ASCAP

Thursday, April 16, Mike Sistad and Jesse Willoughby came to talk about ASCAP and PRO’s , which is something that all musicians should know about if they are looking to earn a living making music.  ASCAP is the oldest of the 3 major Performing Rights Organizations (PRO’s) in the US, and serves as a non-profit membership organization.  ASCAP maintains an unbelievably low overhead, and thus makes sure that artists are getting the money they have earned.

Mike and Jesse took the time to explain a little bit about the differences between the different PRO’s and also a little bit about how licenses are issued and basic business operations.  They also showed us something that was really awesome: a website called mediaguide.com, which allows the tracking of song plays on radio across the nation.  Before you go check it out, know that it is subscription based.  However, if you are looking to book a tour, and you want to know where people are hearing your songs, what an unbelievable resource.

There was a lot of great question and answer, and Mike and Jesse also talked about the ongoing developments in royalties for digital music and streaming music.  Artist royalties may not seem like the most interesting of topics, but if you are looking to make money, it is definitely something you must know.  Mike and Jesse are from Nashville, and thanks again to them for coming to Athens and speaking to our class.

Song to Check Out: New Slang by The Shins

Live Nation

The end of the year has been no less busy than the beginning, and we haven’t slowed down in music business either.  Last week we had the privilege of getting to talk to Rich Levy and his right hand man/ UGA music business alum, Kevin Jeter.

Rich and Kevin are with Live Nation, which is the predominant promoter and producer of major concerts.  I always try to get a vibe of our presenters, and see if I can pick out what makes them successful in the brief time they are talking to the class.  With Rich and Kevin, it didn’t take too long to figure out that they are both extremely sharp, highly motivated, and enjoy the challenges of their jobs.

After both Rich and Kevin gave us a little background on themselves, we jumped into some advice and discussion.  Rich talked about how Kevin had transitioned from being in a music business program to actually working in the music business, and described how Kevin had worked hard to make himself indispensable.  As someone who has seen a lot of business, Rich also described some of the traits he has seen in successful people- he mentioned being aggressive in pursuing your tasks, diligent and absolutely thorough in finishing your projects, and being well prepared by knowing both the current events and history of your company and field.

Live Nation has also been making headlines for signing artists to 360 deals, and the class got an opportunity to hear a little about those as well.  If you aren’t familiar with a 360 deal, it basically means that Live Nation pays an artist a fee, and then gets a share of every part of that artist’s income stream (think 360 degrees).  It’s a completely full service thing.  By creating these 360 deals, Live Nation is able to create a lot of competitive advantages for their artists.

Live Nation is going to continue to be at the forefront of the music industry, and it was a pretty sweet opportunity to get to hear about it straight from two guys who are right in the middle of the ring.

Song to Check Out: So Close, So Far Away (live at the Georgia Theatre) by The Derek Trucks Band

Tanner Smith

A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of going to Chastain Park Amphitheatre for the first time.   It is one of the coolest venues I have ever seen.  It draws big name acts, yet is still relatively small (around 7,000 seats).  At most shows you’re allowed to bring in your own coolers, and many shows feature a table set up where people bring gourmet dinners.  Chastain is located in an extremely wealthy area,  and a concert at Chastain is as much a chance to showoff as it is a chance to enjoy good music on a hot Atlanta evening.

A key man in ensuring that your next trip to Chastain exceeds all of your expectations is its Operations Manager, Tanner Smith.  Tanner is a Georgia State grad, and although he is still young, has already accomplished a lot in his career.

He came to class last Tuesday and spoke about some of his role with Chastain.  As the operations manager, he is responsible for a little bit of everything- from buying the talent to ensuring that the actual event comes off without a hitch.

One thing that makes Chastain unique is its offering of a subscription package to long-time patrons, who will buy a season ticket package before even knowing the acts that will be playing.  These packages are purchased by corporations and wealthy patrons, who enjoy the experience of Chastain, regardless of the acts.

Chastain is also interesting venue because it is owned by the city and is required to comply with many city ordinances, such as curfews and noise limits.  Chastain has also been partnered with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and some shows feature a rock group accompanied by a symphony orchestra.

Tanner talked about how he handles all of the various challenges, and gave us some advice for venue management- you need to have thick skin.  Because at the end of the night, any difficult artists are going to be moving on, but you will be back the next night.

He also described how he goes about buying talent for the venue.  He described that in looking for acts, it is about matching the act and the venue.  Certain acts really thrive at Chastain, and certain acts are better fits elsewhere.  Tanner explained that part of his job is knowing which acts will fit at Chastain.

If you ever find yourself with the opportunity to go to a concert at Chastain Park, I highly recommend it.  It is an intimate venue, and my experience there was one of the best concert experiences I have ever had.  It’s not an accident that everything runs so smoothly, and it was cool to hear Tanner talk about how he helps to make sure that Chastain lives up to its reputation.

Song to Check Out: Fortune Teller by Robert Plant and Allison Krauss

Thursday April 2, 2009

If you’ve ever been to California Pizza Kitchen, you know that they offer some pretty different pizzas.  You read the description on the menu and you are unsure if that would work, but then when you taste it, it all blends perfectly and is unbelievably good.

Thursday in class, we had an act that is extremely unique and insanely talented- and much like tasting  a CPK pizza, when you hear the music, you get it.  Montana Skies, a husband and wife duo, is preparing to release a concert DVD/ CD dual release, and came to share a little of what they do.  Jennifer and Jonathan Adams are both UGA grads, she plays the cello and he plays the guitar.  The resulting sound fits together beautifully.  They play everything from classical to classic rock, and they play it well.   If you are a music lover or if you just like to be entertained, check out their music.  It spans a lot of styles, and will leave your jaw down by the floor.  You can check out more of their music here.

The second part of class featured Ron Simpson, who runs a production company out of Fayetteville, Georgia.  Our classes always have a different pace because we get to hear so many different perspectives.  Rather than lecturing, Ron shared some of the experiences he’s had in in over 25 years in the industry, and then asked us for our insights into the music industry.  Ron’s company really specializes in fairs and festivals, and most of our discussion centered on what makes a festival worth paying for, outside of the draw of the acts.  As always, I thought the discussion was good.

One of the first questions was why do you buy a ticket to a festival?  The obvious answer is the acts themselves- you go to see good music.  A second factor mentioned was price- if the price is perceived to be too high, you might be willing to skip the festival, and conversely, if it’s a great deal you may even buy your ticket months in advance.  Other factors mentioned were tradition: a locale looks forward to its annual festival, and regardless of who is playing, the crowd will be there, because they go every year for the fun of the event itself.

Another topic of discussion was VIP ticketing- are young people, or people in general willing to pay extra for amenities at a festival.  The response for young people was yes, but only to a point, due to our limited budgets.  Air conditioning, showers, and clean bathrooms are all worth it, but young fans don’t have thousands of dollars laying around for a VIP ticket.  Young professionals were another market mentioned, and they are likely to have a little extra cash for such tickets.   One of the concerns that was brought up was alienating a young audience by pricing tickets out of the price range of that audience.  Personally, I would be willing to pay extra for the amenities, but not much more than $50.

What about convenience of entrance and exit?  There seemed to be some general appreciation for the difficulty of getting thousands of people in and out of one small area.  However, there was little sympathy for poor planning.  The general consensus seemed to be: make a plan to make it flow as smoothly as possible, however, if it is still bad, we would be willing to pay for the convenience of getting in and out faster, “cutting” in line.

Some of the other general discussion worked through the opinions on city vs rural festivals.  At a rural festival, the class seemed to think that more continuous entertainment was necessary, whereas in a city setting, there didn’t need to be as much going on, because there are other entertainment options present without going anywhere.

It was cool to hear everyone’s opinions on these topics, there were a lot of people chiming in with ideas and comments.  Personally, I think that the act is still the make or break factor- not necessarily that I have to know all of their songs, but I want to see music that is well played and I want to see an artist who knows how to interact with the crowd.

Ron left us with this advice- we tend to focus on one thing, typically the thing that we enjoy the most.  It is important to diversify your interests and skills, so that when one part of the music industry struggles, you are prepared to move into another part.  Solid advice.

Thanks again to Ron for taking the time to visit our class.  I thought it was pretty neat that a guy who knows more about this stuff than all of us would still entertain our discussions.  If you would like to check out his company’s website, click here.

Song to Check out: The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down covered by The Allman Brothers (the album is called Endless Highway, all covers of songs by The Band)

Chris Rickwood

Imagine this- you’re 9 years old again, playing your game-boy in the backseat of the family van.  Your mom is driving home after picking you up in the carpool lane.  Traffic is thick, but you don’t notice.  She tells you, “turn the sound down, it’s distracting me”.  You just turn it off instead, because everyone knows playing video games with no soundtrack and sound effects is essentially boring.

Chris Rickwood was in class last Tuesday, and his job is making sure that you are completely immersed in your gaming environment.  He composes musical scores for video games, and works on projects for games coming out on all the major consoles.

Video games are big business.  Rockband recently cleared 1 billion dollars in sales.  That’s impressive, to say the least.  Video games are not nearly as entrancing without the music, and now that people are starting to realize there is some serious money in that arena, it is becoming a busy and competitive industry.

So how does composing for a video game work?  Chris is contacted with a project, and basically he gets a video with no music.  He then tries to write music that matches the goals of the game’s producers as well as fits the game play.  The music needs to be interesting without being distracting, not overly repetitive, and it has to fit the image of the game.  Chris explained that composing for video games is similar to composing music for film and television- except for one big difference.  In film, you know exactly how long the scene will be, and thus exactly how much music to compose.  In a video game setting, the character could play for a very short or a very long amount of time, making the exact amount of music needed much more difficult to determine.   There is obviously a lot of creativity required for a job that requires you to constantly be creating new music.  Which, for someone like Chris, is probably also one of the biggest draws of the job.

He talked a little about the business end of things as well.  He said that most of the work he does is ‘work for hire’, meaning he doesn’t own the publishing to the music, but he also said that most composers try to negotiate so that they aren’t cut out if the music is used again in a new form.  He said that there are as many projects as you can handle out there- if you are able to meet the clients requests, there will be a demand for you.

It was neat to hear about his career, and the things he does on a daily basis.  Composing scores requires a lot of musical knowledge and an ability to write in almost every style, but after hearing Chris describe his work- if you have that skill set, it sounds like an incredibly fulfilling career.

Song to check out: Thunder Island by Jay Ferguson

Check out the sweet album art- and also, Joe Walsh played the guitar parts- a forgotten classic.

Art Bowman

Last Thursday, Art Bowman came and spoke to our class about his hobby.  You may have recognized his name as the editor of The Bowman Accounting Report, and I found it a little ironic that I actually was in a music business class as opposed to an accounting class listening to him speak.

However, the topic of the day was not accounting, it was house concerts.  Art has been hosting concerts in his home for years, and he has built a reputation as someone who does things the right way.  I know when he first said “house concerts,” I wasn’t really sure what kind of concert we were talking about- I suspected it would be acoustic, but what kind of artists are coming to play in his house?   Good ones, to be specific.   He has had many well known acts stop through and play a night of music at his house- one artist I know you’ll recognize is Randall Bramblett.  So that’s pretty sweet if you just stop right there, Randall Bramblett sitting in your living room, playing music.  Art has also been able to make sure that the evening is not only enjoyable for the artist and audience, but by taking a donation, ensures that the artist can enjoy a little financial boost from the evening as well.

What a perfect thing.  The artist gets to interact intimately with his fans, the fans get to hear an artist in his or her most pure form, no one blowing cigarette smoke in your face or spilling beer on your shoes… it doesn’t get much better.

Art has established a large guest list and said most events are 25 to 40 people.  He loves the music, and really does a first rate job of accommodating everyone involved.  He did emphasize that this is a hobby of his, and thus he is not making money off of it, but he is enjoying fantastic concerts in his living room 6-10 times per year, which seems like a pretty good trade off.

Besides just being a neat thing, what kind of insight does this lend to the class and other musicians, managers, and enthusiasts?  It certainly confirms that you don’t need a ton of production to deliver music and that fans enjoy hearing the most when it is a personal environment (even at an arena concert, if it’s a good concert, the artist has made personal connections with the audience.)  As always, thanks to Art for taking the time to drive to Athens and share with our class, I know I appreciated what he had to say.

Song to check out: Dance Tonight by Paul McCartney

Super Post

Despite my lack of recent posts, there has been a lot going on with the UGA music business program.  This is going to be the biggest and best entry yet, so buckle up and let’s catch up!

Alright the Thursday before spring break, one of our Music Business Alums came back to let us know what it’s like in the real world.  Stephanie Mundy is working with an artist management firm in Nashville, and they handle everything- from doing the artist’s taxes to paying the baby sitter.  She encouraged us to keep learning, and keep seeking opportunities.  She expressed how much she had learned in her internships, and talked about how important it is to make yourself valuable during that internship period, even though it’s likely going to be unpaid.  We also heard about her semester of taking 25 (I think that’s the right number, it’s not a mistake) hours of classes.  That is a ton of class.  It was great to hear about how the music business program prepared her to move into the real world, and I’m sure she will keep dominating Nashville.

After that class, a nice week of relaxation took place.

Coming back from spring break, we had a group of entrepreneurs in class.  Mantooth Music, an independent label run by Laura Gibson and Will Smith, was in class to give us some advice and tell us a little bit about what they do.  They had a lot of real world advice, and a lot of experience with show promotion.  Some of their best advice was to use a benefit as show promotion- because people like a good cause, and it’s a great way to add another draw to a show.  They emphasized total independence; being able to run your business without needing other people.   Mantooth music also does a lot of cross promotion- audiences like various kinds of music, so customize your show to the audience.

After Mantooth music, we had the founder of RTI Brands, Cody Murray and the brand manager of their sub-entity Merch Machine, Cory Crowder.  RTI Brands has recently rebranded itself into 3 sub units that focus on more specific markets.   Merch Machine delivers custom merchandise and merchandising strategies to musicians.  Cody has been honored with numerous awards individually and RTI Brands has continued to grow despite the slow economy.  Cody started his business in a bedroom, making t shirts, and has grown RTI Brands into a 50 person company and a serious player in the merchandising industry.  Cody described the process of turning a dream into a reality, and as I suspected, he put a lot of work into taking RTI Brands to where it is today.  When I listened to Cody describe the foundations of his company, his visions for the future, and how RTI handles its relationships, I saw a lot of similarities to another Georgia company: Chick-fil-A.  Cody emphasized that RTI brands tries to be proactive rather than reactive, solving problems ahead of time.  What blew me away was that Cody is still in his twenties, but he clearly has the business savvy of someone much older.  Cory, the brand manager for Merch Machine, is a recording artist and songwriter as well, and was actually a longtime RTI customer before coming on to work with them full time.  He validated the importance of having quality merchandise to sell, and for any potential RTI customers, I think it is an encouraging thing to see that the company has people in place who really know what a client wants.  As an artist, Cory knows that artists want to have some level of integrity to their merchandise, and he knows how to deliver that.  I think that’s synergy… one of those sweet business school words.  It was great to have them both in class, and I’m definitely going to be keeping up with RTI Brands as they continue to grow.

So, then Thursday, March 19th.  Pete Dugas was back with us, and every time this guy talks to our class, I always learn a ton.  The last time he spoke, he talked about taking an artist from nothing and what kind of work goes into that.  This time, he spoke from the perspective of exploiting the opportunities available for an established artist.  Pete consults with artists, and helps them develop strategies to take advantage of their opportunities.  The point he made at the beginning was that many artists who flourished in the 1970’s and 1980’s really haven’t taken advantage of the technology that’s now pervasive, i.e. an internet presence, etc.  He showed us the plan for one of his current clients (who I won’t name, because I don’t know if there’s any sort of privacy thing there- but trust me, you would recognize the name) and he talked about their “domino strategy” for building momentum for this artist.  It’s not an accident when things go right, and Pete had very explicitly gone through and mapped out a plan for when things were going to be released, when public appearances were going to be made, etc… all as a part of a plan to help this artist achieve her goals.  He focused a lot on gaining control of your machine (copyrights, merchandise, management) so that you are getting the money that you are making… novel concept right? But it’s hard to hang on to all of the money and still be able to acquire the means necessary for success.  One of the questions that came up, which I thought was really interesting: when the artist is also the business mind, does that diminish the art that is created?  Phrased another way, can an artist manage their own machine, and still create good art?  I think it’s a great question.  If you’ve got an opinion, feel free to leave a comment below.  I’ll refrain from sharing my personal opinion here, but I do think that whether you’re an artist or you’re on the business end of things, you should think about the answer.

So that’s it- the marathon entry is finished.  Thanks for reading, I’ll see if I can get the next post up a little sooner next time!

Song to Check Out: Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown by Neil Young

Jim McBride and Jerry Salley

Jim McBride and Jerry Salley were in Athens last Thursday (2/26/09) for the Songwriters in the Round show and were kind enough to stop by before hand and talk to the music business class.  They are both love music and their love for songwriting was evident. They were both unbelievably authentic, and their candidness was much appreciated.

McBride carried mail in his pre-Nashville life, and moved to Nashville at age 33.  While some people may say that’s getting started late, he explained that he had something to write about when he got there.  Salley had gone to school to be a music major, but when his teacher didn’t know who Ronnie Milsap was, he started feeling like maybe the formalized study of music wasn’t for him, and wound up going into the business school.  But he couldn’t escape his love for music and wound up in Nashville writing songs.

McBride had early success, but then didn’t have much at all for about six years.  It took Salley five years to get a song recorded.  But they were not deterred.  As McBride put it “If you don’t feel like you will die if you don’t do it, then don’t do it- because you probably won’t make it.” And he wasn’t saying that to be discouraging, but just to emphasize that being a songwriter is not for the faint of heart.  McBride was ready to make a return to carrying mail, but lucky for him, there weren’t any openings.  It was lucky for him because he wound up meeting Alan Jackson, and you are probably familiar with the results of their collaboration (Chattahoochie, Chasin’ that Neon Rainbow).  Salley eventually found success in the gospel field, working with Steven Curtis Chapman to write “Hiding Place.”  He has had over 300 songs recorded in his career (which means he’s probably written five times that many).

They both gave some advice to aspiring songwriters, and I’ll try to summarize that for you:

They both encouraged writing with better writers to see how they work.  In terms of material: there are only 3 places a song can come from (1) personal experience, (2) other’s experiences, and (3) pure fantasy.  And 2 and 3 are a lot broader than 1.  And lastly, they encouraged songwriters to develop an idea completely throughout a song, and not to smash 3 ideas into one song.

Lucky for us, they gave us a little sample of the show and both of them played a song.  McBride played “Dixie Boy” which was recorded by Alabama, and Salley played “I’m gonna take that mountain” which was recorded by Reba McEntire.  And no offense to the artists that popularized those songs, but there is something unique about hearing the actual writer perform the song.

What a Thursday!

Song to Check Out: Mystery Train as performed by The Band

(a song they both referenced as being an example of an ongoing revenue stream)

Shimon Presents

On Tuesday we had Seth Weiner and Amy Eckles, the CEO and Marketing Director respectively, come talk to our class about their company Shimon Presents.    Shimon presents is a marketing company, and if you’ve gone to a music festival (or a few) in the past year, chances are they probably worked with the festival… a few of their clients: Coachella,  All  Good,  Rothbury, Bear Creek.  They have also worked with artists such as P Groove and Dubconscious.  They utilize their knowledge of live music and their knowledge of technology and blend them into a very effective promotional campagin for a client.    Another cutting edge idea that Shimon offers is their Work Exchange Team (WET) which allows volunteers to work a festival in exchange for free tickets.  Which is a smart deal for everyone involved, which makes it a great idea.  The festival wins because they get free labor, the volunteers win because they get free tickets to something they would have paid for, and Shimon wins because they are promoting the show and its a great way to get people connected to the event.  Shimon’s vision is solid, and while they are still a young company, they have developed a name for themselves as a company that fills a need, and fills it well.  If you want to learn more about Shimon, by visiting their website, click here.

So what did Seth have to offer in terms of advice?  Well, after hearing him describe how he came up with this idea and how he got started, a few themes started to develop (and these are themes I’ve written about before).   The first one would be: make yourself valuable.   Easier said than done, right? Well maybe not.   By taking your task doing it to perfection, you bring value.   For example, if you decide to work on Shimon’s WET as a way to start making a name for yourself, then work harder than anyone else there.  It’s not rocket science, but it isn’t always easy to actually do.   The second theme would be keep your eyes open to a need.  Chris Hanks’ (see entry entitled “Entrepreneurial Spirit”) quote was “there’s riches in niches” and it applies here.  Shimon offers a product that not everyone needs, but there is a niche (and a good sized niche) that REALLY benefits from what they offer, and as a result they have had success.  The last theme would be that when you do what you love, it’s not really work.  Seth and Amy both clearly enjoy what they do (Amy left her job with Google to come work for Shimon) and when you enjoy your job, you tend to be successful.  I expect Shimon to have continued success, and seriously, if you like festivals go check out their work exchange team, it’s a sweet deal.

Song to Check Out: Ah! Leah! by Donnie Iris

Scott Keniley, 2/19/09

Scott Keniley practices entertainment law in Atlanta, and came last Thursday to discuss the legal aspect of the music business with the class.  So just off the top of my head, this semester we’ve had: tour promotion, a ‘do it yourself model’ artist, public relations, artist management, and now entertainment law.  Pretty good coverage of all the different aspects of the music business.  But back to the topic of entertainment law.

Scott confirmed the fact that the music business is changing rapidly, and I think changing is the right word to use.  Because there is as much music as ever, but the industry is becoming decentralized, and the need for record companies as they have previously functioned is shrinking.  Scott did not start his professional career in entertainment law, but after successfully representing a client in that area, he got so many requests to represent other music business clients that the change just kind of happened.

I enjoyed Scott’s honesty about things.  Because you always hear about how you don’t get into the music business because you want to make money, you get into it because you love music.  And  every time  I hear that I start thinking ‘well yeah, but what if you can’t pay your bills’.  Scott summarized his stance on this by saying, ‘it’s about a career in a field you love offering a viable product line.’  And he’s right- starting a band is no different than starting a bakery or a law firm.  You’re a small business.  If you don’t make money, then you have to make it a hobby.

Scott talked some about the revenue killers a band can encounter, but they are very avoidable if you just plan ahead a little bit. They were: high overhead, poor bookkeeping, over-fairness in deals, tax problems, and bad contracts.  So there they are, and looks like all of them are controllable, which is nice- if you know what’s coming, then you can avoid it.

It was awesome to have Scott with the class last Thursday, and I’ll definitely be taking some of his advice as I continue to learn about the music business.

Announcements:

Music Business Panels Tuesday 2/24 at 6pm in SLC 148

Song to Check Out:

Only a Fool Would Say That by Steely Dan