It's Called The Music "BUSINESS" For A Reason.......

One of the great challenges for a professional songwriter, musician (or any other creative type for that matter) is to try to balance the creative spirit with the need to take care of business. Sir Francis Bacon is credited with having written "For also knowledge itself is power". In other words - "knowledge is power". Nothing could be more true when it comes to the music business. That is why music business conferences are a great opportunity for songwriters and musicians to bone up on the business side of things in a concentrated way in a couple of days.

San Diego's very own North Park Music Thing kicks off this Friday August 13th at the Lafayette Hotel in the North Park section of San Diego. During the days on Friday and Saturday there will be loads of panels and workshops on everything from getting started in the music business to music public relations to social networking and important legal topics (moderated by yours truly!).

At night on Friday and Saturday there will be dozens of music showcases all over North Park. The price of admission to the conference includes a wristband for the music showcases. People pay hundreds of dollars to attend conferences like this in Austin, Texas and New York City; the North Park Music Thing is quite affordable at $20 for a one-day pass and $35 for a two day pass.

Digital Music Royalties Waiting to Be Paid - Part 1

These days, there are so many various ways that musicians (recording artists), songwriters, record labels and music publishers can get paid (or not get paid - as the case may be) when recorded music is played on traditional AM/FM radio, satellite radio, Internet streaming, cable TV, etc., it can make your head spin. For example, for many years three organizations (ASCAP, BMI and SESAC) have collected royalties paid by traditional AM/FM radio stations for playing music and then distributed those royalties to the songwriters who wrote the songs and the music publishers who own the copyrights in them. But due to a long-standing tradition and legal exemption, the singers and musicians who perform on the records played on AM/FM radio stations - as well as the record labels who own the recordings - DON'T get paid any share of the royalties collected by ASCAP/BMI/SESAC from the radio stations. And to make it even more confusing, when those same songs are streamed over the Internet by the companies that own the AM/FM radio stations, everyone - including the recordings artists and record labels - DO get paid. Go figure.

Needless to say, it's a confusing situation for most recording artists, songwriter, music publishers and record labels. But as a starting point, we highly recommend that songwriters and music publishers affiliate themselves with either ASCAP, BMI or SESAC so that they can paid what they are due when the songs they write and publish get played on traditional AM/FM radio and in other public performances. We also recommend, of course, that songwriters and publishers REGISTER THEIR COPYRIGHTS with the U.S. Copyright Office.

We are also recommending that recording artists and record labels get familiar with a non-profit organization called Sound Exchange (click here) so that they can get paid when their songs are played on satellite radio such as SIRIUS/XM, Internet streaming radio stations, etc. We will have a more detailed report about Sound Exchange in an upcoming blog entry. In the meantime, please call or write if you have any questions about these kinds of issues.

Grammy Nominations - 2010

We are pleased to report that our good friend and client Steve Vaus - professionally known as Buck Howdy - has just been nominated for two (count 'em - two!) Grammy nominations. The nominations were announced last night. The first nomination is for Buck Howdy's "Pete Seeger Tribute - Ageless Kids' Songs" in the Best Musical Album for Children category. The second nomination is for Buck's "Aaaaah! Spookey, Scary Stories & Songs" in the Best Spoken Word Album for Children category. Some artists get multiple nominations for the same song or same album in multiple categories. But it is pretty rare for one artist to get nominated for two separate albums in the same year. Congratulations to Steve!

Copyrights & Music:Does a Cell Phone Ringing in Public Violate Copyright Law?

In an important ruling for the millions of cell phone users whose ringtones play in public - and for the cell phone companies that provide the ring tones - a federal court in New York just ruled that merely playing the ring tone in public for personal (not commercial) purposes is not a "public performance" that would trigger a royalty payment to the copyright owner of the song the ring tone is based on. One of the keys to the decision was that it is limited to personal uses of ringtones "without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage". Thus to the extent someone might be interested in playing ringtones in public for commercial purposes - let's say a "Battle of the Ringtones" contest - this ruling would not apply. Beyond that, one of the interesting tidbits that came out of the court ruling is confirmation of the amount of money the cell phone companies pay in royalties for reproducing the song to begin with: 24 cents. Here is a summary of the court opinion and for those who are really ambitious, here is a copy of the court opinion itself.

A New Kind of Musical Rhapsody: Brian Wilson Set to Complete Some of Gershwin's Unfinished Works

The L.A. Times reported today that Brian Wilson - the legendary songwriter and co-founder of The Beach Boys - has been granted permission to complete some of the unfinished musical works that George Gershwin left behind when he died prematurely at age 38 about seventy years ago. The newspaper story goes into some detail to explain how this came about after all this time and why Gershwin and Wilson may not be the strange musical bedfellows they appear to be at first. This kind of extraordinary creative endeavor holds great promise. We will look forward to the results with great anticipation. And....here is a link to one of our favorite Brian Wilson/Beach Boys compositions of all time which wasn't necessarily a hit: "The Warmth of the Sun". [Brian W. reportedly wrote it the day of the JFK assassination].

Copyrights & Music: Ellen DeGeneres Rolls Into Court

Last week - at virtually the same time she was named the new judge on "American Idol" to replace Paul Abdul - Ellen DeGeneres' production company was sued by several major record labels for regularly and routinely using music on her daytime TV show without a license. The lawsuit alleges that about 1,000 songs have been used without permission. We don't watch the DeGeneres show regularly, but we understand that she's a music lover and has a segment each show where she dances to a popular song selected by a DJ. But that's a use that requires a license and according to the lawsuit when the show's producers were advised the program needs a license, their response was "We don't roll that way". Perhaps not. But since the U.S. Copyright Act allows for damages of up to $150,000 per work infringed, the show could be exposed to up to $150 million in damages. We don't really think the production company is going to end up paying anywhere near that. But they probably will pay something and probably more than it would have cost them if they had gotten the licenses to begin with. This, of course, raises the age-old question: is it better to ask for permission or forgiveness?

Internet Radio, Royalties, Musicians, and Record Labels:

I was raised on radio. By that I mean I can barely remember a time when I didn't listen to music on the radio. The idea of hearing something new I've never heard before - along with something I loved a long time ago that I haven't heard in a while - has been part of the soundtrack of my life for a long time. But somewhere along the way - I don't know exactly how or when it happened - I stopped listening to music on the radio at work. At least when it comes to old-fashioned over-the-air broadcast radio, that is. In fact, I still listen to music on the radio all day at work - except that now it's Internet streaming radio that I play through my computer speakers. With a few keystrokes on my keyboard, I can change the station without hardly moving. But behind that simple act there is a lot of money to be made and lost by Internet radio stations, record labels and recording artists. Here is an article that describes a new deal that has been cut to dole out some of the money that is being made. This deal means that Internet radio is going to be around for at least a while longer.

Copyrights and the Radio

It's one thing to be the songwriter of a hit song that gets tons of radio airplay. But it's another thing if you're the singer and/or the band that performs the song but didn't write it. This article explains why. In a nutshell: due to a long-standing policy in the United States (but not Europe, for example), only songwriters and music publishers get to share in the royalties that are paid by radio stations when songs are played on the radio. The band and the singer doesn't. Musicians have been trying to get the law changed for years, but so far haven't had much luck. That may change if a piece of legislation in Congress passes.