The Bay's Finest :: Music Network

Good article about slumping ticket sales in the face of a long recession

http://www.csmonitor.com/From-the-news-wires/2010/0709/Concert-ticket-sales-decline.-Is-it-the-economy-or-the-music

Artist Management

The reason I decided to write this post was because I’d been recently approached by a few artists who asked me if I could connect them with good managers. There are a lot of misconceptions about what an artist manager does, and there are several types in the music business. I won’t go into all of them in this post. Most of them you won’t need until you’re touring and making some heavy cheddar anyway. The two primary types are the personal manager, and the business manager. Most artists who are trying to get their careers off the ground are usually looking for a personal manager.

Many artists look for managers before developing anything to manage. The more developed you are as an artist, the better your chances are of attracting a good manager’s interest. There are however, some of the major misconceptions about artist managers and what they do. Here are a few

1. Mangers should invest lots of money into the artist. It’s not a managers job to pay the costs for your recording projects, travel, or promotional material. While it’s not uncommon to find a manager thats willing to pay for the needs of an artist, they are not obligated to. Some managers feel that dropping cash to help their artists become successful is a worthy investment. Because this is not the manager’s role, he or she will usually make an agreement with the artist that this investment be repaid once the artist starts making money. This is outside of 15 to 20 percent commission managers already receive from the artist’s earnings. This commission is usually but not limited to, performances, merchandise sales, and in some cases money advanced by record labels. It’s rare that managers make agreements to receive percentages of the artist’s song publishing or writing. You should avoid these types of agreements if possible.

2. Another misconception is that managers should have lots of experience in the music business. While this is definitely an asset, it’s much more important that you have a manager that’s willing to hustle hard for you and be ambitious about learning the parts of the business that he or she doesn’t know. Your manager should be someone you have a tremendous amount of trust in because they will play some part in every facet of your music career. This is why it’s not uncommon to see artists with relatives as managers. Sometimes they are the best choice.

3. Managers are not attorneys! Unless your manager has an entertainment law degree, it’s not wise to have them negotiating contracts that can affect you for the rest of your life! Get an attorney to look over any complicated contracts.

4. Managers are not publicists. Publicists handle your PR (public relations), expand you visibility and help develop a marketing strategy for you. Good managers will do some of this for you until you’re signed or able to afford a professional publicist.

It a nutshell, good managers want to minimize the chaos that can surround an artist so they can concentrate as much as possible on their music.

by FuNkwoRm / indiehiphop.net

cool website I ran across:

http://consequenceofsound.net/

The DIY Musician’s Pre-Release Checklist
By Cameron Mizell
Brooklyn, NY

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So you just finished your new album? Congratulations! Now what?
Before you release it to the world, take a couple days to prepare your music and artwork for all the opportunities that may present themselves. When I talk about an album being finished, I mean the audio has been mastered and the artwork is complete. If you’re pressing CDs, you’ve probably just sent everything to your manufacturer. This is stuff you can do before you have CDs in your hand–in fact, it’s a great way to pass the time before all those boxes arrive. And I’ll be honest with you, none of this is all that fun, but it really does help and you’ll probably never get around to it once the album is released.

Note that this article is not about how to release your own album, it’s about everything else you can do before it’s released so all the effort you’ve put in up to this point, and all the marketing and promotion you’ll do later, will have maximum effect. If you’re looking for information about releasing your album–digital distribution options, production schedules, CD manufacturing, and legal considerations–check out our 4 part series on the Self-Released Album.

Create a Metadata Document
Metadata is a fancy word for all the information about your album. It’s your track list, your credits, the barcode, catalog number… basically everything that isn’t the music itself. Create a spreadsheet or text document (or perhaps a Google Doc that you can access from any computer) and put all this information in one place:

The Album Basics:
Album title
Artist name
UPC or barcode
The Track Basics:
Track titles
Timings
Writer/composer and publishing credits
Performer credits if they differ from track to track
ISRC (International Standard Recording Code)

The Rest:
Performer credits for the entire album (however you would list it in the liner notes)
Additional liner note credits inluding recording, mixing, and mastering engineers, designer, photographer, etc.
The legal line, or the information that shows up in small print on the back of your CD
The rest of your liner notes, such as thank you’s, essays, or any other words
Marketing blurbs, or short descriptions you plan on using online or in press packets

Why do this?
Once you start uploading your album to different websites or digital distributors, it’s helpful to have all the information you could possibly need in one place and in a format that easy to copy and paste. Ultimately, you will benefit from consistently putting as much information as you can alongside the album wherever it appears online. You never know when somebody might be searching for examples of the mix engineers’ work, find your music, and unexpectedly become a fan.
Most of this information can also be embedded in your MP3 files. For example, if you select a track in your iTunes library and choose “Get Info” you’ll find plenty of fields for information. Fill out as much of this as possible, especially on the tracks you intend to give away for free.

Encode Your Audio
Once you have your final, mastered version of your album, it’s a good idea to rip, or import, the audio onto your computer in several different file formats. I have found that virtually every site I upload my music to asks for a different file at a different bit rate. To make my life easier, I have a space on an external hard drive that stores all of my music in at least a few different formats.
There are several different file formats associated with digital music, identified by the extension at the end of the file name. Most popular are .wav, .aif, .mp3, .m4a, .wma, and so on. As a musician, you probably understand the difference. If not, here’s a quick and simplified breakdown.
WAV or .wav and AIFF or .aif – These formats are the equivalent to CD quality. They are uncompressed, and have a large file size (25 to 50+ megabytes, depending on the length of the song). MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, aka MP3 or .mp3 – This is a compressed audio format, meaning some data has been discarded to make the file smaller. It is very common and can be used on virtually any computer by any music program or portable music device.
Apple Lossless or .m4a and Windows Media Audio Lossless or .wma – These are proprietary audio compression file types that typically only work on certain devices.
Compression? There are different ways audio can be compressed, and it can be compressed at different rates (described in bit rates such as kilobytes per second, or kbps). More compression results in a smaller file size but sacrifices audio quality.
There are many other formats of compressed audio files, but for the sake of this discussion, we will only deal with the uncompressed formats and MP3 compression.
The formats I suggest are:
WAV
AIFF
MP3 128 kbps
MP3 192 kbps
MP3 256 kbps
MP3 320 kbps

Create separate, clearly labeled folders for each file type. All those MP3s will have the same extension and will try to replace each other if you’re saving them to the same folder.
Before you begin, encode as much metadata as possible onto the uncompressed files and if possible, add the cover artwork as well. This is all easy to do in that “Get Info” window in iTunes, especially if you’re just copying and pasting from your metadata document.
Now, when you create the MP3s from the WAVs or AIFFs, all the metadata will transfer, saving you extra data entry.

Why do this?
For starters, it’s good to know where you’ll be uploading your music and what file types they require. Sites that sell and distribute your music, such as Bandcamp or CD Baby, will require the uncompressed, CD quality files so they can do the encoding themselves. Sites that can help you license your music, such as YouLicense, usually ask for both uncompressed formats and compressed formats at various bit rates. However, I’m willing to bet the most common places you’ll upload your music are sites where people simply go to listen, such as MySpace, Last.fm, The Sixty One, Fairtilizer, Tumblr, etc. Some of these sites will ask for a minimum bit rate quality for your music, and it’s generally a good idea to upload the highest quality file possible. In my experience, they always ask for the MP3 compression format. Uploading my music to all these sites is a slow, tedious, time consuming task. But if you want more people to hear your music, it’s a necessary chore. In a nutshell, starting with all the file types you need makes it much less painful.

Resize the Cover Art
Along with uploading your audio files to various sites, you’ll need to upload the cover art as well. This will go faster if you have cover art already optimized for the web. First make sure you get a full size, high resolution cover image from your designer. You can do all the resizing very easily with Photoshop. If you don’t have that Photoshop or a similar program, just ask your designer to do this.
Save your cover image at the following sizes, all at 72 dpi:
1000 x 1000 pixels
500 x 500 pixels
300 x 300 pixels
100 x 100 pixels
If you are doing this yourself, here’s a brief How To:
Opening the file from your designer. Then open the “Image Size” menu or the equivalent in your image editor. Make the sure the image is perfectly square. Note that digipaks are not square, so the cover image will need to be adjusted. Set the resolution to 72 dpi, which is the optimal resolution for the internet. This step will help your images load faster online. Now “Save As…” and save this image as a JPEG. Use a file name that includes the dimensions, like albumname-cover-1500.jpg. From this point on, use this image for resizing and preserve the original file from the designer.

Does your image need an outline? If it has a light colored background, an outline will help define the edges on many websites. Simply add a single pixel line of medium or light grey around the edges.
Now re-size your image to the dimensions listed above, and “Save As…” for each new size.

Why do this?
Much like your audio files, different sites will require different dimensions of your cover art, and the vast majority of the time they’ll ask for a square image. While many sites will resize the image for you, sometimes their methods will distort the image. This is the first thing people will see when they find your album, and nothing screams amateur like a pixelated, poorly cropped, or squashed looking image. Make sure your image always looks great by having properly sized images on hand.

Create a Digital Booklet
Many major label albums online now come with digital booklets. These are simply digital versions of liner notes and artwork that you get when you buy the CD, but miss out on when you just download the album. Even if you can’t get your digital booklet on iTunes, you can still make it available on your own site, or bundle it with sites like Bandcamp.

Why do this?
Major labels often use extras, like a digital booklet or a video download, as a way to leverage placement with a particular online retailer. In other words, give iTunes an exclusive version of an album with extra goodies, while everybody else just gets the standard version, in exchange for a big feature on the iTunes home page. You can do a DIY version of this by offering the booklet, or other bonus items, exclusively on a site that pays more to the artists. Bandcamp is a great example of this because they don’t take any of the purchase price; it all goes to you less the Paypal transaction fee. Just tell your fans that they get extras and put more of their money towards the cause by buying your album from the site of your choosing.

Will you need Instrumentals or Stems?
If your music has potential for licensing or remixing opportunities, I highly recommend creating instrumental versions and stems* of your songs. Music supervisors and their clients often want instrumental music behind dialog, and then vocals to appear later, when the dialog stops. Other times they might want to trim an arrangement down so it less distracting, in which case stems are extremely handy. The licensing process, especially for commercials, moves extremely quickly. You could be asked for instrumentals or stems on very short notice, and if you don’t have them on hand, you could miss out on a big money making opportunity!

Creating instrumentals and stems will require working with the original recordings. If you hired somebody else to mix your album, it might be necessary to get them back on the job. Additionally, these new versions will need to be mastered again so they sound as good as the album versions. This might cost you more money, so use your own judgement and only create these versions for the songs with the most licensing and remixing potential.

*Stems are the individual parts of your recording, isolated. In other words, a track of just vocals or just drums.

Why do this?
For every reason mentioned above, it will simply help create more earning potential for your recordings! Having stems on hand could also be an opportunity to engage your fans. When Radiohead released In Rainbows, they also released the stems for their song “Nude” on iTunes. Fans were encouraged to download the stems, create their own remix, and upload them to Radiohead’s site to be voted on by other fans. More than 2,000 remixes were submitted. Do you think you have enough creative fans that want to play with your music?

Prepare Your Promo List
If you plan on sending free copies of your album to reviewers, bloggers, or anyone else, take some time to make sure you have correct addresses, and maybe even let the people on your list know a CD is on it’s way. Along with checking contact information, prepare a One-Sheet that says a little something about you and the album. While some people send a lot of information with their CDs, such as a full press kit, I think it’s better to send writers no more than one page of information. As long as your website and contact info is included, they can find out more as needed.

Why do this?
When writers receive a new album, they want to know it’s new. If they get your CD and find out it was released two months ago, what is their motivation to publish a review? When you send it to them ahead of the release date, you’re saying their opinion matters enough that they should get an advance copy. And lets not forget that you want as much buzz surrounding your release date as possible, so make sure your promo copies get to the right places and on time!

The preparation will also save you money. When I released my last CD, I used a promo list that was only 6 months old. Even so, one out of ever four CDs I mailed came back to me because the address was wrong, or the writer had a new assignment. A little extra work would have saved me some money.
There you have it!

__ Create a metadata document

__ Encode your audio

__ Resize the cover art

__ Create a digital booklet

__ Create instrumentals and stems

__ Prepare your promo list

Now make sure you remember how to play your songs!

How to Do PR for Musicians
By anthonymora, eHow Member
User-Submitted Article

Perhaps the most difficult question that a musician has to answer when it comes to public relations or marketing is – why? Isn’t having created the art enough? The short answer to that is no and particularly not now. If you want to reach your public and get your art exposure, you need to take control of your marketing and your career. This is particularly true in the music world. The industry has been turned upside down. The days of label launched careers are all but a memory. In truth, musicians should have always been involved in their marketing and promotion, but now, with the seismic shifts taking place, it has become a necessity

Difficulty: Easy
Instructions

1
The bad news is that if you want to launch a successful career you need to learn how to market yourself. The good news is that this is a whole new world and one in which you can have more control of your marketing, your image and your art than ever before.

There are a myriad ways to promote yourself, from such old standards as flyers and postcards, to ads, public relations, online marketing and social media. For building an image and a personal brand, PR remains the most effective and validating form of promotion. Through public relations you become the news. It’s the only form of marketing that can reach your target market and offer credibility and validation. Think about it, if you were to read an ad for a musician in a newspaper, or read an article profiling that musician in the same paper, which would grab your attention? One is a paid ad the other is a news story. Which would you be more likely to believe?

2. With the power of online marketing and social media, PR campaigns are more important than ever. Combined with a social media campaign, public relations takes on a whole new look. Most people see PR and social media as an ”either/or” choice, where it really should be an ”and” decision.

Although YouTube, Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace were very big Internet stories, they became global powerhouses because of traditional media coverage in such outlets as CNN, the Today Show, the New York Times, Time magazine and the Wall Street Journal. The myth is that it all happens online, where actually, it’s a sequential process. These stories start online. They grow and often grow in a big way, but the stories truly explode after the mainstream media covers them. The media coverage drives the online title wave

3. Others then try to replicate the phenomena on the Internet, not realizing that they are leaving out the most important element – PR, targeted media coverage on mainstream TV and in major newspapers and magazines. Because online marketing and social media are still relatively new and compelling, most miss the PR part of the marketing equation.

But before you can jump to marketing yourself, you have to take care of the basics and learn the art of PR. Remember, you’re going to succeed by learning how the media thinks, not by assuming you know what they want. The following are some tips that can hopefully increase your P.R. IQ.

4. Define your story and your career path. You can’t tell others about what you do until you fully understand it yourself. Write a short, clear and concise paragraph that defines what you do. Write it so that an eighth grader could understand it. You may be surprised.

Define your target market.

Think in terms of stories. People understand concepts best when told in terms of anecdotal stories.

Write a clear, concise one-page press release.

Study the various media outlets. Tailor your releases and your pitches to each specific media outlet.

Less is more. If you’re thinking of sending out a huge press kit filled with reams of paper, photos and brochures, think again.

Examine all of the available angles. Your first pitch may not work. Be creative.

Learn patience, be persistent and prepare for success. This is the toughest concept to master. We’ve had campaigns that have hit a home run in the first week, but most take time and persistence.

5. Public relations is a slow-building, on-going, cumulative process. If you are going to implement a P.R. campaign, make a commitment to stay with it for a minimum of six months. It will be worth it. Your career will be glad you did.

6. Anthony Mora began his media career as a journalist for a number of publications including US and Rolling Stone. His company, Anthony Mora Communications, Inc., has placed clients in such media as Time, Newsweek, 60 Minutes, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and Oprah Winfrey. Anthony has been featured in: USA Today, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The BBC, CNN, Entrepreneur, Fox News, MSNBC, and His book ”Spin to Win,” is a step-by-step guide on how to define goals and utilize the power of the media to achieve success in any field.

Anthony Mora Communications, Inc. 323-874-2933

Read more: How to Do PR for Musicians | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4994968_pr-musicians.html#ixzz11Vx9f2Pz

Five Tips for Musicians to Engage Their Fans Digitally
by Jason Feinberg, March 9, 2009
Tagged: digital music, nine inch nails, social networking, strategy, widgets

Note: This is the first post from Jason Feinberg, MediaShift’s new music correspondent. With his background in online marketing, Jason will be sharing his insights into how artists can best utilize new technology in connecting with fans.

There was a time when celebrity musicians were positioned as unreachable idols. Those days are long gone; in today’s wired marketplace, musicians have to forge a personal relationship with their audience to keep their fans’ interest. And for many, that means creating opportunities for fans to have an inside look into all aspects of an artist’s life.

In the current music industry climate, many artists are realizing that they must go further than ever before to be seen as approachable — they must run their organization with almost complete transparency. Save for major mainstream stars, the days of artists being put on an isolated pedestal are long gone; fans are far too savvy and options far too many for a musician to appear to be operating in a different universe. Fans demand access at unprecedented levels, so a band must either provide this access or be skilled at creating the illusion of it.

THE IMPORTANCE OF FAN ENGAGEMENT
What has caused this shift toward transparency? The simple answer is the Internet. The more complex answer is that the Internet has become so woven into the fabric of our culture as to create a sense of immediate fulfillment and enable complete access to almost anyone and anything.

Never before have consumers had more choices on how to entertain themselves. The avenues for information are exponentially greater than even 10 years ago. With this has come a massive sense of empowerment in music fans. No longer are they limited to what access or content an artist deems worthy to mete out.

The physical technology and the conceptual structure of the Internet have given fans the ability to craft their own online experiences. If one artist is not providing the type of engagement a consumer seeks, the odds are very high that some other comparable artist is. This puts the fan in a position of greater power and influence than ever seen before in the music industry.

But this isn’t necessarily bad news for artists, labels, mangers, or anyone else in the chain that profits from controlling how people experience their content. Savvy bands that tap into existing and developing technologies can deliver something to their fans that satiates their demand for an insider glimpse — while also keeping control over the band’s image.

Musicians such as Weezer have used Twitter to engage fans

The digital music space of 2009 looks very similar to the Internet application space in 1999 — a sea of new technologies, venture-funded start-ups all hoping that their product will be the killer app to revolutionize the business. Many of these will fail, but a handful will survive and change the way the industry operates. Assembling a core toolbox of these digital engagement assets is a critical step in marketing an artist moving forward. For artists (or the team managing their online presence), it is essential to pay attention to available technologies and constantly evaluate what will enhance their fans’ interactions with the band.

Here are five things that musicians should keep in mind as they look for ways to engage their fanbase online:

1) Add functionality that will connect to your fans.

In crafting your digital marketing plan, first ask, does this technology add functionality that will connect to your fans? Many artists fall into the trap of using a digital asset simply because it does something interesting or innovative. When they first came online, a slew of artists adopted video remix contests, but soon found that their fans were not willing to put in the time and effort to create a usable finished product. As people learned the hard way in the late ’90s, technology for technology’s sake often results in amazing software with no users. If the product being implemented does not encourage repeat use and add something to a fan’s experience, it is effectively useless. A great technology used once is barely better than nothing at all.

2) Technology is not a ”one size fits all” solution.

Nine Inch Nails has a tight community online. Photo by Rob Sheridan

Different technology platforms are geared towards different users. Mobile music marketing rarely makes a dent for older-facing musicians, while many youth-facing pop and hip-hop artists have used phone technology with tremendous results.

Shareable widgets often have massive value, but only if the artist’s fan base is naturally inclined to spread things they find interesting. Nine Inch Nails fans are notorious for being a tight-knit community; technology that engages them will not work for an artist whose fans are simply into their music and not the associated community.

3) Do not underestimate time commitments.

Next, artists must consider how much time they are willing to commit to implementing the chosen technologies. Just as a fan only using something once has little value, there’s little value when artists do not follow through in their marketing efforts.

In fact, depending on the scale and depth to which fans have been involved, abandoning efforts can have a negative impact on the artist’s reputation. For example, if a musician begins using the micro-blogging platform Twitter, builds a large base of followers, gives them a glimpse behind the scenes, then abandons the effort, these fans may not just lose interest but take their disappointment public in the form of message board posts, social network comments, and other inter-fan communication.

This has happened recently in the political arena as a number of President Obama’s Twitter followers publicly voiced their annoyance that his tweets had dried up since taking office. Often this only has a limited effect, but, given the viral nature of social media, this can damage an artist’s brand in the long run. If a long-term digital marketing effort is not sustainable, a more realistic or shorter-term alternative needs to be substituted.

4) Create a plan for implementation and awareness.

Artists must also develop a plan for creating awareness of these digital tools. Without fans’ eyes and ears, the quality of the product and the plan are irrelevant. Musicians must find a balance between using forward-thinking technology and spending time on core fan-building techniques. The enormous benefit of music technology is that it enables artists to continually give their fans a reason to pay attention. However, if a band only has a weak fan base to begin with, their foundation must be strengthened before the value of these digital tools can be realized.

5) Use all available web properties.

An artist must use sites they control (official site, social networks) as well as online social media (music portals, blogs) to maximize the reach of these assets. Without a combined effort on these two avenues, fans miss the communication and the marketing message falls flat.

Fortunately, most of the issues outlined here are fully within an artist’s control. Once an artist has an understanding of his fan base and the means to reach them, he can begin building a digital marketing strategy, one that will engage, inspire, and create long-term interest.

Jason Feinberg is the president and founder of On Target Media Group, an entertainment industry new media marketing and promotion company. He is responsible for business development, formulation and management of online marketing campaigns, and media relations with over 1,000 websites and media outlets. The company has served clients including Warner Bros. Records, Universal Music Enterprises, EMI, Concord Music Group, Roadrunner Records, and others with an artist roster that includes The Rentals, Thin Lizzy, Sammy Hagar, Primus, Poncho Sanchez, Ringo Starr, Chick Corea, and many more.

MORE 360 degree deal maddness:

Music
The New Deal: Band as Brand
J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times

Paramore has arrangements based on sharing “multiple rights” with their label.

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By JEFF LEEDS
Published: November 11, 2007

GEORGE, Wash.
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Audio Jeff Leeds on 360 Deals
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J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times

The members of Paramore, fronted by Hayley Williams, say a “360” deal has helped them develop as a group.

IF you surveyed the crowd this summer at the punk-flavored Vans Warped Tour here, thick with unexpected piercings and regrettable tattoos, the Paramore fans were hard to miss. Many were clean-cut young girls sporting the same shaggy orange-and-blonde hairstyle as the one worn by the band’s singer, Hayley Williams, in the music video for this pop-punk band’s hit song, “Misery Business.”

“I just want to be just like her,” said a 12-year-old fan named Christine, who cried while standing in line to get autographs from Ms. Williams, 18, and her band mates. Ms. Williams cupped a hand over her mouth and spun away for a moment for fear of losing her own composure.

Paramore is undeniably ascendant: after three years of tireless runs through clubs and festivals, the band, from Franklin, Tenn., has built a passionate audience that has snapped up more than 350,000 copies of its recent second album, “Riot!,” more than doubling the sales of its debut. And now the band is selling out theaters on its biggest tour to date.

Though its success is in large part due to smart pop songwriting and a fashion-forward frontwoman, music executives and talent managers also cite Paramore as a promising example of a rising new model for developing talent, one in which artists share not just revenue from their album sales but concert, merchandise and other earnings with their label in exchange for more comprehensive career support.

If the concept takes hold, it will alter not only the way music companies make money but the way new talent is groomed, and perhaps even the kind of acts that are offered contracts in the first place.

Commonly known as “multiple rights” or “360” deals, the new pacts emerged in an early iteration with the deal that Robbie Williams, the British pop singer signed with EMI in 2002. They are now used by all the major record labels and even a few independents. Madonna has been the most prominent artist to sign on (her recent $120 million deal with the concert promoter Live Nation allows it to share in her future earnings), but the majority of these new deals are made with unknown acts.

It’s not possible to tabulate the number of acts working under 360 deals, but worldwide, record labels share in the earnings with such diverse acts as Lordi, a Finnish metal band which has its own soft drink and credit card, and Camila, a Mexican pop trio that has been drawing big crowds to its concerts. In the United States, Interscope Records benefits from the marketing spinoffs from the Pussycat Dolls, including a Dolls-theme nightclub in Las Vegas.

“Five or eight years ago an eyebrow would be raised,” said the music producer Josh Abraham, whose recent credits include recordings by Slayer and Pink. “Now it’s everywhere. You can’t talk about what a deal looks like without seeing 360.”

Like many innovations, these deals were born of desperation; after experiencing the financial havoc unleashed by years of slipping CD sales, music companies started viewing the ancillary income from artists as a potential new source of cash. After all, the thinking went, labels invest the most in the risky and expensive process of developing talent, so why shouldn’t they get a bigger share of the talent’s success?

In return for that bigger share, labels might give artists more money up front and in many cases touring subsidies that otherwise would not be offered. More important, perhaps, artists might be allowed more time to develop the chops needed to build a long career. And the label’s ability to crossmarket items like CDs, ring tones, V.I.P. concert packages and merchandise might make for a bigger overall pie.

Not everyone is sold on the concept. Many talent managers view 360s as a thinly veiled money grab and are skeptical that the labels, with their work forces shrinking amid industrywide cost cutting, will deliver on their promises of patience.

“That’s a hard speech for many people to buy into,” said Bruce Flohr, a longtime talent executive who signed the Dave Matthews Band to RCA Records and now works for ATO Records, an independent label. “You can speak to me that you’re going to work a record for 18 months. You’re going to work a record for 18 months when it’s selling 420 copies six months from now? Come on — really?”

Even inexperienced performers may resist sharing their take from the box office, particularly at a time when plunging CD sales have pushed artists to rely even more on their concert earnings.

The New Deal: Band as Brand

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Published: November 11, 2007

(Page 2 of 3)

But record executives argue that such deals could free them from the tyranny of megahits because there would be less pressure to make back the label’s money immediately. In the 1990s the arrival of computerized data from SoundScan, which tracks retail sales, meant the industry had an instant scorecard that tempted companies to push for Hollywood blockbuster-style opening weeks. The demand for quick payoffs persisted, even though a review of the last 15 years of Billboard data shows the albums that immediately seized spots on the upper half of the Billboard Top 200 chart would go on to sell fewer copies, on average, than the releases that slowly worked their way up.
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Madonna has a ”multiple rights” arrangement with her concert promoter.
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Audio Jeff Leeds on 360 Deals

“If we weren’t so mono-focused on the selling of recorded music, we could actually take a really holistic approach to the development of an artist brand,” said Craig Kallman, chairman of Atlantic Records, which signed Paramore, along with Fueled By Ramen Records. “What’s the healthiest decision to be made, not just to sell the CD but to build the artist’s fan base?”

The industry’s hunger for 360 deals might also subtly shift the ways labels view the scouting and cultivation of talent, a process known as A&R, or artist and repertory, development.

Rap acts, for example, might lose out, since their recordings can be expensive to produce and very few become touring successes. On the other hand, rappers can attract lucrative endorsements for products from sneakers to computers to soft drinks; many have started apparel lines. With an eye to a piece of that potential revenue, Atlantic recently signed the Brooklyn rapper Maino to a 360-style pact.

And labels may take a closer look at the progeny of the Grateful Dead: hard-touring jam bands that don’t necessarily sell many CD’s or score radio hits but do draw obsessively loyal fans who gobble up tickets and memorabilia. “We used to look at jam bands as bands that absolutely we shouldn’t sign,” Mr. Kallman said. “Now all of a sudden I’m saying: ‘Guys, you absolutely must find the next hottest jam band. I need the next Phish. Urgently.’”

A somewhat similar blueprint emerged in 2005 when Atlantic and a small partner, the Florida company Fueled By Ramen, signed Paramore with plans to build a brand-name rock band, one that now not only racks up sold-out shows but sells merchandise from flip-flops to tube tops. The band members, who were mostly teenagers when they signed, felt drawn to a comprehensive approach that allowed for slower growth, Ms. Williams said during a recent chat on the band’s tour bus.

The slow work of playing scores of clubs has paid off so far. It took time for Ms. Williams’s marketable girl-power persona to blossom. At first she usually wore a T-shirt and jeans, but after roughly two years of gigs, she had an epiphany.

“We were leaving Glasgow, Scotland, on the way to another city, and I remember saying, ‘I don’t want to wear this kind of stuff anymore, because I kind of feel like a dude,’” she recalled.

As the band developed, Atlantic and Fueled By Ramen underwrote many of its touring expenses, including, early on, the purchase of a van and payments to Ms. Williams’s mother to continue the band members’ high school education on the road, said John Janick, Fueled By Ramen’s top executive.

Paramore’s handlers wanted the band to hone its craft off the industry radar, forgoing the push to get radio play for any singles from the band’s first album, 2005’s “All We Know is Falling.” Instead, Fueled By Ramen tried to drum up support on Web sites like Purevolume.com, where users explore new music. “The band was so young, and they were trying to figure out who they were,” Mr. Janick said.

Paramore’s debut sold more than 140,000 CDs: no flop but far below typical expectations for a band considered a label priority. “We were given all the time in the world, and all the support we could ever ask for, to basically do nothing but play shows,” Ms. Williams said. Without the 360 approach, she said, “I don’t know that we would’ve been given that lenience.”

Though the concept could be applied to anyone, even fleetingly famous pop stars, the real potential of a 360-style pact does not emerge unless an act is popular long enough to attract either loyal fans who reliably buy tickets, or attention from business partners who might help market spinoffs like a fragrance or sneaker line.

(Page 3 of 3)

“Let’s face it, if you’ve sold 1.5 million albums off one single, and here comes your clothing line, and here comes your personalized phone, you haven’t really built a fan base,” Mr. Flohr of ATO said. “You’ve built fans of songs.”
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Audio Jeff Leeds on 360 Deals

If 360s mean that labels might practice more patience in developing raw talent, however, they could hardly have picked a worse moment. In the open culture of the Internet fans can render judgment on burgeoning artists almost instantly, long before the musicians have a chance to hone their songs or road-test their performance skills. Indie-rock bands run a gantlet of blogs that might include a round of breathless hype that vaults them to Next-Big-Thing status then a thorough backlash, all before they even release an album.

While most labels now monitor blogs for new acts to sign, many executives insist that, once they commit to developing a new act’s career, they can discount much of the online banter. “It’s not just like, ‘Oh my god, they’re not hip in Williamsburg anymore, so therefore it’s over,’” said Steve Ralbovsky, a longtime A&R executive who signed artists including Kings of Leon at RCA Records and now runs his own unit, Canvasback, at Columbia Records. “You just have to realize there’s a world apart” from the blogosphere.

Mr. Ralbovsky, who has started to discuss 360-style pacts with several artists, said it will take “a couple of years” before anyone can determine whether a group’s ancillary income can offset the continuing slide in album sales. As for Paramore, executives say they still view the band as an investment, and decline to disclose financial details of Atlantic’s arrangement.

Particulars of a 360 deal might differ from label to label, but a recent Atlantic offer to another act provides an example of how one might be structured.

Atlantic’s document offers a conventional cash advance to sign the artist, who would receive a royalty for sales after expenses were recouped. With the release of the artist’s first album, however, the label has an option to pay an additional $200,000 in exchange for 30 percent of the net income from all touring, merchandise, endorsements and fan-club fees.

Atlantic would also have the right to approve the act’s tour schedule, and the salaries of certain tour and merchandise sales employees hired by the artist. But the label also offers the artist a 30 percent cut of the label’s album profits — if any — which represents an improvement from the typical industry royalty of 15 percent.

Mr. Kallman said that if Atlantic engages more artists in such agreements, it will have to devote more resources to a smaller roster and raise the stakes for each album. “Your batting average has to go up,” he said. If new artists don’t become successful, “I’ve doubled and tripled down on everything and I’m still playing to empty houses and not selling records.”

As for Paramore, the band’s chance to develop away from the spotlight of the mainstream marketplace has now ended. With its gathering fame, the band has already confronted a handful of tough decisions about how to maintain its identity. Ms. Williams said she rejected an overture from a shoe company that wanted to feature her — alone — in an ad campaign.

Still, to grow, the band will have to expand its reach. Josh Farro, Paramore’s guitarist, sounded wary. Until now “we didn’t want to get lumped into that whole machine, MTV and all that stuff,” he said. “We felt like it was just too soon. And we’d rather build a solid fan base.”

He added, “We have such crazy fans, and those are the ones that are going to stick with us forever.”

Im interested in how the industry is trying to run an ’end around’ to fake out the digital piracy movement. This trick play they are running is called ’the 360 degree deal’. Take from an article on http://financialedge.investopedia.com by Katie Adams. Read on:

Facing The Music: The Recording Industry’s Power Struggle
Posted: March 3, 2010 9:52AM by Katie Adams
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Despite the red carpet glitz and glamor of the Grammy Awards last month, the truth is that the music industry is in a near-death spiral. According to Forrester Research, U.S. music sales and licensing revenues plummeted from $14.6 billion in 1999 to less than half that figure – just $6.3 billion – a decade later. In fact, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reports that album sales have fallen, on average, 8% each year over the past 10 years. (The glitz and glam of Hollywood could help put some more glitz in your pocket. Find out how in Analyzing Show Biz Stocks.)

With the advent of digital downloading in the late ’90s, the industry has scrambled to figure out how to monetize a product that many people are increasingly unwilling to pay for. In 1999, Napster made headlines through its file-sharing service, leaving traditional music distribution channels in the dust.

With far fewer people willing to buy albums, record labels and music companies are faced with the challenge of finding new ways to generate revenue. Enter the 360 degree deal.

What It Is
The 360 degree deal – also known as the ”multi-rights deal” – is an all-encompassing contract between a company and recording artist. Just prior to the digital revolution, record companies focused on signing artists that could quickly produce chart-topping hits in order to justify advanced money paid to bands.

While companies focused on album sales, artists knew their paydays would come from everything else: merchandise, sponsorships, touring, publishing etc. However, thanks to the internet, instead of needing to be ”discovered” by a label to produce an album, artists can virtually bypass record companies to market themselves, build a fan base and distribute their music.

A 360 degree deal promises that a firm will not only produce a band’s album, but will also build the artists’ overall brands. Companies search for and sign singers or bands to a deal that encompasses virtually everything related to their careers, including merchandise, tours, publishing, fan-club revenues and ticketing. However there is no ”standard” 360 degree deal – companies create packages of all types depending on their in-house competencies and the potential revenue a star represents. (Find out what to do when your kid is ready for higher education, but you aren’t, in Last-Minute Strategies To Help Pay For College.)

Who’s Doing It
In 2002 British singer Robbie Williams was one of the first to sign a 360 degree deal with EMI Music, and the concept has quickly picked up steam.

Live Nation Inc. is recognized as the industry leader in this emerging business model. The global live entertainment company that consists of Live Nation, Ticketmaster and Front Line Management Group, bills itself as a virtual ”one-stop-shop” for artists and fans alike, and has signed a 360 degree deal with stars and recording acts such as U2, Madonna, Shakira and Jay-Z.

Live Nation’s not the only game in town, though. Interscope Records signed The Pussycat Dolls for the bands’ albums, touring and a Vegas-themed nightclub. Snoop Dogg signed a multi-rights deal with MTV that includes support for his latest album production and release, as well as inclusion in the next ”Rock Band” video game and a new variety show, ”Dogg After Dark.”

The Upside
Because companies see a wider potential revenue stream, there’s (theoretically) less pressure for an artist to go platinum out of the starting blocks. In addition, firms are increasingly willing to expand the idea of what types of acts to sign. Bands like Phish, that aren’t Top-40 chart toppers but have enormous loyal fan bases, may be of more interest because they have strong revenue producing potential outside of album sales.

The major benefit for the artist is that the label/company may be more aggressive in promoting the artist’s entire brand because it’s got a vested (i.e. financial) interest in more than just record sales. The benefit for the company is purely financial. Instead of limiting revenue generation to just album sales they can get a nice little – or not so little – cut of every aspect of the artist’s business. (Do the characters in these classic films reflect what it’s like to work on Wall Street? Find out in Financial Careers According To Hollywood.)

The Cost
Multi-rights deals involve firms shelling out big money up front to artists, and shareholders can get nervous about the potential return on investment (ROI). In fact after Live Nation signed the Material Girl, the firm’s share price dropped.

However there’s only one Madonna, and most acts that are offered 360 degree deals won’t get such generous offers and their contracts are likely to have a significantly larger percentage of profits going to the company. In addition, not all firms have the breadth and reach of a Live Nation, which owns venues, ticketing agencies and merchandising companies. Acts may sign contracts that limit their ability to work with other companies, which would cause them to lose out on fans, business opportunities and, ultimately, revenue.

Conclusion
iTunes was a good start for companies looking to harness the power of the internet and boost digital download sales, but it may have been too little too late. Multi-rights, 360 degree deals are one way that the music industry is looking to survive. Only time will tell if record companies have what it takes to deliver on their promises, or if they too will go the way of vinyl, eight-tracks and cassette tapes.

Here is a very famous and pretty old article about the way that the ’Old Guard’ made and manipulated money in the music industry. NOTE: This article was before the ’Napster/File Sharing’ era that all but decimated the business model of the Music Industry. This article was written by Steve Albini:

The Problem With Music
by Steve Albini

Whenever I talk to a band who are about to sign with a major label, I always end up thinking of them in a particular context. I imagine a trench, about four feet wide and five feet deep, maybe sixty yards long, filled with runny, decaying shit. I imagine these people, some of them good friends, some of them barely acquaintances, at one end of this trench. I also imagine a faceless industry lackey at the other end holding a fountain pen and a contract waiting to be signed. Nobody can see what’s printed on the contract. It’s too far away, and besides, the shit stench is making everybody’s eyes water. The lackey shouts to everybody that the first one to swim the trench gets to sign the contract. Everybody dives in the trench and they struggle furiously to get to the other end. Two people arrive simultaneously and begin wrestling furiously, clawing each other and dunking each other under the shit. Eventually, one of them capitulates, and there’s only one contestant left. He reaches for the pen, but the Lackey says ”Actually, I think you need a little more development. Swim again, please. Backstroke”. And he does of course.

Every major label involved in the hunt for new bands now has on staff a high-profile point man, an ”A & R” rep who can present a comfortable face to any prospective band. The initials stand for ”Artist and Repertoire.” because historically, the A & R staff would select artists to record music that they had also selected, out of an available pool of each. This is still the case, though not openly. These guys are universally young [about the same age as the bands being wooed], and nowadays they always have some obvious underground rock credibility flag they can wave.

Lyle Preslar, former guitarist for Minor Threat, is one of them. Terry Tolkin, former NY independent booking agent and assistant manager at Touch and Go is one of them. Al Smith, former soundman at CBGB is one of them. Mike Gitter, former editor of XXX fanzine and contributor to Rip, Kerrang and other lowbrow rags is one of them. Many of the annoying turds who used to staff college radio stations are in their ranks as well. There are several reasons A & R scouts are always young. The explanation usually copped-to is that the scout will be ”hip to the current musical ”scene.” A more important reason is that the bands will intuitively trust someone they think is a peer, and who speaks fondly of the same formative rock and roll experiences. The A & R person is the first person to make contact with the band, and as such is the first person to promise them the moon. Who better to promise them the moon than an idealistic young turk who expects to be calling the shots in a few years, and who has had no previous experience with a big record company. Hell, he’s as naive as the band he’s duping. When he tells them no one will interfere in their creative process, he probably even believes it. When he sits down with the band for the first time, over a plate of angel hair pasta, he can tell them with all sincerity that when they sign with company X, they’re really signing with him and he’s on their side. Remember that great gig I saw you at in ’85? Didn’t we have a blast. By now all rock bands are wise enough to be suspicious of music industry scum. There is a pervasive caricature in popular culture of a portly, middle aged ex-hipster talking a mile-a-minute, using outdated jargon and calling everybody ”baby.” After meeting ”their” A & R guy, the band will say to themselves and everyone else, ”He’s not like a record company guy at all! He’s like one of us.” And they will be right. That’s one of the reasons he was hired.

These A & R guys are not allowed to write contracts. What they do is present the band with a letter of intent, or ”deal memo,” which loosely states some terms, and affirms that the band will sign with the label once a contract has been agreed on. The spookiest thing about this harmless sounding little memo, is that it is, for all legal purposes, a binding document. That is, once the band signs it, they are under obligation to conclude a deal with the label. If the label presents them with a contract that the band don’t want to sign, all the label has to do is wait. There are a hundred other bands willing to sign the exact same contract, so the label is in a position of strength. These letters never have any terms of expiration, so the band remain bound by the deal memo until a contract is signed, no matter how long that takes. The band cannot sign to another laborer or even put out its own material unless they are released from their agreement, which never happens. Make no mistake about it: once a band has signed a letter of intent, they will either eventually sign a contract that suits the label or they will be destroyed.

One of my favorite bands was held hostage for the better part of two years by a slick young ”He’s not like a label guy at all,” A & R rep, on the basis of such a deal memo. He had failed to come through on any of his promises [something he did with similar effect to another well-known band], and so the band wanted out. Another label expressed interest, but when the A & R man was asked to release the band, he said he would need money or points, or possibly both, before he would consider it. The new label was afraid the price would be too dear, and they said no thanks. On the cusp of making their signature album, an excellent band, humiliated, broke up from the stress and the many months of inactivity. There’s this band. They’re pretty ordinary, but they’re also pretty good, so they’ve attracted some attention. They’re signed to a moderate-sized ”independent” label owned by a distribution company, and they have another two albums owed to the label. They’re a little ambitious. They’d like to get signed by a major label so they can have some security you know, get some good equipment, tour in a proper tour bus — nothing fancy, just a little reward for all the hard work. To that end, they got a manager. He knows some of the label guys, and he can shop their next project to all the right people. He takes his cut, sure, but it’s only 15%, and if he can get them signed then it’s money well spent. Anyways, it doesn’t cost them anything if it doesn’t work. 15% of nothing isn’t much! One day an A & R scout calls them, says he’s ’been following them for a while now, and when their manager mentioned them to him, it just ”clicked.” Would they like to meet with him about the possibility of working out a deal with his label? Wow. Big Break time. They meet the guy, and y’know what — he’s not what they expected from a label guy. He’s young and dresses pretty much like the band does. He knows all their favorite bands. He’s like one of them. He tells them he wants to go to bat for them, to try to get them everything they want. He says anything is possible with the right attitude.

They conclude the evening by taking home a copy of a deal memo they wrote out and signed on the spot. The A & R guy was full of great ideas, even talked about using a name producer. Butch Vig is out of the question-he wants 100 g’s and three points, but they can get Don Fleming for $30,000 plus three points. Even that’s a little steep, so maybe they’ll go with that guy who used to be in David Letterman’s band. He only wants three points. Or they can have just anybody record it (like Warton Tiers, maybe– cost you 5 or 7 grand] and have Andy Wallace remix it for 4 grand a track plus 2 points. It was a lot to think about. Well, they like this guy and they trust him. Besides, they already signed the deal memo. He must have been serious about wanting them to sign. They break the news to their current label, and the label manager says he wants them to succeed, so they have his blessing. He will need to be compensated, of course, for the remaining albums left on their contract, but he’ll work it out with the label himself.

Sub Pop made millions from selling off Nirvana, and Twin Tone hasn’t done bad either: 50 grand for the Babes and 60 grand for the Poster Children– without having to sell a single additional record. It’ll be something modest. The new label doesn’t mind, so long as it’s recoupable out of royalties. Well, they get the final contract, and it’s not quite what they expected. They figure it’s better to be safe than sorry and they turn it over to a lawyer–one who says he’s experienced in entertainment law and he hammers out a few bugs. They’re still not sure about it, but the lawyer says he’s seen a lot of contracts, and theirs is pretty good. They’ll be great royalty: 13% [less a 1O% packaging deduction]. Wasn’t it Buffalo Tom that were only getting 12% less 10? Whatever. The old label only wants 50 grand, an no points. Hell, Sub Pop got 3 points when they let Nirvana go. They’re signed for four years, with options on each year, for a total of over a million dollars! That’s a lot of money in any man’s English. The first year’s advance alone is $250,000. Just think about it, a quarter million, just for being in a rock band! Their manager thinks it’s a great deal, especially the large advance. Besides, he knows a publishing company that will take the band on if they get signed, and even give them an advance of 20 grand, so they’ll be making that money too. The manager says publishing is pretty mysterious, and nobody really knows where all the money comes from, but the lawyer can look that contract over too. Hell, it’s free money. Their booking agent is excited about the band signing to a major. He says they can maybe average $1,000 or $2,000 a night from now on. That’s enough to justify a five week tour, and with tour support, they can use a proper crew, buy some good equipment and even get a tour bus! Buses are pretty expensive, but if you figure in the price of a hotel room for everybody In the band and crew, they’re actually about the same cost. Some bands like Therapy? and Sloan and Stereolab use buses on their tours even when they’re getting paid only a couple hundred bucks a night, and this tour should earn at least a grand or two every night. It’ll be worth it. The band will be more comfortable and will play better.

The agent says a band on a major label can get a merchandising company to pay them an advance on T-shirt sales! ridiculous! There’s a gold mine here! The lawyer Should look over the merchandising contract, just to be safe. They get drunk at the signing party. Polaroids are taken and everybody looks thrilled. The label picked them up in a limo. They decided to go with the producer who used to be in Letterman’s band. He had these technicians come in and tune the drums for them and tweak their amps and guitars. He had a guy bring in a slew of expensive old ”vintage” microphones. Boy, were they ”warm.” He even had a guy come in and check the phase of all the equipment in the control room! Boy, was he professional. He used a bunch of equipment on them and by the end of it, they all agreed that it sounded very ”punchy,” yet ”warm.” All that hard work paid off. With the help of a video, the album went like hotcakes! They sold a quarter million copies! Here is the math that will explain just how fucked they are: These figures are representative of amounts that appear in record contracts daily. There’s no need to skew the figures to make the scenario look bad, since real-life examples more than abound. income is bold and underlined, expenses are not.

Advance: $ 250,000
Manager’s cut: $ 37,500
Legal fees: $ 10,000
Recording Budget: $ 150,000
Producer’s advance: $ 50,000
Studio fee: $ 52,500
Drum Amp, Mic and Phase ”Doctors”: $ 3,000
Recording tape: $ 8,000
Equipment rental: $ 5,000
Cartage and Transportation: $ 5,000
Lodgings while in studio: $ 10,000
Catering: $ 3,000
Mastering: $ 10,000
Tape copies, reference CDs, shipping tapes, misc. expenses: $ 2,000
Video budget: $ 30,000
Cameras: $ 8,000
Crew: $ 5,000
Processing and transfers: $ 3,000
Off-line: $ 2,000
On-line editing: $ 3,000
Catering: $ 1,000
Stage and construction: $ 3,000
Copies, couriers, transportation: $ 2,000
Director’s fee: $ 3,000
Album Artwork: $ 5,000
Promotional photo shoot and duplication: $ 2,000
Band fund: $ 15,000
New fancy professional drum kit: $ 5,000
New fancy professional guitars [2]: $ 3,000
New fancy professional guitar amp rigs [2]: $ 4,000
New fancy potato-shaped bass guitar: $ 1,000
New fancy rack of lights bass amp: $ 1,000
Rehearsal space rental: $ 500
Big blowout party for their friends: $ 500
Tour expense [5 weeks]: $ 50,875
Bus: $ 25,000
Crew [3]: $ 7,500
Food and per diems: $ 7,875
Fuel: $ 3,000
Consumable supplies: $ 3,500
Wardrobe: $ 1,000
Promotion: $ 3,000
Tour gross income: $ 50,000
Agent’s cut: $ 7,500
Manager’s cut: $ 7,500
Merchandising advance: $ 20,000
Manager’s cut: $ 3,000
Lawyer’s fee: $ 1,000
Publishing advance: $ 20,000
Manager’s cut: $ 3,000
Lawyer’s fee: $ 1,000
Record sales: 250,000 @ $12 =
$3,000,000
Gross retail revenue Royalty: [13% of 90% of retail]:
$ 351,000
Less advance: $ 250,000
Producer’s points: [3% less $50,000 advance]:
$ 40,000
Promotional budget: $ 25,000
Recoupable buyout from previous label: $ 50,000
Net royalty: $ -14,000
Record company income:

Record wholesale price: $6.50 x 250,000 =
$1,625,000 gross income
Artist Royalties: $ 351,000
Deficit from royalties: $ 14,000
Manufacturing, packaging and distribution: @ $2.20 per record: $ 550,000
Gross profit: $ 7l0,000
The Balance Sheet: This is how much each player got paid at the end of the game.

Record company: $ 710,000
Producer: $ 90,000
Manager: $ 51,000
Studio: $ 52,500
Previous label: $ 50,000
Agent: $ 7,500
Lawyer: $ 12,000
Band member net income each: $ 4,031.25

The band is now 1/4 of the way through its contract, has made the music industry more than 3 million dollars richer, but is in the hole $14,000 on royalties. The band members have each earned about 1/3 as much as they would working at a 7-11, but they got to ride in a tour bus for a month. The next album will be about the same, except that the record company will insist they spend more time and money on it. Since the previous one never ”recouped,” the band will have no leverage, and will oblige. The next tour will be about the same, except the merchandising advance will have already been paid, and the band, strangely enough, won’t have earned any royalties from their T-shirts yet. Maybe the T-shirt guys have figured out how to count money like record company guys. Some of your friends are probably already this fucked.

Steve Albini is an independent and corporate rock record producer most widely known for having produced Nirvana’s ”In Utero”.