andrewsgoodrichNov-19-2009 6:00am
What Is SoundExchange and How Does It Work?
SoundExchange is the US organization responsible for collecting royalties for music performed via non-terrestrial radio and distributing those royalties to the artists so featured.
This video has been making the rounds on the blogs, and I didn’t want to miss out. But I’ve got more for you than the other folks. Not only do we have a full 50-minute interview with the head of SoundExchange itself, John Simson, but we also have many other music industry professionals commenting on the subject from the perspective of their various fields. First, from SoundExchange itself:
Next we have an exclusive Artists House interview with Attorney Dina LaPolt, founder of LaPolt Law, P.C., an entertainment law firm based in Los Angeles, CA. Here she briefly explains how SoundExchange works in the real world:
Finally we have a fantastic interview with John Simson. In addition to being the head of SoundExchange, he is also an attorney and a former artist manager (Mary Chapin Carpenter, Steve Forbert) who has long been involved in advocacy and legal matters within the music business as a whole.
If that didn’t quench your thirst, you can search the Artists House Music video database for more music industry professionals talking about Sound Exchange here: http://is.gd/4YczT
Being Professional Goes A Long Way
This is not ground-breaking stuff here, but Loren Weisman posted something over at Music Think Tank that I found to be very refreshing. She calls it “Ten Tips That Every Musician Should Apply to Their Career”. I call it “Be Professional or Die”. The reality of making music your career is that you’ll be interacting with a bunch of folks that are relying on YOU to make their own businesses succeed. This means promoters, publicists, venues, etc. They’re all relying on you to bring the goods. You don’t want to let the power go to your head though, because this goes both ways. They are your team, and if you let everyone down, you’ll be locked out of the community. If you make it work for them, they’ll make it work for you.
I’ve seen a lot of people blow big opportunities simply through lack of professionalism. Of course, if you’re whole goal is to be a total rock star god who routinely trashes the green room, none of this applies to you. But you’re probably not going to be able to last for long. If you want to make a career of this noble thing called music, then these simple tips apply to you:
Number 1. – Answer your emails.
Number 2. - Have the guts to address concerns or questions.
Number 3. – If things change, then keep everyone informed and problem solve.
Number 4. - Be on time or give a heads up.
Number 5. Get your gear off the stage when you are done.
Number 6. - Follow up with booking agents, clubs and other bands.
Number 7. - Stop f*%^ng over posting on Facebook and other network sites.
Number 8. - Be confident but not arrogant. Admit when you don’t know something.
Number 9. - Follow the instructions when it comes to sending out packages , calling, emailing distro, etc.
Number 10. - Stop talking shit about other bands, people, etc.
Loren has written short explanations for each of these ten points over at the Music Think Tank blog - which you should go read right now: Ten Tips That Every Musician Should Apply to Their Career
Correlation (or Lack Thereof) Between Audio Quality and Sales
by George Howard
While it pains me to say it, based on a whole lot of years of experience, I see very little correlation between how well-recorded a record is and how well it sells.
I was talking about this with someone recently, and was inspired to draw the diagram below to try and explain it. Yes, it looks like something a convicted serial killer might scrawl on a jail cell wall, but I never said I could draw.
Essentially, it’s just stating that unless you’re 2 standard deviations (shitty sounding at the left end of the tail, and amazing sounding at the right) from the mean with respect to your sound quality, it will have little to no impact on sales. 1 standard deviation (noticeably bad on the left; noticeably good on the right) has less, and everything under the big part of the curve has zero impact.
It goes back to “remark-ability.” If your record sounds so amazingly good or bad that people are remarking on it, there’s a chance for there to be a negative or positive correlation to sales (”You gotta get this record and listen to it on headphone”; “Don’t buy it, that record is unlisten-able.”)
Yes, there is a small sector of audiophiles out there who buy things based upon what The Absolute Sound says, but ask them how well the DVD-A or SACD market is working out.
Just a thought. But keep it in mind, because unless every dollar you spend on recording correlates to attraction and retention of customers, that’s a dollar better spent on marketing.
Here’s the chart:
Music Business Weekly Wrapup
In case you missed anything, here are some highlights from this week in music business news and artist advice:
Artists House Music:
- A new AH interview from Atlanta Symphony Orchestra: Jennifer Jefferson (interactive media manager) http://is.gd/4Lhvz
- Another clip from our new series with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra: http://tinyurl.com/yb32nft
- New followers: have you added yourself to the Artists House map yet? http://ow.ly/zEan
- If you want a good live music scene in your town, you gotta go see live music!
- Awesome! Thank you guys for getting us to 21k followers. It’s been just over one year - couldn’t have done it without you!
- “Coin a Phrase: ‘The Downsell’”: http://bit.ly/2uwFRH
- “AH Vault: Get a Job in Music Publishing!”: http://bit.ly/3Xkf0k
Music Business News:
- Digital Music Arms Race: MSN Joins the Fray: http://is.gd/4P9Y6
- Early Results From Google’s China Music Service http://ow.ly/zWWt
- Now BlueBeat is just asking for hurt. The ‘psycho-acoustic simulation’ defense to copyright infringement. http://ow.ly/zDkm
- MySpace Traffic Drop Costs News Corp About $100 Million - http://redirx.com/?bq9d
- Lollapalooza Uses Crowdsourcing for 2010 Lineup http://is.gd/4NehF
- Kings of Leon Launching Limited-Edition Clothing Line http://is.gd/4MqNv
- Orchard Shares Double On Buyout News http://is.gd/4MfQT
Artist Advice/Thought/Opinion:
- A sample Photo and Video Release Form http://ow.ly/zXor
- Seth Godin: Everyone is clueless http://ow.ly/zW7E reminds me of my article “Focus on a Few” http://ow.ly/zWad
- A Tale of Two Industries: What Do Books and Music Have In Common? http://ow.ly/zDcT
- The lure of a one-of-a-kind item: http://ow.ly/zhmU
- The Problem With 1,000 True Fans by John Scalzi http://ow.ly/zD4c A nice reality check
- Create Invoices, Get Paid http://ow.ly/zDdt Another helpful, practical post from @musicianwages
- All Songs Considered Addresses a Critic and Explains their Method… http://ow.ly/zhjT
Coin a Phrase: The "Downsell"
by George Howard
We all know about the upsell: Mass Merchants, etc. lure you into their store with a low-cost item (too often, CDs) in the hopes that you leave with some high-margin item like a washing machine.
The “Downsell” is different. As I’ve discussed, the music business is now the merch business, and the way to go is to create a vast and sometimes over-the-top (like the awesome Josh Freese campaign) product array with some big-ticket (and high-margin) items that create awareness and drive people to the artist’s Site.
The reality, of course, is that most customers will look at the big-ticket item, but won’t buy. The psychology is sort of interesting. A customer is made aware of the site via the big-ticket item (Mr. Freese got a bit of press about his campaign, if you recall), looks at it, but can’t afford it/doesn’t want to spend so much. However, all of a sudden a CD/download priced at $10 seems like a bargain when compared with the big-ticket item priced in the hundreds (or thousands) of dollars.
It’s what economists call “the importance of being unimportant.”
The good news, of course, is that in addition to (for the time being, until everyone does this) creating awareness and driving traffic to an artist’s site, these big-ticket items have a high margin; you don’t have to sell too many of them to make material $. All the while, the majority of people who can’t/won’t pay for the big ticket item now are not only aware of the core product (the CD/download), but are predisposed to buy something because it appears to be a bargain.
Hence, the “Downsell.”
We’re doing this with Carly Simon’s new CD, and it’s working. It ain’t perfect, and we’ve got a long way to go (and it very much is an effort in refining), but the proof of concept is there.
It’s so important to think this way. The whole notion of just selling a CD/download is increasingly quaint (remember, the music business is the merch business).
Also, it’s crucial to not leave money on the table with respect to your core fans. The people — whether it’s 100 or 10,000 — who will buy whatever you throw at them, should not just be thrown a CD/download.
Doing so leaves a fortune on the table.
If you’re a true fan, and your favorite artist presents you with an offering that is personal/deluxe/etc., you’re not going to think twice about paying more for it. Yet, too often we as content providers don’t give these fans the opportunity to pay more.
As my three-year old says just before being chastised for doing so: “Stupid.”
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra: Charlie Wade (VP Marketing/Audience Engagement)
Another clip from our series with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra…
In this interview, Charlie Wade talks about being Vice President of Marketing and Audience Engagement at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Charlie discusses how the state of the music industry affects his job, and the future of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
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