ARTIST PROMOTION
Below are links to tried and true resources that I endorse ... deals that don't cost an arm-and-a-leg ... deals that produce real results. If you're serious about promoting your work as an artist, these links will certainly help. Example: I wanted to get a bar-code for my CDs and found out it would cost me $750.00 (way too much, I thought!) ... then I found out that CD Baby provides bar-codes to members for only $20.00 per CD -- now that's worth sharing, eh?
OFFICE STUFF
What is a "PRO?" | BMI, ASCAP, SESAC
"1. a company that represents songwriters (even when they happen also to be performers), as well as film, television, musical theatre and classical music composers and, of course, music publishers.
2. a company that collects money from the businesses that use music in the course of their day and then pays out that money as royalties to the composers and publishers of the songs and compositions they play. "
~text from www.bmi.com
"Good question. Performing rights organizations, such as SESAC, are businesses designed to represent songwriters and publishers and their right to be compensated for having their music performed in public. By securing a license from SESAC, for example, music users (i.e., television and radio stations, auditoriums, restaurants, hotels, theme parks, malls, funeral homes, etc.) can legally play any song in the SESAC repertory. Without a license from a performing rights organization, music users are in danger of copyright infringement."
~Bill Velez, President and Chief Operating Officer of SESAC
ASCAP | American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers
Thinking about recording a "cover song" of someone else's song(s), but don't know how to pay for licensing? Now, it can all be done right online -- and this is the link.
Thinking about recording a Public Domain Song? Here's all the info!
Here's all the info you need about the ways to copyright your song.
Derek Sivers from cdBaby.com put this site together. If you want some good info about how to market your music, here you go.
Working on a song? Stuck on a line? Rewriting some lyrics? Looking for a rhyme? I honestly can't think of too many times that a rhyming dictionary ever gave me the results I went to it looking for ... but I can't ever think of a time it didn't give me a fresh approach to the idea I started with, either! Rhyming Dictionaries are fun ... and this one by RhymeZone.com is pretty cool!
Looking for relative ideas? Need another way of saying something? Want a different word that says the same thing? Here's how ...
Need a dictionary? Or a Thesaurus?
MUSIC NEWS
Check the music charts, etc. at Billboard.com.
SPIN tells the stories behind today's most fascinating trends, scenes, and artists while spotlighting the iconic music of the present and past.
Music news ... from the one and only Rolling Stone.
BOOKS TO ADD TO YOUR LIBRARY
by R. Williams
Contains over 100 contracts and agreements for recording artist, musicians, record companies, managers, songwriters, labels, producers, indies and any and all others in the music industry. Entertainment law at it's best!
by Ian Bessler & Michael Schweer
The Songwriter's Market provides helpful, hard-to-find info for songwriters of every kind of music -- from rock and hip-hop to classical and country -- just what you need to build and maintain a successful life in songwriting ... like 1400 easy-to-reference and updated market listings ... key advice on how to market work for future sales, from writing popular single-song hits to creating a publicity campaign ... interviews with insiders who've "made it" and are willing to share their secrets for songwriting success ... and more.
by Donald S. Passman, Randy Gross (Illustrator)
How to Pick a Team; Personal Managers; Business Managers; Attorneys; Agents; Broad-Strokes Overview of the Record Business; Advances and Recoupments; Real-Life Numbers; Other Major Deal Points; Producer Deals; Advanced Record Deal Points; Advanced Royalty Computations; Loan-out, Independent Production, Label, and Distribution Deals; Copyright Basics; Publishing Companies and Major Income Sources; Secondary Publishing Income; Songwriter Deals; Copublishing and Administration Deals; Advanced Copyright Concepts; Group Issues; Touring; Merchandising; Motion Picture Music; Performer Deals; Film Songwriting Deals; Composer Agreements; Licensing Existing Recordings and Existing Songs for Motion Pictures; Music Supervisors; Soundtrack Album Deals.
by Tim Sweeney, John Dawes
This book is like no other written about promoting your music on the Internet. The strategies contained in this book have been used by the most successful artists on the Internet today. The system in this book will lay the groundwork you need for a successful career in the fast paced music business.
by William Krasilovski, Sidney Shemel, and John Gross
Sections on recording companies and artists, music publishers and writers, and general industry aspects provide detailed information in areas such as contracts; independent record producers; work permits for foreign artists; copyright laws; public domain music; trademarks; music sampling; and taxation. Appendices offer extracts from copyright regulations, sample agreements, and current AFTRA rates. Includes forms for basic contracts and agreements.
Musician's Guide to Understanding & Avoiding Sneaky Lawyer Tricks
by Moses Avalon
To help artists avoid signing contracts laced with hidden agendas, this book exposes the multilayered language of recording agreements crafted by major-label lawyers. It dissects and deciphers actual recording contracts, presenting the originals and "real English" translations side by side. The book explains the need for each contract clause, offers advice on negotiating certain points, outlines alternatives for developing new contracts, defines common terms, and shares insider stories.
by Tim Sweeney, Mark Geller
Packed with hundreds of money-saving tips, helpful hints, and never-before-revealed secret strategies used by industry insiders, this informative guide will teach how you to set up your own independent record label; make a great-sounding record without spending a lot of money; get quality distribution into major retail chains and indie record stores; design a winning promotional strategy for your release; convince college and commercial radio stations to play your record, and use the exposure generated by your release to bring! yourself to the attenetion of a larger label.
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