Music Business/Law Tips - "U2's secrets of success"

The rock band U2 has been together for nearly 40 years, and famous for almost 35. How did they do it and what can young artists learn from them? Below are some of the secrets of their success: 1. Great songs. 2. Smart management. 3. Aggressive booking agent. 4. Retained ownership of their masters and publishing. 5. Built a global fan base through consistent releases and touring worldwide. 6. Split songwriting income 4 ways equally in order to keep group harmony. 7. Evolved and stayed relevant with the times/sounds. Ben McLane Esq benmclane.com

Music Business/Law Tips - "Marketing Terms"

For a record label to properly release a record, it needs to market and promote the record. There are a few marketing terms/jargon that are similar/overlap which an artist may hear a label refer to or see as a line time expense on a royalty statement, but which have slightly different meanings to the industry: "Marketing" - Generally refers to money spent for in store promotions, like listening stations, posters or product placement on end-caps or near the sales counter. "Promotion" - Generally refers to the label spending money to hire an outside (or indie) radio or video promoter who can hopefully get a single played. "Advertising" - Generally refers to the label spending money to buy ads on TV, radio or in print. "Publicity" - Generally refers to the label spending money to hire an outside publicist to obtain publicity in the press, TV, print and online media. Ben McLane Esq benmclane.com

Music Business/Law Tips - "Streaming"

The 2 best known sources for streaming music in the US are Pandora and Spotify. Pandora is what is known as a “non-interactive” platform because its sort of like a traditional radio station where the listener has no real control over what is played (other than fixing genres/similar artists that cause a narrowcast). Spotify is known as an “interactive” platform because the listener gets to choose what they listen to (click). While streaming of music is great for the discovery of new music/artists, currently it does not pay out much in royalties to the performers/songwriters. Although it’s hard to say for sure, approximately 140 streams equal what is earned from 1 digital download sale on iTunes. Due to the explosion of cellphones, iPads, etc. (worldwide) where music can be listened to from anywhere via this platform, it will only get to be bigger. We will have to stay tuned to see how the money trickles down to the creators as this new model evolves. Ben McLane Esq Benmclane.com