Louise Dodgson writes about publishing and fan funding..
OK, for those of you who don’t have it already (and these is pretty much directed to all you budding musicians and music companies out there!), you really should have The Unsigned Guide. You really can’t find anything more comprehensive than it in the UK in relation to pretty much any contact detail and information on a business you need to help start up your band or business!
Louise Dodgson, the editor of said ‘bible’ (sacrilege, be damned!), has very kindly allowed us here at Underdogs to publish a couple of great pieces she included in her recent foray to In The City in Manchester.
The first is about publishing for unsigned and fledgling artists and the second is based on fan funding platforms such as Sellaband and Pledge Music. A great read and very handy knowledge to have indeed…
Pub-label-ublishing: Defining The Lines Of The Future
There often seems to be a great deal of mystery surrounding how music publishing works, and it is an area that many unsigned bands and artists are unfamiliar with. However, this is definitely a route worth looking into further for emerging artists. With the decline of recorded sales around the world, the publishing and live music avenues are set to become stronger than ever and there is no question that they will always be in existence.
On the panel was Andy McQueen of Notting Hill Music, a music publishing company in the traditional sense operating for around 20 years, and Simon Pursehouse of Sentric Music www.sentricmusic.com, an artist-friendly service who can collect publishing royalties, as well as hunting out sync deals for film, TV and games for their acts. Sentric Music currently have 1300 artists on board and will work with bands & artists of all levels and genres, just sign up free of charge on their website.
Some interesting points that the panellists were keen to point out to the audience was that the structure of publishing deals is set up differently to that of recording deals, and the balance of power does lean towards the songwriter. Artists can work with publishers and receive an advance from this type of contract before attaining a record deal, if they choose to opt for a record deal at all. Advances from publishing deals do not necessarily have to be fully recoupable, and other alternatives such as sponsorship can be drawn upon to cover these costs. An existing case of this would be a sponsorship deal struck between Fightstar and Jagermeister, which just goes to show that there is more scope available for emerging talent to receive the funding and development they need without turning to a record label in the first instance. In a day & age when you could produce a t-shirt with a tag allowing you access to a downloadable album, and still be classed as chart-eligible, then is there really any need to put out a record in the traditional sense? It’s certainly worth investigating all options available.
The top tips which both Andy and Simon had to share for bands working with or hoping to work with a publishing service was firstly, try to record to the best quality you can afford as on the whole TV and film companies will only deal with high quality recordings. However, bands and artists who receive an advance or any kind of royalty income from their music will no doubt be advised to use this cash to record better quality versions further down the line so their tracks will be open to more potential revenue streams. And secondly, hang onto instrumental versions of your tracks. They may come in very handy for publishing purposes!
Something From Nothing: Making It Happen Without A Budget
Who needs record labels? With representatives from Sellaband www.sellaband.com and Pledge Music www.pledgemusic.com on the panel there was plenty of food for thought for artists & bands who want to release their own music without going down the route of getting a recording contract. Rather than being a last resort services such as Sellaband and Pledge Music really can be a viable alternative to chasing a record deal, and can help artists can forge a sustainable career .
As you may or may not know, Sellaband is a fan-funded model that can count Public Enemy’s forthcoming release as one of their more recent success stories. However, they deal with bands and artists of all levels and to date have 34 artists on their books who have managed to raise $50,000 to assist them with recording, releasing and marketing their music.
Pledge Music is the newest service of this ilk around and with a similar outlook to that of Sellaband, they aim to help artists connect with their fans in a meaningful way. They hope to do this by giving bands a platform to offer their fans choice, whether it is different formats of releases, bundle packages, limited edition merchandise and so on. The site’s founder Benji Rogers claimed that the average spend per fan was $93. The most important point he conveyed as the key to sustaining a music career was for bands to build significant relationships with their fans by asking them directly what they want and catering to that. In a nutshell, making them feel special. Your dedicated fans are effectively your army and will act as an advocate for your band so if you look after them, they will in turn look after you.
During this discussion a few points were raised by a member of the audience who turned out to be the manager of The Boxer Rebellion, the first unsigned band to reach the top of the download charts. With hands-on experience of bringing a band to market with no budget, he was subsequently invited to join the panellists on the stage and share his experiences. Encouraging artists to be entrepreneurial, his main points of advice regarding a band’s relationship with their fans included hooking up with similar artists and bands to offer attractive bundles, and don’t forget your overseas fans – there are more territories than the UK alone and if you draw more popularity in another country then perhaps that is where you should focus your attention. Finally, and echoed by everyone else on the panel, listen to your fans!
We would again like to thank Louise Dodgson for not only writing these articles, but for allowing us to use them. Don’t forget to get to the www.theunsignedguide.com and keep following Louise’s articles at www.theunsignedguide.com/blog
Underdogs…still barking away. Blame the fireworks, it’s November 19th and they’re still going off! x
