Revenue streams for the working musician
Excerpted from our “9 Free Revenue Streams for the Working (and Weekend) Musician” guide, this post provides three ideas you can employ to boost revenue from your music. Read the post.
music artist royalties
License your music (and generate revenue)
Excerpted from our latest guide, this post gives an overview of what music licensing is and lays out five things you can do to boost your chances to license your music. Read the post.
How Much Does Streaming Pay?
When you analyze the money you can earn from streaming, you’ll find it’s difficult (at best) to earn enough to support yourself as an artist. But streaming is still valuable: it can be a gateway to discovery and other means of monetizing your fan base. Read the post.
Maximize your royalties by submitting cue sheets
Music licensing for film, TV, movie trailers, video, and advertising generates lucrative sync licenses and even boosts your performance royalties — but only if you submit cue sheets. Read the post.
Why you should use split sheets when writing and recording music
When writing and recording music, use split sheets to capture vital information and make sure you avoid legal disputes, boost promotion, and generate money-making opportunities. Read the post.
Music trends in 2018: hip hop, music streaming, and live concerts
As the music industry continues to evolve, I’ve identified three music trends to keep an eye on in 2018 that are helping to reshape popular music. Read More.
How cue sheets help you get paid for TV and film placements
A cue sheet is a written synopsis of the music used in a production and is one way to ensure all the stakeholders in a song are compensated adequately. Read More.
Performing Rights Organizations – a history and overview
Performing Rights Organizations aggregate the performing rights of writers and publishers and then negotiate licenses with all the users of music, collect the income from those licenses, and distribute that income. Read More.
Music streaming 2016, Part 2: the complex revenue equation
A big part of the revenue blurriness in music streaming is because many record deals were made before the advent of music streaming, using a model of selling a physical product. It’s time to tackle the job of drafting contracts to account for the fact that there are no manufacturing costs with streaming or download sales. Read more.
Music streaming 2016, Part 1: the current streaming landscape
2015 was marked by a number of high-profile artists continuing to speak out against the music streaming business model while excluding their music from providers like Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and many more. Mainstream artists have challenged whether streaming can ever be profitable for artists. Read more.
A guide to Apple Music for the independent musician
Apple Music is live and streaming, and for independent musicians who want in on the service, CD Baby is the go-to source to make music available on the platform. In addition to being an Apple approved aggregator, the editors at CD Baby’s The DIY Musician blog have embarked on a series of posts covering Apple Music. Read more.
Music streaming: friend or foe to the independent musician?
Based on these facts, it would seem unwise for most artists – independent or otherwise – to follow Swift’s lead and dismiss offering some or all of their music in an intelligent and well-thought out way through select streaming services. Studies show worldwide paid subscribers on the leading streaming services and the growth in streaming earnings are up. Clearly, streaming has become a substantial part of the revenue pie and appears poised to continue steady growth. Read more.
Let’s Pay Music Artists Less – The Fight for Internet Radio Fairness Ain’t Done Yet
Late last year, at the urging of Pandora radio and other tech industry players, Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.) co-sponsored the Internet Radio Fairness Act (IRFA). The bill got such a late start that it failed to make it out of committee during the 2012 Congressional year. It also fared poorly at a Congressional hearing in late November 2012, but sources such as Billboard warn that the bill isn’t dead so much as “hibernating.” Read more.
Public Domain and Copyrighted Works: Mechanical Licensing for Silly Love Songs
Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs … and what’s wrong with that? If you’re planning to use a previously written composition in your efforts, though, you may want to ask: “What constitutes a public domain composition?” Read More.