Reddit reviews All You Need to Know About the Music Business: Eighth Edition

I double majored in Physics and Music simply because those were my interests, they didn't really directly apply to my job pursuit. I think as far as getting a foot in the door internships are paramount. Look up some artists you like and see who manages them or who their record label is. If they have an internship application great: apply. If they don't, send an email to whoever you can get a hold of there asking about internships.

Your marketing degree definitely makes you more qualified! I'd advise doing some research on the fields that specifically interest you. For example, if you're looking to get into music, read Donald Passman's All You Need To Know About The Music Business.

Going to sound harsh, but its because I respect your friend (and you) to tell him what he needs to do if he is serious about music. His vocals are the worst part of most of the songs I would strongly consider taking voice lessons, mixing is off on most of the songs, he over relies on samples to carry some of the songs, his flow is incredibly weak and needs a lot more practice performing. If he is serious he should be practice rapping for at least an hour a day to develop a distinct flow and study the greats. Thats the minimum for what it takes to get somebody to listen to you, let alone for him to make it.

I looked at your post history and saw you are Miles the producer. I think you have a lot more talent then your friend imo. Go try to get into a college for music production, grind at least 1-2 beats a day and use all your free time to study music production. I highly suggest interviews / walk throughs or online classes by experienced producers. Also educate yourself on the business side of music if you are serious, I recommend This Book as a starting point since it will be your bible for the music industry. Keep working hard and look forward to see you grow if you continue to pursue music production seriously.

I'd recommend All You Need to Know About the Music Business.

https://www.amazon.com/Need-Know-About-Music-Business/dp/1451682468

http://www.amazon.com/Need-Know-About-Music-Business/dp/1451682468

Donald Passman's book is a great place to start. He details different types of producers. Also, it's a great read.

Honestly, you could just be a freelancer, so you can have a lot of free time to work on music when you want to. I freelanced about 25-30 hours a week at peak "work" (still leaves a lot of free time for music) and these days I rarely take on clients now that the music side is paying off. :)

Also, if you're 17, and music is your first love, you should really consider a career in the industry. It's not a pipe dream like so many would have you believe. If you like pop music, especially. Get out to LA, learn to produce, write, or sing (ideally all 3) and, if you're good, you'll get hired. 6-7 digit salaries aren't uncommon in the music industry out here. Publishers will put a good composer/producer on salary, and royalties on a major hit pay very well (if you have a decent deal in place).

Also, outside of production & writing, you can get a job in the industry doing a whole lot of other stuff: A&R, management, publishing. Passman's book is a good starting place for learning about that stuff. Max Martin can be one inspiration on how to completely dominate the pop scene.

Also in the intersection of music + tech is Techstars Music Accelerator, a startup incubator for music industry ideas.

Seriously, don't discount how much money is in the music industry. Behind every rich artist is a huuuuge mass of songwriters, producers, managers, engineers, and publishers also getting pretty rich.

Mods, this shit should be on the sidebar. I've personally explained it here like 10 times over the years and I've read it explained by others in great detail dozens and dozens of other times and I'm not even on here that often.

If you give your own music away for free no one cares what you do.

If you sell your own music you are talking about two things: ownership of the recording and ownership of the composition. This is called publishing rights. You can be your own publisher (composition) and your own label (recording). It's smart to start thinking of it this way now to get your head around it. Start thinking like a business.

Labels sell the recordings they own. Publishers collect publishing royalties and they split them with the artists. The composition royalties get split between the publisher and the artist. The recording royalties get split between the publisher and the label, and then the label may further split that shit out to the artist if the artist is smart when they sign.

Back in the day there were publishers and there were labels and very rarely were they merged into the same company, but nowadays the idea of an indie label that acts as both, or a licensing company that does a little of both here and there, or an artist who does it all for his/herself is very common because lots of cool people and technology dudes and dudettes have made it so easy.

When you are in your situation, you can self-release to an aggrigator like CDbaby or TunrCore who distributes for you and collects a fee for offering this service. THIS IS WHAT I SUGGEST DOING. It's been a while since I've done this but back in the day you had to have a whole album to do it because it makes financial sense for them. That may be different now. There are other aggrigators that allow you to just release singles, but I don't know which ones are still around.

You can also self-release directly to iTunes but I think that's silly because using an aggrigator is so fucking amazing.

To bottom-line this, lets discuss business. In business, when you own something, you can do WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT WITH SOMETHING YOU OWN. So it doesn't matter what you do as long as you aren't under contract with someone else. If you self-release and then somehow get picked up by a label (yes, labels have their own distribution who sometimes are just aggrigators like CDbaby) then they'll make you write up a contract with them and who cares? They certainly won't. You just pull your shit off iTunes and relist with them. Of course you'll want to read all the shit you sign with iTunes, etc. to make sure that that's possible to do before you self-release. I can't keep up with it.

Starting a label is easy. Getting attention is hard.

Read this like 5 times:

https://www.amazon.com/Need-Know-About-Music-Business/dp/1451682468

I've seen a few posts recently saying that A&R 'doesn't really exist anymore'. I have no idea where that comes from. A&R is THE main component of any record label, independent or major label. Not even sure how to address this sentiment, it's so incorrect.

Most people do not go to school for anything related to music. I did and I know maybe a handful of people who did but 80-90% of the industry went to school for something generic and unrelated (or didn't go at all).

There's two paths to getting into the music industry, one is DYI. Become an artist manager. You don't need a degree or experience or even connections early on (these come with time and work). Find bands you believe in and approach them - be real - and explain you're interested in helping them grow and build. Figure it out as you go along. Be prepared for their egos; every artist thinks they're bigger than they are. Other DYI routes are promoting parties (just putting on events), freelance marketing/PR, etc. MOST people starting out in this lane have NO experience and just pick it up as they go, build a portfolio (for lack of a better word) and snowball experience until it's substantial. This route is hard, there's little money in it for the foreseeable future, but if you're aggressive pursuing it and strategic with your trajectory then it can work. This is how some of the biggest figures in music have started.

The other route is more formal, closer to a normal job route. Get an internship or assistant position at one of the 4 traditional sub-industries: label, publisher, management, booking agency. These aren't hard to get you just have to have a nice clean resume - they don't expect a ton of experience - and present yourself well, have a savage work ethic, have thick skin and great attention to detail. I can tell you from looking at tons of resumes for entry level that having a music related education/major is a very small component of the process. If I see some kid who has been promoting parties in college, shows a proclivity to pursuing music, with or without my help, and seems like he's ripe to learn and grow then they often get a shot. Having a "music business" degree, for example, will do the same thing - it just gets you in the door. My point is it's not necessary. This path is long and the money sucks, just like the DYI path, but there's some structure in it and a path towards progressing. My colleagues at my current job all started as assistants and interns and are now running major parts of the company. My point here is that hiring managers want to see people who are already TRYING to do things on their own and seem to be the kind of person who will continue to make progress with our without the position in question.

The moving around a lot will be a huge hurdle. Unless you're in LA or NYC (or Nashville and Austin to a lesser extent) it's going to be VERY hard to make progress, I'm sorry to say. But now that you know that, perhaps you can work around it. Perhaps your path is a DYI one in the digital space where you build artist platforms, manage their social media and digital marketing, etc. Stuff you can do remotely. It'll still be hard as people really work with people they've personal relationships with but a quick productive trip to NYC or LA and you can shake enough hands to leave with a client or two hopefully. Just a thought. Or perhaps you work in local venues as marketing and talent buying.

Get Donald Passman's book: http://www.amazon.com/Need-Know-About-Music-Business/dp/1451682468

IANAL, but you might want to check out Section 3 and Section 6 of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial Public License legal code.

A music industry attorney by the name of Donald Passman has an outstanding book that covers the complexities of music licensing, publishing, and practically everything else related to the business. It's really geared towards keeping artists protected.

So then your theory -- based on your decades in the business, I suppose -- is that the WWE can get the music rights, cheaply, to all the music they want, to use however they want, "under their network" (whatever that means), but they're choosing not to.

Synchronization rights agreements for a piece of music do not always cover all formats. They just don't, especially when said formats didn't exist at the time the music was used. Watch some old TV show on Netflix or syndication, you'll see a lot of redubbed music. It's the same thing with WWE.

But why I am explaining this to you? You're a legend in the business, and I'm just a guy who's making shit up in my head.

(Also, dirt sheets. By which I mean books, like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Need-Know-About-Music-Business/dp/1451682468)

Alright, ideally my dream job would be a music supervisor, but those are few and far between. I wouldn't mind doing some sort of analytics or PR, and I realize all my options are pretty different. I've got two book recommendations for you. Cool Jobs in the Music Business and All You Need to Know About the Music Business. All of my mentor type figures have recommended these to me, and It really helps to clarify the different careers and definitely helped me get a hold of the language of the music industry.

Personally I think branding depends on who you are when it comes to the music business, you are the brand. Define you you are and live it, show it to your fans. For everything else, I recommend this book.

https://www.amazon.com/Need-Know-About-Music-Business/dp/1451682468

Read this.

The biggest struggle you'll have with your style of hip hop is that it's less marketable for television and movies.

For the typical indie artist (rock, pop, etc), you can get in with a good publicist who will get your music into television and movies. You've obviously got talent, I think a good mentor would help push you to that next level.

If you're into some reading, check out All You Need to Know About the Music Business by Donald L Passman. It's golden for musicians in your spot.

There's a ton of books out there. Start here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451682468

Don Passman's All You Need To Know About The Music Business has the answers to pretty much all of your questions and it's very well written and funny. Link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1451682468

That said, it's extremely hard to get signed by a major unless you have a big following or very good connections in the industry - and it might not be wise either since they're most likely gonna fuck you over when negotiating the contract since you will have little or no bargaining power.

For example, Porter Robinson only recently signed to a major (Astralwerks). All in all a lot of big name producers are delaying signing as long as possible to build up their name to get clout that can get the best possible deal. All the majors are looking for is money, and the more you and your brand can (seemingly) offer them, the better off you will be when negotiating.

So it might be best to concentrate on building up your name, because when you have good music, proper branding and a decent following, industry people will get interested. Personally, I'd first look into getting a manager that can get you remix jobs at majors and at the same time get your stuff released at the right places. The best way to find one is either to know somebody or - surprise - being a big enough deal so that somebody wants to work with you.

Hope this helps! I have a couple of years of experience with the industry so please let me know if there's anything in particular I can help you with.

Edit: thought I'd add a little personal story too - a friend of mine had been sending stuff to a big EDM-centric branch of a major label. He sent them things three times and never even got a response (and the music was absolutely amazing). Then, he puts out an EP on a small label and all of a sudden gets a message from the head of the major saying that he loves the EP and would like to sign him. So I guess moral of the story is, keep on both sending and releasing good stuff and something will happen eventually.

You have two options.

Option 1: Buy and read this book, approach various video game companies until you get interest (perhaps through /u/TheApothecaryAus's method), get a lawyer to help draw up a contract, and licence your music.

Option 2: Buy and read this book, approach a label with a lawyer (go to Universal Music Group first to take advantage of the right of first refusal), and have them market you to video game designers.

The book in question is on the shelf of every music exec at UMG. I mean it - all of them.

Mechanical royalties are set by Federal law, though most major label contracts pay 75% or so of the statutory rate which is 9.1 cents per song under 5 minutes in length. Performance royalties depend on the artists contribution to the song in question. You can see the percentage each writer gets for some songs in the BMI/ASCAP databases but you won't get actual payment information.You won't find a database of this because it's based on individual contracts.

This book will tell you as much as you need to know about the regulations and customs: https://www.amazon.com/Need-Know-About-Music-Business/dp/1451682468

But you're not going to get individual dollar amounts.

https://www.amazon.com/Need-Know-About-Music-Business/dp/1451682468

All You Need to Know About the Music Business, book by Donald Passman
http://www.amazon.com/Need-Know-About-Music-Business/dp/1451682468

Tickets to SXSW music conference
http://sxsw.com/music/conference/about

This Multi Track Looping Recorder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gKWfvd-chA

Good luck!

Hey I actually managed a rapper for a few months so I do have some experience. In terms of DIY and independence I highly recommend you buy this book before doing anything major.

All You Need To Know MBUS

I myself own a copy and was recommended by a mentor and it’s kind of like the Bible in terms of knowing the main ins and outs of the business side.

Tunecore vs CD Baby Publishing

Digital Distro Comparison Chart

I’m sure other people will have more info. But once again that book is golden.

Hold up! I have a music business degree and work in the music business. First off I suggest reading This book it's American based, but still relevant.



The long of the sort of it with manager is, they get 15-20% of whatever you make, that they're a part of, which is usually about everything. So you make $1,000 for a show, they get between $150-$200 of that. You never pay them up front. Same with agents, but agents get 10%. The difference between an agent and a manager is, a manger is a part of everything you do, while an agent just books shows, and route tours(so booking multiple shows) with smaller bands the manager and agent can be the same person. Bands I work with(Which is might be specific to my genre, not sure) usually pay managers 15% of live(because agents) and 20% of recorded + deals or whatever else.



OH also labels...labels give you money, not the other way around. The only label that I know that asks for money is Thirty Tigers, but they're adamant that they're not a label they're "label services" and signing a label contact is something that requires a lawyer. I feel like I need to repeat IF YOU WANT TO SIGN TO A LABEL GET YOUR OWN LAWYER. They are worth the $300-$500 it will cost.

If you have any other questions let me know, but really you should read the passman book.

You do realize that every recording contract is different and each artist has the opportunity to negotiate their deal right? It's not difficult to pick up Donald Passman's book and know exactly what you are able to get and exactly what little tricks a label may or may not try and pull. At the end of the day, if an artist doesn't like the deal being offered, they can just not sign it!

Pretty clear you know nothing about the music industry (or you're a teenager), take some time and read these:

http://djbooth.net/news/entry/young-thug-trapped

https://www.amazon.com/Need-Know-About-Music-Business/dp/1451682468

and watch this:

Thirty Seconds to Mars, had one of the most biggest tours of all time and were millions in debt:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2370718/