREPARING FOR YOUR PHOTO SHOOT

11/7/2018

The more people I photograph, the more I've come to realize something: a great portrait is a collaboration between photographer and subject. When both are working together the result is far more than what comes from direction alone. Our subjects often aren't experienced in having their photo taken, and don't know a lot about the process.
The number one thing I always start out with when I meet a new client is to explain my style and what to expect from me and what I expect from them; as well as any others they may have with them, as many have spouses, management team, wardrobe stylists, hair and makeup team etc. I encourage them to be themselves… Talk, move, and most importantly, relax and have fun!

4 WAYS A SONG BECOMES “BETTER”

11/3/2018

I’ve been songwriting for years before I started teaching songwriting. The more I have tried to teach, the more I realize that I can only teach what I’ve learned, so I’m continually studying and trying to learn and improve myself. Whether you are trying to write songs for the commercial market or are just writing songs for your own pleasure, here are some things that I think make a song “better”.

5 TYPES OF RECORD DEALS AND THEIR PROS AND CONS

10/31/2018

1. The 360 Deal

Pros:
You're signed to a major label. This comes with all the bells and whistles, like world-class producers, worldwide tours, and a world of potential fans.
Having the label's connections makes your touring and marketing easier. Agents will book shows for you, set up your travel, and get you on radio shows. You just need to sit back, be you, and make good music.

Cons:
If you're a self-built artist, the label could be using you for what you've already created. If you've got a huge fanbase already, millions of YouTube plays, and have cracked radio, a label deal can't offer you much more.
You have the potential to be shelved. If the label doesn't think you've got what it takes, they have the option to do nothing for you. Not to mention, your deal prevents you from doing much without them or their approval.

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