October 9, 2016  

[FREE] Join Southern California Music Industry Professionals

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Music Industry Professionals: As some of you know, I am the organizer of Southern California Music Industry Professionals, a professional networking group with over 1,600 members (our member base is mostly online at www.meetup.com/scmiponline, but I recently created a Facebook group).

I am happy to announce that I am organizing our 3rd meetup this year and you’re invited!

Our next SCMIP mixer will be held on Thursday, October 27th, from 5pm to 8pm at the Rosenthal – The Malibu Estate Wines off of PCH in Malibu.

Come mix and mingle with professionals across all sectors of the music industry from recorded music and publishing to live music, touring, and music supervision.

I will have a guest speaker (TBA) to discuss music publishing.

OPEN MIC CALL: I am pleased to announce that we will have limited slots for open mic performances. If you are interested, please contact me to audition your music. This is a wine bar in Malibu, so the music selection will be appropriate for the environment. The venue has a backline, so you may not need to bring much equipment (if anything).

I hope you can make it. Please SHARE with other music industry professionals and make sure they join www.meetup.com/SCMIPonline.

September 28, 2016  

Dae Bogan To Moderate Panel On Music Rights And Micropayment Systems At UCLA Center For Music Innovation’s Music 2020 Day Event

ucla music 2020

Live in/near Los Angeles? Consider attending the UCLA Center for Music Innovation Music 2020 Day at Digital Hollywood on Oct 20th at Skirball Cultural Center.

I will be moderating the panel “Infrastructure: Building New Pipes, New Rights, and New Micropayment Systems”

Panel Description:
Many companies and innovators are working hard to redo the plumbing in a streaming-driven world. This panel will discuss not only the current efforts and politics, but also where the pressures and frictions are building up that may create new avenues for growth and challenges for artists — and where the money might be made in transforming more than the consumer-facing sides of the music industry.

Moderator: Dae Bogan, Co-Founder and CEO, TuneRegistry

Panelists:
Les Borsai, Co-Founder and President, Songlily
Jeff King, COO, SOCAN Music
Jesse Feister, Director, Client Technology Solutions, Kobalt Music
Michael Shanley, VP, IT Business Development, Music Reports

September 28, 2016  

Dae Bogan To Speak On Content Marketing Panel At FestForums Santa Barbara 2016

FestForum

Live in/near Santa Barbara? If so, consider attending FestForums Santa Barbara 2016 in mid November 2016.

I will be speaking on a panel titled “Content Marketing: Why Festivals Have A Leg Up“
 
Panel Description:
Festivals are in the business of creating valuable experiences and the goal for brands is to use these experiences to connect with their customers. With so much digital content being created, brands are able to connect more intimately than ever, even when consumers are far away from the festival. Let’s explore the brands, the experiences, and how we can use them to the benefit of festivals, sponsors and consumers.
 
Moderator: Stuart McNaught, FestForums
 
Panelists:
Raymond Roker, Goldenvoice
Brian Rucker, Pandora
Dae Music, TuneRegistry
Curt Mosel, ArtsQuest
Jesse Lawrence, Ticket IQ
 
Complete details and schedule at www.festforums.com
September 28, 2016  

[VIDEO] Watch How TuneRegistry Can Help Indie Music Creators Protect Music & Unlock Royalties

Homepage

Are you an indie artist looking to unlock additional income streams from your music?

Are you a band confused about what rights each member owns and how to protect them?

Are you a manager looking to save time and streamline reoccurring music industry administration tasks?

Are you an indie label or publisher looking for a better way to organize your company’s catalog in a collaborative space?

TuneRegistry is a next generation music management platform that enables creators and rights-holders to streamline the administration of their music catalogs.

Check out this tutorial reel to see how TuneRegistry can help you.

Learn more at www.tuneregistry.com.

September 19, 2016  

The Uniquely US Challenge That Indie Artists Face When Asked To License Music To Indie Filmmakers, For Free

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Over the last few years I’ve been approached by several indie filmmaker friends seeking my help on getting music licensed for their indie film projects. While some have had budgets, most have asked for recommendations on getting music for free. Now, as an advocate for indie music creators and rights owners, I tend to disregard “no compensation” opportunities as taking advantage of artists and/or devaluing the work of music creators (although the folks behind the opportunities are wicked good people).

 

Several times I’ve had to respectfully tell my indie filmmaker friends that I could not share their “music placement” opportunity, but instead I could direct them to resources to license music for cheap.

 

I’ve since realized that what I have not done was explain why, specifically in the United States, giving filmmakers music for free is frowned upon. So, in this post I aim to do that.

 

But first, I will say that I understand and agree that many opportunities for music placed in film — as well as TV shows and commercials — can be a huge break for up-and-coming artists. Productions that are widely released and viewed can result in significant exposure for the music, which can translate into increased radio airplay, digital downloads, and audio and video streams, which dramatically increases the artist’s income potential and exposure. There’s a long history of songs from movie and TV soundtracks going Gold & Platinum and topping the charts.

 

That being said, small indie film projects are typically not the productions that create these kind of success stories. In fact, I’d argue that over 90% of independently produced projects do little by way of “exposure” for artists (if you’re an independent artist reading this who’ve had your music placed in film, please comment and share your experience).

 

The reality is many indie film  projects do not have the distribution or exposure to generate the volume of public consumption to translate into significant benefit for the artists who contributed music to the film. This is because only a small percentage (maybe less than 1%) of the people who’ve watched the movie would actually make any effort to track down a song placed in the movie.

 

Now, let’s talk about how artists get paid for music licensed to films. I am focusing solely on commercially released songs being licensed to a film. I am not going into the details of original songs composed for a film, film scores, or any “commissioned” work for a film. I am strictly talking about a filmmaker asking an artist to use an already recorded and released track.

 

Ok, so typically, a production company should obtain what’s called a synchronization license from the artist (or label) to use the track in the film.

 

The term “synchronization” refers to the act of synchronizing a sound recording to a motion visual embedded in a video. A production company should pay two (2) fees for licensing music to film: master use fee and synchronization fee.

 

The master use fee is a fee paid to the artist (or his/her label if they are signed to a record label) for the use of the sound recording, also known as a “master.” The synchronization fee is a fee paid to the songwriter (or his/her publisher if they are signed to a publishing company) for the use of the song, also referred to as the composition.

 

The artist/label owns the sound recording/master. The songwriter/publisher owns the song/composition (for example the song “Diamonds” by Rihanna was actually co-written and is co-owned by Sia and her publisher; but the sound recording of “Diamonds” that you hear on the radio is owned by Rihanna’s record label. Both the writer/publisher and the artist/label must get paid for the use of “Diamonds” in a movie; those are two separate copyrights).

 

Alright that was a crash course on publishing.

 

In order for a filmmaker to license a piece of commercially released music to your film, you need a synchronization license from the independent artist (I’m going back to talking about independent artists, although I used Rihanna (a “major” artist) in my example above). An independent artist may not have a publisher nor a label, so he/she is the sole owner and should still get paid the synch fee (for the song/composition) AND the master use fee (for the sound recording/master).

 

Now, so far I’ve talked about what’s known as the up front fees. These are the fees you, filmmaker, would pay to an independent artist to put their music in your movie. But like I said in the beginning, many filmmakers have asked me to help them get music for free. 😦

 

I wouldn’t mind this too much if we weren’t talking about small projects that will be released (and generate most of its viewership) in the United States.

 

Why?

 

Outside of the United States, artists earn public performance income from the movie theaters. That’s right, movie theaters must pay public performance fees to public performance organizations for exhibiting movies. These backend royalties can add up if the movie becomes popular and has many showings across many territories.

 

However, in the United States movie theaters are exempt from having to pay public performance fees. This means, independent artists (specifically, singer-songwriters) do not earn income from movie theaters when they exhibit movies containing their music.

 

So, when you do not earn up front fees from synch and master use fees, because the filmmaker “doesn’t have a budget for music” AND you do not earn backend royalties from U.S. movie theaters, because they are exempt from paying what theaters in other countries pay, it is frowned upon to give music for free to U.S. filmmakers making low budget movies. Because these low budget projects may not have the distribution and marketing backing of it’s major and big-independent counterparts, the potential for the movie to generate “non-compensation benefits” for the artist (e.g. radio airplay, downloads, streams, awards, etc.) is significantly low.

 

Basically, if your indie film is being released in a few United States independent theaters and then on DVD and you want music for free, it will be a challenge. There is no substantial benefit for the artist.

 

All that being said, there are several examples of small budget projects generating grassroots marketing buzz and cult popularity that does impact the distribution and exposure of the movie, which in turn could generate benefits for artists who’ve given gratis (free) licenses to filmmakers. But this is not the norm. Furthermore, there are scenarios where you can license must free in the interim, but commit to payments based on hitting milestones such as getting distribution, hitting box office sales milestones, hitting DVD rental or sales goals, etc. This is a good way for a filmmaker who doesn’t have a big music budget to potentially negotiate with artists to defer compensation based on the performance of the project.

 

Thoughts? Questions? Stories to share? Post in the comments.
September 6, 2016  

20 Different Ways to Release an Album: From Beyonce to Frank Ocean to U2 & Beyond

frank-ocean


Having trouble developing a release strategy for your new album? Check out the release strategy of 20 different albums on this article “20 Different Ways to Release an Album: From Beyonce to Frank Ocean to U2 & Beyond” on Billboard: http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/digital-and-mobile/7495436/20-different-ways-to-release-an-album-from-beyonce-to


Also, check out my article “10 Steps to Building a Single Release Campaign” on CD Baby DIY Musician’s Blog: 10 steps to building a single release campaign: https://www.indieonthemove.com/blog/2013/11/10-ways-to-raise-funds-for-your-next-music-project-without-selling-a-single-record


Also, check out my article “10 Ways To Raise Funds For Your Next Music Project (Without Selling A Single Record)” on Indie on the Move website: https://www.indieonthemove.com/blog/2013/11/10-ways-to-raise-funds-for-your-next-music-project-without-selling-a-single-record


And always remember to REGISTER BEFORE YOU RELEASE with TuneRegistry.
August 23, 2016  

FREE WEB CONFERENCE: Artist Launch’s Virtual Music Business Summit

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FREE WEB CONFERENCE:

Artist Launch’s Virtual Music Business Summit 

August 24th, 2016, Starting at 12pm PST

• Dae Bogan (Co-founder & CEO of TuneRegistry)

• Benji Rogers (Chief Strategy Officer of PledgeMusic)

• Reggie Hawkins (Program Director of Hip Hop Nation on SiriusXM Radio)

• Cynthia Charles (Touring at AEG Live’s Urban Touring Division)

• Cherie Hu (Media & Entertainment Writer for Forbes)

Join the live Q&A on “HOW TO PROTECT AND MARKET YOUR TALENT” with Dae Bogan at 3:30pm – 4:00pm PST

See full schedule: https://karenmariemason.com/
Tune-in here: http://events.instantteleseminar.com/?eventid=88530465

August 20, 2016  

On Helping African And Caribbean Artists

A collage of Blackman, a rapper from Congo to whom I provided career advice. Photos from his Facebook fan page.

Thanks to my buddy Mark Adato, and his work with the organization Africa New Day, I got to help two African independent artists from Congo with career advice. This year, through my mentorship work at SXSW and through AND, I’ve been honored to give career advice to artists in the Caribbean and Africa.
Independent artists in the United States take for granted our relatively easy and abundant access to information and resources related to the music business. Many of the artists in Africa and Carribean do not even know how to get their music on iTunes. They want desperately to share their music. I’m proud that I’ve been able to help a few get started on the right path.
I’ve even used my in-store music video network, which plays in all Shiekh Shoes stores across the United States, to showcase artists from Africa and the Caribbean to my 3 million viewers.
Connecting the diaspora through music, demonstrating our similarities through musical storytelling, and showing that entertainment defies boarders has been a humbling experience.
If you are reading this and you are an artist from Africa, reach out to Africori, which describes itself as a Pan-African music company for artists and labels. Their website is http://africori.com. They may be able to help with getting music distributed. Also, learn about copyrighting your music and collecting music royalties in your territory. You can find more information by talking to Music In Africa foundation. Their website is http://musicinafrica.net.

August 11, 2016  

DOJ 100% Licensing Rule: An UnFair Tax on Hip Hop and Works With Samples?

I often use Hip-Hop and Pop songs in my classes and workshops when discussing rights, income participation, publishing splits, and royalties because these two genres tend to have the most writers per song on average. With the recent DOJ ruling to enforce 100% licensing, songwriters have been trying to understand its impact on their careers. In his blog, TheTrichordist.com, David Lowery presents a compelling argument that the 100% licensing ruling is a “tax” on Hip-Hop music creators and rights-holders. He uses a DJ Khaled song as an example to demonstrate how the 100% licensing rule could impose unfair cost, administrative, and time prohibitive requirements on writers and publishers.

Dr. David C Lowery's avatarThe Trichordist

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Let’s look at the implications of the  DOJ 100% rule for the writers of the 5th most popular Hip Hop Song in the US this week.

These are the four samples in For Free, by DJ Khaled featuring Drake.    Each of those sampled songs also has multiple writers.  Consequently the list of writers for the composite work is quite long.  In this case there are 13 Songwriters, 4 BMI publishers and at least 3 non BMI publishers.    6 writers use ASCAP to license performing rights.  6 writers use BMI and one writer is Canadian so they use SOCAN.   As is always the case with works composed of samples,  these writers have a co-writer agreement to spell out ownership percentages and then an agreement that specifies each party will license and collect it’s own fractional share.    “You do your business and collect your money, I do…

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August 8, 2016  

Music Industry Announcements

A few music industry announcements:
1. I am giving a talk and mini-workshop on Saturday, August 13th at 11am at the Indie Entertainment Summit titled “Music Metadata Matters: How Metadata Impacts Your Income & Opportunities” followed by speaking on a panel on YouTube video monetization for DIY indie artists and bands. Get deats and tickets at http://www.IESfest.com.
2. I am organizing and hosting the Southern California Music Industry Professionals’ August Music Industry Mixer on Thursday, August 18th form 6pm to 9pm at The Federal Bar. We have a special guest speaker, Tiamo Vettori De Vettori, Founder/CEO of Musicpreneur Academy and a Music Success Coach (www.TiamoMusic.com), will give a talk “Secret High Paying Gigs: 5 Lucrative Markets for Musicians in the NEW Music Industry.” This event is FREE. Join SCMIP at http://www.meetup.com/SCMIPonline and RSVP for the mixer at http://www.SCMIP-August.eventbrite.com.
3. I have a panel submitted for SXSW 2017 on music rights and metadata in the ever evolving digital music space featuring panelists from Music Reports, BuzzAngle, TuneRegistry, and Crunch Digital. Vote for the panel and leave comments at http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/62361.
4. I am now the full-time CEO of TuneRegistry, an easy-to-use music catalog and metadata management platform with built-in music administration tools for the independent music community. TuneRegistry helps music creators and rights-holders organize their music catalog and streamline administrative tasks such as registering with rights organizations. Our goal is to have 1,000 music creators and rights-holders using TuneRegistry by the end of 2016. Please tell your music industry friends and send them to http://www.tuneregistry.com for details.
To stay up-to-date about my projects, work, involvements, and my upcoming appearences subscribe to my blog at http://www.daeboganmusic.com, follow me on Twitter @daeboganmusic, and like my Facebook page Dae Bogan Music.

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