How to Submit Your Video to MTV and Others

Hey Y’all!

It’s Your Gyrl, Ms. Carmen aka Platinum Voice PR bringing another relevant topic to you!

 Have you ever wondered how to get your video on TV? Well, here's the information to get you started I hope this helps you! 

 

Video Submission Information
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DMDS Music™ delivers the highest quality new music and music videos to radio programmers, broadcasters, journalists, and other industry influencers anywhere in the world. It’s lightning fast, highly secure, economical & environmentally friendly too!

Fast, secure, economical, and environmentally friendly Web-based and hardware-free, DMDS is easy to use and integrates with existing production workflows. It’s a complete solution for digital delivery of files inter-departmentally and to managed and imported lists of recipients. Simply upload media; attach electronic press kits, artist publicity shots, biographies, and a compelling story; select recipients; and send. All it takes is a simple click of the mouse and DMDS delivers broadcast-quality digital media.

DMDS Music offers:

Comprehensive managed list of professional recipients in the broadcast and music industry
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Instant reporting so senders know who has accessed their music;
A convenient private feedback and approvals tool to make it easy to send messages back and forth between the sender and the recipient; And more.

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Get setup and trained in under an hour:
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 These are the networks that your videos could appear on! 

Video Networks

MTV Networks

All MTV/Vh1 outlets below are included when submitting video to MTV Networks.

MTV is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. MTV has had a profound impact on the music industry and popular culture around the globe.

MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available on digital cable and satellite television. The original purpose of the channel was to give music fans a place to see constant, commercial-free music videos. Today, MTV2 airs a selection of music videos, other music-related specials, and non-music shows focused on youth culture and pop culture. These shows are aimed at viewers in their teens and early 20s.

MTV Jams is available exclusively on digital cable and runs on an automated eight hour wheel schedule which repeats three times a day, starting at 6am Eastern, and then resetting at 2pm and 10pm. Promotional advertising, other interstitial programming and some events are also carried on the network, along with various theme programming to promote album releases or other happenings in the music world.

VH1 original purpose was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly older demographic than its sister channel, focusing on the lighter, softer side of popular music. While VH1 still occasionally plays music videos and the Top 20 Video Countdown, its more recent claim to fame has been in the area of music-related reality programming.

VH1Soul showcases R&B, funk, soul, and Motown music from past and present decades. Presently, a modest selection of R&B hits from the past ten years, as well as several 80's and early 90's hip-hop videos, can be seen on VH1 Soul. Several of the more R&B-influenced, more socially conscious modern-day rappers and their newest videos can also be regularly seen. However, shows focus on different types of music videos. The Channel today features a non-stop blend of all music videos new and old across all theme blocks.

MTVU is a 24-hour television channel that is available on more than 750 college and university campuses across the United States, as well as several digital cable packages. It gives advertisers and music promotion companies access to college-age viewers. The music played on the station is primarily indie rock, pop punk and hip-hop.

Tr3s is a cable, satellite and over-the-air network. It is rooted in the fusion of Latin America and American music, cultures, and languages, bringing the biggest names in pop, urban, and rock music. Tr3s includes lifestyle series, customized music video playlists, news documentaries that celebrate Latino culture, music and artists, and English-subtitled programming in Spanish imported from the MTV España and MTV Latin America channels. The channel is targeted toward bilingual Latinos and non-Latino Americans aged 12 to 34.

Launched in June 2005, the channel's programs are geared towards the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. The advertiser-supported channel struck carriage deals prior to its launch date with DirecTV, Charter Communications, Adelphia, Cablevision, Time Warner Cable of New York City, and RCN.

Music Choice programs dozens of audio music channels for digital and cable subscribers, and produces music-related content for on-demand customers with access to Music Choice On-Demand. Music Choice also offers video and audio music programming for cell phone customers through Sprint, Nextel and AT&T Wireless Services.

BET is currently viewed in more than 90 million homes worldwide and it is the most prominent television network targeting young Black-American audiences. It is the leading provider of African-American cultural and entertainment based programming. Most programming of the network comprises mainstream rap and R&B music videos and urban-oriented movies and series.

CMT is an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming includes music videos, taped concerts, movies, biographies of country music stars, game shows, and reality programs.

Great American Country (or GAC), is a Nashville, Tennessee-based country music cable television network.

Fuse is an American national television network dedicated exclusively to music. It features original series and specials, exclusive interviews, live concerts and video blocks. Fuse accommodates a wide range of musical tastes, while targeting a demographic between 18-34 year-olds. It offers music entertainment not only on-air but also on-line, on-demand, in high-definition and via mobile.

Telemundo is an American television network that broadcasts in Spanish. The network is the second-largest Spanish-language content producer in the world, and the second-largest Spanish-language network in the United States, behind Univision.

Canadian Television Broadcast Networks

MTV Canada is a Canadian (English language) channel devoted to music, talk, lifestyle and documentary programming.

MuchMusic, now a sister channel of the Canadian MTV channel, was originally launched in 1984. It features a wide range of music-related programming focused on youth culture and pop culture. Also part of the MuchMusic network is MuchMore, a channel devoted to music, music-related programming and pop culture, with its music programming focusing more on adult contemporary music, classic rock, and lighter music than its sister station, MuchMusic. Its programming consists of music videos, films, concerts, reality TV and pop culture shows, including a number of titles licensed from the American channel VH1.

MusiquePlus is a Canadian (French language) channel devoted to music and music related programming from various genres including pop, rock, R&B and focuses on a younger demographic than its sister station, MusiMax. It is the French language equivalent to MuchMusic. Within Quebec, the channel has mandatory cable carriage rights.

CMT Canada is a Canadian (English language) channel which airs country music and family-orientated general entertainment programs in the form of music videos, award shows, concerts, sitcoms and more.

AUX is a Canadian (English language) channel and corresponding website owned and operated by Glassbox Television. Aux is programmed to offer music video and music-related programs profiling new and emerging artists in alternative, hip hop, indie rock, indie pop and other genres.

bpm:tv (beats per minute television) is a Canadian (English language) specialty channel owned by Stornoway Communications. bpm:tv's programming is devoted to dance, club lifestyle and dance music- electronica, house, techno, eurodance, trance.

The specifications that are listed here are subject to change. Please check the help section at www.dmds.com or speak to your
DMDS Sales Representative for the most up to date specifications.

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You never know where I may be bringing you the events of Chicago, so make sure you follow this blog and Follow me on Twitter, @PlatinumVoicePR! If you need your name and craft to buzz out here, go to www.platinumvoicepr.com.  Until next time, See ya later Babies!

Disclaimer:

(PlatinumVoicePR is the source for the events and has no legal bindings with associated parties)

(Music Videos and Links are for promotional use only)

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The Money Is In Music Publishing

Music publishing remains one of the most financially lucrative areas in the music business.” The Music Publishing Industry raked in $4.9 billion in revenue in 2011 according to the IBISworld Market Research Report.

For the most part Music publishing is governed by U.S. copyright law.

You actually own the copywrite of a song once you write it. But, it’s important that you register the song with the Library of Congress as proof.

Register your music the proper way with the U.S Copyright Office using either form PA or SR. Log on to www.Copyright.Gov

Music publishing is the business of turning songs into something that earns money. So if you want to earn money from your songs and tracks, you have no choice but to take on that role of the music publisher. Songwriting and producing is the act of creating the music. Publishing is the act of looking at that musical creation and thinking of the various revenue outlets for it.

As a Songwriter or producer, you have to try to figure out where your music fits and where you will be able to place your music to earn revenue. In some cases the songwriter and artist or performer of a song are not the same person. So, Understand that there are royalties paid to the Songwriter and Royalties paid to the artist. Publishing is concerned with the royalties paid to the SONGWRITER and not the artist or performer.

As a songwriter or producer, you can earn money by licensing your songs and music for various uses, and collecting the corresponding licensing income or royalties. If Rap Music Songwriters and producers understood the importance of publishing and copyright ownership, they would not be giving their music away for free so easily.

The song “Happy Birthday To You” which is owned by Warner Chapell Publishing generates about $5000 per day ($2 million per year) in publishing royalties. The company insists that one cannot sing the “Happy Birthday to You” lyrics for profit without paying royalties. This includes use in film, television, radio, anywhere open to the public, or even among a group where a substantial number of those in attendance are not family or friends of whoever is performing the song.

Singer/Songwriter The Dream stated that he earned about $15 Million in publishing royalties for writing the song “Umbrella” for Rihanna. Did You Know That Singer/Producer Bruce Hornsby owns 75% of Tupac’s Song “Changes” due to the sampling of Hornsby’s composition with in the song. Hornsby has made millions from the song.

It has been rumored that 50 cent was able to purchase his Connecticut mansion off of one publishing check from his song “In Da Club.” Your music catalogue is an ASSET and has revenue generating potential.

The most important thing a songwriter or producer can do, is to learn to be active in exploiting (placements,etc) their own music for profit via licensing and other means. The goal is to get your music in situations where you can start making money.

Thousands of song writers and producers are generating great income from music licensing and so can you. (Monetize Your Movement)

There has been a growth in media on a worldwide basis. There are literally hundreds of hundreds of additional TV stations now than there were 10 years ago. All of these stations have shows that need music. Satellite radio continues to grow, and you hear more and more songs in advertising, video games, and ring tones.

Music Publishing is where the money is in the music business.

The most significant revenue for a songwriter comes from issuing Mechanical, Performing Rights, Synchronization, Print (Sheet Music) and Foreign Licenses.

Songs generate money for the writer when it appears on an album, gets played on the radio, used in a TV show or movie, or sold as sheet music. There are two halves in every publishing dollar. One of the halves is the “Writer’s Share,” and the other half is the “Publisher’s Share’.”

And you the songwriter own the publisher’s half as well, unless you sign a publishing or co-publishing deal with another company. Songwriters some times sign with a music publisher who will pitch the songs to record companies, TV shows, movies, commercials etc. on their behalf.

MECHANICAL ROYALTIES

Mechanical licensing is the licensing of copyrighted musical compositions for use on CDs, records, tapes and certain digital formats. The Harry Fox Agency was established as an agency to license, collect, and distribute royalties on behalf of musical copyright owners.

A song writer is entitled to receive a compulsory mechanical license fee when ever his/her song is used in a mechanized fashion. (Meaning when ever it is manufactured and sold by a record label.)

Record labels actually license songs from songwriters in order to sell them and make a profit for themselves. In return they have to pay the songwriter a mechanical royalty for each song sold.

Mechanical Royalties are generated from album sales and digital download sales.

Mechanical royalties are paid by the major record or indie company to the songwriter or publisher of the song through the Harry Fox Agency.

The Mechanical royalty rate (Also Known as the “Statutory Mechanical rate”) is set by congress and is currently set at $.091 (9.1 cents) per unit sold. Hence, technically and hypothetically, If you had one song that was written and published solely by you on a million selling album, you would earn $91,000 in mechanical royalties.

If you’re signed to a record label and the label releases and sells a song that you are both the writer of and the artist performing on it, then you will receive both a mechanical royalty and an artist royalty from the record label.

PERFORMANCE ROYALTIES

Another lucrative part of music publishing involves Performance (Broadcast) Royalties.

Performance (Broadcast) royalties are paid when a song is played on the radio, used by businesses for background music, used by clubs, etc. A popular song can earn thousands and sometimes millions of dollars for the songwriter through the collection of performance royalties.

Whitney Houston’s version of “I Will Always Love You” was a mega hit. But. the person who truly made money off of it was songwriter Dolly Parton. Publishers and songwriters register with performing rights organizations like ASCAP, BMI & SESAC to collect Performance fees on their behalf.

Performance royalties are collected from radio and TV broadcasters, etc. by the Performing rights organizations ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC. The Performance Rights Organizations negotiate blanket licenses with all those who use music for profit on radio, TV, commercials, in clubs, etc

Performance Rights Organizations monitor radio and television broadcasts and pay publishers and songwriters based on projected uses of a song. Performance royalties pertain to the money songwriters earn from radio airplay, television, jukeboxes, music services and live performances.

SYNCHRONIZATION LICENSES

Synchronization Licenses are licenses issued to have Music used in film, television, commercials, music videos, etc.

A songwriter earns money from songs placed in TV or Film from the Synch licensing fee paid up front.

Thus Synchronization license fees and royalties are generated by songwriters by licensing their songs to be used in TV, Films, commercials.

Synch typically means licensing the right to record the music or songs in synch with the pictures of film or TV movies, ,etc. The songwriter and publisher are paid a negotiated fee to use the song in the movie..

The Synch license fee is determined by the overall music budget a music supervisor has to work with and the negotiating power of the artist.

A prime-time network TV show might pay a license of $1000 – $8000 for an unknown artist or songwriter. Major studio pictures pay well-known artists in the tens of thousands of dollars for use of their songs in a movie. Songwriters with songs on a particular TV Show generate new royalties every time the TV show is re-run or goes into syndication.

Please Note that a sync license gives the license holder the right to only RE-RECORD a song for use in a media project. A master license gives the license holder the right to use a pre-existing recording of that song in a media project.

It’s important to understand the difference between a synch license and a master license if you’re trying to get your songs in film or TV. A master license is obtained from the person who owns the recording (in other words, owns the master). Often times master licenses are obtained from the record labels.

FOREIGN MUSIC LICENSING

Songwriters can also enter into a foreign music licensing agreement with a foreign record company and earn revenue. With a foreign music licensing agreement you authorize a foreign record company to duplicate and sell copies of existing masters.

A song writer can earn foreign royalties as a result of entering into a foreign licensing agreement with an overseas record company.

VIDEO GAME LICENSING & PLACEMENT

Equally important, Songwriters and producers can generate revenue by licensing their music to be placed in video games. When submitting your music to video game developers directly, remember that certain games require certain types of music to compliment the action on screen.

Try to find out exactly what mood the developer is looking for, and what games they are working on, before submitting your music. The role of your music is to enhance the gamer’s experience while they interact with the art on screen; it’s not supposed to take center stage.

The more your intention lay in assisting the overall artistic vision of the project, and not so much on just landing a placement, the more likely the video game music supervisors will want to work with you.

If you are interested in getting your music in video games, then it’s wise to attend video game developer conventions and network with the developers; find out who are the music directors.

So as you can see, songwriters can generate huge amounts of revenue.

Additionally, please note that songwriters can generate revenue from having their songs converted into Sheet Music as well. To sum up, songwriters can license their music and earn Mechanical Royalties (album sales & digital downloads), Performance Royalties (radio play) and Sync Royalties (licensing to TV, Films, commercials) Reach out to the music supervisors of MTV, BET and VH1 and send them songs or beats for their various programs.Reach out to the music supervisors of ESPN or other sports networks and send them songs or tracks for their programs. Try to get your music placed in video games.

It’s imperative for artists, producers and song writers to attend different conferences, seminars and workshops to build their network.

In this digital age it’s imperative that artists and producers join Sound Exchange (www.SoundExchange.com ) More importantly, the home boy way of doing things will not suffice in today’s music industry. Always utilize split sheets when collaborating on a song. A split sheet reveals the split of the ownership in a particular song.

A songwriter usually owns 100% of the underlying composition (e.g., the lyrics and/or musical arrangement), unless he/she co-wrote the song with another individual and/or gave a portion of the ownership away through an agreement with a third party.

In conclusion, The music business is changing but the constant will be PUBLISHING. Even if CD’s go completely away, there will still be mechanical, Synchronization and performance royalties.

The goal is to construct an infrastructure, a team and strategy to build a long lasting music career. The mission is to become a professional or “working musician, artist or songwriter.”

Written By Jesse Atkinson, 

Are you Maximizing Your Twitter Potential?

Hey Y’all!

It’s Your Gyrl, Ms. Carmen aka Platinum Voice PR bringing another relevant topic to you!

With over 175 million users around the world, Twitter is truly one of the most powerful social networking tools in history. If you’re like most musicians, harnessing that power can be a real challenge. There are two ways to take advantage of your time and effort on twitter as a musician.

The first step is to follow people or topics you’re interested in. I would recommend following labels, A&R’s, managers, successful producers and so on. Once you start reading their posts over-time, you’ll have a great understanding of their interests, like and dislikes, allowing you to be more prepared when the time is right for you to connect with them about your interests.

The second step is one that is so simple yet so underused by musicians, it should be a Twitter crime. If you’re on Twitter for the sake of pushing your music, videos or whatever, you need followers. Every musician I speak with has such a hard time making this happen, outside of getting their friends and family to follow them.

Getting people to follow you is actually really easy, however. You don’t want to have just anyone follow you. You want to target Twitter users who have the same interests as your message. Let's says your message is to promote your hip-hop music. You wouldn’t necessarily want a bunch of rock fans to become your followers. No matter how good your message is, it’s most likely not going to connect with them. You need followers that directly relate to you and your message.

I would recommend finding independent acts in the same style and genre as your own,
that have a good number of followers and are actively engaged with their fans. Next, you want to take a look at who is following them and once you have that list up you’ll just follow those users.

Twitter only allows you to follow-up to 2000 users or until the number of followers is somewhat equal to the number of users that are following you. Now you can’t expect everyone you follow to follow you back. So we recommend following the full amount of users, (you can do this in a couple of hours) and then waiting about a week to see who follows you back. (if they don’t follow you back within a week, they most likely never will) Once the week is up you can go back and manually unfollow anyone who hasn't followed you back. There are plenty of tools online to make this task a lot easier, just google “Twitter unfollow tools” and you’ll find a bunch.

Once you unfollow those who didn’t follow you back, you’ll want to wait a few days before adding the maximum amount again, because Twitter monitors this activity and could think your account is for spam. Again, if you just wait a few days before adding the max amount again, you’ll be fine.

Once you have this down, you’ll want to make this part of your weekly social media strategy for your music and within no time at all you’ll have thousands of followers.

You never know where I may be bringing you the events of Chicago, so make sure you follow this blog and Follow me on Twitter, @PlatinumVoicePR! If you need your name and craft to buzz out here, go to www.platinumvoicepr.com.  Until next time, See ya later Babies!

Disclaimer:

(PlatinumVoicePR is the source for the events and has no legal bindings with associated parties)

(Music Videos and Links are for promotional use only)

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Why You Need Great Pictures As An Artist

Hey Y’all!

It’s Your Gyrl, Ms. Carmen aka Platinum Voice PR bringing another relevant topic to you!

If you’re like a lot of artists, deciding what your image should be is enough to cause that nauseous feeling to creep up the back of your throat. I mean, how fun is it to decide on things that will cause someone to make an opinion about? If this sounds like you, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Image control is one of the most misunderstood parts of a music career.

One thing that’s for sure is having the right image for your style of music is key in connecting to the fan-base your going after. One of the most visible areas of artist imagery is always their pictures.

Band/Artist pictures should be one area that all developing acts should focus time on and creative energy towards. It’s sad to say, but great images are almost always associated with great acts. Think about it; When you see a band/artist that has great creative images of themselves, you assume that their music is just better than those who don’t. It’s sad to say, but it’s true.

Great pictures have many benefits other than a positive perception about your music. An artist is much more likely to get press mentions, album reviews and lots of other promotional opportunities just because of great image they can use for the story.

Don’t feel that you need to go out and spend thousands of dollars getting the best photographer to shoot you or your band. A quick search on Google or Craigslist will probably net you hundreds of great photographers you can shop around and compare prices with.

If you’re confused on how the pictures should look, just research bands within your style of music that, in your opinion, get in right with the pictures they have and use that as a starting point for creating ideas for yourself.

Also, it’s a good rule of thumb to get new pictures before each album or, sometimes, EP release. Usually, you would want some basic theme connecting your album artwork and the images of you or your band. Don’t be afraid of being creative and taking risk, however just don’t go overboard. To be safe, make sure your pictures are a part of some sort of realistic setting.

So take a look at your image, pictures and all thing visual related to your music and start making changes that will have a long-lasting positive impact to your career.

You never know where I may be bringing you the events of Chicago, so make sure you follow this blog and Follow me on Twitter, @PlatinumVoicePR! If you need your name and craft to buzz out here, go to www.platinumvoicepr.com.  Until next time, See ya later Babies!

Disclaimer:

(PlatinumVoicePR is the source for the events and has no legal bindings with associated parties)

(Music Videos and Links are for promotional use only)

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Finding The Right Management

Hey Y’all!

It’s Your Gyrl, Ms. Carmen aka Platinum Voice PR bringing another relevant topic to you!

 

What do artists want just about as much as a record deal? That’s right, a manager. This is because good managers are worth their weight in gold and can have tremendous impact on your career. Unfortunately, good management is rare to find. The manager is perhaps the most important member of your team. Therefore, it is essential that you define exactly what your expectations of a manager are, and then choose wisely among any candidates that meet these expectations.

Managers and other members of your team each have a specific role. You don’t want to build an infrastructure if you have no use for it, and therefore, no means to support it. In simpler terms, you don’t want “dude” hanging around the studio being “managerial” by drinking your beer and telling you to work on the second verse of the song, while he hits on your girlfriend. Instead, the manager must be actively engaged in furthering your career.

In order for the manager to do this, he needs tools to work with. The first tool is the demo. The second tool is a fan base, which is typically built over time. Certainly, there is no absolute order to the progression, and most artist have management that helps guide the artist long before they have demos or do shows. But for the most part, you’re going to have a hard time attracting a manager and keeping him busy if you don’t have some groundwork already laid.

There are as many types of managers and styles of management as there are types and styles of music. This represents some of the more common ways in which artist connect with management, and what role management plays in the artist’s career. It is not a set of absolute rules.

The Three “Must Have’s” of Management

However you and your manager come together, and whatever role the manager finally ends up playing in your career, there are three characteristics that a manager must have in order to help your career effectively—both before and after you get a record deal. Those characteristics are passion, connections, and funding. If your manager has passion, he may be able to succeed without the others. However, if your manager is without passion for your music, your chances of long-term success will be reduced. The best-case scenario is, of course, having all three.

Beginning-Level Managers

At a certain point—after you’ve made a demo, did some shows, and started to develop a following—you may be approached by someone who is interested in managing you. Most likely, the people approaching you at this early stage of your career will be friends, family, fans, or people who work at the venues where you perform. Some of the most successful managers in the business originally came from this pool.

Why Passion is Important

Friends, fans, and families who become managers typically have one massively important thing in common: they all are extremely passionate about the artist they work for. Typically, they feel that the artist is great, and while they often don’t have a surplus of connections or capital, they believe they can make up for this through sheer force of will fueled by their passion, which they have in abundance. As mentioned above, this can and does happen. Passion, combined with energy (often youthful) is a very potent mix that often knocks down many barriers and allows an artist to experience real career growth. Managers in this type of situation often believe that lacking the experience, knowledge, connections, or money actually allowed/forced them to try things that other more “experienced” managers would have dismissed. In so doing, they create innovative strategies that further the idea of career development. The beautiful thing about the business is that there are very few rules. When a manager is passionate enough to make the artist succeed—no matter what rules they have to ignore, break, or rewrite—that is often the best type of manager to have.

Such relationships force the artist and management to work much more closely than they would in a more traditional management/artist role. This can create an open and honest relationship from day one. In other words, because a beginning-level manager is not going to be able to say, “I’m going to get you touring with this other artist I also manage, and I’m going to set up a showcase for you to perform in front of my A&R friend from Sony,” he or she must involve you—the artist—in the decision/planning. Instead, they must say, “Listen, let’s figure out what our resources are and begin building something in an organic fashion.”

This method, while perhaps being a slower route, is a good one, as it directly and closely involves you, the artist, in the process of your career development. A close relationship often has the positive side effect of being an honest relationship. Closeness and honesty are imperative, and will give you a far better chance of avoiding the all-too-common litigating over accused improprieties, resulting from the artist not knowing what the manager is doing, but believing that, whatever they’re doing, they ain’t doing it honestly.

Professional-Level Management

Passion is the key ingredient to making an artist management relationship work. If you find someone who has real and genuine passion and isn't a complete derelict, you will be better off than many. Ideally, however, your manager will also have the connections and the funding.

The Importance of Connections

While it is fine (and often refreshing) for a manager to have a low-key persona, they must be able to sell themselves and, more importantly, the artist. In so doing, they will build connections. The record business is one where you live and die by how connected you are. You can make the greatest

music in the world, but unless you can get it heard, it doesn’t much matter.

Simply put, at all stages in your career—from getting an A&R person to listen to your demo, to getting your video played on MTV, to getting a gig to perform at the Super Bowl Halftime Extravaganza—it is often connections that make the difference.

The reality is that the strength of the connection is frequently as powerful as the strength of the music. There are many examples of someone who

makes mediocre music but is well-connected getting a record deal before an artist who makes great music but has few connections.

To get a record deal,or becoming a succesful indie you often must develop your connections from the ground up. The process can be accelerated if someone on your team, in this case the manager, has connections.

A fundamental role of the manager is to expose his artist to more people. Therefore, managers spend much of their time casting a wide web around all the corners of the industry. In so doing, they develop relationships with booking agents, record labels, radio stations, press, and so on. When you partner up with a manager, you are not only getting this person’s individual

ability, energy, and hopefully, passion. You are also gaining access to their

connections and relationships. It is this quality that will catapult your demo from the bottom of an A&R person’s pile to the top. These connections help in many similar ways, from having your music heard by music supervisors at advertising agencies to introducing you to a music publisher to securing

you an opening slot on a coveted tour.

Connections are built over time and must be maintained. You need to carefully look at any potential manager to determine just how broad, good, and most importantly, applicable their connections are to the music you are making. Much in the way that you research appropriate labels for your music, you must do the appropriate diligence when you are considering your manager. Understand also that connections can and

do come in organic fashions. It is perfectly acceptable for you and your manager to have a symbiotic relationship in which your manager benefits from his association with you, and vice versa. The trick is being able to make connections that have real meaning to your career. If you have a manager

who is very well-connected but not in any way that is appropriate to helping advance your career, they might as well not have any connections. If this is the case, make sure they at least have … money.

The Importance of Money: How Management

Gets Paid

This brings us to the last essential management criteria: capital. First, you need to understand a bit about how managers make their money. Typically a manager will receive a commission—usually 15 to 20 percent—of all of the income that you generate (the gross). This includes money from gigs, money paid to you from a record label as a personal advance against royalties (typically, not from money advanced by a label for you to record

your record), money from merchandise, income from your music being used in movies or commercials, and any other source of income you generate as an artist. It is in the best interest of the manager to leverage all of those connections I mentioned above to help you generate as much money as you can, which of course, generates more money for them. This is capitalism at its finest, and when it works, it works great for everybody.

The problem is that young artists typically take

a while to generate any revenue. Also, these artists typically don’t have any money of their own, so the management is left to spend their own money to develop the band before any money comes in. Because of this, you will occasionally see management securing other pieces of the artists’ potential income as a kind of collateral against the money and time they are putting up. Sometimes, for example, management will acquire some

part of the artist’s publishing—in other words, a piece of the equity in the copyrights of the songs.

Managers and Publishing

This means that when these songs begin generating royalties, the manager will be paid a percentage of the money. Managers do this because they often defer their commission while spending their own money. They have no guarantee that they will ever recover their investment. This practice has

largely been frowned upon (by both artists and managers), and was seen only occasionally in the past. However, I’m seeing it happen more and more, and I believe it will become even more of a common practice in the future.

As an artist, you must seriously debate whether parting with your

publishing, in order to provide a sort of insurance to a manager, is the right

thing to do. Opinion is that it is usually the wrong thing to do. Some do not believe that you should hold onto your publishing at all costs. Rather, I feel that giving up some part of your publishing is frequently essential to building a successful career. With one caveat: Whoever you assign any part of your publishing to must be able to do something with it. By this, I mean they must be able to “work” your publishing to generate awareness about you and money for you. If they cannot do this, do not assign any part of your publishing to them.

Therefore, if a manager is requiring you to assign some part of your publishing to them, you should only do this if you feel the manager is going to actively engage in working your songs.

Of course, it may not be this simple for you, especially if you don’t have a lot of options. You may feel that the prospective manager can help your career in many ways, and that it would be foolish to miss the opportunity to have him or her represent you by clinging too tightly to your publishing. You may be right.

Your publishing is valuable. Part with it with caution, and only if you’re getting something of real tangible value in return.

It’s Money that Matters

Money is a significant factor in creating effective artist/manager relationships.

The manager is spending money, hoping for a return on investment. Publishing is one way to hedge that bet. Of course, managers who have no

money will not be able to offer you much for your publishing.

Managers who have no money have a hard time being effective. There are always expenses involved in getting a band signed: recording costs, gas for the van, fan mailings, travel, guitar strings, and so on. It all adds up. Of

course, management doesn’t have to pay for any or these things. But remember, they can’t make any money unless the band is making money, so they usually opt to pay for these things and others so that the band has a better chance of getting signed.

Even after you get signed, or reach independent success management is often the fountain of money. For instance, an artist and manager may determine that they need an independent publicist because they feel the label’s publicist (if it has one) can’t do an effective job due to workload, the label’s priority scheme, or whatever. The label is not obligated to pay for this (though often they do), and so the band and management are left to decide whether the

potential added exposure they would get from a publicist is worth the out-of-pocket expense. Many times, in a situation such as this one, the band itself is not generating enough income to pay for something like this, so the

management foots the bill. Theoretically, management will be reimbursed for these costs once the band does start generating some money. If neither the band nor the management can afford to pay, it really is the band that suffers.

Good managers understand that new and developing artists are much like startup businesses. The first couple of years (or records) typically are money losers. The hope is that after the painful initial period has ended, there will be a financial reward that will recoup all the early losses and then

some. This is why managers will fund an artist’s career at the early stages—and, in fact, sometimes well into an artist’s career.

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