Sound Advice: Respecting the Process

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

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LYRIC Announcements

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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