DON'T KEEP YOUR MUSIC CAREER LOCKED UP, BECAUSE YOU REFUSE TO LEARN THE BUSINESS

I see so many artists today focused on their art, music and not placing more emphasis on their "BUSINESS". More than half of artists today are in a non-recoupable status where the distributor and/or label has spent more money than the album releases has garnered. This moves onto to the next album, and then the next, until the artist is so much in a hole, it seems they will never make any money from their music. I also come across tons of artists who don't even have a clue what publishing is, why they are owed mechanical royalties upfront, or any other pertinent information that will insure they collect all monies from the revenue streams out here today. Why aren't these artists interested in knowing the business. I can call out names from the cable television's TVONE UNSUNG program that details the careers of numerous artists. Just recently Bell, Biv, Devoe and TLC were on the "Monica" show and talked about them being ripped off and not receiving what they thought they should have gotten from their art, because they didn't take the time to pay attention to the "BUSINESS".

LESSON: Find yourself a music professional that knows the business and proves to you to be a trustworthy source of information and resources. Your partner "Juinor" who knows no more than you about the industry, is not the idea of a music professional who you should be linking up with, no matter how close you two may be.


There are over 60 items on the list of sources of revenue streams for your music!! Are you as an artist tapping into all of them?? Some of the most common are: performance royalties, mechanical licensing, ring tones, use of a song in a motion picture, use of a song in a television series, use of a song in an advertising campaign, digital download license, video game music license. Being armed with information is being a step ahead of the scammers, sharks, and cheats!!


Are you also tapping into the NEW MEDIA of the business: “Internet service providers, digital rights management, podcasting, blogs, compression, downloads, wireless, streaming, subscription and non-subscription services, MP3, hyper-distribution, encryption, decryption keys, platforms, interactive music, portability, mobile devices, watermarking, fingerprinting — these words and many more form the vocabulary of the new music business.”