Artist Quote of the Week

"Being a manager or agent is similar to renting an apartment. Having a record company is like owning a home."

--Rob Kahane, Trauma Records

New Approaches to Music Marketing

Okay, so you’ve just made the record of your life. Everyone in the band knows it, the engineer knows it, even your girlfriend knows it, and she’s heard those songs one thousand times. Now what?

There are so many CDs being let loose on the market every day it makes your head swim to think about it. You’ve been around long enough to know that you’re David in a music business still run by Goliaths.

Of course it takes a certain amount of dough to get music in front of press, radio, and fans. Are you able to match the kind of promo budget that goes behind the latest U2 release? Doubtful. The little label that’s already made you an offer is little more than a short- term loan, you don’t have any high-powered lawyers to shop your disc to the big guys, and the only option is to get it out yourself.

Successfully releasing a record on a on a shoestring budget is a challenge, but doable once you make the commitment, combine realism with optimism and take stock of the assets you already possess, beyond $$$, which are currently in short supply. You’d be surprised how liberating it can be once you focus on your resourcefulness rather than lack of resources. This article is about how to turn the impossible to your advantage.


Read the enitre article @http://www.musiciansatlas.com/newsletter/feb08/geedavey.asp

Shared copyrights

If you write the lyrics to a song and your buddy writes the music, then you each own 50% of the song. You don't own all of the lyrics and your buddy doesn't own all of the music -- you each own 50% of the total song, music, lyrics and all. This means you can't give someone exclusive rights to the song on your own if you have a fight with your buddy. And, if you make any money on the song, half of that money must go to your partner.

Other forms of shared copyrights come into play when you or your publisher (typically you give control of the song's copyright to the publisher) sign over a portion of the copyright to another publisher for a sampled composition -- a song that uses a portion of another song.

How To Write & Send a Press Release

If you are looking to get yourself noticed, the press release (or news release) is the most common tool used to bring an artist or business publicity.

Basically, a press release is a simple, neat-looking sheet or an e-mail that provides news to reporters, editors, bloggers and other media people. Any press that you get from your news release will be free, so it's easy to see why writing a good press release is a valuable skill.

When To Use A Press Release
You can use a release to notify the media about any sort of happening - a new CD release or CD release party, a special gig, or label signing. The thing to remember is: this is news so the press release needs to be "newsworthy".

The "So What" Factor.
The worst thing that you can do is to write an article about you or your event that leaves the reader thinking to themselves "So What?" You want to make sure that your article leaves the reader with the desire to get more information about you and will drive them to go to your website to learn more about you.

The articles that get published are the ones that target the readers with your news. You have to find people who actually care about your news and, you have to figure out if the places where you are submitting your articles have readers who will care about reading about you.

Artist Quote of the Week

"Independent labels take nothing and make something out of it. Major labels buy that something, and try to make more out of it."
Tom Silverman, Tommy Boy Records CEO

Slicethepie To Finance More New Artists Than EMI In 2008

Slicethepie, the website that enables music fans to run their own record label, estimates over 30 unsigned artists will secure financing from fans and investors on the site in 2008, more UK artists than EMI, Sony BMG or Warner Music achieved last year.

In the past six months, Slicethepie's music fans and investors have financed nine artists and the site's increasing popularity and recently-launched Virtual Trading Exchange is set to make Slicethepie the industry's biggest source of new artists in 2008.

Gilkicker, The Alps, The Skies and Miranda Barber are just some of the artists to share in the £150,000 raised so far by Slicethepie's music fans and investors.

David Courtier-Dutton, Slicethepie founder, said. "Most people dream of being a music mogul, but few get the chance. Similarly, too many new artists struggle to get support from record labels focused on superstar acts. This needs to change. With Slicethepie, music fans can now live out their dream and run their own label - and artists can record and release an album free from label constraints."

Slicethepie is an online intermediary which connects bands in search of funding with music fans keen to scout, break and invest in new artists. The launch of the Virtual Trading Exchange - 'fantasy football for music' - allows budding music execs to hone their skills at running their own record label before investing real money in the live Slicethepie Trading Exchange.

Unlike major labels, Slicethepie does not rely on financing huge superstar acts. Investors who finance an artist on Slicethepie will make a profit if the artist sells over 1,000 albums and singles - earnings so far top £30,000. This fits well into recent industry trends where the number of new major hit artists is declining, while smaller, lower-selling artists are becoming increasingly popular.