MUSIC LAW: music BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
MUSIC BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
See Beyond Free
Do you think you need to go to Berkely School of Music for music/business management?
Lefsetz Says - " Remember the Turtles? Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan reciting their
managerial woes laughingly, in an honest way so different from today's pampered media-savvy rock stars
as to single-handedly show why the sixties were so magical.
Neil Young's "Ohio" came out a week after Kent State. Back when there was no Internet,
never
mind Pro Tools. Why can't a band put out a single coinciding with a politcal issue today? Are the
artists are afraid of offending their listeners.? The 60's sold a lifestyle an image about
being honest, doing the right thing, making it a better world. Your identity is
king, that's what you're selling. . The only asset you have to differentiate yourself
from competitors is your credibility. Honesty and integrity keep people attached to you. The Net allows
you
to eliminate physical retail/distribution. You can go STRAIGHT TO THE PUBLIC! And the costs involved are
so low, you don't have to sell a lot.
A fan is someone who buys all your records and goes to your show, even if you're no longer the flavor
of
the moment, even if the machine has passed you by. Radio is not a fan. Budweiser is not a fan. Les
Moonves is not a fan. Judy McGrath either. Nor SoundScan. Not even Clive Davis. They're just
business people! The fan is that nameless person who knows your birthday, your spouse's moniker, even
though you've never even met them. You're part of their life. Every decision you make impacts
your
relationship. So, guard this relationship CLOSELY!
First and foremost, you're a person. With an identity, a personality. Compromise this at your
peril.
It's all you've got, after the revolution, when you're in jail, it's the only thing
that's going to get you through. Big media tells us it's all right to dash for cash. That
you're nothing without the marketing monolith. That's a bunch of HOGWASH! Now, more than ever,
the
individual has power, he can reach his audience, he can make fans, that's what the Internet has
wrought. Seize this opportunity, don't blink. Go into the wilderness, don't play by the rules.
The old game is rotten.
"we've grown accustomed to treating 'the music industry' as synonymous with a handful of large recording companies." onforb.es/yeNuId -- That's from Timothy B. Lee's report about Mike Masnick's Midem presentation: http://bit.ly/yBeHHh
2015 Major labels keep 73% of Spotify premium payouts
Google knows that the search for a record PEAKS upon single
release. Yup, that's the HIGHEST INTEREST EVER, when the track is first heard. But as you well know,
almost always, YOU CAN'T BUY THE TRACK AT ANY PRICE! CERTAINLY NOT THE ALBUM! So interest takes a
nosedive. Yes, in the ensuing four to six weeks, demand caves. AND EVERYBODY STEALS THE TRACK! Then, on
release date, there's another bump. But the quantity of search, although not de minimis, PALES in
comparison to the peak when the single came out. As for the AFTERMATH of the album dropping, well, search
drops through the floor. What was wrong with our business. Why didn't they make the product available
when there was DEMAND!
Don't play by the rules. If you're looking for licenses from the
RIAA, please give up IMMEDIATELY! You've got to steal to have success. Follow YouTube. Follow
MySpace. Just steal the wares and pay Doug Morris after he threatens to shut you down. Ask first, and
you're doomed. Unless P2P is monetized IMMEDIATELY, music acquisition will be driven even further
underground, where there's NO HOPE of ever getting paid for it. Transfer via IM. Via hard drive.
When
fifty year olds are swapping hard drives, you KNOW you've got a problem. Make music cheap and easy.
If
you think music is undervalued, if you think producers should make more, I say to look at the machine
you're reading this on, isn't it worth a BAZILLION DOLLARS??? All that R&D, never mind
hardware, in your computer??? Music is priceless. But that doesn't mean it should be expensive. Get
the
tunes in EVERYBODY'S hands, at a low price. How come the CELL PHONE BUSINESS understands this, and
the
music business DOES NOT? Oh yeah, the music business is run by thugs. DON'T sue. Don't seek
legislation. Come up with pragmatic licensing situations NOW! Get paid NOW, before most of these sites
GO
UNDER! Or, kill the goose that laid the golden egg. YouTube is Napster, only seven years later. Those
rarities you see on YouTube? They were all over Napster, and more. It's just that most people
didn't have broadband connections then. Imagine if all that old music came out of the vaults AGAIN!
And you CHARGED for its acquisition as opposed to suing the principals of Hummer Winblad, the business at large would be healthier, and CASH WOULD
ROLL IN! Radio and retail action is the same paradigm that exists in the online world. You DON'T get
rich telling people no, you make money when you say yes. Don't ever forget it.
"
LimeWire - Jimmy Iovine will no longer be employed by Universal Music. He is ankling the firm to return to New York City to run LimeWire, the P2P service based on the Gnutella protocol. So how's it going to work? At first, before the major labels sign on, LimeWire will cost two dollars a month. Then, every time a major label group signs on, another two dollars will be added to your bill. So when all the majors are on board, it will cost ten dollars a month for all you can eat, unprotected MP3s. There will be no indie bonus. The indies, although a growing percentage of overall sales, are getting screwed again. Yes, you see every time a major signs on $100 million is transferred to their account, which, of course, goes straight to their bottom line, staving off Wall Street until LimeWire truly takes hold. For it's envisioned that once LimeWire takes off, within the next twelve months or so, there will be so much money distributed, the majors will be rolling in profits. The deal is LimeWire skims fifteen percent right off the top. The rest is distributed to the labels owning the traded tracks, a la ASCAP or BMI payments. How that money is then distributed is up in the air. One hopes fifty percent will go to acts, and that publishers will go to a percentage rate, but expect big battles. The only way to avoid all this is to make a deal with LimeWire directly. Then Jimmy coughs of up fifty percent of the revenue. Of course, then he keeps fifty percent. On top of his fifteen percent distribution fee. It's not clear if Jimmy wants to expand this sphere of the business or not. After all, the money's truly in distribution, a fiber cable never called in the middle of the night looking for dope or crying about its girlfriend leaving. Advisors are telling Jimmy to just make enough deals to launch the ultimately truly legal service. But can Jimmy avoid double-dipping? Only time will tell. And what's in it for the consumer, you ask? Well, in addition to the exclusive content, Jimmy has made a deal with Mitch Bainwol and the RIAA. Anybody owning a LimeWire license will be exempted, immune from lawsuits. Yes, a credit card bill will with a LimeWire charge will be an absolute defense against a lawsuit. Jimmy's kids told him that college students still would not pay, but blanket trading licenses for universities are being negotiated as I write this. The future has finally arrived. And contrary to all the spin, it was not brought to you by Steve Jobs, but someone from the music business, who understands relationships, who understands musicians, who understands the audience. Mark April 1st down on your calendar as the day the music business was saved. ~ Lefsetz
Meet a real Manager and understand what they do.
2008 Yahoo Music is the number one music site on the Web.
And the Web is where you break records. We live in an era of endless narrowcasting. Although the majors
still believe we live in an era of broadcasting. Traditional, terrestrial radio is toast. When it comes
to
music. You can break an act on terrestrial radio, but that's the old model, that's payoffs and
hype. It's not about the audience, but the powers-that-be. Those radio records have less impact than
ever and the acts have briefer careers. Sure, it can be quick money, but it's not the future. The
future is niche, narrowcasting. And you get this on Net radio. The majors are fighting it because they
don't like its openness, the lack of control. But it's what the people want.
2006 Time Warner CEO:
I stole entire Warners music catalog. In this Reuters roundup, media
moguls are asked about their use of iPods. Unsurprisingly, studio heads from Warners and Disney love their
portable music players (you have to wonder if they'll join with Universal in claiming that these
devices
are "repositories for stolen music, and they all know it"). Most interesting is this
quote from Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons: "I had the whole bunch of (the Warner music collection)
files put on before we sold it." That sounds reasonable, but wait a sec: he's saying that before
his company sold off its record division, he copied the entire catalog for his own personal use? Well,
that's pretty slick, isn't it?