I Went 5 Years Purposely Avoiding Romantic Relationships: This Is What Happened To My Career
In 2015, a few months after ending my last romantic relationship and just as I was turning 30, I decided to try a social experiment on myself. I decided to see what I could achieve in my professional life by sacrificing something big in my personal life. I decided to make myself completely emotionally unavailable for a romantic relationship. I wanted to see what happens, for me, when I direct 100% of my cognitive energy to my professional life and zero to pursuing and developing a romantic relationship.
Here is what happened during my 5 years relationship hiatus:
I earned a masters degree in Music Industry Administration; I developed and sold 3 music tech startups; I paid off student loans for 3 degrees; I spoke at over 100 music industry conferences, podcasts, and web series; I wrote extensively on music business and music rights and have been syndicated, cited, or interviewed dozens of times in some of the top music industry magazines, blogs, and books; I developed and taught music industry curriculum and have guest lectured at universities; I conducted research that was used by the US government in its economic analysis on the most important piece of music industry legislation in decades (MMA) and was invited to speak at the Library of Congress for a US Copyright Office symposium; I was named a Billboard’s “Digital Power Players 2019” and appeared in its 125th anniversary issue with Paul McCartney on the cover; I helped hundreds of music creators, entrepreneurs, and rights-holders with their careers, businesses, and catalogs through mentorship, consulting, and creating free resources at daeboganmusic.com. And I’ve developed relationships with amazing music industry professionals in every sector of the industry from around the world.
In 5 years, I transformed my career and have accomplished professional milestones that I never could have imagined. That was an incredibly overwhelming, stressful, challenging, and exhilarating ride.
Today I turn 35. 🥳 I’ve amassed an incredible amount of knowledge and contacts in the music industry and will be spending the coming weeks deciding what I will do next (something moderate).
Also, I’m back on the market. 😎
On To The Next – Dae Bogan Departs TuneRegistry
Photo: Launch of TuneRegistry at SXSW Pitch Stage
After five passionate years of developing and operating one of the most important music rights administration companies that empowered thousands of DIY music creators and small to medium-sized rights-holders from around the world to “take back their rights” and unlock millions of dollars in unclaimed and unmatched royalties, I am humbled to announce that my journey with TuneRegistry has come to an end.
I want to thank every DIY music creator and artist manager who’ve flooded my inboxes with questions about music publishing, copyright administration, royalties, and licenses over the years. Your curiosities became source material for the ways in which my products evolved over time. From launching our relationship with Harry Fox Agency to enable you, for the first time, to unlock your Spotify mechanical royalties to onboarding Gracenote and TiVo to help you deliver and enrich your metadata in the digital music ecosystem, if it weren’t for the valid challenges that you faced and the ways in which you felt dismissed or overlooked by the music industry establishment I would have never had the courage and strength to found TuneRegistry and RoyaltyClaim.
We were disruptors.
I will be spending the coming weeks reflecting on the work that we did over the years, which led to my being named a Billboard “Digital Power Players 2019,” and explore opportunities where my journey may take me next.
Passionately Yours,
Dae Bogan
Music Creators’ Rights Advocate
Photos: Unclaimed Royalties Study Kickoff Symposium at The Library of Congress
Last week, I joined dozens of music industry experts to discuss important topics related to the operations of the forthcoming Mechanical Licensing Collective at the U.S. Copyright Office’s Unclaimed Royalties Study Kickoff Symposium at The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Off To Washington D.C. For Unclaimed Royalties Study Symposium
I’m looking forward to joining music industry colleagues in Washington, D.C. tomorrow to discuss issues related to the implementation of the Music Modernization Act at the Library of Congress.
Dae Bogan Named A Billboard’s 2019 Digital Power Player
I am honored to announce that I have been named a Billboard’s 2019 Digital Power Players for my work in empowering thousands of independent music creators with the tools and resources to self-administer their music copyrights and unlock millions of dollars in royalties all while retaining 100% of their copyrights and 100% of their royalties.
Billboard November 2019 issue. 125th Anniversary Issue featuring Paul McMartney on the cover.
In two weeks, I will be joining fellow music industry executives and experts at the United States Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. to speak at the US Copyright Office’s Symposium for Unclaimed Royalties Study in advance of the launch of the government-sanctioned Mechanical Licensing Collective, which will administer music royalties for the global songwriter community when their songs are streamed in the United States. I am charged with helping the government frame its messaging, outreach and communications strategy to the thousands of songwriters who are often left out of the conversations. I can’t wait to create a seat at the table for them — for the indies!
You can view the entire Billboard 2019 Digital Power Players list in the November 16 issue of the printed publication and online here: https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8543390/2019-digital-power-players-list
Dae Bogan To Join Other Music Industry Experts At US Copyright Office Symposium On Unclaimed Royalties Study in Washington, D.C.
I am honored to announce that on December 6th, three weeks from today, I will be representing the US independent music creators community at a symposium in Washington, D.C. at the The Library of Congress.
A few weeks ago, I was invited by the newly appointed Copyright Royalty Judge, Steve Ruwe, to speak at the Copyright Office’s symposium on unclaimed royalties at The Library of Congress. As a CRJ, Mr. Ruwe is among just three judges who are responsible for setting the royalty rates that all songwriters in the world are paid for the use of their songs in the United States.
Last year, my 2016/2017 research titled “The State of Unclaimed Royalties and Music Licenses in the United States,” — research that led me to founding the world’s first search engine of unclaimed music royalties and licenses and a gateway to initiate claims, RoyaltyClaim (acquired by HAAWK Inc.) — was referenced, and I was personally consulted, by the United States Congressional Budget Office during its analysis of the economic impact of the then-current bill, Music Modernization Act. That bill became law in October 2018 and is now known as the Orrin G. Hatch–Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act 2018 (MMA or Music Modernization Act for short).
I have been fighting to ensure that independent and unsigned self-published songwriters are recognized, empowered, and represented in the US music industry for over a decade now. My first break-through was conceptualizing and co-founding TuneRegistry, which enables self-published songwriters to administer their catalog and unlock performance and mechanical royalties while keeping 100% of their copyrights and 100% of their royalties. TuneRegistry has helped thousands of self-published lyricists, composers, producers, and singer-songwriters protect their copyrights and unlock hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars in unpaid and current royalties as well as enter into direct licensing deals with digital music services and social media platforms.
I look forward to discussing how the Copyright Office will develop outreach and messaging strategies to reach and engage self-published music creators and I hope to ensure that these creators continue to have a voice in the room, if not a SEAT AT THE TABLE.
US Copyright Office Announcement: https://www.copyright.gov/newsnet/2019/784.html
Dae Bogan, Along With Marcus Cobb, Interviewed By Music Business Association
Music payment and workflow management startup Jammber has developed a series of mobile apps that helps artists eliminate guesswork from the process of recording music ownership, allowing them to focus on doing what they love: writing music. Last month, Jammber announced that it had acquired TuneRegistry, a move that would establish Jammber as a full-service solution for creatives to both report music ownership and manage rights administration. We sat down with Jammber CEO Marcus Cobb and the company’s newly appointed SVP of Global Music Rights, TuneRegistry co-founder and CEO Dae Bogan, to discuss the acquisition and what it means for both the future of the company and the industry.
Music Biz: Congratulations on the exciting acquisition! What inspired this move to unite Jammber and TuneRegistry’s offerings?
DB: Thank you! My co-founders, Kara McGehee and Shane Zilinskas, and I have been actively looking to bring our music rights administration platform into an environment where our strength in works registrations, copyright research, and managing relationships with music rights organizations could be complementary to a broader suite of services aimed to empower DIY musicians and small to medium sized rights-holders. We’ve been big fans of Jammber for several years now and recently Jammber became an Enterprise client of TuneRegistry. We took that opportunity to learn more about Marcus’ long-term vision for Jammber and all parties realized that our visions were quite aligned, so why not our products!
MC: There are three key steps to getting paid for your music: keeping track of the songs you work on and everyone you collaborate with; registering those songs, collaborations and ownership amounts; and finally collecting payment. TuneRegistry has spent the last five years perfecting the registration process with a focus on allowing publishers, distributors and creatives to easily register their songs across North America. By adding that service to the Jammber suite we’re able to bring payments closer to the creative process which in turn makes them more accurate and faster. That is the holy grail of music metadata and has the power to change so many lives.
Music Biz: How do creatives stand to benefit from adding TuneRegistry’s skillset to Jammber’s DIY platform?
DB: What Jammber does well is to get in at the onset of the creative process to help creators to start capturing the necessary metadata that would be later required to properly protect and administer rights. Jammber is there early enough to encourage creators to think about the ownership splits and rights surrounding their musical project. What TuneRegistry does well is to simplify and streamline the rights administration process. It is a natural hand-off from Jammber to TuneRegistry that we’re working to make as seamless as possible in the creation-to-administration workflow.
MC: Exactly. It’s about simplifying the complexities of getting paid and credit in this industry. Dae is a foremost expert in song registrations and administration. There are splits apps and song registration platforms and payment platforms that already exist. But the only way to really make it as simple as possible is to bring everything together into a seamless experience for creatives. In order to make something simple you have to understand the complexities enough to know what can be taken away or changed. Having the TR team on board expedites our learning process.
Read the full interview here.
On Digital Radio Royalties: What Are They And How To Look For Unclaimed Royalties
(This was originally post on my Facebook page, so my apologies if the hyperlinks directs you to Facebook pages of the mentioned companies).
On Digital Radio Royalties
DIY Musicians – If/when you get a recording placed on non-interactive Internet, satellite, or cable radio (e.g. Pandora, SiriusXM, Music Choice) it earns multiple royalty streams. It is important to understand how to collect them all. I will get granular below to break this down.
Let’s use for example the recording “6 Inch (feat. The Weeknd)” by Beyonce. When this recording is played on Pandora (or iHeartRadio, 8Tracks, TuneIn or any of the other 2,500+ properly licensed webcasters serving the United States), here are the royalty streams:
1. Master Royalties for Featured Performers – Royalties paid to SoundExchange for the featured performers, which are the “named” artists on the track. For “6 Inch,” the featured performers are Beyoncé (main artist) and The Weeknd (guest artist). They each must have an account at SoundExchange to collect these royalties. Here is the unclaimed royalties list for featured performers: https://www.soundexchange.com/…/does-sou…/search-for-artist/
2. Master Royalties for Master Copyright Owner (Label) – Royalties paid to SoundExchange for the copyright owner, which is the label. For “6 Inch,” the label is Columbia Records. The label must have an account at SoundExchange to collect these royalties. (A Few Notes: (1) Major labels have direct deals with most music services, so it is likely that Columbia is paid directly by Pandora. (2) Unsigned artists can collect this income if you properly create your free account with SoundExchange as the copyright owner. This means, you cannot only sign up as the Artist. You are the label!). Here is the unclaimed royalties list for copyright owners: https://www.soundexchange.com/…/do…/search-for-rights-owner/
3. Master Royalties for Non-featured Performers – Royalties paid to AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund (“the Fund”) for the background vocalists and session musicians who performed on the recording. For “6 Inch,” the non-featured performers include Ahmad Balshe (background vocalist) and Derek Dixie (session musician) among others. (Note: 5% of the royalties paid to SoundExchange is passed to the Fund. The Fund conducts research to identify the non-featured performers. They use published credits, such as those published on AllMusic.com (Ex: https://www.allmusic.com/album/lemonade-mw0002940342/credits), Discogs, and other resources to identify the vocalists and musicians on a recording. Keep in mind that if the producer of the track contributed background vocals or live instrumentation, it is important to credit him/her separately as such in addition to his/her producer credit, so that they can access this income stream. At TuneRegistry, we deliver credits to TiVo, which makes metadata available to AllMusic, among other services. If the Fund does not have the non-featured performer on their list, you can check and submit. See “6 Inch” only shows two (2) non-featured performers, but there may be more who just do not know: https://www.afmsagaftrafund.org/covered-rec-artist_SR_Maste…). Here is the unclaimed royalties list for non-featured performers: https://www.afmsagaftrafund.org/unclaimed-royalties.php and here is the list of recordings that the Fund has credits for here: https://www.afmsagaftrafund.org/covered-rec-title_sr_master…
4. Publishing Royalties for Composers/Writers – Royalties paid to performing rights organizations (PROs) such as American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), and SESAC in the United States for the composers and writers, which is Jordan Asher, Burt Bacharach, Ahmad Balshe, Hal David, Ben Diehl, Beyoncé Knowles, Noah Lennox, Terius Nash, David Portner, Danny Schofield, Abel Tesfaye, and Brian Weitz. Because “6 Inch” uses samples, there are more composers/writers credited on the recording. You can view the full publishing credits for “6 Inch” at ASCAP here: https://www.ascap.com/repertory#ace/search/workID/890413300 (Note: US PROs, like most PROs/CMOs around the world, do not have a public list of unclaimed royalties. It is important to register your song before the release or as soon as possible after release to limit the possibility of having your royalties fall into the “black box,” which is an industry term of unclaimed or unmatched royalties. Also note that if you collaborate with someone who has not affiliated with a PRO, that can slow down the registration process.)
5. Publishing Royalties for Composition Copyright Owner (Publisher) – Royalties paid to PROs for the copyright owner in the compositions. This is the publisher or a self-published songwriter’s own publishing entity. For “6 Inch,” the publishers are 2082 Music Publishing, BMG, Domino Publishing, KMR Music Royalties, New Hidden Valley Music Co, Oakland 13 Music, Sal And Co LP, Songs of FujiMusic, Universal Music Corportation, WB Music Corporation. Because “6 Inch” uses samples, there are more publishers credited on the recording. You can view the full publishing credits for “6 Inch” at ASCAP here: https://www.ascap.com/repertory#ace/search/workID/890413300 (Note: In the US, if you are a self-published writer, you do not need to have a publishing account at BMI in order to unlock your publishing income. You will need a writer AND publisher account at ASCAP. So, if you do not have a publisher account at ASCAP and you are self-published, you literally leave 50% of your income on the table because ASCAP will not pay out the so-called “publisher’s share” to writers (unless they’ve changed this policy).)
In conclusion, if you get a recording on a digital radio platform and it takes off, make sure you have your business in order. We help with all of the above at TuneRegistry. This is what I am doing every day — helping thousands of independent music creators properly register their music so that they are 1.) identified, 2.) accounted to, and 3.) PAID.
Check out my free ebook “The DIY Musician’s Starter Guide To Being Your Own Label & Publisher” available for download at www.daeboganmusic.com (subscribe to my blog) and catch me speaking Oct 12th at A3C Conference in Atlanta or Oct 30th at Music Tectonics Conference in Los Angeles.
CC: Dae Bogan Music
Dae Bogan To Speak At A3C Conference
I look forward to joining Marcus Cobb at this year’s A3C Conference to present “Ownership & Song Registration in the Palm of Your Hand” on Saturday, October 12th, at 2:30pm.
Presentation Description: In this digital age of music, songs have the ability to go from conception to the public in the blink of an eye. Within this new age, it has never been as vital to establish ownership and collect metadata as it is today. In short, your money depends on it! Learn how Jammber’s game-changing technology puts ownership and song registration in the palm of your hand.
***Earlier this month, Jammber announced its acquisition of TuneRegistry. The story was covered in Music Business Worldwide, Billboard, Music Connection, Digital Music News, Hypebot, and others.***
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