10 Years

I just replicated the earliest photo of me holding a guitar 10 years later. I can't believe it's been 10 years and I can't believe I've grown so much.

Area 4: Artist Management

Being an Artist Manager is arguably the hardest job in the music industry. Your job is a constant 24/7 affair and you're under a lot of pressure. An Artist Manager puts themselves between the artist and the rest of the industry, any information directed at the artist is first filtered and tweaked by the artist manger and then told to the artist (and in most cases the manager will have to arrange all the logistics that comes along with that information too). Artists and their managers are in constant contact. This video uses the analogy of a wagon wheel to describe what's going on: the artist is the hub of the wagon wheel and the manager is the bearings and grease around the artist, the spokes represent areas of the artists career (e.g. recording, touring, publishing, merchandising, PR, record label etc). If any of the 'spokes' are broken or shorter than the others then the artists career can't keep rolling successfully and it's the job of the manager to make sure that the artist has the successful career that they want to have. Artist Management requires absolute commitment and it takes someone very dedicated to do a good job.

The cliché of the artist manager being part of the band is true as far as money is concerned. The manager is paid between 15-20% of the artists gross income, this means the manager can earn anything from peanuts to millions depending on the situation. For example if the manager was in charge of a 4 piece band and a record label had given £100,000 of advances to the band, £20,000 would go to each member and another £20,000 to the manager. 

From the managers point of view, there are definite pros and cons to their job. On the plus side, if you're manager of a hugely successful band, you get to travel first class with the band and go around in limousines, you get to go to huge launch parties and fancy dinners. To quote Chris Herbert [1] (Former manager of the Spice Girls) "The high points are when an artist succeeds and when you're thanked by that artist. When you're pulling up at Wembley and the name of your act is emblazoned across the front of it - they're the little moments that you give yourself a pat on the back for. All those kind of milestones, you share it with the act"

There are also a lot of negatives to being an artist manager. As I mentioned earlier, there is the stress and the constant contact you need to maintain with your artist. You might be called up any time of the day, any day. There's also the fact that the manager is often the first and easiest person to get blamed when anything goes wrong and they often get the least thanks too.

Area 3: Music Publishing Companies

Music Publishing has had to adapt a lot over the years. As the name suggests, traditionally music publishing dealt with the sale of sheet music. When the printing press came along, sheet music became susceptible to piracy. When records were commercially available, people didn't really have a need for sheet music as much because, instead of playing the music themselves, they could listen to an actual recording of the music in their own home. When radio became popular, publishing companies at first didn't know how to adapt because they thought that people wouldn't need to buy records anymore. After quite a long transitional process, nowadays music publishing companies make money from the use of music [1].

As a songwriter, music publishing companies can be of huge benefit to you. If you got a phone call every single time any radio station, tv channel, band, movie etc wanted to use your song, it would become impossible to manage and you would have no free time to get on with writing music. This is where music publishing comes in. In short, their job is to generate as much money as possible when others use your songs.

Music publishing companies are entirely separate entities from record labels but in some respects they work similarly. Music publishing companies have A&R people who go out to gigs in the evenings looking for artists who they think have good songs they could use in the same way record labels do. Music publishing deals also look very similar to record deals [2]:

• Length of Contract
• Assignment of Copyright: The company will have copyright of your songs.
• Advances: Money the company will initially give you which you need to pay back before you start earning royalties.
• Royalties: Money paid to you for the use of your music
• Accounting: Set percentages and prices in the contract
• Statements: Terms and conditions that the songwriter must agree with

You might be asking yourself  "Why would I want to give the rights of my music to a publisher?". It's a valid question but there are many positives to signing a publishing contract:

• Advances
• Administration and collection: (as mentioned earlier, the company will deal with the logistics of all the money you receive and they'll be the ones picking up the phone when people request the use of your music)
• Promotional Assistance
• Record Deals: often times it can be advantageous to get a publishing deal first and then, with the aid of the publisher, you can look for a record deal.
• Films, TV & Commercials: Not only is this possible extra publicity of your music but you'll also be earning money for its use.

I'm going to try and go into more detail now on exactly how a music publishing company makes a songwriter money. This diagram shows where a songwriters royalties come from and how they are dealt with [3]:

This might look pretty daunting and complicated but it's actually fairly straightforward. There are 2 main ways in which your music can be used. It can be played or it can be copied. When it's played, it's dealt with by the PRS (Performing Rights Society) and when the record is being copied it's dealt with by the MCPS (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society). The MCPS for instance makes sure that the songwriter is given 8.5% of the sales of every CD made [4].

When bands are involved, songwriter's royalties are often split between members and percentages can vary based on how much they contributed. This can often cause conflict between band members later on [4].

Area 2: Record Companies

The job of a record label can be broken down into 5 simple steps:

1. Find Artists
2. Sign Artists
3. Record Artists
4. Promote/Market Artists
5. Make money from sales of the Artist's recorded music

There are two types of record label, independent (indie) labels and major labels. The two are very different and despite most artists dreaming of being signed to a major, both have their advantages and weaknesses.

Since 2012, the major labels are Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group. The world music market is absolutely dominated by the 'Big Three'. As of 2007, the major labels controlled 70% of the world music market [1]. Traditionally there has always been this complete control of the industry but recently the advances in technology and the rise of illegal music downloading has seen a dip in sales and many acts have been dropped.

A major label contract has a lot of different sections:

• Advances. Money paid up front to the artists which later has to be recouped
• Exclusivity. Once you've signed a deal with a major you are normally only allowed to record with that label exclusively and they own your copyright and the master copies of your records.
• Territory. Major labels normally sign artists into a worldwide deal. This means their records will be distributed in many different territories across the globe. [2]
• Term. This is the duration of your contract. Normally about 12 months with the label having the option to extend the contract if they wish. This also deals with how many records you have to make. [2]
• Royalty Rates. The percentage of every record sale that you get as an artist. Artists only start receiving this after everything has been recouped.
• Deductions. The amount of money deducted from your royalties to cover the cost of covers, sleeves and containers that the record is packaged in. [3]
• Producers, Videos and Tour Support. The artist is expected to pay the producer a percentage of their own royalties. Tour support spent by the label also has to be recouped by the artist. Normally artists have to recoup 50% of music video costs as well. [2]
• Websites.
• Recoupment. Money that the artist has to pay back to the label before receiving royalties.
• Delivery/Release Commitments. Artists have to commit to producing a minimum number of songs to be released by a certain deadline. [4]
• Ownership of masters. The label normally owns the masters of the artists records.

Based on the sale of a £9.99 album released on Sony, this is how the money is divided [5]:

As you can see, this might not be considered the fairest contract as far the artist is involved seeing as they only get 1% more than the Tax Man.

With that in mind, I'm going to talk about Indie Labels and how they differ from the majors.

Each indie label is self sustained and isn't owned and controlled by a behemoth corporation. A lot of indie labels have been bought by major labels and although they retain some of their philosophies, they rely on financial backing from the majors. These labels are known as subsidiaries.

Indie labels might not be as lucrative for the artist as far as money is concerned, they allow much more creative control. As an artist signed to an indie, you can pretty much make whatever music you want with barely any interference from the label.

I did my own research and a lot of successful bands I listen to such as: All Time Low (Hopeless Records, Asking Alexandria (Sumerian), Bring Me The Horizon (Epitaph), Mallory Knox (Wolf at your Door Records), Of Mice & Men (Rise) are signed to indie labels. Bring Me The Horizon for instance have headlined Reading & Leeds Festival Main Stage. Even Paramore have remained signed to Fueled By Ramen Records (a Warner subsidiary).

An indie contract is often based on a 50/50 deal and can look something like this [5]:

As you can see, this is a lot fairer to the artist. Indie labels do have their disadvantages however. They lack the global power and contacts of the majors. They aren't going to be able find you the best producers or distribute your record globally to every supermarket in America. They also won't be able to market and advertise you as well. Another comparison between the majors and the indies is that whereas majors tend to prefer signing artists that are already successful, indies very often sign unknown artists that they see potential in. Artists can form a real partnership with indie labels, the label can help them build a fan-base locally and help the artist go on small tours and such. Also for an artist signed to an indie label, there is much less risk of being dropped.

Area 1: Live Performance

Last Friday (27/9/13) Paramore played Wembley Arena. Here is a video you should definitely watch. Do you hear how crystal clear the sound quality is? The levels are perfect too and the light show is in sync to parts of the song and really adds to the atmosphere. There's no doubting that it's an excellent live performance.



However, the majority of people at that gig are probably fairly unaware of how many people were involved in making that show possible. Here is another video you should definitely watch which shows a timelapse of the stage set-up for that show.
Let's rewind back in time and start at the very beginning of how that show came about. Paramore are on a self-titled tour at the moment, the tour consists of 112 shows total: 46 in North America, 37 in Europe, 13 in Oceania, 11 in Latin America, 3 in Asia and 2 in Caribbean. That's a lot of shows. And organising the venues that the band will be playing at during that world tour is the job of the Booking Agent.
After that, tickets and merchandise prices need to be discussed and the tickets need to be promoted and sold by a Tour Promoter. Posters and flyers need to be made and websites and social media like Facebook and twitter need to be used effectively to promote the event.
Staff for the event then need to be hired. There are a lot of important job roles involved in this point of the proceedings. There need to be Sound Engineers, Lighting Technicians, Instrument Technicians, Road Crew, Session Musicians (in the case of Paramore), Catering, Photographers, Hair and Make-Up, Security, People that run the merchandise stalls. In charge of all the people setting up the stage is the Stage Manager. Their job consists of [1]:

• Organising and coordinating stage production.
• Making sure artists are on and off stage at the correct time.
• Also making sure that equipment is on and off the stage when it needs to be.
• Writing and supplying everyone with a copy of the schedule
• Making sure that the stage and backstage are safe for all artists and crew. This means making sure cables are taped down, making sure the are no drinks lying around that may cause and electrical hazard etc.
• Being present at all rehearsals to direct artists and crew.

Moving away from Paramore now, I just want to quickly metion a few other examples of live performances where the are more specialist staff involved. In Roger Waters' The Wall Tour there need to be builders to build the wall before and during the show, as well as push it over during the final song.

I'd also like to mention Slipknot. Their whole live performance and image relies on their jumpsuits and unique masks. Their masks are custom made and throughout their career they've changed masks and jumpsuits so I'd imagine they need a very dedicated wardrobe department for their shows.

Come one come all!

Hello there. Welcome to my BTEC Music Performing blog. Throughout my 2 year course I will be using this blog both for assignments as well as general reflection upon live performances in Band C and other stuff like that. In short, this blog is basically for me to try and document everything I can and do work.

This main page will show every post I make in chronological order but I hope that I'll be able to have several other pages on the blog which serve as lists of posts to categorise everything so that it's easier to find

:)