HELP: My Pandora Payments Are Plummeting and I Don’t Know Why

I am a composer, instrumentalist, and pianist.  While I am grateful that I have been able to supplement my income and make a living from Pandora royalties, I am disappointed to see my royalties on a collision course with a future payout of $0 per month…

Give Me $1,000, and I’ll Get Your Song Played on FM Radio

SwerrrdMedia offers a quick way to get your song played on obscure radio stations. For a year, Lindsey K. Williams has worked tirelessly to upgrade and update campaigns to optimize and maximize artist releases.  According to her Twitter page, she works as an intern rep for ABC, Universal Music, and Roc Nation. Williams admits that […]

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Yes, Wealthy People Can Finance Artist Careers! Here’s How to Structure ‘Artist Investment Agreements’

I’ve negotiated artist investment agreements ranging from $25,000 to $2.5 million.  Here’s everything you need to know about them. The following comes from noted music industry attorney Steve Gordon.  Gordon is the author of  11 Contracts That Every Artist, Songwriter and Producer Should Know.  The last chapter of the book addresses investment deals.   Introduction Early […]

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13 Ways To Get Blacklisted From The Music Industry

The longer I’m in music, the bigger my network gets and the smaller the music community seems. I was on a layover at MSP (Minneapolis) and I saw Rashawn Ross, the renowned trumpet player for Dave Matthews Band, Soulive, Lettuce etc etc. I’d never met Rashawn, but a quick glance at his Instagram showed that we […]

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3 Things I Learned from Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast

A few months ago I had Jennifer Clavin from Bleached on my podcast. If you don’t know, Bleached is a forever cool, Los Angeles based punk band. We had a great chat and when we were done I was thinking about bands with a similar fanbase that would be good for the show.  One in […]

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Gene Simmons: Name One Superstar Artist Created After 1988

Superstars created between 1958-1988: Elvis, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Madonna, Prince, Jackson, U2, AC/DC, Kiss. Superstars created after 1988: ___________________. Last week, KISS bassist Gene Simmons boldly declared that streaming and piracy had killed the next Beatles.  But this is a lot more serious than Simmons first outlined.  In fact, the modern music industry — or lack […]

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The Easiest Way to Fix the Streaming Mechanical is to Get Rid of It

More than 500 songwriters and publishers are seeking punitive damages for Spotify’s failure to pay mechanical royalties.  How did we get here? Interactive ‘streaming mechanicals’ were invented by stakeholders in 2008 to address the concern that streaming would cannibalize record sales which would, in turn, vanquish mechanical royalties.  So they imposed a replacement that mollified […]

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How To Get Your Copyrights Back From Your Label or Publisher

There’s a little known section in the US Copyright Act of 1976 enabling any copyright owner to get their rights back after 35 years. Meaning, if you wrote or released a song with a label or a publishing company after January 1st 1978, you can terminate your agreement and get all your rights back. It […]

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Songtradr Is Bringin’ the Tip Jar Back

Now there’s another way to beat the system: tips on Songtradr. We’ve been pretty pumped to start collaborating with Songtradr, a company that’s starting to upend a stodgy synchronization business.  Slowly (or quickly), a clique of dealmakers is giving way to a broader licensing marketplace. But Songtradr is also opening another way for artists to […]

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‘Streaming Is Killing the Next Beatles,’ Gene Simmons Says

From an interview with Gene Simmons and Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo this week… Maria Bartiromo: Gene, you have been a student of this industry for a long time, and have participated in it. You’re seeing this world change so much because of streaming. You own your own music.  So do streaming services hurt artists […]

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