SONG CONTEST BLOG

Yesterday, my friend and colleague, Tobin Watkinson, accepted my invitation to join We Are Listening’s Panel of Judges.  His participation in our songwriting competition review schedule will kick-in immediately.

Tobin Watkinson was most recently a consultant to the A&R Department at Atlantic Records while simultaneously holding the title of co-founder/partner at boutique LA based management company, Roxwell Management.  Prior to co-founding Roxwell, Tobin was the Director of Artist & Repertoire at MySpace Records, a joint venture with Interscope Records.

He has been awarded gold and platinum records for his early involvement in the discovery of recording artist OneRepublic.  Their debut single “Apologize” has sold over 10 million singles worldwide and is one of the most legally downloaded songs in U.S. digital history.  In 2008 “Apologize” broke the all-time record for the most “spins” in the history of U.S. Top 40 Radio and OneRepublic went on to sell nearly 2 million copies of their debut album “Dreaming Out Loud” which has been certified gold or platinum in 12 countries.   In addition, Tobin has also helped launch the careers of successful touring acts Scary Kids Scaring Kids (RCA) and Madina Lake (Roadrunner/Atlantic).

Prior to being recruited to help launch MySpace Records, Tobin was partnered in a joint venture with Warner Music Group and was part of the team that led business development efforts at internet music startup Purevolume.com.  In addition, Tobin has worked with Velvet Hammer Music and Management Group, as well as joint ventures through Columbia Records and Sony/ATV Music Publishing, LLC.

I am confident that the addition of Tobin’s expert knowledge of the marketplace, sound ear,  and network of contacts will lead to greater accomplishments for our songwriting competition participants.

“Quit your day job.  Start a label.” has to be the stupidest blog post I ever published.  And yet, it’s the second most visited post on this blog.

(For your information, “Katy Perry” is the most popular post on this blog but that’s just because Google picked up on the image tag so when Katy Perry fans (of which there are many) search for Kary Perry images, my blog shows up.  There’s no value in it for me whatsoever.  I’m confident that zero Katy Perry fans care about this blog.)

But with “Quit your day job.  Start a label.“, there’s no fabricated traffic.  It’s all real visitors searching for authoritative content which, to my disgrace, leads them to the worst post on this site.

How do you explain it?

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Prince, in a world exclusive interview published by British tabloid, Daily Mirror, said:

“The internet’s completely over.  I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else.  They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it.”

“The internet’s like MTV.  At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated.  Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good… They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.”

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“With 300 million people in America, you can fail to impress 299 million of them and still go platinum.”

Seth Godin, best selling author and popular blogger, writes:

If you have a book to write, write it.  If you want to record an album, record it.  No need to wait for someone in a cubicle halfway across the country to decide if you’re worthy.

I think Seth is suggesting that, if you’re waiting for a so-called music biz whiz to tell you that your band rocks, you’re giving too much power to someone who doesn’t care about your music nearly as much as you do.

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Can your current music sales really support you?

Probably not, but you’re definitely not alone.  The days of artists earning their income through the strength of song sales alone are growing dimmer by the day.

Music fans don’t want to pay for music anymore, and they’re getting less willing to do so all the time.  Teenagers today have grown up in a world where they can download, stream and share anything they want, and all for free.

And they’ve never known anything different.

If even the most recognized artists in the world are having their songs downloaded for free, how are you supposed to make any money?

Believe it or not, you already have everything you need to make money.  But even though your recordings are the least likely commodity to generate a strong income, there are plenty of other things you can sell.

We’ve teamed up with our good friends at MusicCareerMasters.com to show you exactly what you can to do to drive your income outside of music sales.

MusicCareerMasters is a website created to help independent artists make a living from the music business.  It is run by Mark Smith, a veteran band manager of over 13 years.  He teaches musicians time tested and highly effective strategies to truly make it in today’s rapidly changing music ecosystem.

For We Are Listening members only, Mark has created an exclusive 6 minute video that walks you through exactly what you need to know to make the maximum money for your products.

Let Mark Show You His Instant Money Making Ideas >>

Five months ago, I began working with Audiolife, an exciting company at the forefront of the Direct-To-Fan revolution.

Direct-To-Fan is a popular business model adopted by independent artists.  As the name suggests, artists cut out the middlemen (labels, distributors, retailers etc.) and promote and sell their music directly to their fans.

Radiohead’s release of In Rainbows and Nine Inch Nail’s release of Ghosts I–IV are popular examples of the Direct-To-Fan paradigm.

There are many benefits to Direct-To-Fan.  There are many challenges too.  Audiolife provides both the technology tools and the product fulfillment solutions to make Direct-To-Fan possible and affordable.

There are a handful of other companies with a Direct-To-Fan approach, including Topspin, Bandcamp, and Nimbit.

I want to ask you this:

If you’re doing it, is Direct-To-Fan working for you?

If you’re not doing it, what’s stopping you?

Please add your comments here.

Two weeks ago, Panos Panay, Founder and CEO at Sonicbids, announced that 10,000 Sonicbids members will receive their part of $4 million of unclaimed digital performance royalties collected and distributed by SoundExchange, the non-profit organization that collects royalties from satellite and internet radio.

Sonicbids members can check if they are on the ‘list’ and how much is owed to them by logging into their Sonicbids account.  If they are on the list, they must then register with SoundExchange to claim payment.

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T-shirt from Zazzle

“Inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity are the key behaviors of ADHD.”

I was diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) at the age of 16.  I don’t presume that music listeners at large suffer from it but rather draw the comparison to the syndrome due to the endless choice and ease of switching from one piece of music to another ? impulsively.

With terrestrial radio, I can always ‘turn the dial’ but I’m otherwise passively engaged.  As I’m no longer willing to be spoon fed music and advertising by terrestrial radio, I consume it interactively online or via cable or satellite.  I listen to whatever I like, whenever I want, on any device I choose.

Consequently, I’m busy running my music applications and managing my playlists instead of sitting back and just listening.  I’m the DJ.  I’m the station.  I’m not listening like I used to because I’m busy broadcasting to myself…  rating, sharing, editing, remixing, collaborating, plugging in, adding plug-ins, logging off, connecting elsewhere.

I’m not sure that this is a good thing for someone with ADHD.

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By the end of this year, the TuneCore Artist catalog will have earned over $30,000,000.

This means that there is a song selling by a TuneCore Artist on iTunes every second.

Currently, TuneCore distributes between 150 – 250 releases a day.

I went head to head with Jeff Price, President of TuneCore, to find out how he created the world’s largest distributor of music in only four years.

“Music distribution is what we do, and we do it better than anyone else”, Jeff started.  “We are the first place music stores come to get the music and we pride ourselves on this.  When we launched four years ago, we got to change the world: For the first time in the history of the music industry, anyone could ‘sign themselves’ and get worldwide distribution of their music while keeping all their rights and 100% of the money from the sale of their music.  That was a game changing paradigm then – and still is today!”

TuneCore recently announced a partnership with Universal Distribution (Interscope, Universal Republic, Island Def Jam, Motown, Geffen and more), bridging the independent music market with the most sought-after music catalog in the world.

“This was a deal I did solely to provide artists with more options.” Jeff comments.  “In a nutshell, in addition to regular old TuneCore.com, we will also be hosting and serving websites for Universal labels that provide artists with distribution while taking none of the artists’ rights or revenues.  If an Artist chooses to get their distribution via one of the label portal sites (as opposed to TuneCore.com), they will have a direct line into that label.  This means the label will be aware of you, have heard your music, be up to speed on the success you are having, etc.  The label can reach out to you to offer more marketing, promotion, physical distribution and anything else.  If they do, the artist can choose to talk with them, tell them no, tell them yes, tell them they will get back to them or simply decide to continue to do what they had been doing to that point in time.  All the options.  No strings.”

From physical distribution via 215 Guitar Center stores to media widgets that distribute TuneCore customers’ content across the social web, TuneCore has made a name for itself by providing dozens of opportunities centered on the most accessible and competitive music distribution model of our time: Flat Fee. No Commission.

Not distributing your music with TuneCore?  Start now with a 30% discount!

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