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photo credit: Irish Philadelphia Photo EssaysThe internet, as everyone knows, has revolutionized the music business. The ease of downloading music and file-sharing has caused the industry to adjust in ways few could have imagined not long ago.

At first, the music industry was hit hard by the first file-sharing programs that allowed fans to download music without actually paying for it. The rapid downloading speeds afforded by high-speed internet and satellite broadband have made this process even easier in recent years. Although CD sales fell and some artists initially feared they would no longer be able to support themselves by making music, legal safeguards have since been put into place to prevent illegal music sharing (although of course the practice is still widespread). Despite these initial setbacks, the industry has adapted and has arguably provided the general public with infinitely more opportunities to discover and enjoy music than were available previously.

For example, websites like Pandora allow users to discover new music every day. Listeners can create personalized internet radio stations that play only certain types of songs, according to the user’s specifications. Music fans can create a station based on a song or band that they like, and the station will play songs with similar musical qualities. The website is completely legal and all music artists are paid when a user listens to their music. The service may not work properly on computers with slow internet connections, however, and satellite internet or another type of strong connection is recommended. Continue reading this post…

photo credit: Saquan Stimpson/monstershaq2000

Don’t listen to another one of those so called music industry insiders until you read this article.I’m so sick and tired of these wannabes leaching off of talented people with real dreams of making it in the music industry. Have you heard some of the lies they tell you like, if you only had a manager, or I know some people that can get you career of the ground, or my favorite, you could be great if you only had a little bit more training. Well today is your lucky day because I’m going to give you the 3 P’s to breaking into the Music Industry.

So do you have dreams of becoming the next big in the music industry? Before you answer that question,let me tell you something, the only thing you really need, other than a little bit of talent(emphasis on little),is heart. That’s it because after I give you the 3 P’s to Breaking into the Music Industry, you will have everything you need to “Party like a Rockstar”. I want you to think of this as your foolproof plan to success, better yet, your building blocks of your career.

O.K. Guys here’s what you been reading this long for. Without further a do, Here’s your 3 P’s to Breaking into the Music Industry. They are:

1. Produce
2. Promote
3. Protect

Produce- I don’t care if you are a singer, rapper,drummer you should learn how to produce music. And I’m not talking about just playing your instrument, I mean producing CD sounding music. Don’t get scared, most of you already have some kind of music making software anyway. This is crucial to your success because it gives you control over the total sound of your music. There’s nothing worst than working on music you don’t like.

Promote- What’s the use of having all of that cool music without people knowing about it. This is where everything gets fun. This is where you go from a no body to a overnight celebrity, and this also where and when the money starts to come in.

Protect- With all of this new found glory and fame, you have to protect yourself. I never saw snakes on the plane but I can tell you that there’s snakes in the game. So I can’t stress this enough. Other than the obvious copyrighting, you need the right contract for the right job. Don’t ever enter any agreement without a contract. Don’t be a fool, you need to protect all of that hard work you put in.

Well there you have it, the 3 P’s to Breaking into the Music Industry. Now go forth and make some noise!!!

If you want to know more check out my page on http://www.squidoo.com/BreakintoMusic

photo credit: Nicholas Gray

With all of the reality shows on television today, everyone wants to be the next big music star. You would think that singing was the only job in the music industry. It is the one job that is out in the forefront, but it is not the only job in the music industry.

With all the changes in technology, the music business has gone hi-tech. the sound is not just produced by listening to tunes on a keyboard. Music is mixed, recorded, and re-recorded to produce the best quality sound possible. Highly skilled people are needed to fill those positions.

Let’s start at the bottom and work our way up. One person who needs to be around all the time is the technician. This person’s job is to become familiar with all of the technical equipment used in a recording studio. Continue reading this post…

No longer can the lack of radio support or obtaining a record deal be the scapegoat for a band or individual artist’s not being able to gain national attention. The playing field from what it used to be 10, and definitely 20 years ago is now basically on even level. Sure, there are many who have more of the advantages, but due to the leveling of the playing field, the same things can be achieved by anyone, with a little more grinding… and a lot more paying attention and making use of the advantages you now have playing in your favor.

Hip-Hop artists are doing it themselves. Authors are publishing their own books. Anyone with a quality HD camera and the hunger for cinema can make a film. And you know what? Because of the internet, there is no longer a middle man needed distribution reaches to your audience. Continue reading this post…

So you want to create rap beats for free. So do a lot of other people. We all want stuff for free. Unfortunately their is no such things as a free lunch. Somebody somewhere is paying for it. In the case of music, rarely is someone else going to pay for your lunch. The best thing you can do is learn how to do it yourself.

I have found 2 really good ways get high quality rap beats for cheap or free, but first I want to let all the rappers and new producers out the in on a little secret. If the beat that you are going to bootleg or download is not TOP TOP sound quality, DO NOT waste your time. To get anywhere in the music business your stuff has to sound better than everyone else. Not just the people in your neighborhood. The whole U.S. Do not sabotage yourself right from the start. If you have to spend even a couple dollars to get a half decent beat to mix tape over, do it. Continue reading this post…

Don’t laugh. Many businesses began from nothing more an idea, and those melodies you have rolling around in your head just might be as good as any other ideas. When you write down or record your new song, you are essentially starting to own your own music business. Your idea has become a piece of intellectual property, as real and potentially as valuable as any physical property you own. Most businesses have at their heart some piece of intellectual property.

This used to be a known fact in the popular consciousness — check out a few Perry Mason reruns and you’ll see that “trade secrets” and “patents” were important enough to be motives for murder. With the coarsening of the public perception — all crimes and all plots on daily television seem to revolve around merely passion or pathology — we have lost the sense of the power of ideas. Continue reading this post…

For those interested in the music business, few things are as exciting or as challenging as opening their own music business. There are many facets to the music business, from acting as agent to the hot new music group to running a successful outlet selling new and used musical instruments.

==The Music Industry==

The music industry offers some unique challenges and some great opportunities, and the savvy businessperson can take advantage of those challenges and opportunities to create a thriving business even in the most difficult of climates.

Before opening the doors of your great music store, or taking the new band to the top, however, it will be necessary to create a solid business plan in order to attract financing, partners and investors.

No businessperson will invest in a new music business without a thorough understanding of that business’s prospects for success. A business plan is a way to communicate the goals of the business and to quantify its financial needs and prospects.

== What Should You Include In Your Business plan ==

Many new business owners are unsure how to write a business plan, or what that business plan should include. Every business plan will be different, and the business plan for a new music business may look quite different from that of a new accounting business.

That having been said, however, there are certain elements that all business plans have in common, and certain things that they all must include.

Some of the required elements of every business plan include:

What the business does. Any potential investors will of course want to have a thorough understanding of the purpose of the business, and, most importantly, how it plans to make a profit.

The mission statement of the business, a mission statement is most commonly a simple one page document which details the purpose of the business and the business philosophy of its owners and management. Continue reading this post…

There are many types of contracts used in the music industry. Some are very detailed and specific to any number of services that may be provided. It is a good idea to have an understanding of the basic types of music contracts that you are most likely to see if you are (or intend to become) a music professional.

However, it is first important to understand the basic forms of rights and compensation. Songwriters, publishers, and performing artists are compensated in a variety of ways. In the United States, there are specific rights in direct accordance with Copyright Law as well as rights associated with specific usages. Contracts are used to firmly establish rights and compensation in all cases.

First, Copyright Law provides for songwriter compensation and publishing compensation. The Law guarantees the payment of those folks holding the rights for a specific work. While these amounts have a set rate, they are generally split 50/50 between songwriting and publishing rights. Of course, songwriters, publishers, and record companies will negotiate for portions of these guaranteed payments and the provisions are generally outlined in a contract. This portion of the compensation is usually monitored and distributed for registered works through the professional rights organizations such as ASCAP.

These days, there are many more options available for an artist. The more traditional option is to sign with a record label that will take care of the distribution and marketing. For someone signing with a record label, there is additional compensation for performing a song. This is usually paid to the performer by the record company in accordance with a separate contract. This contract may or may not additionally address the above rights which are guaranteed by law. For example, payment from the record company may also be direct to an artist which does not necessarily involve the rights described herein.

Advances are a form of payment that a record company may offer to an artist, but it usually operates like a loan from the bank. That is, until sales reach a specified point, a specified portion of income received by the record company and expenses accrued on behalf of the artist are maintained in the artist’s account. In this case, the advance is already in the account as a form of “debt” to the record company. It is possible for an artist to actually “owe” money to the record company long after release if sales are weak and the terms are not favorable. Cross collateralization is a term that refers to using the funds from an additional, separate work to “pay off” the “debt” from a previous work.

By contrast, the independent artist will hire services or provide their own distribution and marketing. In this case, the profit from the sale of material becomes much less complex in nature but the ability to reach the public becomes very difficult as the traditional infrastructure for gaining exposure remains very much in play. That is, relationships that exist between record companies and the mass media outlets are very strong. Nonetheless, there are increasing numbers of independents who are finding markets for their music and the profit margins are much more favorable when an audience is found. The proceeds from the sale of digital downloads and tangible media are then collected and apportioned by the artist or someone managing the money for the artist.

There are also Mechanical Rights that are collected and paid for each public play or in most cases, compensated with blanket fees. These rights are monitored and collected in a similar fashion as the above described songwriting and publishing rights. The Harry Fox Agency is one of many companies that monitor the usage of songs as a service to an artist. Some publishers also perform this service on behalf of the artists they represent as it is also in their interest to make sure the publishing component of the fees are paid. Continue reading this post…

>German pop music Record Producer Ralph Ruppert (aka Ralph P Ruppert) relocated from Frankfurt, Germany to London in August 1985 after signing an exclusive Producers contract with CBS Records (now Sony Records) to produce the Berlin/Liverpool duo Picnic At The Whitehouse, a studio project formed by Berlin based keyboardist ‘Ilfo’ Debusmann. The very original recording of their first single “We Need Protection” featured the then still unknown Terence Trent D’arby on lead vocals which were replaced later by vocals performed by Liverpool vocalist Eddie Hind.

“We Need Protection” was a Top Ten Single in many mainland Europe countries. The original version featuring Terence Trent D’arby was never commercially released and is now a sought after jewel in the world of record collectors.

Ruppert has produced and engineered commercially successful songs and albums for numerous German, British and international artists. He received Gold and Platinum records awards for his sound engineering work with scottish pop band Wet Wet Wet and american born singer/songwriter Terence Trent D’arby. Continue reading this post…

People have been asking me lately why have I been selling eBooks on my website and also why have I partnered up with iTunes and are now linked to the iTunes store. Some have even said I have sold out and I am no longer independent. This article is to address these points. Firstly, the idea of selling out is not the same as expanding my business. When it comes to being an artist it seems that the majority of acts/ bands are still being fooled by an old model of what music and in particular what selling music is all about. As the mercury award goes into another year we find story after story about record sales falling.

A case in point is Estelle and her hit single American boy, despite the track being a hit on both sides of the Atlantic the album has not been selling so, as all record companies do these days, they panicked and have pulled the single from the US iTunes in the hope that people will turn their attention to the album if they are unable to download the single. Kid Rocks Album was not sold on iTunes and he sold a very respectable 1.7 million. So, I guess the companies are thinking ‘let’s follow the same path and make it impossible to get the music on the worlds biggest download site’. The fact that there is a policy iTunes have where you can not just sell full album which in a sense encourages people to just purchase the individual songs they like. As an artist I look at the album as one piece of work and would love it to be bought as a whole, however the musical landscape has changed and I believe if you don’t make what your fans want available to them then you are cutting your own throat.

In my opinion it’s about time the music industry died, or should I say old music industry because that is exactly what it is, the old music industry. In fact is it dead now? It seems that the lid is closing on the coffin of the industry. Its last dying breaths are being sustained by sales of easy listening, middle of the road music to house wives through supermarkets like the Asda and Tesco chains and in so doing making it easy to pick your copy of James blunt or James Morrison as they buy their weekly food shop and the latest trend of new artist that sound just like dead idols.

This is why for me it is essential to change with the times and try new ways of getting the music out there and if the means making partner ship with companies like iTunes, then why not? Unlike record companies the new digital arena is not going to sign you into a contract that robs you of your rights as an artist. Continue reading this post…