Your success as a singer-songwriter depends a good deal on the strategic way you position your self as a musician. The artistry of creating superb new music—your vision, your disposition, your intuitivesense of rhythm and musical figures—is a vastly different beast than the frequently daunting legal and economic landscape of music in this new generation of digital distribution. One venture is creative and intuitive; the other involves red tape, legality, logistics and factors.
Aside from the creative process, it’s essential to contemplate strategy when considering where you desire your music to take you. Do you create audio as a career? Is music your primary type of earning? Do you create music to promote albums and create a fan base, or do you primarily perfect to have your productions placed in film, television and video games? Perhaps you produce new music for all three reasons.
Another essential factor to contemplate is what distribution technique will in reality make you money. Given the current landscape of diminishing download profit and the high cost of antiquated physical distribution systems it can be a daunting task to discover the approach that is right for you. In 2012, most producers agree that the top two ways to make money from music are to tour, or to license music for film, television and video games. After investigating the effort and expense involved in organizing, booking and executing tours licensing naturally emerges as a preferred revenue stream generated by music. If placement in films and television is your principal purpose, please keep reading.
The way in which you control ownership of your music is an essential element for prospective music licensing deals in the future. You’ll want to research what would make the most sense for your own productions with a lawyer, but in general, you’ll need to bear in mind:
1) You're going to want to keep your own publishing.
2) It is easier to contemplate licensing contracts if there is one single
songwriter credit for your music.
3) It is less complicated to work with licensing agents if you release your own
songs as an independent artist. In general, the less parties there are
in a contract, the better.
4) It is ideal to evaluate licensing agencies well. Have a lawyer
review any potential contracts. If you choose a licensing agent, they
are likely to prefer to be the exclusive agent—so choose well.
Musician Jennifer Clarke is one such singer-songwriter. She creates her music primarily as an emotional pursuit. Her productions are deeply personal and soulful. Yet the moment the album is mastered and printed, Jennifer becomes all business. She licensed her track, “More Than I Have,” on the FX Series starring Denis Leary, Rescue Me. Her current album, Trinkets in Rubble, is slated for release in March 2012, when she’ll begin new efforts to get the album licensed.
What can you do to pursue licensing? Get in contact with Music Nomad, ASCAP, or use your preferred search engine to seek companies that specialize in the field. Most importantly, never give up. If you knock on enough doors at some point one of them will open.
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