Lyric Financial

LYRIC Success Story Updates:

2011-02-23T13:15:00.000-08:00

If you are a regular of our blog or have received our Sound Advice emails in the past, you know that we like to ask our clients a lot of questions (Q&A’s if you will). Our clients have lived and breathed in the music industry and have a lot of valuable things to say about the lessons they have learned along the way. This past month we sat down with three of our clients to hear about the latest chapter in each of their success stories. Read below for the inside scoop.

Keep it in the groove,

Eli Ball

Jim McBride

Songwriter and Co-Founder of Copyright Recapture

Jim’s company, Copyright Recapture, now has over 100 clients and continues to help songwriters and estates recapture the publishing back on their songs. Jim has also taken the cap off his pen and is back in the groove again writing hit songs. He has recently signed with Judy Harris Music (JHM), a well-respected independent publisher in Nashville, which is run by Judy Harris (formerly with CBS Songs) and Margie Hunt (former A&R director of CBS Records).

Loni Rose

Singer/Songwriter

Loni recently moved to Nashville and has been embraced by the Nashville songwriting community, collaborating with an impressive artist roster including Shawn Mullins, Chuck Cannon (Toby Keith), Jeff Trott (Sheryl Crow), Joe West (Keith Urban), artist Carolyn Dawn Johnson, and writer/producer Trey Bruce (Trace Adkins). This past December Loni's song, "Trying Hard" was featured in the Garth Brooks Lifetime movie, "Unanswered Prayers." Loni will be in the studio this spring to record her follow-up album. You can check out and vote on the songs she is considering for the new album at www.lonirosemusic.com.

Dave Pahanish

Singer/Songwriter

The past two years have been quite the ride for country singer/songwriter Dave Pahanish. Dave wrapped up 2010 with a co-write on Toby Keith’s new number one hit, “American Ride” (co-written with Joe West). Even more recently, Dave holds the songwriting credit for Keith Urban’s new single,” With You,” and landed two songs on Tim McGraw’s newest album, which is to be released this spring. When Dave wasn’t writing number one hits for country’s top artists last year, he stayed busy working on his second solo album which is to be released this March. And did we mention he got hitched to the fabulous and talented Kristen Lee? Congrats Dave!

Hillbilly in Washington - Part 2

2010-10-29T11:16:00.000-07:00

My wife Mary and I headed back to Washington, DC earlier this month to take part in the Future of Music Policy Summit. It is one of the most cutting edge music business brainstorming sessions on the planet, where independents and corporate types from the four corners of the music community come to share their respective visions on the next steps for our industry. Areas covered ranged from the latest direct-to-fan marketing models to serious technology and intellectual property issues. As a bonus, you get to actually talk to folks like TBone Burnett (producer) and Mary Beth Peters (Head of the US Copyright Office) at the same event…how cool is that! This year’s summit had the first panel I have ever seen at a national music conference on artist funding, an increasingly crucial but often overlooked area on how the heck an artist can raise funds for recording, touring, promotion, etc. in this new DIY world; I was joined on that panel by some very innovative folks including Benji Rogers, who founded the fan-based funding site - www.pledgemusic.com. These fan-funded financing models have been evolving for several years and now seem to be gaining serious traction, including collaborations with labels. Also on the panel was Brian McTear, who founded Weathervane, www.weathervanemusic.org, a hybrid model that combines non-profit funding sources, i.e. grants/donations and traditional "for-profit" revenue streams. Other highlights included a very enjoyable Pho dinner at Nam Viet with a full house of conference attendees and the pleasure of meeting one of the smartest technology guys on the music business planet, Jim Griffin of OneHouse, www.onehouse.com. Jim was very articulate on two of the key issues discussed at the conference - the inevitable shift from distribution (of individual units of music) to delivery (streaming) as the cornerstone of the music biz 2.0 model and the creation of a national artist registry. Kudos to Lissa Rosenthal, Executive Director of Future of Music Coalition and the rest of the FMC team for hosting an incredibly enlightening and enjoyable conference, www.futureofmusic.org. I sincerely encourage everyone to put it on your calendar for next year…you won’t be disappointed!

The credit crisis is still affecting many of us. If you are having difficulty getting bank approval for a loan, consider calling LYRIC Financial for a royalty advance. Our FastForwardMyRoyalties program has provided over $5MM in advances to songwriters, artists, producers and publishers. Whether your needs are recording, tour support, catching up on bills or a down payment for a home, we offer risk free royalty advances on all music royalty streams…simple, safe and efficient. Call us at 615-739-6515 or go online to apply at www.fastforwardmyroyalties.com.

Keep it in the groove,

Eli Ball

Founder

Q & A with Ja Rule

2010-10-27T13:49:00.000-07:00

Name: Jeffrey Atkins

Stage Name: Ja Rule

Occupation: Rapper, singer, actor

Website: www.ruleyork.com

FB: http://on.fb.me/JARule

or facebook.com/pages/Ja-Rule/13469457949

Twitter: @ruleyork

Lyric: Let’s talk about your given name versus your stage name, any nicknames that you might have?

JR: Yeah, my stage name is actually an acronym for my real name, Ja, J A is Jeff Atkins, I guess you could say my initials not even an acronym because it’s kind of like Jeff Atkins Rule. I use my real name in my films, so people know me as Jeff Atkins as well. And my mama gave me that name, I like that name.

Lyric: Any other nicknames that you have?

JR: Yeah, I got a few nicknames.

Lyric: Any that you want to share?

JR: Less. They used to call me Less when I was young.

Lyric: Besides being a rapper and singer, what has your role been in the entertainment industry?

JR: A lot of stuff, films, music of course. I’ve been in Fast and Furious, Cookout, and Scary Movie, Assault on Precinct 13. I’ve been in a lot of movies, so I’m really enjoying the acting thing. I’m really starting to get into it more now and music, that’s my passion, that’s my love, that’s my baby right there, so you know I love doing music, staying in the studio, working on new stuff, putting together new music, new concepts, trying to stay ahead of the curve at all times.

Lyric: Will you get into writing, directing or producing film at all?

JR: You know I think that’s a little bit further down the road, actually producing is a little bit closer in the now, because I actually do my own production company, we’re actually putting together some projects right now, so that’s in the now, but as far as me writing my own movie, or maybe even directing, I’ve thought about that, and it intrigues me, so maybe down the line, in a few years, I’ll keep that bug.

Lyric: Do you have a mentor at all?

JR: I would have to say God. When things are bad I look to Him, when things are good I thank Him, so I would have to say God.

Lyric: What is your favorite project you have worked on?

JR: Hmm… I would have to say my first album.

Lyric: What’s been your most meaningful success that you feel like you’ve had so far?

JR: My three kids. That’s the best thing that I’ve done to date.

Lyric: Do they get involved in music at all?

JR: They’re starting to come around. My daughter, she’s 14, she’s starting to get the acting bug. My son, he’s been in a movie with me recently that I just shot, my oldest son, and my youngest son, he’s a character, so I think it’s in them, we just have to wait and see. And actually my daughter, she’s going to be in my sitcom that I’m working on right now.

Lyric: You’re working on a sitcom? When will that be out?

JR: It’s still in production, I’m getting it put together, we’re getting all the writers and stuff. We’ve got a good team behind us, it’s me and Queen Latifah, Flavor Unit and Tracy Morgan, we’re all executive producers on the project, so it should be a really interesting show once we’ve got it all done up.

Lyric: That sounds like it’ll be fun. We’re in Nashville, where do you generally work in music?

JR: New York. New York is where I do most of my work.

Lyric: How do you work when you’re writing a song?

JR: Kind of unorthodox. I don’t use pen and paper. I guess that’s kind of unorthodox, though not so much these days. A lot of artists don’t use pen and paper anymore. I kind of just sit in a room. My approach to doing music gets kind of rock and roll-ish. I drink, and I smoke a little bit, and I come up with thoughts and create, and that’s kind of my process.

Lyric: Do you co-write? Are you in the room by yourself or do you work with other people?

JR: It depends. I believe I come up with different types of music when I’m by myself, things that I wouldn’t come up with when a lot of people are around. But I record both ways, it doesn’t really matter.

Lyric: Genres of music seem to be overlapping and bleeding into each other these days, with people crossing over to different genres. Do you feel like you fall into one specific genre?

JR: You know, I’m hip hop till I die. I bleed that. But I don’t like to put myself in a box. I believe I can do anything, any type of music. I’ve written R&B records and stuff like that, songs for J Lo and Mary J Blige, so I can do that, but I would like to test myself and try other genres of music. Not to perform, but to write for other artists.

Lyric: So you’re saying there’s a chance you might come to Nashville and write a country song?

JR: Well hell, yeah! Hey country’s not that different from hip hop. When you really listen to it, they talk about a lot of pain, you know, it’s a good music.

Lyric: It’s really all about stories, no matter what genre you’re in.

JR: Yeah, life experiences and so forth.

Lyric: Let’s talk about hit songs for a minute. It’s one thing to have one hit song but how do you make a career out of it?

JR: It’s not easy, you’ve just got to keep being creative with music, keep trying different things, keep pushing the envelope. I think that’s what people like. I think people like when artists push themselves and make different styles and different types of music and I’m one of those artists that’s not scared to do that. I love to get into the studio and try different things and come up with that next sound, if you may. If I can get it there, I’ll take it there. And you just can’t be scared to do it as an artist, and I think people appreciate that. And that’s what makes hit makers hit makers.

Lyric: Congratulations on going international by the way! How has that affected your career and just life in general?

JR: When I first started making music, I could have only dreamed of people in London, or people in Africa, or in Australia listening to my music. You know, I’m thinking this is for my homies, we’re going to make some records in the studio, we’re going to rock to them, and if somebody else does, so be it, great. But you don’t expect to get to these points and when you do, you kind of start to look at music differently. And you start to understand music for what it is, it’s supposed to be a worldly thing, it’s supposed to be enjoyed by many. You’re supposed to think of music that the masses can enjoy, that people want to hear all over the world. It makes it that greater of a challenge to make records that different races and religions and people that don’t even speak the language enjoy. It’s a real challenge and it’s really fun to go in the studio and to put together something that reaches that plateau.

Lyric: So I guess you’re traveling a lot now too to support that, right?

JR: Yeah, I’ve been traveling a whole lot.

Lyric: Where have you been, where are you going?

JR: Oh man, I’ve been everywhere. In fact, I’ve nicknamed my crew ‘the passport gang.’ We get around. But we’ve been having a lot of fun this year going overseas. We’ve hit it all. We’re still hitting it, we’re hitting the gamut right now. I think this month alone we’ve been to Brazil, then we jumped over to Romania, then Germany, then Norway, then Africa, we did France, St. Tropez. It’s fun, but you can probably hear it in my voice that I’m a little worn out. And I’m in the studio late, until 4 or 5 in the morning. I love it but it will definitely wear you down, and I’m not going to get no younger, so I’ve got to eat right.

Lyric: Talk about how the music industry has changed since your career started because just technology alone and home studios and digital downloads and all of that, how has that affected you?

JR: Everything has went digital. It’s kind of like a gift and a curse. As great as the computer is for marketing and promotion, it’s as bad as it is for consumers to go online and download music for free. So it’s a difficult thing because you’re happy that all of these new technologies are out there but then at the same time it’s kind of crippling your business. I think we just have to find new ways to sell the music. I don’t know if it’s a thing where artists have to get together with retailers, I don’t know what it is, what we have to do, but it’s something that we have to figure out, and it’s going to be a new business model how we sell music and it’s coming very soon.

Lyric: I guess it changes daily.

JR: It changes. But this is a change that nobody was prepared for. That’s the difference. Usually when changes hit they’re minute changes. This was something that was earth-shattering. I don’t think people expected the internet to take over the world.

Lyric: That’s true. And it seems like people’s deals, whether it be as an artist or a writer, are changing so much. Everyone’s having to get really creative in how they make money.

JR: It’s fun, though. This is a hustlers dream right here.

Lyric: Yeah it is! So what are the biggest royalty streams or opportunities for people to earn royalties these days? Or just money in general?

JR: Content. Content is king right now. If you have content, whether it be viral video content or audio, a lot of music, you can make money in this entertainment business.

Lyric: Things seem to be changing a bit where artists aren’t necessarily recording full albums anymore but are just releasing singles. What are your thoughts on that?

JR: You know it’s funny, I seen this format coming, because of what iTunes is doing. You know you go on iTunes, and you go to buy an album. You may go to buy the album but once you get there you know that’s a function of it, I can just get one record. I can listen to a snippet of the record and then decide if I like it or not and buy it. So with that being the business model of iTunes, which is probably one of the biggest online distributor of music, it’s inevitable that artists were going to catch on and say “You know what? I’m going to move singles versus albums.” And yeah, for the label, for a company, it’s cheaper. If I can make a million dollars every record you put out, every single you put out, why not, let’s give it a go.

Lyric: It seems like a lot less risk for everybody.

JR: Exactly. And if it doesn’t work, if the record goes out and doesn’t work, it’s not a whole album that went out and doesn’t work, you understand? There’s a big difference. People are more likely spend 99 cents or $1.99 rather than $16 or $17 for an album.

Lyric: Definitely. Easier to carry, too. So what advice would you give young people now who are trying to either break in to the music industry?

JR: RUN! GET OUT!

Lyric: Is there hope?

JR: I would tell them stay focused. Don’t let nobody crush their dreams or their hopes and be original with their music. You know I think originality is winning right now. People coming with different types of music, different styles of music, is what’s really winning. You know you get people here and there who are winning doing the same stuff that’s been going out there but I think for the most part people are excited to hear fresh new things.

Lyric: So being innovative is really important. How about just work ethic in general? What advice do you have about that? How you hustle?

JR: What you put in it is what you get out. I know that’s an old cliché, but that’s as real as it gets. If you work hard, you’re going to see results of your hard work. If you don’t work hard, then you’ll see those results. People have to drive themselves to work harder at whatever it is they want to do. Stay focused on what you want to do.

Lyric: So besides the sitcom what are you working on right now? Is that your big project besides traveling and supporting your international stuff?

JR: I’m doing that and in the midst of working deals with two reality shows as well. Movie stuff, doing some films, I’m getting a lot of good offers to do films. Some of them I have to turn down and a couple I’m really interested in.

Lyric: How did you find out about Lyric Financial?

JR: Through my contact at BMI.

Lyric: So what role has Lyric played in your life? What opportunities do you feel like Lyric has helped you achieve?

JR: Well, I’m new with Lyric, but if they can do what they say they’re going to do, we’re going to have a lot of things to talk about, we’re going to be best friends. Lyric Financial is a great company, that’s why I chose to go with you guys, and you guys chose me to be one of your first rapper type artists on the roster. I think the marriage is going to be a good one and I’m hoping and looking forward to great success with you guys.

Lyric: Anything else you want to share? Any last words?

JR: Be looking out for my new label Mpire Music Group, new artists Montana, Life, Harry-O, Suma, the whole gang, we’re coming real soon, we’re next.

Sound Advice: Respecting the Process

2010-08-04T13:50:00.000-07:00

Respecting the Process - A Career is a Journey, Not a Destination

In today’s hyperspeed, digitized life, many fundamentals seem to get lost in the shuffle — not the least of which is understanding that real success in careers is measured in decades, not 15 minutes of YouTube fame or one hit single. While technology has devastated our traditional business model, the new waves of cutting-edge music, passion, entrepreneurship, ingenuity and hard work have always been the true drivers of our industry. From the beginning it was independents like the Chess brothers, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry, Sun Records, Elvis, Johnny Cash and Sam Phillips, Ahmet Ertegun/Jerry Wexler at Atlantic, Herb Alpert/Jerry Moss of A&M, Berry Gordy of Motown, Miles and Ian Copeland, REM, the Police, Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin of Def Jam, Run DMC, Dr. Dre and NWA, Subpop, Nirvana, Trent Reznor, Coren Capsaw and Dave Mathews Band to today’s mixtape generation of Lil Wayne, DJ’s Guetta and Tiesto; one common denominator remains the same, all spent years working outside the system, developing a market for their music and vision that eventually became the system. Today’s business model does not resemble yesterday’s, nor will tomorrow’s look like today’s. Economists call this “creative destruction” or market evolution...I’m a bit a less pedantic, it’s called life. The true constant is "the process" of establishing a career — building contacts and reputation, gaining experience and insight that can only be learned in the day-to-day grind.

Yes, we have to find new ways to monetize our work — and yes, there will be some winners and some losers. We should be truly excited about the future of the music industry; its technology-enabled democratization that allows all artists and entrepreneurs an opportunity to heard and paid. Innovative platforms like www.pandora.com begun over a decade ago by a then unknown musician,Tim Westergren and Sound Exchange, www.soundexchange.com are just now beginning to generate and distribute meaningful new revenue streams (See http://bit.ly/foreignroyalties for more.) The proposed Performance Rights Act will enable musicians, artists and labels for the first time to collect domestic and foreign master performance royalties from FM radio. Bundling of music into packages that trend-setting artists like Prince and Trent Reznor have used so successfully. The tools we use will continue to change, however, originality, hard work and staying the course of your vision will always remain the cornerstones of careers.

Speaking of the Performance Rights Act, it appears we are making significant progress towards making the right to receive performance royalties a reality for musicians, artists and labels. According to published reports by the broadcast industry, “it’s time to hammer out a compromise with the music industry on a performance royalty for terrestrial radio,” http://bit.ly/progressinbroadcasters. While this shift in their public position is welcome, we must continue to press our lobbying efforts and support. Let’s not forget that radio has played every card in its deck to prevent musicians, artists and labels from receiving their rightful share of the advertising revenue generate by their work. Radio’s olive branch is being offered as they face an increasingly indefensible position, including very public support from President Obama and the Congressional leadership in favor of passing the Performance Rights Act this fall. The window for artist rights is open now! If you have not voiced your support already, please sign the following petition in favor of the Performance Rights Act, http://musicfirstcoalition.org/. It only takes a minute to cast a vote for a lifetime of change.

Keep it in the groove,

Eli Ball

Founder

_____________________________________

LYRIC Announcements

The credit crisis is still affecting many of us. If you are having difficulty getting bank approval for a loan consider calling LYRIC Financial for a royalty advance. Our FastForwardMyRoyalties program has provided over $5MM in advances to songwriters, artists, producers and publishers. Whether your needs are recording, tour support, catching up on bills or a down payment for a home, we offer risk free royalty advances on all music royalty streams…simple, safe and efficient. Call us at 615-739-6515 or go online to apply at www.fastforwardmyroyalties.com.

LYRIC Success Stories

Finding a rhyme for “Chattahoochee” probably isn’t your idea of a day job. But for songwriter Jim McBride, it was everyday business — and that rhyme (the title of a still-popular Alan Jackson hit) led to a slew of awards and record sales. A 30-year veteran of the Nashville music scene, McBride wrote for multiple publishers and dozens of artists during his time on Music Row. And though he’s put the cap on his pen — professionally speaking, at least — he’s busy paving the way for a new generation of writers and artists to get both the credit and the compensation they deserve.

As the founder of Copyright Recapture, McBride knows how hard the music business can be. It’s what led him to start his company, and it’s why he trusts Lyric Financial to help songwriters and artists maintain a positive cash flow. It’s fast, it’s affordable, and it’s a heck of a lot easier than coming up with a rhyme for “Chattahoochee.”

Read our entire interview with Jim here

Q & A with Jim McBride

2010-07-16T13:26:00.000-07:00

Background:

Name: Jim McBride
Any nicknames? Mr. Wonderful (just kidding)
Website: www.copyrightrecapture.com

What has been your role in the music industry?
I was a full time staff songwriter on Music Row for 25 years. Foster and Rice signed me in 1981 and that’s when I moved to town. I also wrote for April Music (EMI) for 8 years, Tree (Sony) 10 years. Later I wrote for Cal IV Music and Island Bound Music. I served on the NSAI Board for several years including one as president. I’ve also served on the Nashville Songwriters Foundation Board. I retired from writing every day about 5 years ago and started a company with my sons called Copyright Recapture, LLC.

How did you get your start?
I began bringing songs to Nashville in the late 1960s. My first appointment was with Curly Putman at Green Grass Music. You could go door to door back then and sometimes they would listen to your songs. I did some of that. I later did some demos with Bobby Bare. Bare wanted me to move here as had Curly years before. I had a family and a very secure job and I wasn’t ready to walk away from it. I tried to transfer from the Post Office in Alabama to the Post Office in Nashville but the postmaster wouldn’t let me. I stopped writing after that for about 4 years but got serious about my writing and moving to Nashville in 1978. I wrote every night until 2 or 3 in the morning and then got up at 6 a.m. to go carry mail. I did this for 3 years. I began to get a few cuts through Foster and Rice Music from songs written with Roger Murrah whom I had met in Huntsville years before. I also began to get songs cut I had written by myself. In 1980 Conway cut a song Roger and I had started at my house in Alabama and finished in Nashville. I determined if “A Bridge That Just Won’t Burn” was a single I was going to move to Nashville. I knew it would be a hit because Conway was singing it. It was a single (the first hit for Roger and for me) and I left the Postal Service the day after Christmas in 1980. I had a 1 year writing deal for 2/3 of my last year Post Office salary and I never looked back. I was too excited to be scared.

Who have you worked with?
Early on I worked with Roger and later I had success with Stewart Harris, Jerry Salley and Sam Hogin among others. Brent Mason made his mark as an awesome guitar player but early on he and I wrote 3 songs together and got all 3 of them cut. I even got to write a couple of songs with Harlan Howard and a few other musical heroes of mine.

Do you have a mentor? If so, who?
Curly Putman put me on the right path a long time ago. He told me he couldn’t help me unless he could be honest with me. I was ready for that. Sometimes I went back to Alabama a little down because I hadn’t brought him anything good. Other times I went home very encouraged because I had written something Curly really liked. He told me songwriting was a 24 hour a day job. He was right about that and a lot of other things. I didn’t get to Nashville until I was 33 years old. Bobby Bare also offered encouragement and later Bill Rice and Jerry Foster helped me understand a lot about the business and gave me my first writing deal. I’m forever grateful to all of them.

What types of projects do you enjoy working on?
I just wanted to be a country songwriter. Nothing more, nothing less. Therefore, writing the best song I could is all I ever wanted to do. I never had any luck writing for a specific project whether it be an upcoming album project or a movie or whatever. I thought I did a pretty good job most of the time but the “people in charge” didn’t think so. It got to where I would not even try to write for a movie or special project. I’d rather spend my time trying to write a great country song. I never wrote with an artist until Alan Jackson became one 7 or 8 years into my career.

What have been your most meaningful successes?
I had two goals when I came to town. I wanted to write some meaningful songs and I wanted to have a reputation as a good guy. I hope I accomplished both. The thing of which I’m most proud is that I found the nerve to even move here in the first place. Specifically, I like to think I helped launch the career of one of the biggest music stars of the last 2 decades. Alan Jackson would most assuredly have become a big star without the songs we wrote together but “Chattahoochee” and “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow” would not be in his catalog. Those were both my ideas and thank God I got to write them with him. To say his recording of those songs changed my life is a major understatement. “Angels In Waiting” by Tammy Cochran had an impact for good I hope.

What are you working on right now?
Spending more time with my Granddaughter and helping my sons sign new clients and doing a little copyright research from time to time.

Your Career:

It’s one thing to write one hit song, but what does it take to make a career out of it? The first thing is to take time to really enjoy your first hit for a few days and then get back to work. Not many songs will, on their own, support you for the rest of your life. What else ya’ got kid. So you had a big hit, awesome, good for you. Now, do it for the next 25 or 30 years. If having one hit made the road a lot easier it must have been before I got to town. You can have a hit on an artist and they may never cut another one of your songs. What the heck? All you can do is do it every day to the best of your ability and hope that big hit wasn’t the only one you will ever have. (see first sentence in paragraph).

What has been your most difficult challenge as a music professional?
Learning to deal with the “business”. The music is sublime. The music business is not. As Clint Eastwood said in “Unforgiven”, “deserve’s got nothing’ to do with it”. I’ve seen talented people that for whatever reason never really made it. I suppose there was always a good reason it not happening. Maybe I just couldn’t see it. I’ve talked with many Hall of Fame writers and it amazes me that guys like Max Barnes and Curly Putman would talk about the ones that got away instead of their major hits. As writers, we will leave this earth someday not understanding why that great song we wrote years ago never got cut. Goes with the territory I guess. I also don’t understand how you can give your publisher the Song of the Year and then be treated like a “rookie” when your contract comes up for renewal.

You have been recognized a number of times and given many awards. What was the most meaningful of those?
Obviously, having a CMA Song of the Year is a biggie. My first award was from NSAI and that came from other writers and meant a lot. I treasure them all because for most of us they don’t come easy.

Thoughts on music today:

How has the music industry changed from the beginning of your career until now? The most obvious changes have been the buyouts and mergers of publishers and record labels. What do we have now, 2 publishers and 2 record labels? That’s not far from the truth. There’s not much down home, good ole boy business being done these days. Most big decisions are made North, East and West of here although Nashville has become a much bigger player in the game. There are more Amendments to the U.S. Constitution now than there are songs on the play list of some radio stations. No wonder the labels have to spend a half million dollars or more just to begin to break a new artist. We made the transition from vinyl to cassette to cd pretty easily but the digital age is a whole different deal. We started out way behind but I think eventually music will prosper in the digital age. A lot of songs seem to be written by committee these days and that’s not so good. Some songs need to be written by the one person who is closest to that song. Co-writing came into high fashion about the time I arrived and has become epidemic. What happened to the great song pluggers who used to take your great song out and get it cut. These days a lot of them want to set you up with Joe Blow over at Acme Publishing. They make the phone call and set up the writing appointment and think they’ve done their job. First of all, it makes them look like they are hoping the other publisher will get the song cut. Secondly, I have a phone and I can call Joe myself and make an appointment if I have any credibility at all. How about you just take my best song out and get it cut while I’m on the phone with Joe. I know that’s not how it works these days. I’m a dinosaur.

How has a your role changed over time?
I’m just an old fussy, gristled veteran now. It’s a pretty short trip from the “new kid in town” to here. Time flies when you’re living and dying by the Billboard Charts and Sound Scan. The music changes and the new boys and girls get their shot and that’s how it’s works. Nobody stays on top forever around here. No regrets. Do I like traditional country music best? Yes. However, a great song is a great song and always will be.

How has technology had an effect on your career (home studios, digital distribution, etc.)?
My first publisher told me not to touch the equipment and I never did. Okay, one time I did. Tore up a tape machine and it cost $400 to get it fixed. I never checked but I bet they recouped that from me along with my draw and demo costs.

What are your thoughts on the Performance Rights Act?
I see both sides of this issue. I know the radio stations are selling advertising and I know they are using music to draw listeners. Maybe you can break a country artist without country radio these days. Get back to me when that happens. If the artists can pull it off without harming the writers in any way then more power to them. With all due respect to my artist friends, I’ve never received a penny from the sale of tee shirts with my song titles on them or from the sale of a concert ticket. Like I said before, as long as the writers don’t get hurt I’m okay with it.

Advice:

What advice can you give the young songwriters and musicians today? Do it from the heart and for the right reasons. I always said I would quit if I ever began to feel like I was only doing it for the money. I was beginning to feel that way. It was time for me to get out of the way of the new talented songwriters. I just don’t believe you can go wrong by coming from the heart. For the very few who might be trying to do it just for the money and not out of love for the music, please, go do something else.

Latest Endeavors:

Tell us about Copyright Recapture.
Copyright Recapture, LLC is the premier intellectual rights termination, protection and management provider for copyright holders in the United States. We offer a wide array of services to support copyright holders and their heirs, always mindful of our responsibility to them and their needs. Having chosen to establish ourselves at the forefront of this movement, we will persist in our efforts to be the most knowledgeable and experienced in the industry. We have over 100 clients from Coast to Coast representing many different genres.

When did you start the company? Why? With who? Was there something in particular that inspired you?
Copyright Recapture was started in January of 2004. The company was started by Jim and Brent McBride. Wes McBride joined the company shortly after its inception. We have a huge respect and appreciation for songwriters. We started the company to make writers, as well as the families of deceased writers, aware of their rights and then help them exercise their rights.

Who is the target audience? Who can you help the most and how?
Our client list ranges from Hall Of Fame Songwriters to songwriters with only a few hits. We think that our target audience is anyone who has ever been fortunate enough to create music for a living at some point in their life. We probably do the most good with heirs of deceased songwriters mainly because they are unaware of their rights and the opportunities that they have.

What else can you tell us about Copyright Recapture?
While filing Notices of Termination is the basis of our business, we have evolved into an all around Copyright Management service for our clients.

Please confirm your website (copyrightrecapture.com) and let us know if there is a facebook page or any other contact info you would like to share.
Website: www.copyrightrecapture.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Copyright-Recapture

Lyric Financial:

How did you find out about Lyric Financial?
I found out about Lyric Financial through the BMI Bulletin. I thought it was a great idea then and I still do. I can remember as a new writer in town, as well as a family man, going to the bank and filling out several pages of personal information in hopes of getting a 90 day note for $1,500 and being turned down. How embarrassing that was. I was no longer a trustworthy federal employee but rather a risky music business type. “Money in the pipeline” didn’t count for anything back then. That changed a good bit in later years but still usually involved a lot of paper work. I hate paper work. Lyric Financial has it down to bare minimal paper work. They are stunningly prompt. I wish they had been around when I first came to town.

How has Lyric Financial played a role in your life? What opportunities or needs has it fulfilled?
BMI does a great job collecting my foreign performances and though they pay every 3 months, there are times, for personal or business reasons, when I like to get an advance on those royalties. If I can have four smaller amounts spread over a year or a year’s worth of royalties at one time I will take the latter please.

Based on the challenges of the music industry today, what advice would you give other royalty earners if they have financial need? (either for living expenses or professional development)
I know how hard it can be on a young writer. God bless you all, I hope it works out for you. If you don’t know what leverage means then you need to listen up. You are like a professional athlete who may be injured and never able to play and make money again. You may never have another hit. However, if you are beginning to make the publisher a lot of money, remember contracts are made to be torn up and renegotiated. Get as much money up front as you can (be reasonable), you’re not ready for the hall of fame yet. Continue to work hard, spend and invest wisely as if you will never have another hit. If you need some help now especially with day to day living expenses and you’ve got something going but the eagle is far in the distance, for Heaven’s sake, don’t starve yourself any longer. Call Lyric Financial. The cost you pay is deductible and getting that financial monkey off your back is worth it. You will most certainly over recoup and that gives you something now and something to look forward to. I’ve written hungry and I’ve written well fed. Well fed is better believe me.

Anything else you would like to share?
I’ve been so blessed and I’m grateful to God for whatever talent he gave me and for the opportunity to make my living writing songs. What a deal!

Sound Advice: Hillbilly in Washington and the Performance Rights Act

2010-04-29T13:39:00.000-07:00

Hillbilly in Washington and the Performance Rights Act

My wife Mary and I went to our nation’s capital last week along with hundreds of recording artists, songwriters, musicians and music industry professionals to lobby our legislative leaders on the Performance Rights Act. This singularly important and long overdue piece of legislation is meant to compensate artists, musicians and labels for the hits they create that generate over $16 Billion (yes, that’s 16,000,000,000 dollars) in revenue each year for the corporations that own the AM/FM radio stations in America…Wall Street financed corporations like Clear Channel Communications and Radio One. In our discussions with the legislators (most of whom support your right to get paid) one thing was clear, the tens of millions of dollars the broadcast industry is spending through lobbyists and their bully pulpit has muddied the true facts with deliberate misinformation. Broadcasters are blanketing the airwaves they control ad nauseum, poor mouthing why they should not be required to pay for using someone else’s property.

Some in our music family have been swayed by the broadcast industry’s efforts, worried that this bill will take away from the songwriter’s and publisher’s royalties. Don’t buy that! This has nothing to do with the song copyright and everything to do with the recording copyright (the record). To be crystal clear, the recording of a song is a separate asset from the song itself in the same way an office building is a separate asset from the land it is built on. As a banker, I value the office building and the land separately, as each has its own value. Using the same principle, I value the song and a recording of the song separately as they are individual assets with unique economics.

Let me ask you a question, if songwriters didn’t have singers and musicians to interpret their songs and labels to promote those records, where would the hits come from…and if publishers did not have record labels promoting those hits what would their catalogs be worth? How dare these mega corporations demand their inventory for free because they are doing us a favor when they are generating billions of dollars in revenue using the music we have committed our lives and careers to creating and promoting.

Thanks to the collective efforts of NARAS, SoundExchange, RIAA, Future of Music Coalition, ASCAP and thousands of other supporters the tide is turning against these corporate bullies. Our legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle feel the time is right to finally pass this bill. Republican and Democrat, House and Senate, and even Presidents Bush and Obama agree that this is an issue that is not only fundamentally fair, but necessary to the economic survival of the music industry.

This is our time. Seventy years of waiting for the stars to align is long enough. This will not take care of itself; we must act to support our livelihood - now! If fair compensation for your work is worth two minutes of your time, please register your support for the Performance Rights Act at this link: www.musicfirstcoalition.org.

Hell, have your mom, your dad, sisters, brothers, cousins, friends and even your dog register, because they all care about your future and want to see you get paid for your work!

Keep it in the groove,

Eli Ball

Founder

_____________________________________

LYRIC Announcements

LYRIC Success Stories

Ree Buchanan always knew she loved music; as a youngster, she even lent her voice to a variety of commercials. And while you won’t hear her voice on the radio today, Ree’s making more of an impact than ever — as co-founder of Wrensong Music, a boutique publisher that takes unknown singer/songwriters and transforms them into hit songwriters and artists. She loves humble success stories, dives headfirst into hard work, and knows the financial struggles that face even the best and brightest in the industry… which is why she recommends Lyric Financial to her own roster of artists.

Read Ree's entire interview here.

Q & A with Ree Guyer Buchanan

2010-04-22T12:18:00.000-07:00

Background:

Name: Ree Guyer Buchanan

Website: www.myspace.com/wrensongpub

Q: What has been your role in the music industry?

A: I am a music Publisher. I own my own boutique independent company. I specialize in developing writers and artists. I work on making them Hit songwriters and artists.

Q: How/when did you get your start?

A: I grew up in St. Paul Minnesota and worked with many talented writers there who wrote mainly commercials for top brands. I used to sing on commercials as a kid. I graduated from College and knew I wanted to be in sales. So my Father and I started Wrensong/Reynsong to help these writers. I began by taking trips to Nashville and setting up meetings with Top Publishers. I thought they would want to co-publish my songs. I quickly realized that I would have to find homes for the songs myself. So I began meeting producers, they were the decision makers at the time regarding what songs artists put on their albums. I was fortunate enough to meet Billy Sherrill, he was producing George Jones, Tammy Wynette and others and he was running CBS Records. This opened many doors for me.

Q: Who have you worked with?

A: Jon Vezner, who wrote our song of the year in 1990 "Where've you Been", was my first writer I signed, Blair Daly, Will Rambeaux, Jaime Kyle, Sherrie Austin, Burton Collins, Aaron Benward, Jon Randall, John Wiggins and Ashley Monroe.

Q: Do you have a mentor? If so, who?

A: Yes, Billy Sherrill, Pat Higdon and Karen Conrad

Q: What types of projects do you enjoy working on?

A: I love developing a writer/artist. I love putting together a team for an artist.

Q: What have been your most meaningful successes?

A: It is most meaningful to me when a writer becomes successful and remains humble and loyal. I have enjoyed working with Jon Randall and seeing him become a worldclass writer.

Q: What are you working on right now?

A: I am excited about Ashley Monroe. I signed her when she was 17 and she is 23 and having her first #1 record. The songs I have owned over the last 5 years, I have always known they were great,now the industry knows they are great and she is having great success.

Your Career:

Q: It’s one thing to get one hit song, but what does it take to make a career out of it?

A: Hard work. persistance persistance persistance. I am always thinking about my songs and who I can get them too. The writer and artists I know that are successful work harder. Everyone we deal with has a measure of talent, but a work ethic is key.

Q: How did you “break in” to the music industry?

A: Making cold calls to producers and publishers.

Q: What has been your most difficult challenge as an indie publisher?

A: There is power in numbers. The big corporations have deep catalogs and they can live off of their base. With a small catalog you always have to get new activity.

Thoughts on music today:

Q: How has the music industry changed from the beginning of your career until now?

A: When I came to town in 1995, there were about 8 producers. It was smaller and easier to get answers. Now most artist projects involve huge committees to decide on the music. This waters it all down.

Q: How has a your role changed over time?

A: The music business is all about who you know and your network of contacts. This is the most valuable thing you own. Today when I have a great song, I go directly to the source to get answers on the song. This is because my network is very deep and wide.

Q: How has technology had an effect on your career (home studios, digital distribution, etc.)?

A: Technology has made my job easier. Making a cd for a meeting takes seconds. I do not miss the days of reel to reels to cassettes in real time. It took forever to get ready for meetings. The one thing that I do not like about technology is the I pitch songs now by MP3. Many producers want to get MP3's instead of taking a meeting with you. It takes the salesmanship and fun out of the process for me.

Q: What are your thoughts on 360 deals?

A: I think they are a good idea, but it is hard to get paid by the labels right now, labels are holding 50% reserves on our royalties, what will happen when they control all the money. Little scary to me.

Advice:

Q: What advice can you give the young songwriters and musicians today?

A: Network, Network, network. Everyone you meet in the business is important, even the assistants. One day they will be A&R people or producers.

Q: Is there a formula to a hit song?

A: We are selling emotion period.

Lyric Financial:

Q: How did you find out about Lyric Financial?

A: thru Kurt Denny

Q: How has Lyric Financial played a role in your life?

A: Lyric Financial has stepped in and supported me in a time when banks cannot give a service anymore. As a small publisher Lyric Financial is essential for our business.

Q: What opportunities or needs has it fulfilled?

A: Eli interviewed me when he was first developing his business plan. He has done very thing he set out to do. It is a great time for Lyric to succeed.

Q: Based on the challenges of the music industry today, what advice would you give other royalty earners if they have financial need? (either for living expenses or professional development)

A: I would highly recommend Lyric Financial because they are filling in a gap that is desperately needed in the creative business today. They help you base only on activity, not pie in the sky deals.

Getting Your Songs Back...in plain english

2010-02-24T13:19:00.000-08:00

Sometimes there’s elephant in the room that can’t be ignored.

In 1976, Congress created an opportunity for songwriters and artists or their families to get the ownership of their songs back for free! Remember, the life of the copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years…and that’s a long time. The window for that opportunity is now open and the songwriters or their families need to be aware that they have the right to regain the ownership of their catalog or renegotiate a significantly more favorable deal than they currently have. There are two different termination provisions in the Copyright Act of 1976 for getting your songs back depending on whether you signed over the ownership of your songs to a publisher after January 1, 1978 or before 1978.

My good friend and esteemed legal scholar, Robert Clarida at Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, P.C. in New York has provided a basic how to in plain English, which is available at http://bit.ly/GetYourSongsBack

Keep it in the groove,
Eli Ball
Founder

---------------------------------------------------------

LYRIC Announcements

Our royalty advance program, FastForwardMyRoyalties, now in its third year has come a long way since it began with BMI in 2007. We have funded nearly $5MM in royalty advances to songwriters, publishers, artists and producers. Yep…that’s right we are now funding artist and producer advances.
LYRIC funds advance
requests on performance, mechanical, artist or producer royalty streams from ASCAP, BMI and most of the major labels/publishers.

For more information on royalty advances, visit www.fastforwardmyroyalties.com or you can contact me directly at eli@lyricfinancial.com. FastForwardMyRoyalties is a simple, safe and fast way to access your royalties.

LYRIC Success Stories

For those who could not attend, BMI’s Trailblazer Gospel Awards Luncheon in Nashville last month…it was incredible. The Grammy’s should take a page from BMI VP of Urban, Catherine Brewton’s playbook as she turned a barren warehouse into an intimate, dramatic venue. To experience Marvin Winans, Donnie McClurken and Yolanda Adams on the same stage was simply life affirming!

And did I forget to mention that my friend and LYRIC client, Derrick Starks won the award for “Most Performed Gospel Song of the Year”. All of us in the LYRIC family are so proud of Derrick’s success…he’s an absolutely phenomenal talent and most importantly, he’s a genuinely great human being! Check out Derrick at myspace.com/derrickstarkstodaysgeneration

- Eli

Lyric Financial had the chance to catch up with Derrick and this is what he's up to...

From his early years at the edge of an organ stool, watching as his Auntie Chaquila played hymns at church, Derrick Starks found himself drawn into the world of music. And through two decades in the music industry, Derrick has worked with some of the greats — and remains passionate about songs that “transcend generations.”

Between writing and recording his own music, and running his Starks Music Group gospel label, Derrick is busier than most — but music doesn’t offer the comfort of weekly paychecks, which is why he’s sought out Lyric Financial.

“Lyric has given me the resources to start and run my label, support a studio, and develop new artists,” Derrick says. “At a time when our economy was having major problems, Lyric helped me continue to pursue my dreams. They offer a variety of financial solutions, with more flexibility than a traditional financial institution… I encourage anyone who relies on royalties to consider talking to Lyric.”

Read Derrick's entire interview here

Upcoming Events

March 9, 2010
California Copyright Conference
"Monetizing Music Publishing - Show Me The Money!"

Commerce in music publishing has never been livelier. Buying, selling and borrowing against copyrights remains a vibrant market. During these challenging economic times, lenders are offering publishers and writers creative ways of generating cash flow . A panel of experts (including Eli Ball of Lyric Financial) will discuss music catalog valuation and deal structures for sales and securitization purposes, how royalty streams can be pledged, what lenders require to finance publishing deals and the due diligence steps publishers can take to enhance copyright value.

To register for this event please visit http://www.theccc.org/meetings.php

Get Your Rights Back: Statutory Termination of Copyright Grants

2010-02-18T13:20:00.000-08:00

Get Your Rights Back: Statutory Termination of Copyright Grants

by Bob Clarida (rwc@cll.com)

Imagine you sold some songs back in the 1980s, maybe the 60s or 70s. Your assignment to the publisher said, as per the usual boilerplate, that you were assigning the songs "for the full term of copyright in the work, including all renewals and extensions thereof." The copyright in the songs may not expire for a very long time – 70 years after you’re dead. Does this mean your rights are locked up until that date? No. Under the Copyright Act, there are two different statutory termination provisions, set forth in sections 203 and 304 of the 1976 Copyright Act, under which you or your family could get back your rights in the songs prior to the end of the copyright term.

Section 203 – Recapture 35 years after the contract date

Under § 203, any grant of rights in a copyrighted work "executed by the author on or after January 1, 1978" may be terminated at any time during a five-year window beginning 35 years after the date of execution of the grant. Before termination, you have to serve a written notice on the party who’s being terminated, and that notice has to be served not less than two years, and not more than ten years, before the effective date of the termination. Accordingly, if your old deal was signed on January 1, 1978, your termination window would run from Jan. 1, 2013 to Jan. 1, 2018 and the period for serving the notice would run from 2003 (2013 – 10 = 2003) to 2016 (2018 -2 = 2018). Notices have already been sent to terminate a number of high-profile contracts from the late 1970s, and no doubt more writers will begin sending notices as the word gets around. So dust off those old contracts you thought you were stuck with, and send out the notices during the proper time period; if they’re early or late they won’t count.

Who can do it: Only the songwriter can terminate, if he or she is alive. If the songwriter is deceased, the right may be exercised by the widow or widower, if living, and any children or grandchildren. If more than one of these relatives is living, the rights are divided half to the widow/widower, half to the children and surviving grandchildren, divided among them proportionally. A vote of the majority of the termination interest is required to make an effective termination – if there is a stand-off between the widow/widower (who owns half) and everybody else who owns the remaining half, the termination is not effective. If there are none of the above relatives still living, the right can be exercised by “the author’s executor, administrator, personal representative, or trustee.”

The written notice has to specify what work is being terminated, the particular agreement being terminated, the effective date of termination, and the authority of the person exercising the termination (as author, widow, trustee, etc.)

Significantly, the termination right under § 203 may not be waived by prior agreement, as the statute provides that termination may be effected "notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary, including an agreement to make a will or a future grant." So the writer or heirs cannot actually sell or waive their termination right to anybody. Like life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness these termination rights are literally “inalienable.” The law does specifically allow authors to negotiate new deals with their original publishers after the termination notice has been served, however. Many publishers try to acquire such rights whenever possible, to avoid losing valuable older titles.

Even before the termination notice is served, recent cases in the courts have also allowed authors to make new contracts with the original grantee to supersede the older, termination-prone ones, but courts scrutinize such agreements very carefully to make sure that the original buyer is not taking unfair advantage and undercutting the basic purpose of termination, which is to give the writer a second bite at the apple and realize the true long-term value of a song that may have been sold too cheaply back in the day.

Section 203 does have its limits, however. It does not apply to works made for hire, since those works are deemed owned by the employer ab initio rather than by means of a grant from the individual creator. Also, it does not divest the publisher of foreign rights in the work, but only pertains to rights under the US Copyright Act. Moreover, only grants executed by the author may be terminated under the section. Further, § 203 does not prohibit the continued exploitation of derivative works prepared by the publisher "under authority of the grant before its termination." Accordingly, a publisher would not be able to continue issuing licenses for new uses after termination, but older recordings or videos could continue to be sold.

Section 304 –Recapture 56 (or 75) years after publication

Section 304 provides for another form of termination, which takes effect at the end of the 56th year of the copyright term. Under § 304, any grant executed before 1978, by the writer or any of his/her statutorily designated heirs, may be terminated in a five-year window between the 56th and 61st year, allowing the author or heirs to recapture the copyright in the work for the remainder of the term. For works still under copyright but beyond their 61st year as of 1998, the § 304 right is available in the five-year period between the 75th and 81st years of the copyright term.

Like § 203, § 304 does not apply to works made for hire and does not allow for the termination of foreign rights. Like § 203, Section 304 also permits the continued exploitation of derivative works made prior to termination, but only when the terminated grant was made by a party other than the author (§ 304(c)(6)(A)). As noted above, under § 203, grants made by persons other than the author are not terminable at all, but all pre-termination derivative works may continue to be exploited.

As with § 203, only widows, children and executors can exercise the termination rights, and they must follow similar procedures as to the timing and content of the notice of termination. These formalities are easily complied with by motivated authors and their estates, however, provided that they are made aware of their termination rights.

In sum, if you sold your rights under a grant that was (a) made prior to 1978, (b) by the author or a widow/child/executor, § 304 makes those rights subject to termination, in the US, as of the 56th year of the copyright term in the work, or beginning in the 75th year, if the work was already past its 61st year in 1998. If you sold your rights under a contract (a) made in 1978 or later, (b) by the author, those rights are vulnerable to termination under § 203 starting in the 35th year after the execution of the grant.

Robert Clarida is a partner at Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, P.C. in New York

Please contact Robert with any questions you may have at rwc@cll.com

Q & A with Derrick Starks

2010-02-18T12:41:00.000-08:00

Q: Do you have any nicknames?

A: Big “D”, Minister “D”, “Fingers”, “Snake Eye” and Pookie

Q: What has been your role in the music industry?

A: I feel like my role in the music industry has been to write and sing songs of hope and inspiration.

Q: How did you get your start?

A: My father purchased our family an organ when I was seven years old. Also at my father’s church I would sit on the edge of the organ stool and watch my Auntie Chaquila play week after week. I remember watching TV and would go and play what I had heard. I would play commercials, TV themes, game show music, etc…

Q: Who have you worked with?

A: I have been blessed to work with so many great artists from the Clark Sisters to the Winans Family, John Tesh, Yolanda Adams, Tramaine, Edwin, and Walter Hawkins, Keisha Cole, Bobby Valentino, Howard Hewett, Vickie Winans, The Mighty Clouds of Joy, Rance Allen, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, and the list goes on..

Q: Do you have a mentor? If so, who?

A: I must say that I really consider the late Thomas A. Whitfield (The “Maestro”) to be the person that served as my personal mentor. I would also like to add that Andre Crouch, Marvin Winans, and my father Pastor C. James Starks have greatly influenced my viewpoints on music as well as my personal and spiritual life.

Q: What types of projects do you enjoy working on?

A: I most enjoy working on projects that result in music that transcends generational time. Children, their parents, and grandparents can receive the music from their own perspectives but still love it and be excited and inspired by it.

Q: What have been your most meaningful successes?

A: I think that my most meaningful successes include receiving a Grammy nomination and being a recipient of the 2010 Trailblazer Award. I also consider my recent participation in the Germany GoGospel Festival to be a huge success. I was able to see that the hope and deliverance offered through gospel music really has no limits and can cross racial as well as continental lines.

Q: What are you working on right now?

A: I am currently working on completing projects for gospel artists on my newly founded record label.

Q: It’s one thing to write one hit song, but what does it take to make a career out of it?

A: I believe to truly make a career out of writing songs and hits you must consistently operate with a spirit of humility and exercise tremendous patience and endurance. It is important to be true to yourself and write from your heart and personal life experiences. Don’t be afraid of failure. Often times, you may write several songs before you compose a “recognized hit”.

Q: What has been your most difficult challenge as a music professional?

A: My most difficult challenge as a music professional has probably been starting my own record label. Operating your own record label requires much more than the writing of music and artistic ability.

Q: Your catalog is quite diverse. How do you find inspiration to create music in an authentic way for all of the artists that you have worked with?

A: First and foremost I try to develop a relationship with the respective artist so that I have a clear understanding of their innermost heart and spirit. Wherever possible I research the artist’s past styles and vocal performances so that my song will appropriately communicate the artist’s perspectives as well as accommodate their vocal styles and gifts.

Q: How has the music industry changed from the beginning of your career until now?

A: The music industry has changed dramatically from the beginning of my career until now. Technology has changed the way producers produce and record music and vocals. Even the distribution of music has gone through a metamorphic process. I remember as a child playing 45’s, but today the digital revolution allows us to listen to music via IPODs!

Q: How has a your role changed over time?

A: I believe that over the past several years (although I still reflect on the teachings and inspirations of my personal mentors) I have now grown to a place where I have embraced the role of being a mentor for others and giving back the same teachings, inspiration, and encouragement that have been given to me and account for much of my personal success.

Q: How has technology had an effect on your career (home studios, digital distribution, etc.)?

A: Technological advances have given me “fingertip access” to the gospel industry. I am now able to reach artists and audiences locally and globally instantaneously. I think that technology has created an awesome and amazing avenue to more easily reach the masses and infuse hope into their lives through music and song.

Q: What are your thoughts on the Performance Rights Act?

A: I feel that every artist and musician from the biggest stars to the working class performers deserve to be paid when their performance, work, or creation is broadcast via any medium.

Q: What advice can you give the young songwriters and musicians today?

A: The most important advice I would offer a young songwriter or musician today is to study the great songwriters and musicians of our past and present and to always write and play from the heart. We must remember that “what comes from the heart, reaches the heart…”

Q: How did you find out about Lyric Financial?

A: I found out about Lyric Financial through my Wife and business partner of 14 years…

Q: How has Lyric Financial played a role in your life? What opportunities or needs has it fulfilled?

A: Lyric Financial has truly been a great help to me. Lyric Financial has provided me the necessary resources to launch my company, Starks Music Group (SMG). Under the umbrella of SMG, I have been able to start my own record label and studio, acquire state-of-the-art recording supplies, develop new artists, and hire additional musicians and a small staff. At a time when our economy was experiencing grueling difficulties, Lyric Financial helped me to start SMG and continue the pursuit of my dream.

Q: Based on the challenges of the music industry today, what advice would you give other royalty earners if they have financial need? (either for living expenses or professional development)

A: I would encourage other royalty earners to seriously consider Lyric Financial as a wonderfully, viable resource to assist them in overcoming any financial challenges relative to developing themselves or their businesses. Lyric Financial offers a variety of financial solutions for artists and provides greater flexibility than traditional financial institutions.

Q: Anything else you would like to share?

A: I would just like to extend my most gracious and heartfelt thanks to Lyric Financial and to everyone that has influenced The “STARK” Truth. American author Melodie Beattie wrote, “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, and confusion into clarity…. It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow…” I am incredibly grateful! I pray that I can continue to do great work and offer hope and deliverance through music and song.

Happy Holidays from Lyric Financial

2009-12-09T13:15:00.000-08:00

$ound Advice

Throughout my career, I have been blessed to work with many amazing artists and musicians. Some are no longer with us, while some are just hitting their stride… Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Booker T. Jones, Vince Gill, Eddy Shaver, Barry Beckett, James Luther Dickinson and his right righteous sons of the south – the North Mississippi Allstars, The Oak Ridge Boys, Rosanne Cash, Lyle Lovett, Jason and the Scorchers, Herbie Hancock, and the original crunk of Memphis Gangsta Rap (back in the day when a mixtape was a cassette) with my brother Al Kapone, Juicy J and DJ Paul (Three Six Mafia) and Eightball & MJG. One constant has been these artists’ ability to adapt their vision in the ever-changing world of the music business. As CEO of Lyric Financial, I am constantly evaluating the economics of the music industry to help provide financial support and guidance to my clients.

It is a responsibility that I take seriously — from creating products like our FastForwardMyRoyalties advance program, which provides easy access to your royalties, to actively supporting legislation that will make sure that you continue to be paid for the use of your creative work. It’s my job to stay in tune with the rhythm of your needs – keeping you current on issues affecting your career.

Which brings me to a critical piece of legislation making its way through Congress — legislation that will have a significant impact on your economic future: the Performance Rights Act. If passed into law, it will be every artist’s (and label’s) economic safety net in this age of illegal downloads. This bill ensures a fair distribution of terrestrial radio advertising money back to those that create and invest in the music. As we are all too aware, the traditional music business model of a radio hit equaling a platinum album (or, for that matter, even gold) are over. Traditional record sales will never again be the key economic driver of an artist’s career. Therefore, it is absolutely essential for artists and labels to participate in all “revenue” streams related to the use of their music. That means the old broadcasting business model of “use-your-music-for-free” because the for-profit radio station is “promoting your record” needs to be retired. While the broadcasting industry has its own economic issues, your music is the inventory. (They would say their inventory is advertising space, but that dog don’t hunt. If radio had no programming other than commercials, no one would listen.) I don’t know of many business models where inventory costs you nothing, and I’m interested in helping put a piece of that advertising revenue back in your wallet where it belongs. Here’s the kicker: Although the Performance Rights Act has passed through committee in both houses of Congress, it has yet to be brought to a floor vote. The corporate broadcast industry is fighting this bill with every trick and dollar (can you say millions?) in its vast arsenal. The bottom line is that all of us who make our living in the music industry need to step up and be counted, while we still have a job!

Remember, Lyric offers much more than just words to help you manage your career. We put our money where our mouth is! Pick up the phone and give me a call at 615.739.6515 or shoot me an email to eli@lyricfinancial.com, and let me help guide your career toward success.

Happy Holidays,

-Eli Ball

CEO Lyric Financial

-------------------------------------

LYRIC Team Announcements

Please welcome Folayan Knight to the LYRIC family. Folayan brings a wealth of music industry experience from her previous gigs at Def Jam and L.A. Reid’s Hitco Music Publishing. She also manages some of the top producer/writers in R&B/hip-hop, people who work with artists like 50 Cent, Britney Spears and Alicia Keys, just to name a few. Not bad, and still hasn’t hit the big 3-0! Forget it guys, she’s already taken — and smart too!

You can reach Folayan at folayan@lyricfinancial.com.

Q&A with Lamont Dozier

2009-12-08T07:43:00.000-08:00

Q: Any nicknames?
A: In high school, they called me the Candy Man. And that’s because I used to write and sell… I used to write love letters for my customers, I called them, that needed some help talking to their girlfriends. I would write love letters, books, and if I had to make a telephone call, I would disguise my voice, and that would cost them a dollar.

Q: If you could talk about your role in the music industry, that would be great.
A: Well, basically, I like to think of myself as not only a songwriter, but I like to think I’m helping people when I write songs. I like to say something that has some importance, or something that would help somebody in their lives, if they’re having a love problem, or just a problem with living and keeping the faith... You know, a lot of people get depressed and down, and I like to write inspirational things that will give them a lift, or give them hope. That started with my Southern love idea, so to speak, and the love letters. But yeah, Minister of Song, you might say, because everything that I’ve done has a certain thing about it that people can identify with. Even the songs of the Supremes and the Four Tops have a certain amount of life lessons in them.

Q: Now you’ve also been a producer as well, haven’t you?
A: Yes, I’ve produced all of the songs I’ve written, especially at Motown.

Q: How did you get your start?
A: I got my start by listening to my teachers, listening to other artists. At the age of 11 I started collecting records, I was just listening to records... every cent I could get my hands on, I would buy records and I would listen. In the ’50s, I was a kid, very young, I would buy records, and just listen to how people would phrase, and sing lyrics, and how they performed those songs. That was my teacher, because I never had any formal training, so my formal training came with the records that I bought

Q: What actually got you discovered?
A: Well, I had formed a group from the time I was 13 or 14 years old, and I stayed in a housing project in Detroit. And in the housing projects, a lot of people were talented, singers and what have you, and a friend of mine was a singer. He and I got together in school, and decided that we would create a vocal group. So we became The Romeos, and we recorded for his little label, on Fox Records in Detroit. Shortly thereafter, a song was put out; the first song didn’t do as well, the second song did very well, so much so that Atlantic Records came calling asking about The Romeos and this particular record, because it was a local hit. And we became Atlantic Records artists, and the song went to about 40 on the charts.

I moved from there to another local label, called Anna Records, where I became one of the singers in a group called Voicemasters. The label was owned by Barry Gordy’s sister, so I started singing with them, and a few things happened — not so much in a big way, but at least I was learning while I was doing these things. Shortly thereafter, after being there a couple of years, the label folded, and I found myself at Barry Gordy’s label, Motown, a new label that was just starting, and I found myself as a recording artist and songwriter and producer.

Q: What are the projects that you really love working on?
A: I guess it’s the songwriting. I love the journey and where it takes me. I start off writing very early in the mornings, about 10:00, and whether I have ideas or not, it’s about the love of doing the work that I enjoy, because it’s a busy work, and it’s a work ethic that I’ve always had — that I developed probably at Motown, because there was so much to do. It’s something that I can’t describe, but it’s just really great when you come up with something that you’ve worked for, or toiled for. It’s good, honest work. I love music, and it’s probably my first love, and I treat it as such.

Q: Do you collaborate a lot, or do you like to write by yourself?
A: Well, I have collaborated with the Holland Brothers, with Motown, with Holland Dozier... With these people, together we penned over 50 No. 1 songs, while we were at Motown. I moved to London in ’83 and started working with a lot of British acts — Phil Collins, Simply Red, Boy George, just a lot of people — and I lived there for about three years. Over there, they really love Motown, and they love anybody that was associated with Motown, so they just encouraged what I’ve done with my career, thus far, more than anybody I’ve found in this country, so it was quite flattering.

Q: What are you working on right now?
A: I’m working on my first Broadway show; it’s called “The First Wives Club.” It was out, we just had the first workings of it, in San Diego at the old Globe, to a standing-ovation audience every night. We had to add on a week, it was that successful.

And I currently have a song on the charts, “Living in High Definition” by George Benson, on the Jazz chart.

Q: So it’s one thing to write one hit song — or in your case, a ton of them — but what does it take to make a career out of it?
A: It’s commitment mostly, and passion, and work ethic. I can’t say enough about having a good work ethic, because I put a lot of work into the things I did at Motown and it paid off well for me, but what I’m saying is that if you don’t have that love, you have to put the music first. Like anything that you love, if you’re passionate about it and you have a good work ethic, it’s going to pay off for you. I think the music will help you write it if you help it materialize. If you’re good to the music, the music will be good to you, in other words. If you commit. I write seven days a week. Every morning at 10:00, I’m at the piano, until about 12:00, and then I take a break to watch my soap opera, then after that, I come back. It gives me a release to just get away from it for a while. Then from about 1:00 or 2:00, I’ll work from that time until about 5:00, and that happens every day, rain or shine. With that kind of commitment, I think you’ll be surprised at what you can come up with, with that kind of dedication. Your mind clicks in, your heart comes into it. You become somewhat of a slave to it, but then it’s a good thing at the same time, because you learn so much. I’m a practicing songwriter, meaning that I’ll always be learning new things, no matter how long I write. Change is inevitable, and every day I learn something new to write about, or to feel something about.

Q: You really have written for such a diverse group of people, how do you find inspiration to be authentic when you’re doing that?
A: The subject matter always has to be something that I can identify with. If you feel something about what’s happening in the world — politically, personal, whatever the case may be — if you write songs that people can identify with, you’re 50 percent ahead of the game. If you’re staring at a piece of paper and you don’t know what to write about, just look around, look and listen at what’s happening in the world. There’s so much subject matter that it boggles the mind. There’s always something to write about, or for you to have an opinion about. I never run out of ideas, because there’s so much to write about.

Q: How do you adapt to different styles of music?
A: I just do. If I’m in Nashville, I’ll write country songs, but country songs have changed over the years so it’s almost become a pop thing. It’s just the way they express themselves with it. Songs are basically saying the same thing, it’s in the delivery. If you’re in Nashville, you’re going to get a little twang... but ultimately, the feeling never changes. The feeling is always there, no matter what the genre of music that you’re writing.

Q: Do songwriters in different cities approach the act of songwriting differently?
A: I think so. That’s a great question. Because when I’m in France or in England, I get a different feeling in different countries. I take the nuances and the atmosphere of the place itself. It’s a weird feeling… it’s something about the way people are in various countries that I adapt to. What they feel — how they act and their reasoning — just everything about their culture I seem to pick up on, which is a good thing for me, because I can easily adapt to each country that I’m in. And I’ve noticed over the years that when I do this, when I’m in these places, I start to sound like one of their local songwriters, because I’ve picked up on whatever their culture is.

Q: What are the major changes you have seen in the music industry over your career?
A: It’s just the overwhelming amount of success of hip-hop and rap that sort of gave me a new feeling about what it is I should do. Then when you brought in the sampling and all that came with it, it got pretty ugly there. And right now, I’m having problems, legal problems, with a lot of people sampling my songs without getting any permission — in some cases they just take them. In some cases, I find myself listening to some of my songs that were taken — I’m on the records themselves, and in the background singing I hear myself. It’s just really gotten very nasty. The properties, nobody respects them anymore. That is the difference, the main difference that I dislike about it. But I don’t mind the changes of music and the way music has adapted to this other form of music. It’s just the way it’s being handled, with no respect for the laws of copyrighting. It’s not a pretty picture.

Q: And it seems a little frustrating because it’s so out of your control?
A: That’s right. And now I’ve got to bring in lawyers to fight that. Last year alone I had over 200 samples of people taking a part of my songs — and like I said, some of them had the nerve to even leave my voice on some of the recording, sung over but did whatever they wanted to do on top of them, without getting my permission. ... I don’t know what’s happening, (but) that’s what we’re up against.

Q: What are your feelings on illegal downloading of music? Do you feel like that’s affected how you are making money?
A: Yes, I’ve lost millions of dollars. My lawyers, and people in my life that have compiled all of this stuff, are telling me that we’re at least a couple million dollars in the hole, and that’s being conservative. From downloading and sampling and different stuff that people do. It’s strange.

Q: Since we’re talking about technology, do you feel that home studios have affected the industry?
A: Home studios keep the producers on their toes. A lot of it is good — some of the people that I know, who do home demos, they sound like professional records... some of them are just that good. (But it does put) a lot of people that are not qualified to make good-sounding music into the picture. But a good song is a good song, a good production is a good production, if it’s done well.

Q: What advice can you give the young songwriters of today?
A: I’m a professor of songwriting at USC’s Thornton School of Music, and I tell my students that they’ve got to have a deaf ear to the naysayers, because a lot of people are going to tell you that you should be doing something else. I grew up not listening to people telling me what I should be doing. If I’d listened to those people, I’d still be in Detroit somewhere, out of work in some car factory or something. You just have to listen to your own inner voice and have that work ethic and that passion — and believe me, if you dedicate yourself to music first, what will come is this help from what I call the muses. The muses will come to you and help you, when they see that you’re serious about the work, and that you’re dedicated to making this thing happen.

Q: How did you find out about Lyric Financial?
A: Lyric Financial is a beautiful thing when you’re in times of need, especially for songwriters, needing help and cash flow for those times when you really need a helping hand. I guess it came about through some friends, some lawyer friends, primarily, that introduced me to the people there. They’ve been a blessing in that respect, I couldn’t recommend them more.

Q: I hope I didn’t interrupt your soap opera time, I wasn’t aware.
A: Yeah, it’s on now, but this is more important!

For more information on Lyric Financial, visit www.lyricfinancial.com.

Mechanical Royalty Advances Now Available

2009-06-04T10:52:00.000-07:00

I am proud to announce that we are now funding advance requests for writers and publishers who have agreements with the major publishers, UMG, Warner Chappell, EMI and Sony. Over the past year, LYRIC Financial has received over 500 requests from songwriters, artists, producers, and publishers for advances on their performance royalties. Many of you requested that we consider working with your other royalty streams as well. So, last fall we began working on expanding our royalty advance program to include mechanical royalties. While mechanical royalties are not as strong as they once were, they are still a significant source of income to many writers and publishers. We have worked diligently to create the same simple, safe and transparent process as we have for performance royalty advances.

Go to our website today to apply for your mechanical royalty advance www.lyricfinancial.com. Minimum request size is $25,000.

Mechanical Royalty Advances Now Available

2009-05-29T13:05:00.000-07:00

$ound Advice

So give me a call today or go to our website to apply for your mechanical royalty advance www.lyricfinancial.com. Minimum request size is $25,000.

Eli Ball

Founder of LYRIC Financial

615-739-6515

eli@lyricfinancial.com

--------------------------------------------------

Did you know?

Did you know that Lyric Financial also offers Catalog Loans & Tour Advances? We've got tools for all kinds of music folks with all kinds of needs. Call us today at 615-739-6515 for more information or email us at eli@lyricfinancial.com.

LYRIC Success Stories

Loni Rose may have bloomed in Seattle, but this busy Americana songwriter is spreading her roots and growing her way into a global market. From film soundtracks to center stage, the spotlight is shining on this talented artist.

Rose is more than just another pretty face trying to blossom behind a microphone in a local dive bar. Her songs have been featured in films like "American Pie," and television shows such as "America's Next Top Model," "Road Rules" and "Meet My Folks." She's also no stranger to the center stage, sharing the stage at Lilith Fair alongside Sheryl Crow and playing dates with acclaimed superstars Nelly Furtado, Smashmouth, Shawn Colvin, Blues Traveler, Everclear and Chris Isaac.

In 2008, Loni turned to LYRIC for financial assistance. She needed an advance on her BMI royalties to help master and promote her record, "The Shine Sessions." After a little help from LYRIC, she was able to get her album where it needed to be: in the hands of eager fans.

Following the album's 2008 release, "The Shine Sessions" was an "Editors Pick" at cdbaby.com, and the single, "Wrong Way Back," was recently featured on an episode of Great American Country's "The Next GAC Star."

Since LYRIC came in to lend a hand, Rose has signed with Mojo Management and is co-writing with some of Nashville's top writers. Her career is on the fast-track to success and shows no signs of slowing down. This is why we do what we do! We are honored to be part of Loni's team.

Learn more about Loni on her website and MySpace page.

Use a Royalty Advance To Pay Your 2008 Taxes

2009-03-31T12:56:00.000-07:00

$ound Advice

"Let me tell you how it will be, there's one for you, nineteen for me....yeah, I'm the tax man." George Harrison's lyrics are once again timely as April 15th is around the corner, and for most of us that means paying our tax bill. Royalty advances can be an attractive means of paying your 2008 taxes, not only because of the convenience, but also because an advance allows you to use next year's income at this year's tax rates (rather than the increased tax rate that is likely next year if the White House and Congress have anything to say about it). And that goes double for those of you who are fortunate to earn more than $250k a year.

Let me explain - Our royalty advances are technically a purchase of a fixed amount of future income for a discounted sum certain. Or in plain English, our royalty advances are a sale of a specific amount of your future royalties for an agreed price today, i.e., we purchase $11,500 of your future royalties for $10,000 today. No liens, no credit hassles and no risk to you or the ownership of your songs.

So give me a call today or go to our website to apply for your royalty advance, www.lyricfinancial.com. "Yeah, he's the tax man and you're working for no one but him."

Eli Ball

Founder of Lyric Financial

615-739-6515

www.lyricfinancial.com

eli@lyricfinancial.com

Note - Consult your tax adviser for specifics on how a royalty advance may affect your tax situation.

--------------------------------

Did you know?

Royalty Advances Available from LYRIC Financial

2009-03-09T11:21:00.000-07:00

$ound Advice

Music Royalty Advances and Catalog Loans Available

With all of the negative headlines regarding the banking industry and our economy, one would think that there is little hope in obtaining financing in today's market. However, if you earn music royalties with your catalog, you should think again.

Music royalty streams have shown themselves to be relatively recession-proof and consequently, they provide an attractive source of collateral for their creators. LYRIC Financial positioned itself outside of the capital markets of Wall Street and mortgage-dependant system of traditional banks. Instead, LYRIC focuses specifically on music assets. While this does not lessen the pain to your 401(k) or the depreciated value of your house, it does remind you that there is an alternative in the strength of your catalog.

Our FastForwardMyRoyalties advance program received more than 400 requests for funding in 2008 from songwriters, musicians, artists, managers, producers, estates, publishers and record companies across the US and internationally. In addition, LYRIC continues to process catalog loans and lines of credit for larger requests that allow you access to the equity in your catalog - without having to sell your songs. Our goal is simple; to keep you, the creator who shapes the invisible with your music, in control of your creations.

For more information on our FastForwardMyRoyalties advance program or catalog loans please visit our website at www.lyricfinancial.com or give me a call directly, 615-739-6515.

Keep it in the Groove,

Eli Ball - CEO

----------------------------------

LYRIC Success Stories

Dave Pahanish (Co-writer and Co-producer of Jimmy Wayne's number

1 country hit "Do You Believe Me Now?")

Struggling writer/artist risks everything to move to Nashville from Pittsburgh...taking any gig he can get, free or otherwise, to survive and move his career forward. His work and investment pays off. He scores a publishing deal with Cole Wright, of Wright of Center Music. He focuses on his writing, building his network of contacts in the music industry, and continues to perform on any stage that will have him...hooks up with a young unknown country artist to collaborate on a few songs.

Turns out that young unknown country artist was Jimmy Wayne, whose album "Do You Believe Me Now?" became one of the top success stories in 2008. However, just when Dave's career began to take off, cash flow remained a problem, as the royalties he earned from that hit would not be paid out, until the following year. That is when Dave came to Lyric Financial. A mutual friend from BMI referred Dave to our FastForwardMyRoyalties advance program.

The next day, Dave had his money and was on an airplane to Austin, TX for his next gig. Today, Dave is well on his way. He is co-writer/co-producer for Jimmy Wayne's follow-up hit, "I Will" (currently 21 on Billboard this week and rising). We really believe Dave's talent and work ethic are going to take him far in this industry and are very proud to be part of his team, providing him with the financial resources to build his career -- Think about it, we could do the same for you.

Lyric Financial Welcomes...

Please welcome Katie Michaelson to the Lyric Financial team as a client relationship manager.

Katie went to school at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. She graduated with a BA in Political Science (Legal Studies emphasis) and minored in History. Katie worked in the mortgage industry for five years before coming to Lyric.

FYI, Katie's two favorite things: helping clients and shoes!

Tax Treatment for Songwriter Catalogs

2008-10-10T11:09:00.000-07:00

$ound Advice

I recently had lunch with two of my esteemed colleagues. One is a leading accountant in the music industry and the other is an attorney/songwriter advocate.

We were discussing the tax benefits of selling a songwriter’s catalog vs. using a line of credit based on the equity value of the catalog. Many artists and songwriters have been selling – or are considering selling – their songwriter’s share, based in part on the recent capital gains treatment alluded to (but not yet ruled on) in H.R. 4297 – The Tax Relief Extension Reconciliation Act. NSAI and others did a great job of moving this important issue forward, and it has now been signed into law. However, the IRS has yet to rule on the interpretation of the law, i.e., how to treat a songwriter’s future royalty rights. The consensus of my recent lunch and conversations with other tax professionals on the question of whether capital gains vs. ordinary income tax treatment should be used for the sale of a songwriter’s catalog is that it is still very much a grey area – until the IRS decides to make a specific ruling on the issue. The bottom line is this: If you or your client are deciding on whether to sell or leverage the equity in a songwriter catalog, you should seriously consider the possibility that such a sale could be treated as ordinary income (at a higher rate) by the IRS in the future. On the other hand, you could take advantage of a smart alternative and tap into the catalog’s equity through a lo

an or line of credit. This option offers you immediate access to the equity in the catalog, while delaying the majority of the tax liability to later years and letting the future royalties repay the loan. Best of all, at the end of the day, you or your client still own the catalog.

Keep it in the groove,

Eli Ball
CEO Lyric Financial

------------------------------------------

Events

For those who could not attend, last month’s Atlantis Music Conference was outstanding (http://www.atlantismusic.com/). The clear benefit of the Atlantis Conference is that it is serious enough to attract an impressive array of professional and creative talent, while remaining intimate enough to make networking and showcases meaningful. Better yet, it’s hosted in Hotlanta! Shout-outs to Mark Willis, Rich Levy, Kathy Stringer and the whole Atlantis team for a job well done. While in town our friends at BMI co-hosted a receptioin with LYRIC at the Luckie Lounge...it was a fantastic event! Many thanks to the fabulous Catherine Brewton, David Claasen and Byron Wright.

LYRIC and BMI rock Hotlanta!

Sound Advice - August 2008

2008-08-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

My father went to heaven this past month on July 26th. At his memorial service, I was asked what one thing I remember most about him. My answer: He was a simple man who worked hard without complaint, who loved his family and put the needs of those around him above his own. To me that is the true measure of greatness. In today's hyper competitive, 24/7, look-at me, media-saturated world, it is easy to lose track of the simple things that make our God-given life so wonderful - love, family, friends, our co-workers, the person in front of you in line. Treating each other as we ourselves would like to be treated. That's the legacy that my father left me and, for that, I am blessed. So take time to spend with your loved ones, respond to a snarl with a kind word or smile and be grateful you are alive and have the ability to make a difference in someone's life everyday.

Eli Ball

CEO Lyric Financial

--------------------------------

NEWS

We are very honored to welcome award-winning writer/recording artist Al Kapone (whose hit songs, "Whoop That Trick," "Snap Yo Fingers," and "U & Dat" were featured in the hit feature films "Hustle and Flow" and "Stomp the Yard") to the LYRIC Financial family as our first "Director of Artist/Writer Relations." Al is also the current President of the Memphis Chapter of NARAS and a member of their Grammy Screening Committee. He will be responsible for reaching out to the urban-hip/hop community on behalf of LYRIC Financial, as well as assisting us in crafting our educational message and product designs. His first outreach will be as the host of a VIP Reception following the BMI Producer Panel at the Atlantis Music Conference in Atlanta, Sept 17-20th, www.atlantismusic.com. Al and I are also participating as panelists at the conference. Learn more about Al on his site: www.myspace.com/alkaponememphis.

PRODUCT UPDATE

We at LYRIC are continuing to reinvent the financing concept for music professionals and companies. Our FastForwardMyRoyalties advance program for performance royalty income is a huge success. Building on that success, we hope to extend our advance program to include mechanical royalties in the near future. Mechanical income, while declining to some extent from illegal downloads and the move of consumers away from albums to singles, is still, and will continue to be, a significant source of income for many songwriters, producers and publishers in the music community. We hope to have more details for you this Fall.

UPCOMING EVENTS

September 9th - R&B Foundation Pioneer Awards. A wonderful organization solely dedicated to preserving Rhythm & Blues music and celebrating the artists who create it. This year will be the gala celebration of the Foundation's 20th Anniversary that will bring together the royalty of Rhythm & Blues, along with a veritable "who's who" of the entertainment industry. For tickets and info: www.rhythm-n-blues.org.

And remember you can either come from love or fear...it's not a big menu, you make the choice.

Sound Advice - June 2008

2008-06-11T10:39:00.000-07:00

I once heard that "you are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts." Despite the struggles of the major labels' out-dated business model, the demand for music has never been greater. As new technologies create new platforms and packaging possibilities for music, it is our individual and collective responsibility to evolve our value proposition to our clients. Here at Lyric Financial^TM, we are excited to create funding solutions that support independent music companies that understand how to communicate directly with their customers.

FastForwardMyRoyalties^TM

The debut of our FastForwardMyRoyalties^TM program for BMI affiliates has been outstanding. We have received more than 150 requests for more than $5.2 million in advances since the program began a mere six months ago. The requests have come from all over the globe, LA to London and Philly to Paracuru, Brazil. It just goes to show how wide the reach of the creative community extends. Funding for catalog loans continues, contrary to the well publicized credit crunch in the mortgage industry. It appears that the market for copyrights is still quite active as publishers look to take advantage of more reasonable valuations to build value and diversity in their catalogs. Periodically, you'll hear from the Lyric Financial family with updates on the industry and our products, or as we learn something that we think you ought to know. We look forward to your responses, feedback, and continued support of our company as we champion the creative spirit of the music community by making a few of the financial challenges a little easier.

Keep It In The Groove,

Eli Ball
CEO Lyric Financial

-----------------------------------------------------------

Lyric Financial Welcomes...

Please join me in welcoming Joseph Moran to the Lyric Financial team as loan processor and analyst. He comes to Lyric after more than eight years at Regions Bank. Joseph completed his MBA from Belmont University in December 2007. He is a fan of just about every music genre. He snowboards in the winter and plays golf in the summer. Joseph has been to nearly every country in western Europe, Mexico and Argentina.

Interesting tidbits about Joseph...he can solve a Rubix Cube in less than 2 minutes and he posts home improvement videos on youtube.com.

Exciting News!

2008-05-07T10:35:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

It is with great excitement that I contact you today to share a few announcements on behalf of First Entertainment Financial.

First off, the big one. First Entertainment Financial is changing its name to Lyric Financial™. With the move of our operations to Nashville last year, coupled with the release of several new products that were designed specifically to serve the music community, we have renewed our commitment to being the first financial services company created by music people, for music people. We believe that our new name, Lyric Financial more accurately reflects that mission.

Today we also announce new alliances with both BMI and the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI). Lyric Financial™ has created a program available to BMI affiliates called FastForwardMyRoyalties™. This unique program provides songwriters and publishers who earn royalties, a simple method of accessing their future earnings, now. The program is safe and does not jeopardize the client's ownership of their catalog. More information about FastForwardMyRoyalties™ can be found at www.fastforwardmyroyalties.com/bmi.

Lyric Financial™ announces its collaboration with the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI). NSAI has been an advocate of the songwriter community since its inception in 1967 and Lyric Financial's support of this organization will allow them to further their mission of advocacy, guidance and education on the craft and business of songwriting. Lyric Financial™ is proud to be a part of what NSAI brings to the songwriter community.

And, finally, Lyric Financial™ announces the launch of its new web site at www.lyricfinancial.com. To learn more about the company and our services, visit us today.

Thank you for your ongoing support of our mission, and stay tuned for more great things to come.

Eli Ball, CEO
Lyric Financial