WOLVES IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING
Jul 1, 2007 12:00 PM, Kylee Swenson Remix Editor
I'm always interested in the business side of making music. Beyond working on this magazine and writing/playing music, I don't have a lot of time to be my own attorney and band manager, but I do like to learn about the pitfalls of the music industry because it's full of greedy-bastard shysters all trying to be your best friend. How can you tell the difference between genuine and disingenuous people?
You have to inform yourself, and you can find information online and in books, but one of the best ways to find the most up-to-date information about the business is to hit up panel discussions on the state of industry. You'll find those at conferences such as SXSW and the Billboard summits, for example, and it's a great way to hear from multiple sources at the same time. At our Remix Hotel NYC event in May, we had a day of business panels put on by Shocklee Innertainment. “Getting Your Music Onscreen,” for example, was a panel with good information from music supervisors and publishers.
I'm not going to name any names, but let's just say that a company recently contacted my band about licensing music to film and TV, and it would only cost me a low, low price of only $400 to join! That reminds of me of when young girls ask their moms to pay for modeling school so they can make it big as a supermodel one day. It's nothing but B.S. My band has licensed music to TV before, and we certainly didn't pay anyone to do it. Agencies and publishers take a cut of what the music supervisors pay the band. They don't ask a band for money up front. But what do I know? Well, at our event in NYC, I got it from the horses' mouths, so to speak. Music supervisors who have worked on everything from blockbuster films to ESPN all agreed: “We don't even pay attention to the pay services.” That is why it's important to learn about the industry while you are learning about producing and playing music. Legendary producer and panel moderator, Hank Shocklee (Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Mary J. Blige, etc.), hit the nail on the head when he told the audience, “You are no longer an artist. You are a company.”
Again, I won't name names, but a friend of mine was in a really good band that was creating a major buzz in San Francisco. Unfortunately, an indie-label A&R guy told one of the members that he didn't like my friend's voice, so three of the band members decided to disband the group and start a new one in the hopes of satisfying this one A&R person. I know only one side of the story, so I'll only address one obvious problem with this scenario. What happens when the A&R person stops working for the label? Maybe he, with his one opinion, leaves the music industry entirely. (Some of my friends in the industry have recently left to go into nursing, for example.) And then you just shot yourself in the foot to satisfy one person who can no longer help your career.
We're human, and we're going to make mistakes. But you can never base your musical existence on one person's opinion. And you should never jump on a business opportunity without researching it first. To get started, go to http://remixhotel.com/podcasts and http://remixhotel.com/Remix_TV to hear audio and see video from the Remix Hotel NYC 2007 business panels. I guarantee a few lightbulbs will go off in your head.
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