1. Artists that are too afraid of being themselves because they are afraid of what everyone thinks; and
2. Artists that are too engulfed into what everyone else is doing that they can never create anything authentic.
Just Blaze on Competition with Kanye
For all artists that fall into either category, realize that “There is no Competition.” You are only competing with yourself, your bad habits, your work ethic, and your fear of embarrassment and being inadequate. Continue reading…
Do you know what people in the industry call music artists that refuse to do television, film, commercials, interviews and/or product endorsements???
BROKE!!!
Ghetto Physics: Will The Real Pimps and Hos Please Stand Up (Official Trailer)
We now live in a world where Ray-J can remake his image as a music artist because everyone watched the two seasons of For The Love of Ray-J (“Tie Me Down”, and “143″). We live in a day where acting in a hit teen television show/film can catapult you into a major selling artist (Miley Cyrus “Hannah Montana”/Drake, “Degrassi”). Continue reading…
A production music library, also referred to as a catalog company, collects music and the rights to music from different sources to license to various tv shows, films, commercials, artists, etc.
For struggling yet talented artists unsigned to a major, or those who are uninterested in being signed by a major label, production music libraries can be a great way to gain notoriety amongst potential fans and production studios. They can also help struggling artists make a consistent living doing what they love. “The music you put in a music library may outlive you,” said Jonathan Firstenberg, Senior VP of Musicbox, LLC. and a speaker on the Production Music Libraries: A One-Stop Shop for Placement Across All Media panel. Continue reading…
“Creative minds are stubborn!” This is true for about 99% of musicians (bless their creative souls). Creative souls are notoriously difficult and complicated; most express their emotions either through their art or by throwing and breaking things.
What do you call 4 or more of these complicated souls stuffed in a single garage or a bassment???
Once upon a time in a land far far away, record labels only owned the rights to an artist’s music albums and sound recordings. In today’s world this fairytale only exists for the most renowned artists such as Coldplay, Norah Jones, or Jay-Z who have the star power to leverage their deals. However, for the new breakout artist or breakout band waiting to be discovered by a major label, you will be introduced to the Land of 360.
In today’s music environment it is unlikely that a new artist will be able to sign with a major record label without signing a 360 Deal. 360 Deals emerged in the music industry as major record labels began to see a decrease in profits as a result of digital downloading, new distribution models, and massive drops in CD sales. Continue reading…
There are 2 types of copyrights a band/artist receives when they record a song:
Section 102 of the Copyright Act provides that “Literary Works” and “Sound Recordings” are copyrightable.
Therefore when you look at a CD cover you see two symbols, one will be a circled “C” and one will be a circled “P“. The “C” represents ownership of the copyright in the lyrics, notes, and the musical composition. The “P” represents ownership of the copyright in the master recording or phonorecord. Generally, when you sign a record deal the record label will own the master recording, or the “P“, and the artist/ songwriters/ musicians/ publishing company will jointly own the “C” (before the advent of the 360 Deal).
This piece is for my sophisticated and unsophisticated, producers and artists, creating groundbreaking new music. This will be useful for those using chopped up Lil’ Wayne verses or scenes from Belly on their hooks. Not to forget the garage bands and techno producers using those Jimmy Hendrix guitar riffs or lines from Scarface on your masters. These are a few examples of what has been termed “Sampling.”
“Sampling” = taking a previously recorded copyrighted sound, taking a sample of it, and inserting it into your own creative work. Continue reading…
What do vinyl records, 8-tracks, cassette tapes, the VCR, and the CD have in common? In a few years they will all be antiques, destined for private showings at museums. They will be replaced by the thumb drive, the Ipod, the Android, the Blackberry, and all other types of media holding devices. Alas, it is now time to move on to an age where an Android phone is a boom box, where Pandora and Grooveshark.com are radio, where I-tunes is Virgin Records, and where laptops are recording studios.
