Andy Lykens

Innovating and operating through growth

music industry

Planning Music Industry Goals

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This is part 3 of a four part series on treating your career in the music business or as a professional musician like an entrepreneur.

Click here for Part 1 – Being A Music Industry Entrepreneur

Click here for Part 2 – Goal Setting in the Music Industry

Click here to register for the newsletter to be sure you don’t miss out on the rest of the series…

Crafting a plan for any music industry project is key. It allows you to materialize an action plan, gives you a tangible list of tasks that act as a checklist and can present to potential partners, and allows you to lay out risks and pitfalls in order to nip problems in the bud.

The key element to ANY music business plan starts with your end goal in mind. We talked about setting goals in the last newsletter so if you missed it, click here. Clearly state the specific goal you have and then list a few of the positive outcomes it will create. Your goal can include acquiring new fans, creating a fanbase mailing list, getting in touch with music supervisors about music licensing opportunities, or even your next EP or album project. Let’s use creating a mailing list as an example.

Example: Create a mailing list based on email addresses acquired at live shows of at least 50 fans over the next 4 gigs.

Once you have your goal stated clearly, you can then consider the steps it might take in order to achieve the goal:

  • Register for an email service
  • Research and choose a way to collect emails at gigs (ie: apps, sign-in sheet at door, collect after the show)
  • Outreach to local venues to get more gigs
  • Write, edit, and practice mic banter for asking for emails at gig
  • Create 4 emails to be sent to the list, 1 per week for the next month
  • Promote email list sign-up via social media and website

Your list might look very different than mine for this particular project, but you get the idea. You’ve got a goal, you’ve got action steps. An excellent start to any plan. What’s next? Adding a deadline of course!

We already know we want to populate the list with at least 50 people over the course of 4 gigs. We can take this 1 step further by adding something like “or in 1 month, whichever comes first” (although, without a live gig it might be tough to populate an email list).

Then take a look at your other tasks, and work them into that time frame. Once you’ve got it planned set calendar reminders on your phone or laptop, write it down on a calendar near wherever you work, or just refer to it in the plan anytime you boot-up your computer. I will say here it is DEFINITELY a good idea to have it in front of you physically and having your phone beep at you once in a while so you don’t lose sight of your project.

Great! We’ve got our goal, our plan, our schedule, what could go wrong? Exactly! That’s what’s next. Let’s try and come up with as many things that can go wrong along with at least 1 solution for each. It might look something like this:

  • Band member has to leave town – get a back-up player for each band member lined up for gigs
  • After 1st gig, email collection is poor – consider giving away an EP or band sticker in exchange for an email sign-up
  • Not able to get more than 1 or 2 gigs – ask some other musicians about getting an introduction to a venue booker in order to facilitate getting a gig

Again, your solutions and dilemmas may look different than this, but the key is to find reasons why you CAN achieve the goal despite setbacks. This helps break barriers. Again keep in mind, you won’t find the BEST process for goal-planning immediately. It will take time to learn how long it takes to do things, and what things work best as far as accomplishing certain goals. Once you find some processes that work for you, iterating the process and tweaking it to increase your success rate.

Whatever you do, remember to craft a plan, and get started. You may not hit your mark exactly at first, but like we said in the last email, there really is no such thing as failing. Learning, improving, and tweaking is all part of the process.

3 Must-Know Music Licensing Contract Points

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Many musicians find the legalities of the music industry scary or, according to some research from my blog and newsletter, haven’t even looked at a contract. In fact, the music industry itself has made a point to tout it’s legal strength anytime someone tries to do something inventive and effective in the music space, rather than trying to learn from or emulate the result (zing!).

The fact of the matter is that yes, you do need a lawyer to review your contracts and licenses. However, you don’t need one in order to understand the fundamentals of a license. You see there are three key terms when a television show, film, or ad agency wants to license music. These 3 terms are also the foundation of negotiations and help determine the cost of the copyright to be used. Here they are:

Media: This is essentially the “what” of a music license. Will it be broadcast on TV, streamed on the internet, or will it be used for an in-house presentation? It can be any one, or any combination of, pretty much anything you can think of.

Term: This is the “when” of a music license. Licenses can be as short as a one-time usage or as long as eternity (called perpetuity). While there are few times as an artist you would want to license a song in perpetuity, this is something music libraries do with relative frequency. It also saves a huge headache for the producing company, and keep in mind a license in perpetuity is only for the ONE usage outlined in the media definition.

Territory: This is the “where” of a music license. This will delineate where exactly this particular project is going to show up. Will it show up all over the world? Will it just be in Ohio? Maybe it’s going to be shown at a convention center.

There you have it, the licensing basics. Keep in mind all of the above can be adjusted and negotiated and the cost of the license should reflect such adjustments.

One final point: It comes down to how many people are going to see a project, and how much you value your music, the exposure, and the project itself. If someone wants to license your song for all-media, worldwide in perpetuity (which I would HIGHLY advise against unless you’re running a music library), they’re anticipating a lot of people are going to see it. This means the exposure is high, which is great, but they’re also asking for a lot of rights which means it should be a cost consideration vs. the history of your song.

When it comes to contracts of course consult a lawyer before signing anything. But understanding these basics should help give you a good idea of how to gauge a music license and evaluate a proposed fee to ensure you’re getting a great deal.

If you’re REALLY serious about getting your music licensed, subscribe to my newsletter for a free 8-part how-to course, music publishing 101 audio download, and more!

Who Wants to License Your Music?

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In my last article, I mentioned recent efforts in getting to the bottom of what independent musicians want to know most about getting their music in film, tv, and advertising. By far, the top answer is “who do I contact?”

Who Ya Gonna Call?Today, I’m going to give you some ideas about who might be looking for music and where you can find them. Most of the information you need exists online as far as WHO you need to contact. Here’s a quick rundown of some GREAT resources.

Television & Film – It seems like everyday there’s yet another television show going on air and I would venture to say that 99% of them use music. The easy win here is IMDB. Check out a show you think your music would be appropriate for and bring up the full “Cast & Crew” details. Do a quick find on the page for the word music or music supervisor, and voila. Another idea is to simply check the credits on your favorite show that you DVR, and then Google the person’s name.

Advertising + Music

Advertising – Ad folks are no more difficult to find. Probably the biggest downfall to the ad industry is that the creative decisions might be funneled to a specific music producer but the final say is up to the end-client (the brand) or, at the very least, a group of creatives at the agency. This makes it tough because you can get into the running for a spot, but then at the last minute someone else can come along and veto. It can be a frustrating process if you let it get to you but if you learn to roll with the punches, something will come along. The best place to get contact ideas is AdWeek. It’s a cool publication all around if you have any interest in advertising outside of music, but they often post credits for their “Ad of the Day” where you can get names of specific people working on specific brands across the globe.

Video GamesVideo Games – Video games can be a bit trickier, but you have to remember that the people with the coveted positions as music producers and music supervisors have been interviewed, participated on panels, and generally are bombarded with enough attention that digging them up on Google is easy. Give LinkedIn’s search a shot, or try googling the video game company’s name along with “music supervisor” and see what you come up with.

People You Know – You probably have heard a million times that the best source of pretty much anything is your address book. I can’t emphasize enough that having a connection to someone who can potentially use your music will be the most efficient, least painful way to go about securing a license. Both parties involved will be more comfortable leading to more useful conversations earlier on. Hit up your Rolodex and see if you know anyone that works at an ad agency, in film or TV, or at a video game company. They don’t have to be THE music contact, but they will be able to help you in some small way if you ask.

Finding the right people is really straight-forward and easy to do. If you’re smart about it, you can put it to use TODAY to start building relationships with the proper folks. I’d like to emphasize “building relationships” and not “sending emails all about how great you are.” Keep that in mind before you start dropping emails to folks, they will VERY much appreciate a genuine connection versus yet ANOTHER artist sending them more music they’ve never heard of and don’t care about.

Why Music Supervisors Are Not Listening To Your Music.

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Get a paper and pen. Just do it, it’ll totally be worth it. I’m about to blow your mind.

Mind Blown

Quick – tell me 3 people you want to listen to your music that you think will be able to put it in a commercial, film, or TV promo! Even if you’ve already contacted them, write down a name with a little space beneath to complete this exercise.

Done? Great! Now write down 3 things you said to persuade each person to listen to your music (they can all be similar or the same if you do a lot of copy/paste).

Easy, right?

Alright, now for each person list 3 things about them that have nothing to do with their job, or music.

Hmmm…alright, take some more time and think about it…times up!

Now, as fast as you can, write down 3 things you can do for that person based on their needs or wants!

If you can come up with 1 thing for that last one, I’ll give you props. But only if it isn’t ridiculous (like “give them a million dollars” or “cut them in on license fees they secure for me” – because that’s payola, and payola is illegal…unless you’re Clear Channel).

The above exercise should prove to you that your emails suck. “Me, me, me.” That’s what you write about. “Listen to this! Check that out! I’d LOVE for you to put my song in a commercial!”

It's All About Who Again?

Great. I’m sure there aren’t 100,000 other people out there sending the same thing.

However, if you’re far enough along to know who to contact and actually have gotten some contact info, you’re STILL ahead of the game, as sad as it is. But you need to know something and you need to PRACTICE and GET BETTER at it as soon as you can:

The music business, and life in general, doesn’t work the way you think it does.

You cannot just sell yourself cold. It’s a waste of time. If you don’t have a good relationship with someone, it’s really tough to break through and make a connection. Especially one strong enough where they have confidence and enough trust in you and your music that they’ll give it a real shot.

How many emails have you received from someone or some entity that you didn’t know or agree to take part in? How did it make you feel? Did you read it carefully and take action doing what they ask? No?! What a surprise!

Here’s a gigantic tip:

Find a genuine connection to EVERY person you want to listen to your music before you ask them to listen to it.

Connect

That is HUGE takeaway. Huge. You should read it again, think about it, write any immediate ideas that come to mind, and then read it again.

Is it coming full circle yet? Do you get it?

Music supervisors are inundated with requests from people they don’t know and therefore don’t care about every day. They are flooded with emails like the ones you’ll find here. What makes you different?

Do you think changing your wording or coming up with a better email subject line makes you better? Wrong.

What most music supervisors will tell you is that they want a ‘filter,’ someone or some entity that they know well who they can reach out to for their music needs. What you need is to either discover one of those filters and partner up with them, or look for pre-existing relationships that act as that filter for you.

Whatever you do, don’t write another crappy email.

No one cares about the 8-word catch-phrase that sums up your music perfectly. Your album art is NOT good enough to get someone’s attention. Your 15MB attachment consisting of your amateur band photo, 1 sheet, and latest ‘single’ from 2 years ago? You guessed it. It couldn’t penetrate chocolate pudding.

Don’t get mad or frustrated – get smart. CHANGE your approach. Make yourself relevant to the person you’re contacting. Emphasize key elements that will filter you out from the crowds of morons or partner up with someone who can. The intelligent independent musician can find ways to make themselves valuable IMMEDIATELY. Sure, it takes work. Yes, you have to do more than copy and paste the same form email to 200 people. You’re better of sending 10 effective emails in an hour than 200 bogus ones.

Shape up. Get relevant, get genuine, and start focusing on the right things. You’ll find it goes a lot further than the lame attempts made by most everyone trying to get their music licensed.

If you’re not sure where to start when reaching out to music supervisors, you should subscribe to my free newsletter where you’ll get an 8-part course to help you do just that.

Should You Choose An Exclusive Contract To Get Your Music Licensed?

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Previously I discussed some of the pros and cons of signing a non-exclusive contract to get your music licensed. It’s definitely an interesting option and can provide a lot of opportunity. But before you go uploading your music to Pump Audio, why not consider all options?

Always consider all sides of the story...

Exclusive deals can be very rewarding experiences not just from a monetary stand point (though that’s certainly nice), but also from an artistic one. However, they’re definitely not as easy to come by and there can be other drawbacks to signing on with a major publisher or label.

Let’s check out a the pros

Pros:

  • Perceived Value is Higher
  • Retain Greater Performance Royalties
  • Better Synch Fees
  • Better Percentages
  • Creative Control

It all starts with perceived value

When I was pitching music for ads at a music library it was usually a struggle to get them to consider a library song versus a commercial track. In most cases I got the phone call only when the budget was low and not before.

Was the music quality THAT much different between the two tracks? Generally speaking, no. In many cases you could easily send a library track and commercial track and save for the name attached to it have no idea which was which. That’s the power of perceived value; big money opportunities are more available.

Performance royalties, sync fees, and percentages…

The number 1 fantastic thing about an exclusive deal is that all fees and percentages are negotiable. It doesn’t matter if you’re U2 or You Who?, you too (see what I did there?) CAN negotiate to some extent (and I’ll talk about how to do that as a little guy in a future article).

The bottom line is: any additional percentage you can get negotiate pays dividends.

Negotiate. Always.

Creative control

For the most part music doesn’t get pitched for political or religious advertisements just out of principle. However, how stoked would you be if your song got placed in an ad for a discount furniture store? If your answer is “ehhh,” that should be a clue about which contract to pursue.

Think of all the products you see at your local drug store and if any of those (like adult diapers or prescription drugs) are not something you’d want to attach your music to, then creative control is an important thing for you. You also get the opportunity to turn down jobs that don’t pay enough (you hoity-toity art-nerd).

Looking at the list initially it may seem like a no-brainer – hit the pavement and get after a major label or publisher. But hold on, there are some cons to consider before you go hucking your wares to Universal.

Cons:

  • Difficult to secure
  • Lost in the shuffle
  • Are they pro-active?
  • Organization

Don’t overlook how difficult it can be

It can take years. In fact they can just not happen at all. However they DO still happen and they are out there. If you decide to go for it, do it with all your heart and soul. Just know that like anything worth having, it is tough work!

Lost in the shuffle

Major labels and publishers have some pretty amazing music to tout when it comes to placing music in film, TV, and advertising. On top of that, they also have a ton of other music that is maybe not so amazing, but that they still need to make money on.

For that reason its possible you’ll get lost among the other artists in the catalog. You might make the same case for non-exclusive style companies, but keep reading as the next two items are what REALLY separates the wheat from the chaff.

Are they pro-active?

Many companies are changing but still far too many wait for the phone to ring or depend on clients to reach out to them. So sure, they may get a call when someone has $200K to spend on a Super Bowl spot, but guess which artists get first dibs on that kind of money? So if you’re not a superstar, you need to MAKE SURE the company you’re signing with is abreast of as many opportunities, large and small, as possible.

Don't let your publisher or label be lazy!

Organization

They’re not sure who wrote what, they don’t have useful systems in place to help them find the right music, and maybe they don’t even know who represents the other side of the sync placement. Yikes. This means you could miss an opportunity simply because the company doesn’t know some critical business facet. Some entities really have it together, and some can barely make it to work.

In the end, whichever route you decide to go just be aware of the potential caveats. Now there are more and more people offering services and opportunities to up-and-coming writers. If you do your homework, chances are you can land somewhere that will be a great fit!

As always please leave a comment with your own stories. I’m always looking to hear more about your experience and answer questions!