SYNC UP- SUCCESS IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS?

Kristin Hersch from throwing muses, George Howard, co-founder of tunecore and Peter Hinberger, manager of Dr John talk about making music from sync-ups - music licensing, why people feel they still  need a major label to make it big and whether it is actually possible to make money from sync-ups - that is music on TV or film.

Sync-ups seem to be the hot topic in music conferences - and the so-called saviour of independant musicians.  But there seems to be some doubt about how these work in practice, for example, some large TV networks now appear to be asking for unsigned musicians to send music in, but will not pay them for it's use - not even PRS royalties.  The excuse they give is "it's promotion for the artist".

When competition is so fierce and young, upcoming artists are happy to be exploited in this way - how can an artist survive?  Interested to know your thoughts below...

By Jez with No comments

How to get your music onto Beatport

If you make dance music then the chances are you've heard of "Beatport". In their own words:  "Beatport is the recognized leader in electronic dance music downloads for DJs and club music enthusiasts."  Whilst certainly not the largest online audio store they are certainly the most recognised.  They certainly have the power to make careers - with progressive house producer Deadmau5 and Steve Duda amongst those whose careers have been launched through the site.

Beatport are renowned as having a strict policy in regard to their record labels.  In order to launch a deal with them you have to either be a recognised label and have some marketing muscle behind you.  They rarely deal with "vanity labels" - those labels set up just to deal with one artist - unless you are the kind of artist who can guarantee large volumes of sales.  In addition they monitor all sales - if you're sales dip below $500 per quarter then the chances are they'll cull you from their roster.

By Jez with 59 comments