eMusic Editor-in-Chief J. Edward Keyes has been writing about music since 1997 for publications including RollingStone.com, Newsday, the Village Voice and Entertainment Weekly. His piece “Where’s The Party? 13 Hours with the Next Franz Ferdinand” was selected for inclusion in Da Capo’s Best Music Writing 2006.

 

 

Recently Joe took some time to talk to me about how he got his start writing about music, how eMusic is helping new and emerging artists and what bands can do to get noticed by journalists, editors and other music industry decision makers.

 

 

Musician Coaching:

How did you get your start in the music industry?

JEK:

I started writing about music on the print side of things about 15 years ago. I wrote for some publications in Philadelphia, including Philadelphia Weekly and the Philadelphia Inquirer and steadily pushed my way along. Then I moved to New York and started working for places like Entertainment Weekly, the Village Voice and then Rolling Stone after that. I was fortunate enough to end up here at eMusic. I started as a production manager, and then slowly over the course of six years I worked my way up to Editor in Chief.

 

It’s been really exciting to be with a publication for that amount of time, and to see it really carve out its identity and figure out who we’re supposed to be and who we are supposed to be serving. Getting to be a part of that editorially and being able to lead that charge has really been one of the more exciting moments of my career as a writer and an editor. I feel like working at eMusic dovetails really well with my personal taste and the kinds of bands I’ve covered over the last 15 years. We’re coming up with really exciting consumer research to help us figure out who our ideal member is. As we’ve long suspected, it’s the customers who are really independent minded and have independent tastes and want to set themselves apart from the Top 40. They really want to dig deep and learn more about independent artists and artists with a singular voice and idiosyncratic point of view. For me as a writer, that’s perfect. Those are the bands that have always excited me over the past 15 years. To be able to focus on them and have a platform to expose independent and just starting artists out to an audience that is eager to learn about just those kinds of artists is a really exciting place to be.

 

Musician Coaching:

I would imagine running a digital service provider like eMusic really does come down to magazine real estate in terms of people getting written about and placed. I’m guessing you have a  lot of people vying for your time trying to get a featured spot. You’ve all of a sudden combined journalism with what was once a record company sales role, where people would be trying to get your attention to get prime positioning at retail. Is that a somewhat accurate description of what your position as an Editor in Chief entails?

 

JEK:

In a way. But one of the things I’ve been proudest of is that we’ve been  able to keep a wall around the editorial department and stay true to our indie music roots. I can honestly say that in the time I’ve been here, while we’ve been constantly getting pitches from labels about their priorities and what they think we should be covering, if it doesn’t feel right to us and we don’t believe in it, we don’t cover it. We really do have the latitude to do that and continue to cater to the independent-minded consumer. One of the things for me is that it’s not just about dictating the written editorial on the site, but also guiding the whole direction of the voice of the site in general:  What kind of partnerships should be doing, and which artists should we be featuring across the site?

 

A good example of something we did recently that I was pretty proud of is what happened was surrounding the latest Lady Gaga record. It came out, and it was going to be a huge record and obviously something that people were going to be talking  about. As an editor, I thought there was a value in talking about it, but we didn’t want to talk about it the way everyone else talked about it. So we had had Michaelangelo Matos – a long-time music critic for places like Rolling Stone and someone that wrote a book on Prince – write a feature on the site called “Six Degrees,” which basically connected Lady Gaga to people like Grace Jones and Lower East Side New Wave artist Christina. It’s really about thinking differently about even the really poppy stuff and trying to present it in a way that will be interesting to even the consumer that is interested in off-the-beaten-path music.

 

Musician Coaching:

I’m glad you circled back that way. I definitely want to know more about the process of searching for your ideal customer, the person who is independent minded. In your research, have you discovered that there still a thriving, vibrant community of people who are shunning the Top 40?

 

JEK:

Absolutely. We believe it’s a really strong market. I think in general you can see it anecdotally if you look at the kinds of bands that are in the news. Look at this week’s pop charts in general and who is at the top. It’s bands like Death Cab for Cutie, Adele and My Morning Jacket. Those are artists that you could broadly call “indie bands.” We’re coming off the back of some really interesting research in general that shows that the independently-minded consumer does exist in the market, and that it’s hungry for something different from the “big box digital stores.”

 

Musician Coaching:

Is there anything about those demographics you can share?

 

JEK:

Nothing beyond the fact that we know some of the characteristics of their personalities. They tend to be the types of people that like to turn their friends onto bands. They take a certain level of pride in their individuality and in stepping outside the mainstream. They have a really close, personal relationship with their music; what they listen to defines them. So, there is an even greater incentive for them to step outside the mainstream. It’s really more about personality than hard demographic. It can span a bunch of things, but it’s really more about their personalities and their tastes.

 

Musician Coaching:

Malcolm Gladwell would probably refer to them as “mavens.”

 

JEK:

Yes indeed.

 

Musician Coaching:

It’s interesting to know that scene is still vibrant. Personally, I know when I saw Zeppelin end up in a Cadillac commercial, I don’t know what happened to me, but something shifted.

 

One of the reasons I wanted to interview you is because I want to know how artists can use your site to their benefit. Clearly there’s a benefit to being on a site that’s catered towards the long tail. Are there ways artists can get in and customize the profiles when their music gets picked up by your site through TuneCore or some similar service? Are there things artists should be doing to make the most of their music being on eMusic?

 

 

JEK:

We have a couple things that are designed to work with artists just like the ones you described. First and foremost – and something I’m really proud of on the site – is a program called eMusic Selects. We’ve been doing this since 2008. The simplest way to describe it is that we scour the internet and go to tons of shows to find unsigned bands we like. And then we exclusively put out their records digitally for two months to our members. We give them the full eMusic platform. So they get full homepage coverage, a newsletter that goes out to all our members telling them about the record and some other tools. We have really designed it to be a stepping stone for artists who are just starting out and really need a leg up, but don’t have a label and just need broader exposure. I’m proud to say that there are artists who have been Select artists in the past who have then gone onto sign with proper labels:  Best Coast; The Rural Alberta Advantage; Crystal Stilts. Next week we have a band coming out we’re really excited about called Army Navy, which is the next artist in the eMusic Selects program. Once every two months we try to find a band that we love and a band we think more people should be hearing and use all our resources to break them in the consciousness of our members.

 

I would say that one thing independent artists can do is let us know about their music and come up with a compelling pitch to get us to notice them or listen to them. It could be a viral video they make or a press release they send out – something that gets us excited about them. As I said, in addition, we’re constantly going out to shows and constantly scouring Myspace pages to find new bands that are good fits for our Select program. That’s one of the big ways we have to really boost independent artists and artists that are looking to get broader exposure on eMusic.

 

Another thing in general that goes hand in hand with that is, there are literally millions of artists – and especially unsigned artists – who are competing for a finite amount of space. I’m happy to say that eMusic has a more unique editorial department than a lot of the other editorial departments I’ve ever worked in. Everyone in the department really does listen to most of the things that are sent; they all go out of their way to find new bands. But the more compelling the pitch, the more interesting the thing surrounding the pitch – whether it’s a viral video or some kind of clever campaign –  the more we’re going to pay attention to it. Sometimes it’s really helpful to put your music in a framework that will catch an editor’s eye and make them want to listen to it.

 

I know a lot of young bands shy away from comparing their music to other things that are out there. But it’s helpful for me when I get a press release if one of the first things I see in the first couple sentences is giving me an idea of what this is going to sound like and making it compelling to me and like something I want to click through. That’s something I respond to very well. And I do read those press releases and listen to them. A lot of it is about the presentation and how you present yourself, so any interesting things you can come up with to accompany that are helpful. You can make a video, a Twitter campaign or a creative Tumblr that is a spin on something you’re doing on your site. Interesting approaches tend to get the greatest amount of attention and make me want to listen even more.

 

Musician Coaching:

Wonderful. And you’ve sat behind the desk where dreams go to die – and I mean that in the best way possible – for a number of years.

JEK:

The one message I do want to get out is probably hard to believe for most artists:  We do listen to the greater percentage of the stuff hat cross our desk, because so much of what we do is focused on indie bands and young bands. We know what the big bands sound like. We’re looking for the next big band.

 

Musician Coaching:

You just mentioned a “to-do” for artists. Based on your experience as an editor, a journalist and someone that has been a bottleneck, can you tell me anything that artists should not do?

 

JEK:

I have a lot of funny, anecdotal stories. For example, I remember a couple years ago I got an unsolicited package from a band, which was great; I always open those packages. But I think the band thought to catch our attention they should load it with hundreds of tiny pieces of foil confetti, which proceeded to spill all over my desk and all over the carpet. That was a bad decision. Lately bands also have been filling up their promo envelopes with candy, which is also a bad decision. If I open that, and in addition to your CD, I’m getting candy or something like that, it doesn’t really tell me  about your music. And if anything, it feels like some sort of weird kind of confectionary payola. I would rather have an interesting spin on your record than goodies.

 

Also, bands should be really careful about how they select their band name. You would be really surprised at how many bands get dismissed from just having a corny or too obviously-jokey band name.

 

Musician Coaching:

So band name is important . Along similar lines, is there a value in a good elevator pitch or mission statement? My favorite story related to that is about a band out of Boston that I asked, “What do you sound like?” And the kid confidently replied, “We’re the music you would want to listen to if you were robbing a bank.” I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but I knew I wanted to listen to it.

 

JEK:

That’s a perfect example; I would definitely listen to that. Here’s another example of that. We recently had a writer write about the band Tunes. And he described their music as “the sound of stopping a subway train with your face.” It was funny, witty and made me want to listen to the music. Anything like that is effective – something quick, and pithy and snappy. And it’s going to get my attention. If you come up with something funny or striking that makes me laugh, you will have earned my respect at that point. Its’ good to put a creative spin on it.

 

Musician Coaching:

Here’s the question I’m scratching my head about:  Has the advent of digital distribution, which has made the digital distribution model so accessible to everyone now made the eMusic offering any less unique? Do you feel like your catalogue is still deeper than other catalogues?

 

JEK:

I think with us, the key is the curation. If you go to some of the other major retailers and hit the main page of their music store, you’re going to see the same 10-15 records. With us – and largely because we have such a vast army of writers who are digging through the stacks – when you hit the main page, you’re going to be see things you’re not seeing in these other stores. We’re surfacing more of the deep stuff. So, sure, maybe in the age of digital distribution, TuneCore, iTunes and services like that will have a lot of the same records we have. But you’re going to see them in a more prominent place in our store. It doesn’t do much good for both of us to have the same records if on the larger retailer you don’t know they’re there. What we try to do is make you more aware of them and bring them out a little bit more. And we’ve seen sales that correspond to that:  albums that we’ve surfaced get bought.

 

Musician Coaching:

I was going to ask about that. By the sounds of it, you guys may very well have more impulse buys because you are a destination that is based on editorial.

 

JEK:

We do definitely see a correspondence between the things we put on the home page and the things that end up being on our charts. When we used to take an older record we liked or an older record from the catalogue and make it “Review of the Day” and check the charts the following day. Without fail, you would end up selling more.

 

I think people trust us. We’ve been around for a while now, and I’ve been here for 98% of that time. We’ve worked really hard to cultivate that trust and to curate a very idiosyncratic voice. I think especially with the eMusic Selects bands, people know that if we put our seal of approval on it, we’re not going to take that lightly. We relationships we value, and we’re not going to throw something out there that we don’t feel comfortable recommending.

 

For more information about J. Edward Keys and his company, you can visit the eMusic website.

Jeff Brody is the co-founder of Brody Distribution Group (BDG), a New York City area-based company designed to serve the needs of labels looking for solid national distribution and to help market records to break and develop new artists. Jeff has worked in the music industry for nearly 40 years and got his start with a part-time job with record entrepreneur Jerry Winston in the early 1970s. Since then, he has worked for a variety of labels including PolyGram Records, Polydor Records and Mercury Records. In 1998, he left Mercury to form independent sales and retail marketing company JRB Sales & Marketing Innovations and then in 2002, founded BDG. BDG also works with the country’s #1 independent distributor, RED Distribution. He has worked with artists such as Todd Rundgren, Dionne Warwick and Donny & Marie.

 

 

I recently sat down and talked to Jeff about what drew him to the music industry, the changes he has seen in distribution for DIY, indie and major label artists over the years and some advice he has for musicians trying to get their music out there.

 

Musician Coaching:

Thanks for taking some time to talk to me, Jeff. How did you first get started in the music industry?

 

JB:

Almost 100% of music industry people say how much they love music and pounded on every door possible to get into the industry. As much as I love music, the truth is I married into it. When I was discharged from the service to go back to school, I also got engaged. Not having much money, I needed a part time job. My future wife’s uncle, Jerry Winston (many old timers will remember Jerry; he owned Wendy Distributors in Newark and Malverne in New York) gave me a part-time job. Six months later, I quit school and got married, and the rest is history. I literally started out sweeping floors, taking orders over the phone, doing the billing and whatever else was to be done. I’ve held a lot of different positions since the 1970s, from an Account Executive for ABC/Dunhill Records, to a sales manager for PolyGram Records, to a Senior Vice President of Sales for Mercury Records. It all led eventually to me forming JRB Sales & Marketing Innovations in 1998 and then finally Brody Distribution Group in 2002.

 

Musician Coaching:

Why did your interest gravitate towards distribution over other areas of the music industry?

 

JB:

I really didn’t gravitate there; it started out there. But even so, being around promotion people and other types in the industry, distribution and sales is where I always wanted to remain. I didn’t have any interest in promotion, A&R, Marketing (although that’s what sales and distribution people do – just retail marketing, not consumer marketing) or any other area. It seems sales is second nature to me.

 

Musician Coaching:

When and why did you found BDG? And how do you see your role working with artists now that there are significantly fewer retailers?

 

JB:

When I first started my sales consulting business and worked very closely with RED Distribution I saw a lot of good small labels get turned down for distribution, not because of the artists, but because they didn’t have the infrastructure to succeed. So I presented to RED the idea of starting a company that would do the distribution deal with the label. And although not signed directly to RED, they would receive the same services, but I would be the person to deal with RED. Since then other people have taken that idea to other distribution companies. I guess it worked – love when someone steals an idea of mine!

 

As far as working with fewer brick and mortar stores, I still have the same old school philosophy – with a few wrinkles – with the ones that are still around and work very closely with them. I work with the stores, along with RED, whether they are indie or chain or mass merchandising. Here are a few examples of that philosophy:

 

Todd Rundgren worked with the Coalition and gave them an exclusive on his new new CD for a period of a few weeks, also holding back the digital sites for a week. We then did an in-store with the Hungry Ear in Hawaii where Todd Lives. We had a great debut on the Indie chart and are now selling it to everyone.

 

Dionne Warwick worked with FYE and did an in-store in Paramus NJ and had a nice debut on the Jazz Chart.

 

I worked with Donny & Marie, and we started off the awareness and sales campaign at QVC three weeks prior to the actual in-store. In half an hour they sold 10,355 units! We knew that QVC would be a great springboard for other things and insure high chart positions. We then did five Wal-Mart in-store appearances in the first three weeks of the release. We sold over 500 units or more at four of the five, which are amazingly high sales for an in-store. Those in-stores coupled with QVC and the great sales at the other retailers gave us a first week chart positions of #30 Top 200, #7 on the Indie Chart and #6 on the Country Chart – not bad for an act that hasn’t recorded together for 30 years! The TV and press were also a critical factor in the setup. All the major TV shows had Donny & Marie on and more TV is still to come.  This story gave us the buzz and we got a New & Noteworthy at iTunes to kick in digital sales. It was a great success story.

 

Musician Coaching:

That’s impressive. What are some specific ways you’ve seen distribution change in the past two decades, both for labels and for artists?

 

JB:

Going from regional distributors to major label distribution has been the biggest change and has had the most impact. Since the recording industry first started,  labels used regional distribution channels to get their product into the stores and one stops. They then fought it out literally on the streets to get product shipped around the country. Although each distributor had a designed territory they all tried to transship into other markets. Now a lot of labels want to bypass the majors and go back to using indies. One of the advantages of using an independent distribution like RED is that RED has more time and patience to work an artist longer, much longer than a Major, since the Majors need to see big numbers much sooner due to the financial investment they have with that artist. The accounts also know RED is going to stick to an artist longer. They know the amount of time it takes and they work along with the label and distributor that way.

 

Musician Coaching:

Is there any specific trend you see developing that could be the future of distribution?

 

JB:

The trend to me is very clear. Number one, the independent distributors are branching out to other revenue streams to make up or try to make up for the loss of physical sales. They are creating in-house departments for online press, marketing and social networking sites, starting sync licensing departments to get artist placement in TV shows and radio commercials and increasing their digital departments while decreasing the sales departments. As far as major distributors are concerned, they just keep consolidating labels, shrinking the physical sales force, expanding their digital departments  and firing people. Also the digital department heads  have started  to replace sales people as the head of sales departments, unheard of a year or so ago.

 

Musician Coaching:

Which qualities do online retailers and wholesalers look for in artists when placing their products with major retailers? Is it possible for DIY artists to get decent rack space or digital placement?

 

JB:

Unless an artist has a reason – like airplay, huge online awareness, touring, etc. – to be in a major retailer or any brick and mortar store, they won’t get into those stores, no matter which label they are on. I  advise my labels not to release a physical CD unless there is a compelling reason to as stated above. Just because it is in a store does not insure any consumer will buy it, and the CD will only be returned. Unless an account like your local indie store or an FYE store has a spot for a hometown artist, a DIY will have a huge task ahead of them to try and get into a store. All major mass merchants insist that a distributor has a vendor number to do business with them. I don’t know how a DIY would ever get a vendor number. I used to have a deal with Anderson (Wal-Mart) to get local artists into some stores, but unfortunately those artists had no clue about what is took to sell records and they all failed due to one reason or another. Now any artist can get onto the digital sites through TuneCore or other aggregators. But getting a return phone call or paid could be another matter.  I think some of the press has glamorized how easy it is succeed by yourself in this business, but the reality is, is isn’t.  The artists still need some kind of support and infrastructure behind them.

 

Musician Coaching:

How do distribution deals for major label artists differ from distribution for indie artists or DIY artists?

 

JB:

The distribution companies only deal with the label and not the artists. They do not pay artists directly. That is a label function.

 

Musician Coaching:

Are there any strategies you’ve seen artists employing to market/sell their music to retailers – or directly to their fans for that matter – in the Digital Age that have been particularly successful?

 

JB:

I think that any artist in this day and age needs to make that connection with their fans, through their own site, Facebook, Twitter, etc. It’s about letting the fan discover the artist and the music. Let the buzz begin with the fan discovering who they are and spreading the word. Artists cannot force themselves on the kids of today.  The kids of today are too smart and aware to be fooled; they know their music.

 

Musician Coaching:

Do you have any parting words of advice for artists that are looking to get their music out there or get distribution deals?

 

JB:

I deal with new labels and developing  artists every day. Here are a few things that I’ve  learned along the way. If you are going to start a label be well financed and have the financial resources available when you need them. Do not go out and hire someone to get airplay for example without first having a deal in place, either physical or digital. It is just a waste of money. Everything must be coordinated, every aspect of putting out a cd, radio, press, etc.   Don’t spend any money with people who you have not meticulously and painstakingly  vetted and researched. Do your homework on these people.  There are too many people just looking to take someone’s money and not do what they were hired to do. Never stop touring and sell your product at the venues. Labels want to see that before anything else. That is the first thing they ask, are our touring and how many CDs do you sell at the shows. And the best advice I can give you “Hire Brody Distribution Group for all your needs.”

 

To learn more about Jeff Brody and the work he’s doing with his company, visit the Brody Distribution Group website.

I got asked this the other day and I didn’t know the answer.

I happened to be chatting with my friend Barry Heyman who was kind enough to answer the question for me.  Barry is an entertainment attorney with a focus in the areas of entertainment, intellectual property (copyrights and trademarks), and new media law.

 

Barry has worked in the Copyright Administration department at PolyGram and Universal Records and was in-house counsel for Eagle Rock Entertainment (producer, publisher, and distributor of music programming for television and DVD, comprising live concerts and documentaries).  He has also consulted clients such as MTV and Razorfish.  Barry currently runs his own practice out of New York and was an adjunct professor at NYU where he taught a graduate course entitled Law and the Music Industry.

Music Consultant:

Barry- thanks for taking the time to answer this.  Tell me what the legal ramifications are for recording a cover song and then giving it away free for promotion to promote the artist who covered the song?  Do artists need to license the song to do this legally?

BH:

Recording a cover song can be a great marketing tool—providing artistic interpretation on a song that your audience may already be familiar with. A cover can also bring notoriety to your art from people who were previously unfamiliar with your work. However there are legal implications to covering a song even if you are giving it away for free.

 

Let’s begin with the basics. A song has two copyrights: the sound recording (often called the master) and underlying musical composition. Recording a cover song implicates the latter of these copyrights—the underlying musical composition. The composer and/or songwriter is the copyright owner of song. The Copyright Act lays out certain exclusive rights that the copyright owner has with respect to their copyrighted material, such as the exclusive rights to manufacture and distribute the musical composition. In order for an artist to not violate the copyright law, the artist covering the musical composition with the intent of manufacturing and distributing it would need to obtain the proper license from the owner, usually the songwriter or the songwriter’s publisher (either directly or through an agent).

 

Even if  an artist is giving away the song for promotional purposes, the song still needs to be licensed.  The type of license required to record a cover version is called a mechanical license which allows an artist to use a copyrighted musical compositions on different formats, such as CD and as a digital download.

 

Typically, cover songs are licensed with the songwriter(s)’ publisher(s). Publisher contact information can be found at the following performance rights organization websites ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC or with The Harry Fox Agency, a licensing agent used by many music publishers.  In addition to licensing directly with the songwriter(s), the publisher(s), or The Harry Fox Agency, another option is using the licensing service, Limelight.

 

There is a license fee (royalty) associated with licensing and using the composition.  This is called a statutory mechanical royalty rate. This Federal rate is currently set at $.091 for songs 5 minutes or less in timing, and payable per song for each unit distributed. For recordings given away as promotional products, it is not uncommon to try and negotiate a reduced rate (e.g., 75% of the Statutory rate), or even gratis (free), however the copyright owner is not required to grant it.

 

Now, if the artist/band wants to create a promotional music video based on the cover song, this requires license(s) as well, except that the license required is called a synchronization license.  The statutory rate does not apply, as the license fee would need to be negotiated with the copyright owner in all instances. A couple of factors affecting video synchronization rates include the nature of the use, for example, promotional versus commercial use, and the length of use.

For more information regarding synchronization licensing, you can read an article Barry wrote here and be sure to check out his website at Heylaw.com

 

 

Record Deal – 2011

I wrote a half-baked post about getting a record deal 2009 thinking that it was a topic that would soon be irrelevant because no artist would want to be signed the way things seemed to be headed. How very wrong I was. I’m sure you have all seen the results of the ReverbNation and Digital Music News Survey that polled over 1800 artists a few months ago. They concluded that 75% of indie artists listed getting signed as one of their goals.

While the aforementioned poll pulls from what is likely to be a much more representative sample of aspiring and professional musicians it is interesting to note that the whispered promises of the digital DIY age do not seem to be panning out for the masses. The graph below was pulled from Google Insight on May 17th, 2011 and suggests that interest in record deals (or at least searching Google for “getting a record deal”) is actually on the rise in the last few years.

So what changed? Was there not enough tangible evidence in the public consciousness that people were making a living on their own using the new tools? Did we not have a modern day Ani Difranco to point to or were there perhaps too many mini success stories that didn’t add up to a full-blown music celebrity to make people believe that DIY was possible for anyone and everyone? Really all I can do is speculate since the data indicates nothing of people’s frame of mind or intentions.

All conjecture aside the answer to the question “How do I get a record deal” has not changed for decades. There is no single right answer of course, but what seems to be the most common is the willingness to build your own business and ensuring that if you are looking for a deal that the quest for being signed does not interfere with the quest for connecting with your existing fans and making new ones. What a bummer of an ending, huh? Sad but true: There is no silver bullet; there is no golden rule…just persistence and a lot of luck and good timing.

Ron Bienstock is an experienced attorney with Bienstock & Michael, P.C., a New-York-City-area-based firm that specializes in entertainment and intellectual property law and is currently celebrating its 25^th year in business. Ron has worked with major artists including Billy Joel, Simple Plan, Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree and many producers and instrument and music equipment manufacturers. He is also a skilled bassist who still performs regularly.

 

 

Recently, I sat down with Ron to revisit a topic we discussed in 2009:  the current state of the music industry, and how the modern artist can carve a successful career within it.

Musician Coaching:

Thanks for taking time to talk to me, Ron. I thought of doing this second interview with you because I’d just rerun an interview I did with you in 2009, when we discussed what artists should do when they are just starting out. And when I mentioned that to you recently, you said, “Boy, how things have changed since then.” What exactly has changed?

 

RB:

First of all, thanks for giving me a Part II. What has changed fundamentally is that many artists have decided that they are going to be in their own business and have begun to pursue the organization of their business as an entity – meaning, as an LLC, subchapter “S,” as a “C” corporation, etc. They’ve begun to look at controlling their own destiny by not aligning themselves with a lot of independents or majors who have really ensconced themselves in a form of having a 360 deal as an entrée, which is the agreement most labels are looking for now. Even if the 360 deal isn’t what a label is looking for entirely, they’re looking for some form of that deal. Many managers and artists together are saying, “We really can’t afford a net participation in all of these income streams.” I’ve always organized these income streams into four separate categories:  live income; merchandise income; publishing income; income from masters/recordings. If a company is going to participate in all four, there may not be enough room for everybody to have a way to make a living. That’s ultimately what everybody wants to do, and that should be the goal:  to make a living as an artist.

 

Musician Coaching:

So, in the past 18 months, you’ve really seen people set out in greater numbers to start their own businesses, incorporate and really do the DIY thing?

 

RB:

Yes. And they’re doing it in interesting ways. Some bands have actually taken out loans out from relatives, investors or have found ways to fund themselves in that regard. I’ve seen that begin to take place much more commonly. We’ve been making distribution deals for people who have done just that. We can make distribution deals with any of the arms of the major distributors, for example, Sony/Red, etc. And we’ve put people into their own business where they are distributing their own product. This is done often through a virtual label person; you hire someone to basically run your label for you. They may take a small percentage of your net income. But that may be very worthwhile because most of the artists find  they don’t have staff to do that with, so they hire someone to provide those services. They hire an independent promo company, or find they can use an in-house company at some of the distributors. They find themselves in the position of putting hard product – CDs – into stores (the stores that are left), making digital distribution agreements. They are touring behind it; they know when they go to specific towns, they’ve made the arrangements and have talked about where retail outlets are and have made sure that those retail outlets have the record. They can sell CDs in addition to that at shows and are getting people to at least buy the music. That is often the hardest job of all. Also, at the shows, they may even have additional merchandise that they can make into a premium package for coming to see them or any variation on that theme. They’re putting themselves into business. The idea is that if you are able to sell 20,000 records and some other merchandise, and continue to make a fair amount of money playing shows, you’re going to establish yourselves.

 

Musician Coaching:

Has the law changed very much in the past 18 months? Has anything significant shifted in terms of royalty rates, etc.?

 

RB:

Unfortunately, no. We don’t really have anybody leading the charge when it comes to what the majors are doing with unpaid royalties the way Elliot Spitzer was when he was governor. One of the major changes has been simply that the major labels are effectively all making massive changes. They are either up for sale or there’s been a migration of top executives from one place to another. For example, Warner is up for sale, and there’s been a migration between Sony and Universal in terms of top executives. And I think there’s a very good chance that Capitol/EMI is going to be sold of piecemeal in terms of rights to various masters.  But that remains to be seen. Still, with all these companies in a state of flux, what is very different now is that high-level deals – those over $1 million, which would’ve never been shocking before – now have go through CEOs and finance people, which is a very new thing. Our firm is currently celebrating its 25^th year and I can tell you personally that in 25-plus years, I’ve never spoken to a finance person about a large deal. In the past three or four years, there have been moments where I’ve spoken to corporate because it was a very high-level deal, and we got corporate involved. But then, we were talking about $5 or $10 million issues. A million dollars or thereabouts becomes something that now goes to the very top person at a company.

 

Musician Coaching:

Does this mean that deals are taking longer to close too?

 

RB:

Yes. High-level deals are taking much longer to close. Re-negotiations at the higher levels are also taking much longer. There’s a reluctance to do them anyway because of the potential sale of the company. Conversely, it puts a chilling effect on the artist in their negotiation process. The artist thinks, “Who’s going to be there? If I make this deal, you want me to stay. But will you be there?”

 

Let’s give an example. The artist says to the label, “I’m the artist, and you want me to stay. I’d like to stay, because I have a good run of success with you as a label, and that’s why you want me to stay. But my option on this next record is my last option, and you have to give me $1 million or more.” And the label says, “We’d love to give you something, but we don’t want to give you $1 million, because that means it has to go to the head of the label, and it’s going to take a while to get a decision. In the meantime, I’d like you to give us something for that. Even though contractually, we’re obligated to give you the $1 million, I’d like you to give us some more options. I’d like you to give us two options.” And the artist thinks, “We’re having conversations about something the label is obligated to give me, but the label wants something for it. But now when I talk to the label about it, they say, ‘I really can’t tell you what that will be worth, how much it’s going to be or what it’s all about because we’re in a state of flux.’”

 

This is something people just don’t know about. There is still a heavy wave of artists who believe that a record deal is what they’re after. And in many cases, it still is something they have to pursue – for example, if they’re a pop act or a hip hop act. Many times people feel they have to get the promotional weight of a company to really make something happen for themselves. And many times, they’re right. The question is, where are the companies right now? They’re not the same companies that were there five years ago, let alone ten years ago.

 

Musician Coaching:

And in some cases, not the same companies they were two years ago.

 

RB:

As someone that talks to all the majors pretty regularly, that’s correct. These are huge issues, and this is something the average artist really is unaware of with the major labels. Hopefully the publishers will be okay, but remember, the major publishers are just divisions of the major record companies. There’s an impact on everybody involved in high-level deals. I’m sure there will be somebody reading this that might think, “Well, my deal won’t be such a high-level deal.” Well, but then you’re talking about a basic 360 deal. This is where we’re at two years after you and I spoke about this the last time.

 

Musician Coaching:

What about independent record deals? Are those more prevalent seen them grabbing for more 360 rights?

 

RB:

There’s been a real movement with independents to 360. And that can be troublesome because some of the independents don’t have any track record whatsoever of working with publishing catalogues or merchandise. But they want to participate. Also, most of those companies that want a 360 deal are working with their own publishing, and that’s to gather up copyrights and flip them over to a major or an investment group that’s buying a catalogue.

 

Musician Coaching:

And there are a lot of Investment groups rolling publishing companies up right now.

 

RB:

In the last two years, we’ve seen a bunch – and many that are well funded. In buying a catalogue, generally, you’re talking about a catalogue that has at least one substantial LP with hopefully at least one major hit coming off that LP. But some have just had one hit. And if it’s a prevalent – a constantly-licensed song, a “classic” or a “legacy track” from a legacy artist – those can be very valuable.

 

Musician Coaching:

Are you seeing publishing deals changing a lot as well? What do those look like now?

 

RB:

They’re very different in some ways, because of the same state of flux. There’s been a large changeover in staff at certainly two of the major publishers. And in some cases, your creative person may not still be there. You then have to wonder if that deal going to be what you expected and what you went to that publisher for. Previously, you went to the publisher so they could really work film and television. You’re really looking for covers and to make the introduction for co-writes with other writers. But there’s less staff to work and less staff to do it now.

 

Musician Coaching:

Where does this put your parting words of advice for an artist?

 

RB:

There’s a bit of a fork in the road. You can turn towards working with a  third-party label, whether independent or major – and I don’t dispute there is tremendous value for certain artists, and they will not get where they want to go without that. But a lot of people are making that right-hand turn and saying, “I’m going to do this myself, and hopefully when a label approaches me, I’ll have that clout to make myself a better deal. And because I’ve already established myself, I  might increase my chances and the likelihood of success with this company.” I think a lot of the groundwork is really being done entirely by the artist right now.

 

Musician Coaching:

What do record label advances look like right now for brand new, baby bands?

 

RB:

I think it’s less than people think it is. Baby bands are not necessarily the most attractive to a major right now for obvious reasons – because they have less staff, and you really need to work hard to break a new act. Those are going to be 360 deals, with not really substantial advances.

 

Musician Coaching:

I do find it funny that some people are upset about the way this has turned, because this is the way other businesses have operated forever. If you went looking for a raise for your business, you knew businesses in the black got better deals. It makes perfect sense to me. But I can see how it could be tricky. It’s easy to be nefarious, especially when artists don’t know which rights they’re signing away.

 

RB:

Well, this relates to one more point about what I’ve seen change in the past two years:  I’ve seen a dramatic rise in “the con.” I’ve seen a dramatic rise in companies and individuals that are not as expert as they say they are providing services for payment on a monthly, weekly basis to provide some services for artists, even when we all know some of  those services cannot really do what those people say they can do. It’s very difficult to enhance your career by paying for some promotional service when you have no product and you just have one single. And if the single is not available to be purchased or downloaded in some capacity, you’re not creating something for yourself. It seems like “the con” happens much more often now than ever before.

 

Musician Coaching:

And in spite of all the information out there, artists don’t seem to be any more well informed?

 

RB:

No. And that is unfortunate. The web has become the place where people go to do business as well as get their information. And sometimes, the information has been put on the web by the very people who are looking to get their business. I know people can sometimes not afford to talk to people who charge for their services, but a little bit of due diligence on who you’re going to work with is a good thing.

 

To learn more about Ron Bienstock and the work he does, visit the Bienstock & Michael, P.C. website. Please also check out my previous interview with him from August, 2009, A Music Lawyer’s Point of View.

This article is the third part of a three part series I wrote about putting together a team for your music career. The first part can be seen on MusicianWages.com and discusses how to get an entertainment lawyer. The second installment is about how to find a manager and what they are looking for in a potential client. It appears on the Musician section of About.com. I would like to send a special thanks to Heather McDonald from About.com and Cameron Mizell and David Hahn of Musician Wages. This is the last part of this series and it is about how to find a booking agent for your project.

One of the most common questions I get asked by developing artists is “How can I find a booking agent?” I wish the answer to this question would earn me more favor with the musician community but sadly this one is more cut and dry than finding a manager. A manager usually makes between 10-20% of all of an artists income so for a manager a band that doesn’t sell a ton of tickets can still do well in song placement or selling recorded music and be a good client. Agencies make a percentage of what their clients make in ticket sales so the most important thing to an agent is hands down how well you draw and how many tickets you are already selling.

Not too long ago I interviewed a booking agent named Dave Galea from the Agency Group about what he looks for in potential clients. For Dave it came down to performance indicators including existing ticket sales that could be verified by a promoter, plays on MySpace and the way he was approached by a potential client over email.

That is not to say that artists who haven’t built a following for their live show don’t get signed to big agencies. Whenever I mention that you have to build it on your own someone always pipes up with an example of a complete unknown getting picked up by a major agency. This does happen but it is the exception and not the rule and there is usually another strategic partner already in the picture who has leveraged his or her relationships to make this happen. What many people fail to realize is that an agent (no matter how great they are) can get you in several rooms in several different markets but they can’t keep doing so forever without people starting to show up. Many times groups with agents do wind up playing shows in new markets but with very little turn out. A good agent is worth his or her weight in gold but once again – they are not miracle workers.

Like many parts of building your career (or building any business career for that matter) most people start with limited resources and therefore wind up doing everything themselves. While it is usually a strain on any artist just to stay afloat financially while consistently creating great music and marketing themselves- I think it is hugely important that every artist try their hand at booking (and the other roles filled by strategic partners) if for no other reason than to have an understanding of what the job entails so they can ask the right questions when they get to the point of hiring or selecting people to fill these roles. When I have tried my hand at various roles for my business and failed I was always able to make a better decision about who I could partner with because I knew exactly the skill set I was lacking and was better able to communicate that to a potential business partner.

Because the answer to finding a booking agent for most people seems to be selling tickets and getting warm bodies to your show and exposing your music to audiences as efficiently as possible I thought I would include some commonly employed tactics to get people to your shows and building a following.

Gig Swap – can’t get into a new market but do well in your hometown? Trade a show with a band in a neighboring market. Don’t know any bands in the town over? You have every social network to comb through for this – no more excuses. Having trouble finding someone good? Welcome to the music business life – remember this is why gatekeepers (agents, publishers, labels, promoters etc) aren’t always thrilled to meet a new musician. They have been conditioned to expect something less than stellar – it’s not personal. Someone once told me that being an entrepreneur is mostly about separating the wheat from the chaff. Sadly there is some really crappy sounding chaff out there for all of us to dig through.

The more you interact and connect with the acts you play with the better.
I have said from stage to a bunch of retreating bar patrons “be sure and stick around for our friends the next band…” and have watched the same thing happen when I was a member of the opening act. Do your best to overcome this for your sake and the other act’s sake.

How about trying the following:

*Write a song with another band and have both acts perform it live together in between sets or at least getting everyone on stage for a cover song

*A Band Vs. Band set. Share equipment and do a double show where you alternate every other song with another band or artist.

*At the very least make playing a show with another band a co-branding opportunity. Cross promote the show to both mailing lists and give your fan base a reason that they should see this other project. I think we’ve all heard “stick around for the next band” far too often and it just falls on deaf ears.

——
R

Alex Stern is the manager of up-and-coming DIY rap artist Sam Adams and owner of the flourishing clothing company Eighties Babies USA. Originally from Massachusetts, Alex launched his clothing company while he was attending the University of Colorado as a studio art/graphic design major and began to focus on promoting his brand successfully through social media and networking. While at Boulder, he also decided to combine his love for Hip Hop with his marketing and business savvy and team up with Sam Adams, who had been his best friend since high school, to help him build his music career. Within months, Alex, Sam and his hoards of loyal fans were able to bring Sam from a freestyle rapper making music in his dorm room to an internet sensation and a touring artist with a #1 album, Boston’s Boy, on the iTunes Hip Hop chart.

 

I had the chance to talk to Alex about what drew him to Sam Adams, why he has been so successful at harnessing the power of internet marketing to promote his brands and how he plans to help Sam further his Hip Hop career in the modern music industry.

 

Musician Coaching:

How did you get involved with Sam Adams?

 

AS:

Sammy and I got connected through a natural, organic process. We became friends in high school when he moved out to my school in Boston my senior year. When I first met Sam, I was attracted to him as a result of his general swagger, and not necessarily because of the music. He had a different attitude and demeanor than most of the kids I’d been around. I was immediately attracted to that right off the bat. When I first started hanging out with him and listening to his productions and what he’d do on the computer at a very early age and a very early stage for him – around 16 or 17 – I realized that he had some kind of weird, innate inherent talent that I’d never seen before in any creative field, and it really turned me on.

 

We didn’t really start working together on music at that point, because we went our separate ways to school. I went to school at Boulder, he went to school at Trinity. But I stayed updated on whatever he was doing musically on probably a weekly basis for a year or a year and  a half. He hadn’t actually even recorded his voice on anything yet when we were both a couple years into college. The first time he ever really laid down vocals and let it be heard was on “I Hate College,” which was obviously a huge turning point. When I heard that along with a bunch of other stuff he’d done in his college dorm room, I put into the mix along with all the other music I was listening to. I’ve been a huge Hip Hop head my whole life, and a huge music listener.

 

Musician Coaching:

“I Hate College” was the remix of Asher Roth’s “I Love College,” right?

 

AS:

That’s correct. Basically I put him into the mix with everything else I was listening to, and I had a feeling he was better than any of the music I was excited about at the time. He could fit right in, if not be the best, and I wanted to make something out of that. So, at that point I decided to bring him out to school at Boulder and do his first show at a bar, collect some liquor money and some door money. That’s just the summary of how we got started and how our relationship came to be.

 

Musician Coaching:

And you’re also running a clothing company called Eighties Babies?

 

AS:

That was something that started before I worked with Sam. When I was out at school, my first jump into the social media world was sparked by the clothing company I started. I went to school for graphic design and art and started designing t-shirts and other clothing. The way I got my clothing out and started doing really well with that was through Facebook primarily and also through events. I used Facebook to really make it pop. I had that background when I started with Sam, and it flowed right into helping promote him.

 

Musician Coaching:

Obviously Sam has something that people gravitate towards, everything from his video leaking and getting a million hits on YouTube, to an independent artist topping the hip hop chart. Clearly he has something people want, so you can’t define that, but from a business perspective, what did you guys do that other people didn’t? Which marketing techniques did you use, and how did you use mixtapes? What were the major business steps you took to get Sam on the map?

 

AS:

I think it’s important that in your question at first you said, Sam’s so appealing, and people gravitate towards him. My job was really just to put him in front of people, so they could really experience that feeling, and it wasn’t something they had to go after or find out about. It was something that was easy for them to see and blatant and obvious. I didn’t really have a business model; it was just very natural for me. The way I did it was I stayed on Facebook – and I still do to this day, though back then even more – all day, posting new stuff and being in their faces and in their news feed. People were and are using Facebook or Twitter or YouTube on a daily basis all day. What that does is, whether they think they like Sam yet or not, they’re going to get the opportunity to really find out. With a lot of other artists, you have this preconceived notion that you like them or you don’t like them based on a few visuals or half a verse you may have heard from a friend. With Sam, there’s no way if you’re at all connected to anyone in our network that you’re not going to see his face 150 times and hear a bunch of his songs unless you really ignore it.

 

Musician Coaching:

That would suggest to me that you guys had a lot of early super fans, people who gravitated and were willing to do their own additional promotion because they were such big fans.

 

AS:

That’s absolutely a fair assessment. I think that was something that I had recognized was an asset to us from step one. Did they help me out? Absolutely. But we enabled them and gave them that responsibility very purposefully, because to me, creating an environment where our fans that love Sam felt like they were part of it, and part of his family and community and part of his team and promo has no downside. There’s only upside, and they proved that, because for any time I wasn’t on the ball putting something in someone’s face, I had 100,000 kids who were just as passionate as I was about it and willing to put it in their friends faces.

 

Musician Coaching:

What does creating an environment that enables other people to pick up promotional tasks look like specifically?

 

AS:

It’s about being approachable online, being responsive and having a dialogue with your fans that makes them feel that they’re as important as they really are. Being in this business, as I’m sure you’ll know, the idea of being unapproachable and being someone famous has been important for a long time. But for me, that was selfish, especially with the existence of YouTube. A good way to exemplify what I’m talking about is – and this is the biggest secret I have business wise that I’ve never really talked about publically – we’ve let our fans put our YouTube videos out. If you look at any other artist, they have an official YouTube log, and they’re going to put out every video first so they can get their numbers up and then take a good look at their numbers and use that as their business model. For me, that seemed selfish. The only upside to it is that you can check out your own diagnostics, which there wasn’t much value in for me. If we gave fans the opportunity to feel like they were the first to put out our music, and their video is the official video of a certain Sam Adams song or a certain interview, suddenly not only do they feel like they’re just as important as we are in terms of promoting him, but we’re getting our product out to an entirely new network that I may have nothing to do with or not be a part of whatsoever. And that was appealing to me.

 

Musician Coaching:

That’s really great. It sounds like this started for you guys when you were still in college. Did penetration of and access to the college market help you in any way? How did you leverage that?

 

AS:

I think to say “it helped us” is an understatement; it created us. It’s the sole reason why Sam Adams came to be. The college network and the Facebook and Twitter networks, but mostly Facebook and YouTube created us. The environment you live in in college is such a small world because of Facebook that he became a trend in that world that was stronger than it could’ve been in any other place. His timing and his sound along with that was just explosive. So, the college market and Facebook were absolutely the most important things.

 

Musician Coaching:

How does an independent artist go about becoming #1 on the Hip Hop charts? It sounds like non-stop social networking promotion, and obviously he was performing and collecting some super fans to get up and do stuff with him and for him. What were the steps you took to promote a release, and which tools did you use?

 

AS:

The credit has to be given to Sam as far as getting to #1 and making that release be so special for us. I could reiterate the value of Facebook and YouTube and everything, but the real value came from his sound and his timing within his environment. And he was able to put out a brand new, authentic white rap sound that was naturally poppy and naturally danceable to his market. We didn’t have to do much work. I can’t take credit, and no one can take much credit except for him, because he had the ability and that genuine sound. That’s what made that release happen and made him go to number one. I was there to help out on the sidelines with everything I already talked about and do. Obviously that helped it go to number one too, but the rest is all Sammy.

 

Musician Coaching:

Did you find mixtapes helpful in promotion? Wasn’t that some of Sam’s early stuff?

 

AS:

We put out one mixtape. Most people involved in social media and networking that way and promoting themselves that way would say that mixtapes are the most important thing, and putting out free music to their fans is huge. To me, that’s not really part of my model. I think if fans love something they should be able to buy it, and it should be powerful enough for mixtapes not to run their career, especially when  you’re someone who is as naturally pop oriented as Sam is. You need to be a sellable artist. We have such an extremely hardcore fan base that are so passionate about him that they almost don’t want a mixtape track compared to something they know is mastered and has a perfect sound. They’d rather buy it and have the best version of something compared to a more Hip Hop-oriented genre, where mixtapes are more appealing. That’s not us.

 

Musician Coaching:

What’s next for Sam and for you?

 

AS:

The next step for Sam is for him to sign onto a major label and put him in a place where he can really maximize his potential, which to me and everyone else on his team and to Sam himself is the most elite place that an artist could be, and we want him to be the best and be a superstar of the highest magnitude. Our next step is deciding which label to go with. We’ve been approached by everyone in the world and have sat down with every president around the nation in the last year. IT’s about deciding who is really excited and who really comprehends Sam the same way we do so we can make that transition and be proud of the move we’ve made. Considering how well we did on our own, it’s important for us to really transition well.

 

Musician Coaching:

I’m going to ask a question, because to be honest, so much of what artists want out of a label you’ve accomplished yourself. Of course, with a major label there’s distribution and a giant team. But what do think the most valuable thing about a partnership with a major label would be at this time, since you do have so much going for you? What is the missing ingredient for an artist of Sam’s stature to move forward?

 

AS:

I would say that radio along with an international presence are the two ones that stick out in my head that I would really appreciate help with, and that’s where the label is going to come in. There’s a certain extent to what I can accomplish, and I’ve really maximized my resources at this stage.

 

To learn more about Alex and his clothing company, please visit the Eighties Babies USA website and become a fan on Facebook. You can also keep up with Alex on Twitter. To learn more about Hip Hop artist Sam Adams and listen to his music, visit the Sam Adams Live Facebook profile, or follow him as BostonsBoy on Twitter.

Pam Workman-Hilton is the Founder of Workman Entertainment and PR. Since childhood, Pam has been passionate about music, literature and the performing arts, but also very inspired the ideas behind business and entrepreneurialism. She first entered the music industry when she got an internship at MTV while pursuing a masters in journalism at New York University. This first internship deepened her interest in the music industry and led her to a second internship at VH1, which turned into a job in creative development and programming during VH1’s big “Music First” era in the mid-1990s. There, she was introduced to manager Bob Doyle (Garth Brooks) and his client, the renowned songwriter Billy Mann (Hall & Oates, Jessica Simpson, P!nk). She left VH1 to work with Bob as a management associate, eventually rising up in the ranks to creatively and administratively run his New York office.

When the bottom of the music industry as it had been previously been known began to fall out in 2000 because of the growing digital industry, Pam moved into the next phase of her career as a publicist. Thanks to her interest in technology and her vast experience on both the creative side and the business side of music, she has grown into a highly-specialized publicist who focuses on corporate music and music technology PR. With her own New York City-based company Workman Entertainment and PR, she now helps individuals in both corporate and entertainment arenas leverage modern media tools to build their brands and develop their careers. Most recently, she has worked with artists and entrepreneurs such as Eminem, Russell Simmons and Echo and the Bunnymen and also works closely with the New Music Seminar.

Pam spoke to me recently about her life as a publicist, the upcoming New Music Seminar and how artists can build their personal stories and their careers in a changing, digitally-driven world.

Music Consultant:

I want to ask you a little bit about your world view given you do a lot of events PR and corporate PR, although in many respects, the philosophy and underpinning is not that vastly different from what artists have to do to get noticed. Do you see your job as a publicist as helping pull a story from your clients and repackaging it? How do you look at your role?

PWH:

I look at my role as one that fits into all the crevices that aren’t being filled at any given time with any client, whether I am working with an indie band, a major label artist, a music technology startup or a national music organization. Granted, the larger organizations often have more infrastructure. But that’s not necessarily bulletproof in the sense of what one needs to be successful as a publicist. To be more specific, it’s not a cookie-cutter job. And I don’t believe anyone’s job in the music industry should be now. All of us have to be very creative and dynamic in terms of the services we offer and the skill sets we provide to the music community. The demands upon artists and companies to be successful are no longer linear. It’s this composite of things. For example, with an artist’s campaign, it’s not just “We have the radio in play, and you’re the publicist, and here’s the product manager.”

Music Consultant:

I remember the days where we would go about and there was just a cut and paste process. It doesn’t seem like there’s a specific process to an artist’s PR and Marketing campaign anymore.

PWH:

My point is that because there often isn’t a process, the team may be leaner, and the job may be bigger. I do traditional PR, and yes, my job is to get the story of the band, artist or company. But sometimes they don’t even know their story. Sometimes neither does their manager or label. It depends where they are in their career. And sometimes that story needs to be refreshed or reexamined. I think this is very 101, and I’m sure you’ve heard this many times, but having a great record does not a story make.

Music Consultant:

The line I always come back to is that “Dude Releases Record” is no longer newsworthy.

PWH:

That definitely sums it up.

Music Consultant:

What would you advise people that are looking for publicists or who are just saying, “I should do some blog outreach?” Is there an exercise or a process?

PWH:

Yes and no. I personally would advise any young artist or even mid-career artist, or anyone I work with to look for the unconventional opportunities. To me, getting a blog placement is fine. But getting involved with a charity you care about and being passionate about it and maybe getting the opportunity to perform at a charity event because you’re involved and you care, and then having your fans know you care about something other than your music starts to build a story about who you are.

Music Consultant:

I often advise people also that their music is unfortunately, or fortunately only one dimension. When you’re forced into a situation where you’re constantly generating some content or pitching to a niche, it involves living your passions as well.

PWH:

I guess we’re on the same page in the sense that I don’t want to say, “Don’t go after a blog hit.” And I think a blog would be more interested in a new band if they were doing something other than releasing their EP. I think identity is also really important. What’s your unique offering? And I don’t just mean the sound, but also visually, or literally “What do you have to say that’s different or fresh?” Maybe you’re from Hawaii and you spent your life surfing. To New Yorkers, that’s kind of different. I guess that’s why Jack Johnson is hip.

Music Consultant:

As marketing executives we all want the Jack Johnson story:  “By the way, is there anything you do?” “Oh, yeah. I’ve been producing documentaries on the most famous surfers in the world for ten years. Does that help?”

PWH:

Right. You do have to start from somewhere. I think the people that are passionate about life and have things going on or are doing things beyond the realm of just putting a record out are at ground zero for the beginning of PR.

Music Consultant:

I’m going to switch gears on you a little bit. Tell me about what you’re doing for the New Music Seminar. As somebody that has that unique position to interact with all the panelists in a PR capacity, what are you noticing about the trends for the business? What have been some of your greatest takeaways about the changing music business?

PWH:

One of the first things that strikes me is that the story is still being written:  the new business story. We’re in the middle of actually writing it. What’s exciting about the New Music Seminar (NMS) is that when you’re on the ground and experiencing it, you actually feel that happening. That is truly the unique takeaway that not only I get from the seminar, but that I think anyone who goes would likely get also. There is no pat answer today, so I think if you are excited by being a part of the solution and the conversation, the NMS is a very exciting place to be, whether you’re an artist, entrepreneur or an executive.

The other takeaway is simply that it’s a very exciting environment right now in that there are all kinds of new technologies and services that are being introduced, many of them at NMS. I don’t think any one of them will save the music business, but I do think there will ultimately be some composite of these services and this world that we’re learning about right now that will help us, if not succeed, definitely survive. Without them, I think we’ll see the value of copyrights continue to devolve, and I think the monetary solutions we’re currently attached to won’t grow, even on the digital side. There was a recent story in The New York Times that said we’re flat-lining in the digital world. I think all those things, if you’re an industry person, are cause for alarm. But if you’re an artist, it’s also concerning, because you want to know how to be heard, how to survive and how to make it work as a professional. I do think certainly that NMS will be educational to any artist that actually wants to understand what it will take to make music a career. Whether or not they can do it is a different story.

Music Consultant:

What’s refreshing to me about the seminar’s stance to me is that it doesn’t sound that anyone is saying, “We have the answers.” It sounds like you’re coming from a place of, “Here are some of the brightest people we know. We’re all trying to figure this out. Come and help us.” That’s the interesting thing to me.

PWH:

That’s definitely the most interesting thing to me too, and I think when I talk about the energy and the dynamic, that’s exactly where it comes from. You feel like you’re a part of making that a reality in action.

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You can learn more about Pam, her business and her roster of clients on the Workman Entertainment and PR website.

The New Music Seminar is coming up in L.A. February 14th-16th, 2011 in L.A.

Also, for the complete schedule of events at this year’s New Music Seminar and to register visit www.NewMusicSeminar.com. Use the 2 for 1 discount code by entering the secret code NMSLASE2322 when you select the Partner’s Discount tab on the registration page. You don’t want to miss this opportunity to take your career to the next level.