Getting Your Grooves Back: Understanding Copyright Termination

There is a powerful law causing quiet yet uneasy waves in the music industry, and it’s something the record companies would rather recording artists not know about. For recordings released after 1977, the law is a section of the Copyright Act that allows recording artists to terminate their record contracts after 35 years. That old, awful record contract from 1980? Gone — at least as the contract applies to the United States. On the first day of the 36th year, the band owns the recording, free and clear. That is a very powerful position, to say the least.

 

How Music Streaming Creates New Fans for Classic Artists

Trends are cyclical. Fashion, hair styles and neighborhoods are among those that go in and out of popularity and, as history has shown, it will continue to do so for years to come. Choker necklaces were popular throughout the 1800’s,¹ then again in the 1990’s and have reemerged in the past couple years once again.

 

Why Most Artists Don't Get A Record Deal

It’s common for most musicians to not get signed to record deals because they make false assumptions about how this industry works. Don’t make the mistakes they make. Inform yourself and build value in your music career so you can offer it to record companies in the future. Here are three critical mistakes tons of musicians commit when trying to get recording contracts (and what you need to do instead):

 

Spotify Strikes Licensing Deal With Sony Music — Pact Includes Windowing Option

Sony Music Entertainment has struck a new licensing agreement with Spotify, a source close to the situation has confirmed to Variety, which leaves Warner Music as the only company that has not reached a deal with the service. The Sony deal, which was first reported Tuesday morning by Billboard, is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks.

The agreement helps to clear the way for Spotify’s long-anticipated public offering, which is expected later this year or early next year.

 

Mass “Address Unknown” NOI Loophole Continues Apace With Growing International Implications

As we have reported a number of times this year, Amazon, Spotify, Google, Pandora, iHeart, Loudr and others are taking advantage of the compulsory license loophole that allows these companies to file tens of millions of address unknown “notices of intention” to rely on the compulsory license for songs in the Copyright Act.  Perhaps more remarkable is that Amazon’s head of music, the eponymous Steve Boom, managed to make it through his entire Alexa demo at the NMPA Annual Meeting keynote without ever mentioning Amazon’s dedication to the mass NOI loophole and its negative effects for the songwriters and publishers listening to his demo.

 

5 Guerrilla Marketing Tactics For The Release Of Your Next Album

In an industry which is, in many ways, more competitive than ever before, getting anyone to take notice of your new album can be quite a challenge. Here we look at five guerilla marketing tactics to employ that can up the chances of the getting your album noticed.

 

Facebook Live? YouTube? Can't Decide? Livestream To Multiple Services Simultaneously With Restream

Facebook Live? YouTube? Twitch? Whatever the service, livestreaming is the hot social app. But which one is best for you and your audience? Fortunately, you no longer have to decide thanks to Restream.  

 

Music rightsholders attack ‘complete tomfoolery’ of YouTube

“There is a massive contradiction in the messages they are giving out… It is complete tomfoolery.”

BASCA chairman Crispin Hunt was speaking at an event held in London last night by British collecting society PRS for Music, which provided the latest salvos in the war of words with YouTube over safe harbour and the ‘value gap’.

As with the recent debates on the topic at the Midem conference in Cannes the event was focused on one side of the debate: despite being held literally opposite Google’s London office, YouTube did not take part.

 

Why brands love country music (and country music loves brands)

The artist-brand relationship has existed since the early years of country music. But as country has become more popular in the last half-decade, and as mainstream brands have discovered the genre, sponsorship deals have grown in both number and value. Aside from the outright popularity of country music, brands are also attracted to its vivid themes, down-to-earth nature, and Midwestern and Southern values. “Country music and its artists represent a lifestyle,” says Jeremy Holley of Flyte Vu, a Nashville-based entertainment marketing company. “Country music’s core is based on real people, real life situations, and amplified by real lyrics. Its authenticity is what makes it attractive for brands.”

 

Does Google Use Dominance in Search to Steer Traffic to “Unofficial” YouTube Videos?

Admittedly this is an unscientific sampling.  But it sure seems like Google search (especially in ex-USA markets) seems to return top search results for UGC (User “Generated” Content) videos instead of official videos.  Often no royalties are paid on these UGC videos, and in the cases where royalties are paid, they are paid at a substantially lower rate.   Look at the search below (I’m spoofing so Google search thinks I’m in Spain)  When you click through on the video it goes to what appears to be some random user channel.  That sucks. Cause that’s $2,654 dollars we didn’t  get from YouTube even at their usurious take it or leave it rate.

 

A Compromise Proposal to Fix Streaming Royalties,Licensing and Notification

Interactive streaming services get a federal “compulsory license” to use any songwriter’s work on their services as long as they follow a relatively simple procedure (with some exclusions).   A pre-condition to services using this protocol is that the law requires them to send a “Notice of Intent” (NOI) to owner or agent for owner of the song.  The NOI is intended to make sure the songwriter knows their song is being used, and the service must demonstrate that it knows who to pay.

 

How to Be the Band Nobody Wants to Play with Ever Again (in 10 Easy Steps)

Being a band or artist that other musicians can stand to play with is important to building a long-term successful career. Here we look at ten steps to avoid taking which will transform your band into something no will ever want to work with.

 

Pandora Isn’t Just Looking for a New CEO, But Also a New Narrative

Silicon Valley loves a good founder’s story. A myth to cling to, a singular moment where lightning struck. A guy in his garage who suddenly had an epiphany on how to change the world.

Oakland, Calif.-based music streaming service Pandora has been no exception. But when the company announced on Tuesday that its founder and CEO Tim Westergren was going to leave together with President Mike Herring and CFO Nick Bartle, it became clear that Pandora might need a new story.

 

Creating a Band Agreement: What You Need to Know

Being a musician is a business. If you’re in band, one of the most important elements of organizing your business, is having an effective band agreement. Without agreement among the members of your band, whether verbal, written on a napkin (is that still done?), texted, or written by an entertainment lawyer (shameless plug), some key issues will need to be negotiated at a time when perhaps not everyone is acting reasonably. Or you may need to rely on the law, which may not provide appropriate solutions for your situation.

 

The biggest myths about music streaming

Between conferences, emails, blog comments, and just hanging out with musician friends, I hear a lot of independent artists’ opinions about music streaming — both plus and minus. Some of these opinions are well-informed while others seem like they’re based on myths. So let’s debunk a few!

 

How Much Bigger Will Streaming Music Get--Some Projections For The Future

It’s no secret—nor surprise—that streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio and the select few others that have managed to survive the incredibly tough business they’ve chosen to be a part of have now started to enjoy the upswing in revenue and user numbers the entire industry is currently experiencing. It took several years, but streaming has finally taken off, and a true golden age seems to have just started.

 

10 Things A Musician Must Do To Succeed

In the hope of providing assistance to curious artists in search of answers, George Howard has here assemble a list of the ten things every musician should do in order to achieve success in the industry, as well as mapping out the order in which to do them.