Music Publishing & Songwriting

Back in my songwriting days (yes, I actually used to have a job where I created something, rather than just trying to sell something), I used to work with a collaborator who referred to her songs as her “babies”. To be honest, I never felt quite that maternal about my tunes (probably a gender thing). I viewed them more as unruly teenagers—brimming with potential, but usually plagued by one or two disastrous character flaws, and prone to costing me a lot more money than they would ever bring in.

Nevertheless, those songs were mine. I wouldn’t want to think of them as orphans. Actually, I never knew songs could be orphans. But apparently, they can. Imagine them, sitting homeless and forlorn by the side of the road, waiting for someone to come by, offer a ride, and take them away…

Could happen. I saw a fascinating blog recently:

Music-Technology-Policy

which on Friday, April 25 addressed the issue of “orphan works” – a subject currently in front of the United States House and Senate. “Orphan works” are copyrights (songs, books, recordings, you name it) for which it is not possible to identify or contact an owner. What the author of Music-Technology-Policy, Chris Castle, very adroitly points out is that there are large commercial interests, Google in particular, that have a vested interest in supporting legislation to make it possible for these “orphaned” works to be used freely, without compensation or risk of penalty.

The problem is largely one of definitions. Certainly, anyone with experience in publishing would be willing to acknowledge that some works do fall into “orphan” status. Disputes between writers, convoluted copyright histories, failure of heirs to continue to administer copyrights, works essentially abandoned by their own authors (remember that scene in “Raising Arizona” where they leave the baby on the car)—these are all situations that can eventually make it impossible to identify the proper owner of a copyright. But companies like Google are setting the bar pretty low.

According to the blog, Google’s Lester Lessig has referred to “out of print books” as orphans. Google’s General Counsel has said publicly: “These works include those for which the author or assignee of the work – the work’s “parent”—can no longer be determined, usually because the contact Information on the copyright registration is out of date”. They also expand that definition of orphan to include “works that have been, for all intents and purposes, ‘disowned’ either because any potential monetary value of the works has expired or because their authors simply are not interested in enforcing copyrights on their works”.

Wow. Those are pretty broad definitions. To claim that just because something is “out of print” makes it an orphan would put a huge portion of American music’s master recordings into the home for wayward record albums. Only a very small portion of recorded music can ever be profitably kept “in print” at any given time. But it may still be actively used in movies, television, advertising, etc. Similarly, labeling something an orphan because of an incorrect contact on the copyright registration is like deeming anyone with an incorrect address on a driver’s license a fugitive. Copyright registrations are notoriously out of date, which is why large film studios use search services that specialize in tracking down authors and publishers.

Finally, to decide that works generating little income or for which the authors are no longer actively engaged in protecting the copyrights are “orphans” overlooks some fundamental realities of publishing. At Shapiro Bernstein, where I work, we have a song in our catalogue that for over two decades generated income in the low three figures (and that’s counting dollars and cents). But upon rediscovering it in the vaults, more than 50 years after its initial creation, the song suddenly found a new life—showing up in a Tarantino film, and then catching to become a stadium anthem, then finding its way into several national advertising campaigns. The song now generates more than enough income to keep its writers living well, and to renew their interest in their long lost “baby”. Songs come back. And when they do, the copyright owners get interested very quickly.

The point of all this is not to encourage you to write your Congressman about the “orphan works” legislation—though I wouldn’t discourage it either. The real point is to remind you once again of how important it is to maintain and update all of the information necessary for administering your copyrights.

Check your ASCAP registrations regularly. Make sure your publisher and your PRO have your correct address. Maintain accurate copyright registrations. Remain ever vigilante for unauthorized uses.

I’ve made all of these points before, both here, and in my book “Making Music Make Money”. It is a primary concern of my Berkleemusic class, Music Publishing 101. Whenever I talk about this subject, I usually emphasize that the songwriter is also a publisher of his or her own work, at least until he or she decides to assign that responsibility to someone else. As publishers, it’s our job to administer and protect the copyright.

But here’s a new way to look at it. You’re not only your song’s publisher. You’re the parent. You created it—now you have to take care of it. If you don’t, there are plenty of large “content” –hungry companies and creative “pop culture alchemists” who will be more than happy to take your song and call it their own. In this Information and Entertainment Age, nothing of value will stay an orphan for long.

While we’re on the subject of conferences– which we were last week— here’s a new one to check out:

London Calling 2008

This is the UK’s largest music industry exhibition conference and live showcasing event, with over 3500 attendees from 45 different countries. Not too surprisingly, the focus of the conference is on independent music and the future of the music industry– which may be one and the same thing. Definitely an appropriate topic when EMI Records, the UK’s biggest label, is about to lay-off a huge percentage of their workforce (that is, if they can ever get around to it). Should be a great conference, and a showcase opportunity that’s worth considering, even for American bands. Maybe especially for American bands…

That’s because London seems to be one of the last spots on earth with a passion for new music. You can feel it when you’re there– this is one place where people still go out regularly to clubs to see new bands, where new, unique artists emerge with some regularity, and where the industry has rediscovered that music without a TV show or a featured spot in an advertisement can still matter to people. Looking at the artists that have broken out of the UK in the past two years, from Amy Winehouse to Corinne Bailey Rae to James Blunt to James Morrison and now Duffy, it’s clear that UK is in one of its most productive periods in years.

What’s really interesting is that the UK is now breaking not only their own native artists– but Americans as well! The Scissor Sisters have all the cachet of a UK act, having become European superstars virtually overnight. The crazy thing is that they’re not British at all. They’re a New York act that made the journey to England, in search of a more open, responsive radio environment, and an audience that still appreciates a mix of style, humor, and a little camp, mixed in with some great songwriting.

The same is true of last year’s big success story, Mika– another American artist that had to go to the UK to find his true home.

It’s quite possible that this year will bring another example, with the NY singer-songwriter Julian Velarde. After several years of building a following in NY’s Lower East Side club scene, this singer-songwriter still hadn’t landed the label or publishing deal he was looking for. Then suddenly, the British A&R scene started buzzing about him and created something of a feeding frenzy, with UK execs flying across the pond to throw out offers and scoop him up right under the noses of the US A&R community. If Julian’s album is the hit that many expect it to be, there will be some A&R weasels over on Madison Avenue and at Rockefeller Center with some serious explaining to do.

Songwriters and artists have to realize that they are in a global business. Of course, that means that you can sell your records all over the world. But it also means that you can make your records all over the world. If you’re not finding the recognition that you’re looking for where you are, or if your sound is not a fit for radio in this country– there’s a flight at JFK that might solve your problem. It’s worth a trip to see if the grass might be greener on another shore.

‘Tis the season to receive resumes. Along with the start of baseball season and allergies, spring brings a fresh batch of resumes circling wildly around the industry, as college grads go on the hunt for that elusive path into the Business (as they say in LA). But this year, it seems the resume flow has turned to a flood– with two separate streams feeding the deluge. What’s strange, and a little worrisome, is the dichotomy between the two kinds of job seekers.

Judging from the contents of my inbox, most of the college grads’ dream job is in A&R at a major record label– everyone’s asking to be hooked up with someone at Sony, or Warner, or Universal. The strange thing is the other set of resumes in my overloaded mailbox are from friends working at major labels and publishers, many of whom have been ensconced in that system for years. And they’re all asking me to keep my eyes open, because they’re desperate to get out!

Someone knows something the other doesn’t. The truth is that as the business shrinks, the most dangerous spot to be is inside a multi-national corporate behemoth. With veteran A&R people being laid-off in droves, those entry-level opportunities are pretty hard to come by. But even if you get one, you might not want to unpack your boxes right away. It’s hard to look at the current economic situation in the record industry and anticipate much of anything except another round of cost cutting come December. That dream job might be exactly that.

The problem is that too many students are still buying into the MTV and Idol-fueled myth of the mighty “record label”, with its expense- account toting execs, skyscraper offices, and superstar glamour. Industry insiders know that this particular dream exists more as flashbacks in the nostalgic minds of middle-aged A&R weasels recounting the good old days, or Doug Morris, than in the day-to-day reality of the people who actually make records. But then, those people aren’t at the major labels anymore, anyway.

The truth is, the music business is alive and kicking among hundreds of small to mid-size firms that serve every possible niche and need for an expanding, but increasingly diverse audience. If you’re looking for a job in the music industry, this is where you want to be– in companies that are growing, and with people who are energized and enthused about what they’re doing.

My advice for job-hunters? Broaden your scope. I spoke this week at a very good panel for an organization called “Women In Music” (don’t ask me how that invitation came about), and the theme that emerged overwhelmingly was the incredible range of jobs now available within the industry. The panel itself included band managers, booking agents, music supervisors, music lawyers, major label publicists, musicians, concert promoters, indie-label owners, and that was just the start. It touched on opportunities in merchandising companies, performing rights organizations, radio, satellite radio, the blogosphere, music journalism, video production, ringtones, video games and… is that enough?

Here’s another idea. Have you thought about all of the companies outside of the entertainment business that are expanding into music? Major corporations from Starbucks to Nokia to investment funds are creating music-centered businesses, from labels, to concert halls, to publishing concerns. If you’re going to work for “the man”, at least work for a man with a new idea.

And here’s one last idea– maybe the best one of all. Why not start your own business? The upside of the disarray in the music business is that the field is wide-open for young entrepreneurs with good ideas and an eye to the future. Nothing is set in stone anymore– and people are desperate to find new ways of doing business. If you have the idea, DO IT!

When you’re setting out to sea on a small sailboat, the outlook can be pretty daunting– and it’s easy to assume that the big ship out on the horizon would be a much safer spot to be. But if that ship has a hole in the side, and you know how to sail– you’re probably better off on your own. Security is an illusion anyway.

More than anytime in recent memory, the music business needs creative young people who can create new business models and reinvigorate an industry dominated largely by leaders who’ve proven woefully out of touch. But there are no invitations to this particular dance. You just have to show up and get to work.

Welcome to the jungle…

Women In Music
Paul McCartney First Artist to Sign with Starbucks Record Label
Resume Help Tool from Hot Jobs

Having returned from three days at Miami’s Winter Music Conference just long enough to wash clothes, dump a very discerning collection of 200 business cards and CD’s into a pile on the desk and then head off again last week for ASCAP’s “I Create Music” Expo in Los Angeles, I have come to three realizations:

1. You could easily spend every week of the calendar year at some kind of music conference. At present, there appears to be a bigger industry in talking about the business of music than in actually doing the business.

2. You really can have too many black canvas shoulder bags.

3. There is no excuse for not meeting the people in the industry that you need to meet in order to move your business ahead.

While I was at the WMC, someone attending a panel asked:

“Everyone is talking about new income from things like television and advertising placements, games, and mobile music. But how is an independent songwriter supposed to get their music in these situations when they don’t know the right people or have any contacts?”

A murmur of solidarity arose from the audience.

I was incredulous. I had just come from a panel on mobile music that featured executives from Blackberry, Globefish Media, and Mozes, Inc. literally inviting people to approach them after the discussion and give them music. In the audience that day, there were people like Ed Razzano from Ricall, a company debuting a remarkable new web-based format to help independent musicians, labels, and publishers market their music to film and television. At the “I Create Music” Expo last week, songwriters had access to top music supervisors like Deva Anderson, Gary Calamar, and Billy Gottlieb. They were able to learn from industry legends like Billy Steinberg, Steve Miller, and Jon Bon Jovi. If all that failed, they could check out a more humble panelist like yours truly—our panel was called “Mind Your Own Business: A Toolkit For Self-Publishing-Career Building Workshop”.

The real question might be: How can any songwriter still complain about a lack of access to industry insiders or a lack of knowledge about how the business works?

The truth is that there are probably a few other industries in which top executives are more visible or accessible, or spend more time just generally hanging out (which may actually be part of the industries problem). The other more unfortunate truth is that relatively few songwriters, even those that pay the money to attend one of these conventions, take full advantage of the opportunities that are there.

Obviously, just because Desmond Child is speaking at a conference doesn’t mean you’re going to meet him. Handing Pete Ganbarg your business card doesn’t make him your new best friend. You might cross paths with the person that could transform your career and not even hold the elevator door for them. Some of this comes down to chance. But not that much.

The real key is that most writers don’t know how to work a music conference to their advantage. So in the interest of making that registration fee pay off, and making my experience on panels like the ASCAP Expo a little more rewarding, here are 3 tips for getting the most out of a music conference:

1. Prepare. There will likely be several hundred people showing up with the same bright idea that you had, which means: you’re entering a war zone. Come prepared. Check the schedule of panels and events well in advance, and research the panelists to identify the key events you want to attend, and the particular people you want to meet. Google those people who make your most wanted list—try to find a photo so you can recognize them, should you see them in the hall.

2. Memorize. Faces. Names. Companies. You might not meet the person you’re looking for while he or she is on a panel. But you might be seated next to him or her at another panel. If you see a name on a badge, you need to be able to remember who the person is and what he or she does. And there’s one more thing to memorize:

Your lines. You need to be able to explain who you are and what you do in a clever, interesting way in ten seconds or less. If you’re working with someone important, or have a hit in the making, or just topped the charts somewhere—that story needs to be told. Fast.

3. Ask one good question. I know—it seems too easy. But trust me on this, when the panel concludes (as they always do) with a period of questions and answers, 95% of the questions will be either irrelevant, so personally focused as to hold no interest for anyone other than the person asking, or revealing of a complete ignorance about the people on the panel.

If you ask one serious question that illustrates knowledge of the specific sector of the industry being discussed, or even better, knowledge of one of the panelist’s specific business activities, you will be noticed. I promise you, anyone on the panel will be more than happy to speak with you afterward. It’s as simple as that.

For songwriters and developing publishers, there is no conference more useful than the recent “I Create Music Expo” in Los Angeles. Within three days, you can learn virtually everything you need to know about the music industry and the songwriter and publisher’s place in it. So no more excuses about not knowing the right things or the right people, it’s all there for the taking. Hope to meet you there next year.

To See What Took Place at both Conferences Please Visit the Below Websites:

ASCAP
Winter Music Conference

Those who have been following this blog regularly will recognize this as a dispatch from the war-zone. At the moment, the music industry is embroiled in a battle that could be a matter of survival for publishers and songwriters, and arguably, for record companies and other content providers as well.

The fight is centered on the Copyright Tribunal, the board that will determine the statutory mechanical royalty rate to be paid for records sold (people do still sell records, right?) as well as downloads and digital streams. On side of the battle lines, we find music publishers and songwriters who want the rate raised–on the opposing side, we find record labels and digital music distributors, who claim that the current rate should be reduced. The lines are drawn, and the battle is raging in full—last week, music publishers began, not terribly successfully, to make their case. Now, the labels will have their day in court. It would not be an overstatement to say that in many cases, both sides are fighting for their lives.

For those joining us with the war already underway, here’s a quick bit of background. A mechanical royalty is the amount that a label or digital distributor must pay to the music publisher (who collects on behalf of the songwriter) for the use of a song on a physical record that is sold commercially, or through some means of digital distribution. Here’s a quick trip down the income stream, to try to clarify the process:

You, Joe Songwriter, and your publisher, Pennies Music, have a song on the new album by Next Big Thing, on the Cut-Rate Records label. Every time Cut-Rate sells that Next Big Thing album, the label must take part of that income, and pay a mechanical royalty to Pennies Music, who will then, in turn, pay a portion of that royalty to you, Joe Songwriter. At present, that mechanical royalty is: 9.1 cents. In other words, for every $20 CD sold, the publishers of each song on the record receive 9.1 cents. If there are ten songs on the album, then the label will pay out roughly one dollar in mechanical royalties, for every album sold.

This “statutory” rate of 9.1 cents is determined by the Copyright Tribunal, and reset every few years—which is precisely what’s happening at the moment. But what’s being lost in this debate is the difference between theory and reality. Unfortunately, what I just described above is “theory”. It’s the way that things are supposed to work. Publishers will grant mechanical licenses, record labels will sell records, and pay the writers and publishers 9.1 cents a song. But as Steven Tyler might say: Dream on.

The truth is that record labels have devised a myriad of ways to avoid paying full statutory rate—that whopping $1 per album. Instead, the labels have created the controlled composition clause, which simply means that the label pays only 3/4 of the full royalty rate, or roughly 6.8 cents a song. Why? Because they said so. This is one of the great bargaining maneuvers in history—try it sometime at your local supermarket. Just tell your grocer that you’d prefer to pay only 3/4 of your bill. Let me know if that works for you.

On top of requesting a 3/4 rate, many labels also employ the “cap”, which they have cleverly inserted into artists’ recording agreements. The cap stipulates that the total amount of mechanical royalties shall not exceed ten times the 3/4 rate, for all of the songs on the album. This means that if the album contains 12 songs, the label pays only 5.12 cents, or 10 x .068 divided by 12. And it gets worse.

Not everyone on the album is necessarily subject to the controlled composition clause. The artist (assuming they write at least part of their own material) is almost always considered “controlled”, and usually any producer or other person associated with the artist will be considered “controlled” as well. However, covers of songs not written by the artist or the producer, samples, or interpolations of outside songs are not generally “controlled”. That is to say, if you sample a Gamble & Huff composition in your song, you can be sure that Gamble & Huff will be demanding full rate. The result of this can be brutal:

When one or more writer receives full statutory rate rather than the controlled rate, the difference (2.5 cents) is made up out of the share of the controlled writers. This means that if you have a song on an album that contains 13 songs, one or two of which are covers of well-known earlier hits or which contain sizeable samples, you could find yourself earning not 9 cents per record sold, but as little as 4 cents or less—if you are unlucky enough to be subject to the controlled composition clause.

When that happens, this whole war over statutory mechanical rates seems pretty irrelevant indeed. In fact, I’m prepared to offer a simple settlement that could stop this whole war over statutory rates with nary a casualty. Try this:

The publishers agree to leave the full statutory rate where it is right now, at 9. 1 cents. But for their part, the labels agree to actually pay the real statutory rate. No clauses, exceptions, negotiations, or extortion. Just pay the amount on the price tag. Period. Maybe the courts could even close a couple labels down for putting music out on the market without a mechanical license—a practice that has now reached the point where multi-platinum albums remain unlicensed four and five years after their release.

I suspect that any real-world publisher would take this solution in an instant. Fast, easy, no fuss licensing? A chance to actually collect what is owed? That would be a peace treaty any publisher could accept.

Please visit the below site for information about National Music Publisher’s Association: NMPA

How’s this for kicking someone when they’re down? No– this isn’t a blog about NY’s recklessly randy governor Eliot Spitzer, although one can be sure that there was some celebrating last week among the radio promotion chiefs of the various major labels, who were put under investigation by Spitzer several years ago for having paid money to persuade radio stations to add their records (NO! Say it ain’t so!)

But this blog is about screw-ups– the kind that end careers, torpedo once solid companies, and drags an industry into the abyss. Ring any bells? That’s right, kids. This is about the biggest record company screw-ups of all time.

Don’t blame me– it’s not my topic. It actually comes from a recent article in Blender recounting the 20 biggest blunders in record company history (see the link below), which is a little like trying to reduce the history of Chicago Cubs baseball down to the five most disappointing moments. There are really too many to count.

The article manages to nail a few inarguable mistakes (Decca Records passing on the Beatles; Sony deciding to drop from the roster both Alicia Keys and 50 Cent), a couple of minor miscalculations (sure, Berry Gordy sold Motown for $60 million when he should have gotten $600 million, but what’s an extra zero or two to a gazillionaire) and a few debatable decisions (the lawsuit against Napster, and the RIAA’s campaign against digital piracy). It also leaves a few doozies out. But then, how could it not?

My personal favorite (because I happened to be working at Jive Records at the time) was BMG’s failure to include a standard inducement clause in their contract with NSYNC, which allowed the group to leave the label after their first album, and re-sign with BMG-distributed Jive Records. The subsequent multi-platinum success of that group, and Justin Timberlake’s solo project, created an exorbitant price for Jive/Zomba several years later, when BMG was forced to purchase the company for over $3 billion dollars. That expenditure left BMG in a deep financial hole that eventually led to the merging of BMG Records with Sony Music, and the recent sale of Zomba Music to Universal.

It’s hard to say why the record labels make so many dumb mistakes. Most of the people working at labels are smart, music-loving, ambitious people who believe sincerely in what they’re trying to do. The rest are cynical corporate sharks that devour anything or anyone in their path. But even those people are not stupid. Somehow the pressure of chasing trends, trying to predict the unpredictable, and package that which is too ephemeral to be packaged, seems to lead to a collective abandoning of good common sense that is annoying when you’re on the inside, and embarrassing when you’re observing from the outside. Maybe it’s all those late nights, it’s hard to say for sure.

But unfortunately, the madness shows no signs of abating. I had lunch this week with a friend who created an online social networking site– not surprisingly, our discussion eventually turned to YouTube and the recent controversy between a coalition of top artist managers and the major labels. After delaying way too long, the labels finally came to an agreement with YouTube almost a year ago on a revenue-sharing plan that was supposed to compensate artists (and the label) for the use of their content. Now, top managers like John Branca and Irving Azoff are threatening to sue the labels, as their superstar clients have yet to receive any money, or even accountings, from that deal.

Of course, record labels not paying artists doesn’t qualify as a record company mistake– that’s more like business as usual. What struck me at my lunch meeting was my friend’s comment that the managers and artists were waiting for the proverbial Godot. From his insider vantage point, he was quite confident: there is neither YouTube money, nor will there be– at least not any of real significance.

It appears that in their desire to reach an agreement with a company that had become a powerful marketing partner, the labels managed to negotiate a revenue-sharing plan that amounts to next to nothing. This seems somewhat incredible, given that YouTube and similar sites were entirely constructed upon illegal content. One would think that the labels had a pretty strong bargaining position, given that YouTube was inarguably in blatant violation of the copyright laws. And yet, somehow the major labels managed once again to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and give away the artist’s work for pennies. If you can’t win a bargaining session with someone who is on the verge of being shutdown for copyright violations, there may be no hope left. Already, the labels are starting to blame the lack of artist royalty payments on “legal costs” that have outweighed the actual income.

And that’s the moral of this story. Unfortunately, there is only one winner in this endless succession of record industry screw-ups. The artists? They’re always the losers. The record companies usually eventually feel the pain as well– just ask all the people waiting for their pink slips over at EMI. The only people that come out as winners in these situations are the lawyers. If a label signs a million-dollar buzz- band that flops, you can be sure that the lawyer got his or her percentage, and has long since moved on to the next big thing. Labels agree to a bad revenue-sharing plan? That’s okay. It still took months and plenty of legal eagles to get there. The cost of record company screw-ups is very high, because it usually comes with an hourly price tag.

Of course, one day soon, we won’t have the labels to kick around anymore. But have no fear. You can be sure that we’ll always have the lawyers.

For the full article from Blender on the Top 20 Record Company Screw-Ups visit:

Blender Article March 2008

A few weeks ago, I gave a shout out to the musical community of Nashville, having been reminded of that city’s vitality as a music center during a recent business trip. A few weeks ago, I hit the road again to visit a town that, at the moment, burns a few degrees hotter even than Nashville:

Atlanta.

Detroit and Motown in the mid-Sixties; Philadelphia in the Seventies; Seattle in the Eighties– that’s where Atlanta is right now. In many ways, it’s the epicenter of pop and urban music in America, with producers and writers like Dream, Sean Garrett, Bryan Michael Cox, and Dallas Austin, along with artists like Cee-Lo, Outkast, Shop Boyz, and Usher dominating the charts. All that success has created a must-go destination for artists seeking that magic production touch, A&R weasels looking for that breakthrough hit song, or publishers searching for the latest up and coming hitmakers. On top of the thriving urban/pop scene, there’s an active rock scene, with artists like the Whigs, as well as a healthy and thriving singer/songwriter world. Having made my way down to the ATL to check out a new songwriter/producer, I soon found myself in the middle of a musical community that is a model for how to build a modern music center.

In Atlanta, the artistic and production community live and work next to each other– everyone has a studio complex where musicians, writers, artists, and managers constantly intermingle. While most people work within a small camp of writers and producers, often associated with a specific company, everyone mixes and matches. They trade ideas, they work on the same projects, they share engineers and musicians, and they compete openly but without malice. Most importantly, they have a solid group of executives, artist managers, studio managers, lawyers and publishers that support the creative people and help to build bridges to other music centers in NY and LA. The moral to this heartwarming story: People need People.

No man is an island. If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a whole town to build a business. Ask any neighborhood barbecue shop– if you want to be in business, you have to be part of the community.

Probably because we spent too many of our formative years locked away in solitude– listening to records, practicing our instrument or writing heartbreaking poems of love and longing– most musicians tend to be loners. The message from music centers like Atlanta and Nashville is clear: it’s time to become a team player. Your team is the musical community around you: other musicians, writers, artists, publishers, press, fans, radio programmers, independent film-makers, and anyone else who shares a similar direction. This has been a constant theme in the development of American music, from the Memphis rockabilly community that spawned rock ‘n’ roll to the Brill Building in NY, to the rise of West Coast rap. Artists, writers and companies do not develop in isolation. They grow in clusters, supporting and learning from each other.

Of course, everyone is competing with one another as well. That would be hard to miss in either Nashville or Atlanta. Everyone is working on the same projects, chasing the same cuts, and cultivating the same contacts. This is what businesses do– they compete without apology. This is also the benefit of being part of the community– competition invariably makes everyone raise the level of their game. Lack of competition gives you Amtrak and your cable company.

As you try to build your publishing business, it’s essential to start creating not just a company, but a community around you. Hitco Music was one of the early players in Atlanta urban music, and they continue to thrive amidst the scene that they built. No matter where you are, there are likely other people trying to launch similar creative ventures. It’s up to you to find them, and then figure out ways you can work together. By sharing information and knowledge, you’ll start to build something bigger than yourself– and that’s when a musical community starts to take shape. The business pay-off is big– but the personal pay-off is equally big. You just might make some friends along the way. You might also change the lives of the local aspiring artists that come after you.

Here’s an idea: get together four or five local songwriters and just throw a little party. Play some songs for each other– solicit some feedback, criticism or ideas. Find out who is doing what, and what the shared challenges are. Find out who knows who. If you have a good time, try doing it once a month. This is what was happening in NY when I arrived as an aspiring songwriter, too many years ago. That little group of 8-10 people spawned at least five people still active and successful in the industry today. It made me at least four or five friends for life. That’s not a bad investment for a Thursday night.

Maybe it’s time for a little community service.

In a business as overcrowded and hyper-competitive as today’s music industry, it’s hard to imagine that there are many opportunities lying around undiscovered. With giant conglomerates like Universal Music covering every corner of the globe, often with several different affiliated companies in one geographical territory, along with indie labels, established independent publishers, and the army of new start-up ventures, the odds of finding a new, undiscovered opportunity can feel as remote as finding a table at the Carlton bar during Midem. No matter where you look, by the time you get there, someone has already placed their stake.

It turns out that the Midem analogy is a good one. The truth is, opportunities are hard to find because we’re all looking in the same place. Two weeks from now, thousands of music industry weasels will descend on Austin, Texas for SXSW, the music industry equivalent of fox-hunting, with trend-sniffing, pen-wielding A&R scouts in mad pursuit of the ever elusive Next Big Thing. Picture a very small forest filled with trigger-happy hunters, all firing at anything that moves. Not surprisingly, everyone emerges bloodied, exhausted and empty-handed. Not to mention severely hung-over.

As an alternative, consider this recent story about Carlin America Inc., a venerable independent publisher, who has recently unlocked a whole new source of revenue. Carlin recently acquired the rights to a whole collection of collegiate fight songs, including the themes for Alabama, Florida, Tenessee, Kentucky, Louisiana State, and about 95 other universities.

Fight songs? You mean for marching bands and cheerleaders? Well, yeah. And cell phone ring tones. Video games. Bottle openers for the tail-gaiting crowd. Key chains. Stuffed animals. You know how when you open up a greeting card, it can play a song? That’s not a miracle. That’s a microprocessor– and it means that virtually any gadget or gizmo can be made to play a song with the touch of a button. And apparently, a lot of people like to hear their gadgets play the school fight song. Who knew?

These are the real opportunities of publishing. They lie not in chasing the latest buzz band or pitching songs to Leona Lewis. Those things have their place. But the smart publishers are the ones who are looking where other publishers are not– at music that has the kind of mass consumer appeal to work for a variety of products, from singing fish to hang on the wall, to a greeting card for Grandma, or an orange-clad Santa Claus doll that plays the Florida fight song. It might not win you a Grammy or get you a seat at the ASCAP Pop Awards. But it makes a nice sound when the pennies drop into your bank account.

One of my favorite songwriters, Steve Diamond, recently called to tell me that a song of his was going to be used in a new Reba McEntire album– an album specially made and packaged for sale nationwide in the Hallmark stores for Valentines Day. These kinds of product, aimed directly at very specific markets through specialized retail outlets, represent the future, when it comes to selling physical recordings of music. Likewise, the greeting card, ring tone, game, and electronic gizmo business is likely the future of exploiting musical copyrights.

As I point out in my book, the job of a music publisher is to turn music into money. What Steve Diamond has done to get his song into the Reba- Hallmark venture, or what Carlin Music has done with the school fight songs is Music Publishing 101. My advice is, while everyone else is at SXSW, spend the week writing down every time you hear music being used, whether it’s in a commercial, an elevator, a health club, a ring tone, or the perennial singing fish. This is where the money is being made. Now try to figure out how your catalogue could be used in one of these opportunities. Or try to figure out which songs are being used, and how you might be able to acquire those songs. “Yea, Alabama” is no “Sweet Home Alabama”– but it’s probably a lot more profitable than most of the songs on the pop albums released this year.

In a business filled with lemmings, it’s not a bad move to change things up, and go left when everyone else is going right. That’s called a reverse, and it usually results in nothing but an open field of opportunity up ahead. Go team!

“You’d think that people would have had enough of silly love songs…”

Paul McCartney wrote that– back in 1975. And guess what? Now they have. Okay, sure– there are still some that breakthrough every now and then. But Ne-Yo’s big breakthrough hit last year was “I’m so sick of love songs…” It’s a different world out there.

I know we’re coming up on Valentine’s Day and all. But romance in songwriting is over-rated. If you want a hint to drastically improve your chances for writing a hit song, here’s one:

No More Love Songs.

Have you ever thought about how many hit songs are not about romantic love? From “Who Let The Dogs Out?” to “I Believe I Can Fly”, there are countless classic songs that are not centered on romantic relationships. Despite all that history, I’m always amazed at the number of writers who focus almost exclusively on love and romance as lyrical subject matter.

The rest of the listening audience has noticed this as well. When we hear a song for the first time, the unspoken assumption is that it will have a romantic storyline. By turning instead to an unexpected subject, especially a controversial or provocative one, the writer can instantly add a twist that will make the song stand out. Songs about child abuse (“Luka”), poverty (“Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)”), abortion (“Papa Don’t Preach”) or politics (“Sunday Bloody Sunday”) show that pop music can effectively address almost any social issue. Songs about baseball (“Centerfield”), cars (“Little Deuce Coupe”), and fashion (“Chains Hang Low”) work as well. Any subject is a welcome relief from the expectation of another break-up or make-up song.

Now You Try It: Take a finished lyric, or a title idea that has yet to be developed. Leaving the title or catch phrase as it is, can you put a twist on the lyric, by constructing something that isn’t a straightforward love song? Think about the topics that concern you, whether it’s politics or partying. Nothing is off limits. The only thing you can’t do is write one more song about that mean boyfriend and what he did to you– or the mysterious beautiful girl down the hall who doesn’t know you’re alive.

My point is that in a business in which a song must stand out in order to be successful– writing about the same thing as everyone else is not an advantage. A change of subject is always healthy.

Of course, I’m not really advocating a ban on love songs. My wife would kill me. But by varying your topics a bit, you may stumble on a way to address the L word from a different, more interesting angle. And that’s the key.

Have no fear– there will always be a place for a unique, and original love song. As the lyric says, “on this you can rely… the world will always welcome lovers, as time goes by…”. But a little change would do us all good. When it comes to lyric-writing, love is not all you need.

Happy Valentines Day!

I just can’t stop making you money. First, I tipped you off about Sound Exchange, and the money that is being set aside to pay performance royalties to artists whose work is used in the digital domain. Then I clued you into the importance of registering your songs at Harry Fox and MCPS/PRS in order to avoid other people collecting your lost income. Next, I told you to get in the game, and suggested that there was an important new income source in video games. And now it’s time to go to church.

Okay, I realize this isn’t for everyone. If your catalogue of songs is predominately death metal anthems or songs about getting “low”, church is probably not the place for you. Clearly, Christian music, whether it’s traditional hymns, Christian rock, CCM pop, or gospel, is not for everyone. But it’s for more people than you might think. If you’re not in the industry, it might surprise you how big these markets are. But what might really surprise you is what a big business it can be.

I remember the first trip I made to Nashville—I was working for a large publisher based in New York, and headed off to meet my colleagues in the Country music office (based in Nashville) and in the Christian music office (located in the center of that industry, in the suburb of Franklin). Like most offices in the country music industry, our Nashville office was located in a small family house along Music Row. It was charming and cozy, but by New Yorker skyscraper standards, not overly impressive.

With that in mind, I headed off to the Franklin office of our Christian Music division, expecting an even smaller office somewhere in a suburban office park. After all, country music is a much bigger business than the Christian business, right?

What I found was a six or seven story glass tower devoted entirely to the business of Christian music—a record label, publishing company, printing company and recording studio. “How can the CCM business be generating this kind of income?” It didn’t seem to correspond in any way to the level of CCM record sales. Turns out.. it doesn’t need to .

The Christian music industry is one segment that learned early on that there is more to making money in music than record sales. A huge portion of the income in Christian music is generated by print music, an area that has been largely ignored in the secular business. Print music is key in the CCM market because of the sale of praise and worship music, choral arrangements, youth choir arrangements and other songbooks that are marketed directly to churches and Christian bookstores. For those writers fortunate enough to write a praise and worship favorite, the money can flow in year after year—from the publishing rights, not the record royalties.

So for those of you who are actively involved in the Christian or Gospel business, it’s essential to learn how to collect the money for these worship service uses. This past week, Billboard writer Susan Butler , in her column “The Publisher’s Place”, highlighted a very important organization:

Christian Copyright Licensing International

This company, based in my hometown of Portland, Oregon, licenses and collects royalties from churches for reproductions, reprintings or other copying of songs to be used in their worship services, choir shows, etc. Churches are not required to pay performance royalties (ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC) for their services. But they are required to license, and pay for reproductions like bulletin inserts, songbooks, or visual projections of the songs. What does that really mean to publishers? About $172 million over the past 19 years!

CCLI is not only responsible for collecting the money, and distributing it to the publishers and writers, but also for helping church choir leaders, ministers and others to understand their obligations under the law, and the importance of licensing the music they use. It even has an online service called SongSelect that works with nearly 60,000 subscribers, giving them access to a library of almost 200,000 songs available for download. The organization licenses 145,000 churches, offering a “church copyright license” with scaled annual fees based on the number of church members. From those church licenses, CCLI distributed more than $15 million to publishers last year.

Please be clear. This is not a religious message. But if you’ve watched the election results on Tuesday, and seen the surprising strength of Mike Huckabee, you’ve seen that the power and size of the evangelical movement should not be underestimated. I’m not preaching to anyone here.

I’m talking business—and reminding you that if you are involved in the CCM or Gospel industry, you need to be familiar with CCLI. There is real money there—money that can help you to sustain your business, spread your message, and get your music heard. When people lift every voice and sing, someone’s getting paid. Let it be you.