This site is HUGE! Click the button to cut it down to size!
| General Bobby Farrell | Bobby Farrell Promotions | Vandor Company Directory |
ARTICLE 08 |
MUSIC PUBLISHING CONTRACTS
EITHER PRICELESS OR TOTALLY WORTHLESS!
| Wilhelm von Kelvburg, International Industrial Review, Investigative Reporter, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany. Once the Printing Capitol of the enlightened world, we've seen our share of 'publishing' scams. But none are equal to the United States' "send it in" charades. Everyone who "sends anything in" gets 'accepted' and hustled to have 'professional lead sheets' printed at an outrageous cost even if you already have a song or poem 'set to music', all duly copyrighted 'in your name'. These song sharks actually keep their part of the 'bargain' and do what they say they will do, and none of it needs doing! First, 'lead sheets' haven't been used to hawk songs to publishers or producers since invention of the common cassette! One VOCAL with ONE instrument and a typewritten copy of the lyrics is all anybody need produce to 'demo' a new composition. The vast majority of composers can make their own in the living room or home studio and any request for anything more is a congame in progress. There is never any need or request from legitimate music executives for 'studio' demos. In fact, it's a Mark of Stupidity to use studio-produced demos unless you have your own studio business, or unless you can't sing or play an instrument! Otherwise, simply make the VOCAL prominent and include a XEROXED copy of the copyright and typewritten copy of the lyrics . Anybody, especially 'publishers' who want 'a better demo' can pay for it themselves or they really don't want it. To 'studio produce' a demo is all-but the Kiss of Death for the song! You spend a lot of time and money getting arrangements and musicians to 'make this demo' insuring Michael Jackson's horns are all there, and the producer who listens to the cassette is trying to hear Willie Nelson's guitars through your "horn racket"! And that is just plain everyday stupid! ONE vocal and ONE instrument will let the producer hear whatever it is they have in mind, and anything that disrupts that process is instantly trashed. NEVER PAY A PUBLISHER! Not one penny. Not one finnig for anything they might have to do to exploit a song! BUT NEVER CONFUSE BEING AN ExP (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) WITH 'PAYING FOR PUBLISHING'!The two are not the same thing and have nothing to do with each other. KNOW THE FACTS: Somewhere between ninety eight point nine (98.9%) and ninety nine point three percent (99.3%) of all Recording Artists earning ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS per year are their own Executive Producers! Therefore getting one of them to 'record your song' is economically out of the question. They simply cannot afford to finance your fortune on their money! However, even the greatest talents get dry spells, and when the artist you've chosen is in need of material: hit their Producers and the Publishers of their previous releases with your best works! It's the only chance you have of getting someone else to finance your writing career. Should you land such (or any other) contract, look for these terms: (a) A fifty percent of any and all earnings after deduction of limited expenses, which will not include Public Performance (airplay) as that is already divided by the affiliation agency; and (b) a contract that does not go on and on about "percentage of wholesale this ..." and "reduced royalty that ...", simply because it's all bull! Your best bet is to sing your songs yourself once you've contacted a General Licenser and secured an Executive Producer's Record Release Agreement. Then you know YOUR MUSIC will be out in the world where it can be heard by the General Public and other artists who are looking for material! Artists know they're going to need material long before any mention of even doing another album is in any of the news. Odds of getting a recap by another artist? Three hundred to one, but remember: about one third of all new releases are recaps! You must have a song someone else needs to record. Getting a Publisher who will pay their share of YOURS or ANYBODY ELSE's record is the job of the General Licenser: and they'll do it right the first time. That kind of publisher's contract is priceless, so don't tie up your music with some fly-by-night 'publisher' who neither has nor will spend any money in the released record! Getting suckered by some 'send it in' song shark is not only the Kiss of Death for you and your song: that contract is worthless! So are the vast majority of contracts recommended by ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. NEVER SIGN A CONTRACT that's recommended by any Songwriter Association! They don't know any more about the real world of recorded music than the nearest 'send it in' relative and most are song shark operations themselves! Songwriting could use a good all-field-of-music Tip Sheet published at least every month. Song Writer's Market would fill that void if they'd shelve their stupidity and learn something about this Industry. Don't call them for advice, they don't know anything you haven't already tried that didn't work either. Be prepared to invest in your music, but don't be stupid and squander hundreds of tapes, envelopes and postage sending demos to everybody on the planet. That simply will not work. The average songwriter sends 100 submissions a year for five years per song at an average cost of TEN DOLLARS per submission! For that kind of money they could have a commercial distributed release! [INSERT: You might want to try some of your best works in an UP-LOAD to a series of PROMOLIBRARIES, and you only need to upload to ONE - as they trade song for song constantly. [Contact any legitimate Record or Artist Promoter, Song Hookers, Inc., AVMR Services] or Major DISTRIBUTED Label contact or any of the several independent promolibraries. Most LEGITIMATE PromoLibrary Brokers are on-line. Record and Artist Promoters who DO NOT have access to EMS or promolibraries - or don't know what they are - are NOT legitimate promoters! Prices vary but the cost is nominal for the coverage to put your music in the hands of some 8,000 broadcasters and background music users. Your song just might get picked up for recap or HIT in one of the industry's legitimate charts! And if you upload through the promolibraries, "how do you know they'll play your song?" The same way you'd know if you squandered about $35,000.00 to $40,000.00 it takes to manufacture and mail the same recipients a copy! AVMR Services handles both our paperwork and promolibrary contracts, although you may use any service you want. Just make sure they are LEGITIMATE! You don't need a promoter, or anyone else, to contact an EMS (promolibrary) Broker. AMVR's promo contract is at Promolibrary Contract.] |
|
Since new count began, 22 April 2008.
No comments:
Post a Comment