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.

News Corp, Major Labels, MySpace

News Corp. is working on a joint venture music site between the four major labels and MySpace, according to PaidContent.org.

The site would be similar to Hulu.com, the video venture backed by News Corp. and NBC Universal, which is now in beta.

The music venture would be operated by News Corp.-owned MySpace with EMI, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group providing music and getting a content equity stake, according to PaidContent.

Music downloads would be available DRM-free and ad-supported. No label has yet signed on for the venture, but PaidContent cites unnamed sources who say that could change in a matter of weeks.

Amazon Mp3 News

Online retailer Amazon.com Inc said it will begin an international roll-out this year of its digital music store that offers songs without copy-protection technology known as digital rights management.

Amazon said it is the only retailer to offer DRM-free MP3s from all four major music labels as well as thousands of independent labels.

Amazon MP3, launched in September 2007, offers DRM-free MP3 music downloads, which now includes more than 3.3 million songs.

Artist Quote of the Week

" The whole music business in the United States is based on numbers, based on unit sales and not on quality. It's not based on beauty, it's based on hype and it's based on cocaine. It's based on giving presents of large packages of dollars to play records on the air."

Frank Zappa

TV/Film Song Placement

When a producer wants to use an existing musical composition in a network television program or weekly series, permission must, with few exceptions, be secured from the music publisher who owns the song. The producer or music supervisor of the show will decide what song they want to use in the program and the scene in which it will appear, how the song will be used (e.g., background vocal or instrumental, sung by a character on camera, over the opening or ending credits), and the media needed (e.g., free television, pay television, subscription television, pay-per-view, or basic cable).

The producer or its "music clearance" representative will then contact the publisher of the composition, describe the context of the program and particular scene in which the song will be used; ask for a specified period of time to use the song in the program (usually from 5 years to life of copyright), negotiate a fee, and then sign what is known in the television business as a "synchronization license."

In most cases, the "synch license" is signed after the first broadcast of the program, but the negotiations and securing of permission to use a song virtually always occur prior to putting the song in the program or, at the latest, prior to the initial broadcast date.

Many television programs secure price quotations from music publishers for the use of songs either during the scriptwriting stages of a project or immediately after a final script for an episode has been approved. Some weekly series, however, clear music while scenes are being shot or, because of impromptu ad-libs during taping, last-minute additions, or editing delays, a few days prior to actual broadcast and sometimes even after the airing.

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