SONG CONTEST BLOG

Thanks to Jon Delange, our TV licensing mojo maker, 2006 song contest winner, Laurell, landed a HUGE placement in the season finale of The Real World: New Orleans.  The show aired on the 15th September with Laurell’s “In The Air”, vocals up, with ID.  Success!

Give it up for Laurell…

MTV is leveraging its massively successful Rock Band game to independent artists by introducing Rock Band Network, Rock Band’s own music catalogue and store which budding and established musicians can submit their material for review by Rock Band’s music supervisors.  Artists will have total control over the music they submit, from mixing and editing for game related uses to pricing individual tracks for retail.  It’s a potentially incredible opportunity to publish and market your music to a very large, loyal and highly-targeted music-loving demographic.

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JamLegend
Guitar Hero
Free Music Archive

JamLegend is the web-based answer to Guitar Hero and Rock Band, providing a free and social gaming experience that allows users to ‘play along’ with great tracks using  their computer key board (which doubles as a guitar if you hold it upright and use the ‘Enter’ key as the plectrum).  It’s a fun way to listen to and discover new music, play along with favourite tracks, and compete against like-minded music lovers.  JamLegend relies on user-generated music from independent artists.  Considering the scope and scale of the video gaming industry, it appears that JamLegend has created are very viable and powerful opportunity for artists and music promoters to garner additional exposure.  Here is how to submit your tunes.

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Guitar Hero
Music Placement
Re-Title Publishing

TheMusicSnob recently published a post which frowns upon PumpAudio’s changes to its standard licensing agreement, specifically the shift in the 50/50 split to 65/35 in favour of PumpAudio.  The post also highlights the practice of ‘Re-Title Publishing’ (also known as ‘Derivative Publishing’) where the song title is registered under an alternate title (e.g. Fields of Gold -> Gold Fields) on the cue sheet so that PumpAudio can collect a portion of the royalties.
 
PumpAudio was one of the first pre-cleared searchable music libraries that considered submissions from independent artists.  The company was acquired by Getty Images in 2007 for $42 million along with a catalogue of 20,000 independent artists.   Although the recent shift from 50/50 to 65/35 is bad news for the artist, it is a reflection of deflated upfront synchronization license fees in an increasingly competitive media landscape and down economy.

Re-Title Publishing is an accepted industry practice and serves two principle purposes:  It allows the broker to collect backend royalties in addition to frontend fees and protects the songwriter by ensuring that the broker only collects monies for the commercial use(s) he procures.  To combat any public confusion that this may cause and benefit the songwriter’s marketing efforts, many films and TV shows offer a “gratis” cue where the original song title is used as opposed to the derivative title in the screen credit roll or music soundtrack release.

Music licensing, a seemingly clandestine industry bisect, is a lucrative business for songwriters and PumpAudio was pivotal to lowering the barrier of entry for upstart and unsigned artists.  YouLicense followed suit with an ‘open’ music licensing marketplace and transparent business model.

Details on licensing music for TV and film.

Related Posts: SoundReef, Music Placement

IEG, a global leader in sponsorship consulting services, valuation and measurement, published promising figures for US music sponsorship spending for 2009, in spite of the current economic climate.  The report highlights the consistent growth in the ‘big ticket’ live music sector, while noting that local music events and properties are displaying a decline in sponsorship support.

Recent deals include J. C. Penney Co.’s two-year integrated partnership with Rascal Flatts on behalf of its American Living brand; The Clorox Co. co-presenting the US stops of Keith Urban’s tour on behalf of its KC Masterpiece sauces and Kingsford charcoal; and Research In Motion Ltd. aligning with U2 on behalf of BlackBerry.

Tighter budgets for working class musicians is expected as a reflection of the music industry’s flux, but cashflows in the direction of A-listers may [eventually] trickle down toward the indies as competition for aligning brand with band stiffens.

Related Posts: Krafts Foods and Estelle Campaign, First Act, Music Branding

After winning The Singer/Songwriter Awards in the last quarter of 2008, Jesse Terry opted to work with We Are Listening’s accredited music supervisor and founder of Tinderbox Music, Jon Delange, as his prize package. With only ten copies of Jesse’s latest release, “The Runner”, Jon secured no less than nine network-sized television placement licenses on Jesse’s behalf, including MTV (Road Rules, The Real World, Road Rules Challenge, The Hills, The City, Human Giant, My Super Sweet Sixteen, Teen Cribs, Parental Control); E Network (Keeping Up With the Kardashians); and Oxygen Network (Bad Girls Club). The relative ease in which Jon placed “The Runner” is a reflection of Jesse’s adaptive songwriting style and compatibility with today’s leading pop-culture entertainment.

“Just got news that nine TV shows (including The Hills and The City) are interested in using music from my record. I am holding the licenses in my hand!! This is all possible because of We Are Listening and your investment in my career. I’m so grateful. I feel like things are really starting to line-up…” — Jesse

More Success Stories by We Are Listening.

YouLicense, the first online music licensing marketplace, released a product update last week detailing the launch of Private Label, a new service catering to YouLicense’s target customer base comprising of independent labels and enterprising artists.  Private Label is essentially a branded storefront, specifically developed for the streamlined procurement of synchronization and master use music licenses. This is a major turning point for YouLicense which, until now, has very much operated as a destination site and, arguably, the only standalone open marketplace for music licensing.  The company has already converted noteworthy distributors and labels including INgrooves, Big Fish Media, AWAL, MBop Digital, Dashgo, and Cyberset Records.  Private Label is currently in closed beta but interested parties can request an invitation here.

Related Post: Christmas Playlists from YouLicense.com

International advertising powerhouse, Ogilvy & Mather, produced a high-octane media campaign for the Crystal Lite powdered soft drink brand by Krafts Foods.  Yet another example of consumer brands converging with music sensations to compete and differentiate in the marketplace, Kraft has aligned itself with Grammy Award winning artist, Estelle, for the pre-release and distribution of her song, “Star”.  The US campaign was launched in tandem with the Grammy Awards Ceremony last month and drew traffic to the co-venture landing page by offering a free download of “Star” prior to its release in stores this month.  Estelle fans divulged their email addresses in exchange for site access and a free and exclusive download of the song.

Associating brands with entertainment media and music celebrity is tried and tested territory for corporations such as VW, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Apple, and other leading giants of cool.  However, the phenomenon appears to be spreading to more conservative brands attempting to revitalize their message and acquire a new audience base, both to listen and to buy.

As an artist, getting your ass on stage and performing to as many people as often as possible is key.  In the US, SXSW is arguably the largest draw of both music fans and artists, certainly independent artists.  Should you get on a SXSW stage?  Of course you should.  However, assuming that you are not yet well known, playing live at an over-crowded and super competitive event has its limitations.  Sometimes, you have to get off the stage in order to truly make an impact and, year after year, I’m seeing more independent artists attending music conferences, on their own behalf, and with their business hat on.  Although the largest of the lot, Midem in Cannes and Popkomm in Berlin, also offer a variety of live performance opportunities to acts big and small, the true event value is in the aimless wondering between the booths and random handshakes with industry professionals.  I’m not joking.  You’ll meet a lot more people on the floor than on stage.  If you meet someone who wants to hear you play, both Midem and Popkomm have listening rooms big enough for you to perform acoustically.  If nothing else, attending these events will teach you a lot about the current music market and provide you with the confidence to approach prospective partners who may [or may not] invest in your next recording, touring, licensing, or writing initiative.  You never know.

Related post: RedGorilla

In September 2008, Billboard Magazine published a  list titled, “The 100 Best Ways For Your Music To Get Attention” which caught my attention this month when I received the top 20 from Peter Spellman’s Music Biz Insight newsletter.  Note the volume of high profile opportunities in the licensing branch of the music industry as opposed to the more traditional sales and ticketing divisions which would have dominated this list through the 90’s:

1. Placement in a television ad for Apple

2. Performance on Oprah (6.6 million viewership)

3. Placement in a television commercial that runs during a special event with significant viewership (97.5 million viewers for the 2008 Super Bowl, for instance)

4. Song Featured as iTunes “Free Single of the Week”

5. Song covered on American Idol (approx.  27 million viewers)

6. Placement in Activision’s “Guitar Hero” videogame (approx. 10 million unit sales)

7. Song placed during a hit movie’s opening credits

8. Placement in a heavy-rotation television commercial for Nike

9. Performance on Lollapalooza Main Stage

10. Placement in MTV’s “Rock Band” videogame (US sales total 3.4 million units to date)

11. Video on YouTube’s Most-Viewed Videos page for music (approx. 75 million unique visitors)

12. Cover editorial in Rolling Stone

13. Placement in Rockstar Games’ “Grand Theft Auto” (4.7 million unit sales and growing)

14. Placement on HBO’s “Entourage”

15. Video on the YouTube’s home page

16. Placement in ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy”

17. Any single or video listed in the “Free on iTunes” section

18. Single played on Radio Disney (approx. 36.5 million listeners per week)

19. Performance on Bonnaroo’s What/Main Stage

20. Placement in CW’s “Gossip Girl”