Ratings

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We're in the midst of a cultural shift.

A few years back, I became addicted to a Discovery Channel show about climbing Mt. Everest. Discovery is channel 3 on my Time Warner system. In fact, Discovery's got great placement on all viewing systems. Still, I could not find a single soul who'd seen the show until I talked about it on the radio and someone called in.

This was frustrating. The danger, the personalities. Mt. Everest is not an abstract concept. Was I the only one who could relate?

No. But maybe I was the only one who knew about it. Or had time to see it.

We've been living in a Tower of Babel society. Sure, we all speak English, but that's just about our only common bond. Hell, we don't even utilize the same news sources. The right watches Fox News, the left MSNBC. Even online... The right's got Drudge, the left's got the Huffington Post. And when it comes to popular culture, it's worse. "The Hurt Locker" won Best Picture and almost no one had seen it. But still, the Oscar ratings went up. They're the best they've been in five years. Not because of ten nominated pictures, not because of youngster presenters, not because of the quality of the show, everyone agreed it was sub-par, but because suddenly, everybody wanted to feel included, a member of the tribe.

This is vitally important. This is a 180 from where we've been going the last decade. Suddenly, the ratings for all these awards shows have gone up. Does this mean everyone tuned into the Grammy's was a Taylor Swift fan? Did everybody watch the Olympics because they favored Lindsey Vonn? No, everybody watched because they wanted to be a member of the group.

Call it Long Tail backlash. After diving incredibly deep into our own niches, we're now resurfacing. We want a community feel.

And it's funny how politicians and culture-perpetrators just don't get it.

The story isn't that we've got the Tea Party on the right and the disillusioned Netroots on the left, but that everybody wants a better economy and we want someone to lead us to it. In other words, ignore the hysteria at the fringes and play to the middle, it's VAST!

Just like in popular culture. Hip-hop/beats appeal to a minority of the population. Let's not judge this sound, let's just say that many people dislike it. And if you want to appeal to many, you've got to purvey something different.

Radio, after the Telecommunications Act of 1996, is all about niches. But we're niched out. We want one station we can all believe in, a few acts we all like.

Let's be clear. Not everybody watched the Oscars or the Olympics. The key isn't to appeal to everybody, but MOST people. And never forget that the fringes are the most vocal. If you pay attention to them, you're screwed.

Maybe it's time for more stadium concerts. Maybe that's why U2's trek is so successful. Sure, the music appeals, but it's a TRIBAL RITE! You can talk about the show in advance and with your buddies thereafter. And those who weren't included feel left out and will attend next time.

In other words, we may be on the brink of an explosion of mass culture. We might be ready for the next Beatles. Something that isn't calculated like "American Idol" that blows up overnight because of the ease of spreading the story online.

Think of this as Kardashians with talent. We all know who these nitwits are, but there's no real reason to pay attention. What if there were? Hell, we're paying attention to Snooki and Tiger because it gives us something to talk about, to connect with, both online and at the water cooler.

It appears to be human nature. We want to belong.

That's the story of the future. Not how we can rip off our concert customers, but how we can make them feel like members of a club. That grows and grows. Not how can we create something just like everything else, but something outside the niches that appeals to all. That was Lou Pearlman's genius. To create boy bands that could perform material that was catchy and appealed to all. Sure, the explosion was aided by MTV and CDs sold because it was pre-Napster, but isn't it funny that the idea came from the outside, not the usual suspects, and that the underpinnings, looks, harmonies, singable material, were so basic!

People go to see "Avatar" to belong, to be a member of the group, to get a chip so they can express their opinion. This is VERY important! Now's the time for mass, not niche. Now's the time to create something of quality, that is not dumbed down, that the public can rally around. Niches will never die. But the public hungers for mass appeal. Whether it be TV shows, music or anything which they can dissect and have an opinion about.

It's not about the winter. It's not about Twitter. It's not about texting. It's about a hunger for commonality. Pay attention.

CAN I SEE YOUR LICENSE - MUSIC PUB SERIES

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When you finally get a call from a company wanting to use one of your sopngs, you'd better have your license forms ready to do business. Prepare all the license forms you expect you might need ahead of time, leaving particulars such as signatory names, song titles, dates, royalties and fees blank. They'll be fiolled in following negotiations.

A mechanical license is used to authorize phonorecords of a song to be recorded and distributed. You'll want to prepare a separate mechanical license for authorizing digital phono record delivery, also known as Internet Download.

You'll need two different forms of streaming licenses to authorize streaming songs on the Internet: one for fee-based streaming on demand, and the other fro promotional streaming such as that used by recording artists on MySpace. A master-use license permits all or some of a demo's recorded track to be used in a new recording or placed in a film or on TV. You'll also need to prepare separate synchronization licenses (permitting the song to be synchronized to picture) for placements in film, TV, and commercial advertisements. Additional licenses include those for use of your songs in video games and ring tones.

You could have a music-business attorney draw up these documents, but it'll likely cost you thousands of dollars, especially if license terms need to be tweaked during negotiations. A good entertainment lawyer typically charges between $150-$750 per hour. Anyone can learn to understand and write the legalese required to fashion their own licenses, by studying the right books. Remember in our last session "A Good Education" is my recommendation on required reading.

Once one of your songs is recorded, you'll need to register it with your PRO. If you don't they won't know who to pay performance royalties to when the song title appears in their sample surveys of radio broadcasts and the like. Go to the PRO's web site to download the proper registration form.

More on Monday....

GETTING TO KNOW YOU

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After you have a few song demos ready to pitch, its time to develop a list of contacts who will be willing to listen to them. This is the most difficult aspect of music publishing, as literally tens of thousands of people vie for the attention of the industry's decision makers, who can't possibly communicate with them.

There's no one way to make industry contacts, but here are some strategies in brief. Enter your best songs in prominent songwriting competitions (see the online bonus material "They're Playing My Song" at emusician.com); a contest win will often give A & R managers and producers incentive to listen to an otherwise unknown writer. Try to perform at one of the songwriter showcases sponsored by your PRO; industry contacts often attend these and may approach you if they are impressed by your performance and writing skills.. Attend songwriting conferences at which A & R reps and producers are scheduled to participate. And ask any well--connected friends you might have to introduce you to their contacts. Networking is a must.

Several excellent industry directories are available that list contacts' names, job titles, addresses, and sometimes direct phone numbers (see the sidebar "The Direct Approach"). Make a separate list of the personal contacts you've already made, and update it often. Present this list by any polite means possible to those new contacts you want to make. Everyone wants to hear a writer who is already being listened to by other top dogs in the industry. Your list will grow in rolling-snowball fashion.

Unless you're already extremely connected, you'll need to subscribe to tip sheets (also known as pitch sheets) that list which artists are currently looking for songs to record for upcoming projects.

A song typically has to be a hit before it has a shot at being used in a national advertising campaign. The exception is a song that is a "work made for hire," or one written by an employee or subcontractor for a production company handling the ad campaign.

To get an unknown song placed in a TV or film project, you need to know what projects are in development or production. A list of domestic and foreign projects can be found at variety.com. Successful placement is also likely predicated on your living in or near Hollywood, where you can form the necessary relationships with TV and film studios, music supervisors and the like.

Alternatively, seek out a music publisher who already has film and TV industry connections and negotiate a revenue sharing agreement in return for them placing your songs. Just be sure to limit their entitlement to only those revenues generated from the TV and film placements they negotiate (and possibly any album). A good directory for finding film and Tv oriented publishers to collaborate with is the Music Industry's Film & Television Music Guide.

More tomorrow....

DEMO PRODUCTION

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An entire book can be written on the subject of producing demos, so I'll focus only on some of the points you're less likely to read elsewhere. First of all, don't let anyone tell you that production values don't matter and that the song's quality will be heard regardless of your demos sound and arrangement. A producer or A & R manager might listen to 100's of demo's each day. Which one do you think will grab their attention, the one that sounds like a hit record or the one that has an out-of-tune vocal sung to a lone acoustic guitar recorded with a Radio Shack mic?

Production is of paramount importance. Whenever possible, compose catchy instrumental hooks for your songs before recording them. Make the intro short--no more thN 10 seconds if possible. Keep solos to a maximum length of 8 bars or cut them out completely. The more deliberate, fast paced, and powerful your arrangement is, the more the demo will retain the listener's attention and sell the song.

Unless you're Prince, resist the temptation to play all the instruments and sing all the parts on your demo's. Having ace union musicians and singers perform on your demos can make them sound like hits. That said, doing so will also likely eliminate those demos from being considered for placement in film and TV projects. To use any of the instrumental tracks played by union musicians in a synch-to-picture (film or TV) placement, they must first be upgraded to "phono" status with the American Federation of Musicians (AFM). Phono status essentially makes the demo recordings eligible to be used in new media (film, TV, record release, and so on) as well as a "new use." The upgrade from demo to phono status requires that all musicians on the session be paid master scale, which equals roughly double the demo scale rate you already paid them, and be given pension-fund payments for the entire session. This is required even if you will use the demo recording for only one song recorded during a multi song session.

The production company must convert the demo recording to motion picture use (a new use)at considerable cost. Yet they cannot do so unless and until the demo recording is upgraded to phono status. They will typically insist that you pay for the upgrade. The production company may also ask you to make any required "additional payments" (royalties) to union musicians in connection with the song being licensed, which you should refuse to do.

All this haggling may be moot, however, as many TV placements must be negotiated from soup to nuts during your first phone conversation with the shows producer, in order to meet an imminent air date. Therefore, most producers feel there is no time to work our AFM arrangements. In most cases, they want a song whose rights are already "cleared." Similar issues arise with demo singers who belong to SAG (Screen Actors Guild). So if your main thrust as a music publisher will likely be film and TV placements, make sure your demos are either completely performed by yourself or by nonunion musicians and singers whose talents are contracted fo in a one-time buyout.

I am overwhelmed by the response to this series. We obviously listened to you, found your topic of interest and got into it. I can tell by the forwarding of these writings to others and that's awesome. Remember, it is only "applied" knowledge that gives you power to excel.

More tomorrow....

Widespread Panic At The Orpheum

Britney Spears via last.fm

Are you catching the Britney brouhaha Down Under? Turns out she MIMES!

She's got to. In order to deliver on the audience's expectations. She's got to be the Britney from TV. Perfect in every way. Dazzling them with her dance moves. And it's almost impossible to dance like that and sing. Have you ever talked to one of those jerks who calls you when he's on the treadmill? You wonder if they're going to have a heart attack during the conversation!

But what does the audience expect? A show, a tightly choreographed presentation, something you watch and ooh and ahh to? Or a musical performance, that penetrates your body and mind?

Last time I checked, I didn't see Widespread Panic on TV. Look at MediaBase, they're not in the Top Forty either. By nineties standards, they don't exist. But it's 2010.

In the MTV-era, you had to look good. Your video had to be visually interesting. To the point where in the nineties, they wouldn't trust so-called "artists" with creative issues, too much money was at stake. Write with the usual suspects, the pros, to create something we know we can sell. And we'll employ one of the usual suspect directors to create a sleek clip. Hell, if we don't get it right, we'll scrap it and redo it! You only get one chance to make an impression. If it's not exactly right, you're toast. Kind of like the new album by Mariah Carey and the pushed-back opus by Alicia Keys. The initial singles stiffed, and the labels wanted to whip up a frenzy in order to sell a hundred thousand albums right away! Thus, the release delay. If you're phenomenally lucky, you can ultimately sell a million. Still, you might mean nothing on the road. Is this a game you want to play?

Sure, there are old warhorses like Ms. Carey, but most of the acts are brand new. Thrown up against the wall and then discarded. They all have one thing in common. They want to be FAMOUS! They're no different than the idiots on reality TV. They want to appear on TMZ and Perez. Then they'll think they've made it. But that making it is very different from the old paradigm.

In the old days you played music to get out of the mines, to get away from having a boss, so you didn't have to wear a suit and tie to work. Shit, you ultimately have more freedom going to college and learning how to code than subjecting yourself to the starmaking machinery today. Look at Justin Timberlake. He sacrificed Janet Jackson. He couldn't admit he was complicit in Boobiegate and that it was no big deal. He issued a lame mea culpa the same way a truant student tells a principal what he wants to hear. Whereas the rock stars of yore had a foolproof reaction to bullshit, to the system...THE MIDDLE FINGER!

Hell, John Lennon said the Beatles were bigger than Jesus and didn't bother apologizing. He tried to explain, but the media wasn't listening, because it was too dumb. Whereas in the sixties, before the Born Again conflagration, there was no doubt the Beatles were bigger than Jesus. But you can't speak the truth. Hell, you still can't speak the truth! Just look at our inane political system!

Let me ask you...

If I told you you could wear whatever you wanted, your jeans, your favorite shirt, hit the stage to adoring fans whenever you played and get all the dope and sex you wanted, would you say yes?

This was the equation back in the golden era of classic rock. And it was all centered on the music. If you were good enough, you could rape and pillage across the world, for years, in the case of Robert Plant and Mick Jagger, FOREVER! Just by being yourself, you earned the keys to the kingdom, you lived in an alternative universe, even better than the real one.

Widespread Panic lives in an alternative universe. One where everything the dying media says is important is irrelevant. They hold the record for sell-outs at Red Rocks (with 32). They've been at it for twenty plus years, and they're bigger than ever.

Twenty plus years... Many of the Top Forty idiots aren't even that old. Do we really think they know how to play? That they've got something to say?

Now I won't say the Panic show was without visuals. There was a giant disc behind the band that featured geometric shapes, turning and twisting like at the Fillmore. And there was a plethora of animated spotlights. But the attraction was the music, plain and simple.

Nobody dressed up for the gig. The audience looked just like me. Wearing jeans. Getting psyched up for the gig had nothing to do with makeup, nothing to do with outfits, it was about head space. Were you willing to show up, relax your mind and float downstream?

Aided by substances both legal and illegal?

Sure, everybody seemed high, whether each and every one of them was or not. You see, they wanted to be set free. That's what the music used to do, that's what you're missing at the Britney show. Britney's delivering a movie, Widespread Panic is delivering a dream.

There was a drummer and a percussionist. A keyboardist dropping in delicious fills. Dave Schools held down the bottom like he had a monopoly on mud in the delta. But what was most fascinating was the guitar interplay between John Bell and Jimmy Herring.

Jimmy's amps said "Fuchs" and "Tone Tubby". This was not generic, the equipment had been hand-selected, to deliver this exact tone.

There was no click track, nothing was prerecorded. But the band instantly found a groove and laid down in it, pulling the entire audience along. And the electricity was palpable. It was like every attendee was plugged into a socket, causing them to twist and turn, jump and groove to the music.

Music. That's what's been sacrificed. You didn't used to go to the show to hear the expected, but the unexpected. The band was good enough to pull you along whether you knew the material or not. It was an ADVENTURE!

That started at 8:15 and ended at midnight. You couldn't complain you didn't get your money's worth.

So here's the part where you tell me what Widespread Panic is missing, how it can be changed into a Goliath, a household word. But the band DOESN'T GIVE A FUCK! Don't you get it? THEY'RE DOING IT THEIR WAY!

And their way is pretty good, better than yours, because almost a quarter of a century in, they can still work, they can still live the lifestyle, they can still feel the rush of the audience's applause.

You can play the old game. But it doesn't pay the dividends it used to. Rihanna may be big in the mainstream, but more people want to see Widespread Panic. If not today, definitely tomorrow.

We're rebuilding. And we're starting with music.

It's a much slower build. Flash, explosions, sexuality get instant attention. But do you really care who won the third season of "Survivor"? "Big Brother"? The endless string of one hit wonders run together. Those who make music first and foremost, who follow their instincts, their creativity, are the ones who stand for ages.

You may get screams at a Britney show, but you don't get the passion you experience at a Widespread Panic gig. At a Panic show fans feel the music. They want to get closer. They don't want to watch, they want to be a part of it!

And listeners are key. Great performers feed off the energy of their audience. How can you do that when your entire act is on hard drive?

Publishing "ALL BY MYSELF"

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There are many reasons to self-publish your songs. Keeping 100% of the royalties and one-time fees a song earns is just one reason. You also retain greater control over how your songs may be used and what those uses will pay. And assuming that you're highly motivated, nobody will promote your songs more than you. If, on the other hand, you were signed to a large music-publishing company with dozens of writers on staff, your songs might get lost in the crowd and never get the promotion they need to get cut. Furthermore, most song-publishing contracts specify that the music publisher keeps all copyrights to songs covered in the contract--even after the term of the contract expires and regardless of whether or not the company ever secures a cut for your songs.

Still, many songwriters sign with a music publisher for good reasons. It is extremely difficult and very time-consuming to make the required industry contacts with record-label A & R (artist ans repertoire) staffers, music producers, recording artists, music supervisors, and film and TV studios--contacts that major publishers already have. Being your own publisher also means taking on the financial onus, which includes demo production and replication, potential attorneys' fees, inventory, postage, phone bills, printing and more. And while all that money is going out, you've got to find a way to have some coming in to pay foir all that overhead. A songwriter signed to staff-writer deal with a publisher typically receives a monthly stipend to keep the credit hounds at bay. Even before (or despite never) getting their first cut, the staff writer earns a loving doing what they love the most--writing songs.

An experienced music publisher might also secure revenue-generating uses of your songs that you might not have thought of on your own, includingh sheet music, karaoke, video jukeboxes and musical greeting cards. They probably already have the contacts you lack with print publishers and subpublishers. The latter collect mechanical royalties for record sales and synchronization fees for the use of songs in TV shows and films abroad. (I'll discuss licensing for various uses of songs in more detail as we move along in this series.) Many successful publishers hire influencial song-pluggers to pitch the songs in their catalog, greatly increasing the chance of getting a cut. And many a fruitful collaboration between songwriters has been facilitated by major publishers having strong networks throughout the creative community.

You might be thinking at this point, "Screw the do-it-yourself approach. Give me publishing contract." Unfortunately, it's not that easy. As a highly successful producer and friend recently explained to me, the big publishing companies are interested in signing only songwriters who already have a track record of writing hits. Yet it's "lmost impossible" (in his words to get your first song cut--even if you have high-level industry contacts listening--without an influencial publisher or song plugger pitching you song. It's a catch-22.

Despite the sobering realities of independent song plugging, I love the business side of music publishing. I find managing my own music-publishing company to be exciting and self-empowering. But as you'll learn, it's also a lot of work...and it WILL distract you from your creative process. Find what you do the best and do it. Find what you do the worse and get with someone that is good at what you are not good at, team up with them and just get it done. It takes a lifetime to gain a ton of knowledge, and even then you may not get the results. As in a band, team work is EVERYTHING. Name one thing in your life, you do, can do or have done by yourself.

More tomorrow...Baby Steps to take.

Setting Up Your Own Music Publishing Company

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Perhaps the most commom career oriented question unsigned songwriters ask me is, "How can I get my songs published?" Many of those same writers have only a vague notion of what it means to be published. If you've already sold recordings of your songs to the public, you are a published songwriter. The federal 1976 Copyright Act defines publication (the act of publishing as "the distribution of copies of phonorecords of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease or lending." Phonorecords are defined as "material objects in which sounds...are fixed."

There are a lot of ways to make money from the use of one of your songs than just selling your recording of it. Other ay cut, or record, the song. It might be used in a movie, a movie trailer, a TV series, a TV special, a music video, a videogame, for consumer advertising, for a ringtone, or for a myriad of other uses. Promoting, licensing, and getting paid for such song uses is the job of a music publisher.

Many unsigned songwriters would love to hand off business oriented tasks to a music publisher so they can focus on the creative task of writing songs. Unfortunately, the moment you sign on the dotted line with a music publisher, you give away your copyrights and half the revenues the songs covered in the contract will earn. For these and other reasons, many songwriters choose to keep all the profits and self-publish their songs.

This article will explain the basics of how to set up and operate your own music-publishing company. To keep this article to a manageable length, my focus will be on publishing your own songs. Before I get to the nuts and bolts of becoming a music publisher, let's examine the benefits and drwbacks of doing so.

Over the next week, we wil discuss this topic at great length. If you have songwriter friends, this will be the place to get the information the way that it will best apply to you.

Tip sheets are an essential, subscriber based service for music publishers. Here are a few for country music, which include the label, artist, producer(s), contact person(s) and recording schedule for each project.

Pitch This Country Music Tip Sheet (www.pitchthismusic.com) is the most comprehensive listing of current projects for major-label and second-tier (prominent indie and joint venture) companies. Published monthly, this tip sheet is generated by successful, Nashville based song pluggers, and often includes difficult-to-obtain details on what specific types of material are being sought for each project listed (for example, "Soulful, real-life lyrics with range and attitude"). Check this site out, determine if it has value to your objectives and bookmark this page.

More tomorrow.

Song Of The Day "Wild Girl"

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Somewhere back there Rickie Lee Jones lost her way.

I'll vote for the second album. Sure, the first was great, I loved "Weasel and the White Boys Cool", but the second, "Pirates", begins with a one-two punch that's undeniable, it knocks you out cold, you wake up on the floor, staring at the ceiling.

We belong together.

Have you ever laid in bed, wondering about the distance between the two of you, deciding whether to break it off or try and continue and you suddenly decide "we belong together"?

The operative word is "we". That's when relationships are on fire, when it's no longer about you and her, but when you can't imagine life without your other half, when you think the cosmos has determined you belong together.

I actually called up a girl and told her this. We'd had a hard time docking, we were unable to make it fit, frustrated, it looked like it was best to return to our respective corners, permanently. But this night I determined we belonged together.

She didn't see it the same way.

And, in retrospect, she was right. We didn't belong together. But that doesn't mean I don't remember that feeling. Just like Rickie Lee Jones sings it in this song. It's a private moment, not a diva onstage singing for everybody, but a private symphony playing in your own head.

The follow-up, "Living It Up", has got a completely different vibe. But it's no less touching, no less meaningful. You may think you're living it up, you might put a sunny face on the situation, but is that the truth?

Then Rickie lost the plot. She stopped working with Lenny Waronker and Russ Titelman. She did a great cover of "Walk Away Renee", but the albums no longer hit you in the same way. She was Rickie Lee Jones once. Now?

It's a beautiful day in L.A.

And I'm driving west on Wilshire and I hear the new Rickie Lee Jones song for the second time, "Wild Girl".

On Sirius XM's Loft. Meg Griffin was spinning it from her perch on the coast of Massachusetts.

And the song speaks for itself. But you can't hear it. I found it nowhere online.

You can hear a snippet at http://www.rickieleejones.com/ It's not the first track, still the first track works too.

How did Rickie Lee come back twenty years later?

By finishing twenty year old songs.

Her Website has too much Flash, you'd never go back. But the TV-type images are fascinating. They've got the feel of the music. This is not some babe of the moment in a video clip, this is meaning. We're all lonely at heart, but we're yearning to feel connected. Music, when done right, brings us together.

The second track on the Website player is "Wild Girl". You'll get a taste. Longer than thirty seconds, but not long enough. It's snappy, yet not mindless. It's visceral, it opens your skin and tucks itself inside.

But you can check out this live YouTube clip from last May.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBBJ2yBn_BU

The sound is not perfect, but Rickie Lee's voice is. She's aged, but her voice has lost nothing. It's stunning, you look at the image and you can't believe anyone can sound this good without some kind of aural trick.

Concord also has a clip, but although the audio is better than the YouTube video, it doesn't have quite the same punch and it stutters, still, it's great.

http://concordmusicgroup.com/newmedia/video/rickieleejones/rickie_lee_jones_wild_girl_clip.html

I don't think Rickie Lee Jones will return to her seventies perch. Where she was the hipster who dominated the country. But if you listen to "Wild Girl", not only will you believe she's still got it, you'll be blown away that she blows all the poseurs away.