The Nashville Feed

Social networking is a very powerful tool that empowers artists and allows them to easily reach out to their fans. The two biggies in the general category are Facebook and MySpace. Each has very different demographics meaning you probably should be on both of them. Be careful how much you push them to grow your audience because you can get deleted. Here’s some tips and information that will prevent a lot of pain and time lost later.

Different Profiles for Different Purposes Maybe

MySpace has a few different profiles but most people use either the stander member or the musician profiles. MySpace really doesn’t care what you use it for even though their terms of use states otherwise. Facebook
is a very different beast in the sense that they have many profiles for business. They really do care what you use your profile for and will disable your account if you don’t follow the rules. If you’re a Band each person should have a Facebook profile and the band itself would have a music Facebook Page and maybe a group.

Are You Human?

MySpace has Captcha so when you add too many friends, or send too many emails it pops up asking you to read and type in the squiggly text shown. Basically it’s a test to see if you’re a human or an internet bot (spam). Facebook has none of these tests except for sign-up.

Don’t Push the Facebook System

The company I work for started our Facebook profile before there were Facebook Pages available and so we used it to start a group. Without going into too much detail adding too many friends at a time can cause your profile to be disabled for a few hours at first. If you do it again the next time they disable you it will be longer. And finally you’re gone. Everything you had built gone in one digital poof! That’s not the worst of it. If you’ve created groups around the profile and only have one administrator you could be screwed. When that main administrator profile disappears it opens up the group to anybody. The first person to click “make me administrator” owns the group. There is no message send to your members saying what has happened. Meaning they can send messages to the group and most will think it is you. This had happened to our group. We got it back afterward but it was 24 hours of sweating.

Facebook Pages/Profiles Advice and Tips

• Set up individual Facebook profiles for each member of a band and a back up profile for sole artists.
• Set up a Facebook Page for Bands and solo Artists. Yes, solo Artists too.
• Promote the Page and Group; do not worry about building friends list on your personal profile. If anything let that build organically.
• If you get disabled on Facebook wait a few hours and I will come back. They don’t give you the thresholds that causes “disabling” so don’t push-it if it happens.

If you follow some of this advice you won’t go through what we did. Use the system to it’s fullest for maximum benefit but don’t abuse the Facebook system.

Technorati Tags: facebook, disabled profiles, music business, how to, social networking

What does spaghetti sauce have to do with music business? We’ll it relates to marketing more than the music itself to be honest. The basis’s that one type of media and marketing will not fit all of your fans. You need to poll your fans on what they like and not what they want. Take a watch of this video from the TED series featuring Malcolm Gladwell. He wrote two of my favorite books…Blink: Power of Thinking Without Thinking and The Tipping Point.

There's many more fascinating videos on the TED website. Make sure you check them out.

Technorati Tags: ted, malcolm gladwell, blink, tipping point, music business

The internet value increases with each generation that grows up using it. We now have the first generation that never knew a world without it and probably wouldn’t know what to do if they didn’t have access. Even the Generation Xers as I am one would probably have difficulty if we were cut off. Think of some common things that you do every day online and now try to do it without the internet. I’ve compiled a short list of tasks:

• Find out if brand X computer has a recalled battery
• Look up a number for X business in X city
• Find the answer to your illness at 2am puking your guts out (happened to me last night)
• Research a product before buying.
• Find out how to make wine?

Some answers you might have is check the yellow pages or ask a friend but those take time. In this day and age people want what they want when they want and the old ways of doing things just don't work.

So where am I going with this post you might ask? Really I'm reiterating that the next generation is online and if your an artist of any type you should be also.

It's changed everything and shouldn't be an afterthought. A simple blog or YouTube video can change the world or just your world. It's a part of who we are now. It's where we are going. Watch the video below and see.

Technorati Tags: generation x, music, internet, YouTube

Want to know more about the state of the music industry? Do you want a healthy debate with real world context? We’ll you’re in luck! Leadership Music is once again having their annual Digital Summit right here in little Nashville, TN. I’ve included a list of the agenda below. Visit the official website for the details.

• Just the Facts: State of the Industry
• Compensating the Creators: The Legal Framework
• Can I Really Ditch a Record Label?
• Illegal Education: This Would Be Working, But...
• Digital Retail: What's the Future?
• Music Discovery: Innovators and Opportunities
• Marketing to and Profiting from Millennials: Is It Possible to Do Both Anymore?
• Gadgets: All My Vices are Devices
• Convenience vs. Quality Listening
• Future Money: Who Will Invest in Music?

The website is up along with registration for the event that is April 22, 2008. So if you care to enlighten yourself on the business and have some tax return money go sign-up at DigitalSummit.org.

Technorati Tags: music business, digital summit, leadership music

Radiohead is at it again. They started for the pay-what-you-like downloads which some could consider a success if not financially but a total marketing success. They are at it again this time fostering creative people in the animation space. The winner gets $10,000 to produce a full official Radiohead video do the song "Dead Air."

Check out the details:

• Make Radiohead Video, Get Paid (A Little)
• Radiohead Official Website
• Aniboom Website w/t Radiohead Info

Technorati Tags: radiohead, aniboom, music business

The motto of the Nashville Songwriters Association International lays out the truth in plain language: “It all begins with a song.”

But how does that song get to where it needs to go to be heard?

The unsung hero behind these questions is the songplugger — the middleman whose domain lies between the realms of artists and songwriters. Some songpluggers are on staff at specific publishing companies; others represent individual writers or songs.

The best of them can change what America hears on the radio each week. By any measure, this select company would include the independent Sherrill Blackman, named Songplugger of the Year by Music Row magazine in 2004, 2005 and 2006, Dale Dodson of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Tom Luteran of EMI Music Publishing and Abbe Nameche with S1 Songs, all of whom gathered one morning at CMA to share insights into an industry of limited visibility but inestimable importance to Country Music.

FIRST, LET’S ESTABLISH SOME CREDENTIALS. WHAT SONGS ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF GETTING RECORDED?

BLACKMAN: “Sinners and Saints” (J.B. Rudd, Vip Vipperman and Darryl Worley, recorded by George Jones), “I’ll Get Even with You” (Coweta House, recorded by LeAnn Rimes) and “Maybe She Fell” (Pat Bunch and Georgia Middleman, recorded by Laura Bryna).

DODSON: “Broken Wing” (Phil Barnhart, Sam Hogin and James House, recorded by Martina McBride), “My Give a Damn’s Busted” (Joe Diffie, Tony Martin and Tom C. Shapiro, recorded by Jo Dee Messina) and “Learning as You Go” (Larry Boone and Billy Ray Lawson, recorded by Rick Trevino).

LUTERAN: “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” (Jim “Moose” Brown and Don Rollins, recorded by Jimmy Buffett and Alan Jackson) and “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” (Dallas Davidson, Randy Houser and Jamey Johnson, recorded by Trace Adkins).

NAMECHE: “In My Daughter’s Eyes” (James Slater, recorded by Martina McBride) and “Paint Me a Birmingham” (Buck Moore and Gary Duffey, recorded by Tracy Lawrence).

WHAT FACTORS DO YOU CONSIDER WHEN DECIDING WHICH ARTIST TO PITCH WITH A SONG?

BLACKMAN: It basically comes down to me being a detective and learning as much as I can about the artists and their upcoming projects. I try as much as I can to provide mid-to-up-tempo songs.

DODSON: I listen for vocal range. Also, I’ll keep the subject of the song in mind and whether the artist will sing about that certain subject.

NAMECHE: You need to know the market, what’s out there and what’s on the horizon. And of course, you’ve got to know your catalog. With that information, it’s a no-brainer. You’ve either got the right material or you don’t.

HOW HAS THE MARKET FOR SONGS CHANGED SINCE YOU STARTED WORKING IN THE INDUSTRY?

BLACKMAN: For some of the newer artists, their influences come from a different perspective than the ones who grew up on George Jones and Merle Haggard. Now, sometimes a newer artist will say, “I’m looking for something like so-and-so,” and I have no idea who they’re talking about.

DODSON: I remember the “Class of ’89,” with Garth [Brooks] and Clint Black and Dwight Yoakam, when everyone got real Country. That really spun things around. But we’re in a different time now. They’re really gearing the music toward a younger demographic.

LUTERAN: It seems kind of split to me. You’ve got your Josh Turners over here, and then there’s Rascal Flatts, and they’re both doing very well.

NAMECHE: Non-traditional Country artists like Rascal Flatts have broadened the boundaries and grown the audience base, so that a wider variety of songs is accepted and being recorded in our format.

WHAT CLASSIC COUNTRY SONGS WOULD BE HARD TO SELL TODAY?

BLACKMAN: Just about any song with what I call “Standard Country Melody No. 3.” Even though this is Country Music, songs still need to have a fresher, more contemporary semi-pop melody.

DODSON: Anything that’s really traditional is hard to sell in today’s market. But maybe with a new demo and a fresh vocal, they might work too.

LUTERAN: They might, if the lyrical quality is still there.

NAMECHE: “Stand By Your Man.” Lame men aren’t as popular as they used to be — after all, they’re just men [laughter].

SHOULD SONGWRITERS WRITE WITH SPECIFIC ARTISTS IN MIND?

BLACKMAN: I always encourage writers not to, because if that artist doesn’t like it, then every time you pitch it to someone else, they’ll say, “That sounds like so-and-so.” Then you have to drop your head and say, “Yeah, they passed [laughter].”

NAMECHE: And the writer tends to demo it exactly like they think the artist would record it, so it’s impossible to disguise.

WHEN IS IT RIGHT TO INCLUDE THE SONGWRITER’S NAME WITH A PITCH TO AN ARTIST?

BLACKMAN: I write their name really big on the demo [laughs].

LUTERAN: The plugger will drop the name if it’s a top writer. Absolutely. But it still needs to be a great song.

NAMECHE: I’ve heard of situations where someone will put an entire session of a particular writer on hold for an artist before they’ve even heard the songs, because the writer is so hot.

HOW HAVE CHANGES IN THE STRUCTURE OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY AFFECTED YOUR WORK?

BLACKMAN: Two things come to mind. First, with singles staying on the charts longer and artists only doing an album every year and a half to two years, it’s harder to keep writers from getting frustrated with the long gaps of catalog inactivity. Secondly, with so many artists trying to write, there are fewer available slots on most projects. So I’ve got to dedicate a certain amount of time to trying to set up co-writes with artists to even have a chance of being on their albums.

DODSON: Back in the ’90s, there were more record labels with close to 40 artists on each roster. Now there are five major and a few independent labels. With the dramatic decrease in labels and artists, there are fewer possibilities of recordings.

LUTERAN: The digital age is here to stay. You have to adjust your style to fit it. You need to stay current on new technologies. You need to know more than just how to e-mail a song to a music user.

NAMECHE: Digital innovations have made the songplugger’s job much easier. If you were pitching a song for an urgent New York or L.A. project only a few years ago, it required burning a CD, typing and printing a label, tray card and lyric, preparing a Fed Ex envelope and dropping the package before the pickup deadline. Now, whether the publishing emergency is in Timbuktu or right up the street, you just click and pitch.

WHAT, FOR YOU, ARE THE BEST AND/OR WORST ASPECTS OF THE SONGPLUGGER’S LIFE?

BLACKMAN: The worst part is when I can’t find a home for a song I love.

DODSON: The worst part is the politics, but the best part of the business is having relationships with great people who love the music and hearing great songs.

LUTERAN: Being able to get new songs out to the music community.

NAMECHE: For me, the worst thing is when you feel strongly that a song has “song of the year” potential but it never makes it through the Music Row gantlet. And the best part is the thrill and challenge of the chase. Getting a cut these days is like winning the lottery. Faith that a great song will prevail is what keeps us motivated and enthusiastic.

By Randy Rudder for © CMA Close Up News Service / 2008 Country Music Association®, Inc.

This is interesting. All that money that YouTube, Napster and so on settled on with the labels hasn't made it too the artists yet.

"Artist managers and lawyers have been wondering for months when their artists will see money from the copyright settlements and how it will be accounted for," said lawyer John Branca, who has represented Korn, Don Henley, and The Rolling Stones, among others.

The labels

Record label sources said corporate bosses are still deciding on how best to split the money. In determining the payout, they said not every artist is owed money and it must be calculated with regard to the level of copyright infringement for each artist.

Read the full story here:

• Artists Say They Want Their Music Site Dough

[Update] Another story that focuses on YouTube. More information on this story at:

• Musicians still waiting on a YouTube payday - Cnet Blogs

Technorati Tags: music industry, napster