Music Business
Do Songwriters Need A Publisher?
Do songwriters need a publisher? This is a question that I get all the time. Like most things in life, there is not a one-size-fits-all answer to the question. In general, I explain it to people this way. It’s very similar to the way I would answer the question “Do I really need a mechanic to…
Read MoreSongwriter Split Sheets: Pro Writer Explains What You Really Need To Know!
Hit Songwriter Marty Dodson talks about getting co-signed songwriting split sheets for your songs and why they are so important. Chapters Chapter 1: What is on a songwriter split sheet? Chapter 2: How are the percentages split? Chapter 3: Why are songwriter split sheets important? Chapter 4: Is publishing important to list? Chapter 5: What…
Read MoreDid He Steal My Song Title?
A few years ago, I was searching for song titles by reading through quotes on the internet. I found what I thought was an amazing quote. It said something like “How can you be old and wise if you were never young and crazy”. The next day, I threw that title out and my…
Read MoreIs Songwriting A Dream or A Plan?
In a mentoring session the other day I was helping a young songwriter who felt like she was really floundering around in pursuit of her dream. She talked about how frustrating it was to tell whether or not she was making progress and how difficult it is to tell what she should be doing differently…
Read MoreSync Briefs: Your Key To Music Placements In Ads, TV & Film
Randall Foster is Vice President of Business Development and GM of the Nashville office of a digital distribution company called Symphonic Distribution. Prior to his current role, Randall was the leader of the Creative Sync & Licensing for ole music publishing where he oversaw a vast catalog of music copyrights and intellectual property and managed…
Read MoreHow To Weather The Ups and Downs of The Music Business
“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.” ~Hunter S. Thompson There is no doubt that the music business is tough. But so is the “Medical” business, the “law” business, the “teaching business”,…
Read MoreSongwriters: How To Increase Your Chances If You Live Outside A Music Center
As a mentor and coach, I am often helping many songwriters that don’t live in a music town. Here are my ideas for increasing your chances of success as a songwriter if you live outside a music center: 1) Visit as often as you can. Even if it’s just once a year. Some wisely planned…
Read MoreWhat Is A Staff Songwriter?
There are many misconceptions about what it means to be a “staff songwriter.” So, I thought I’d make an attempt at clearing that up. In layman’s terms, a staff songwriter has signed an exclusive agreement giving a publisher some portion of every song they write. (During the term of the agreement.) So, if a songwriter…
Read MoreThe Out-Of-Town Songwriter: Getting A Major Artist Cut If You Don’t Live In Nashville, NYC, or LA
The number one question that fills our email inbox is “How do I get a song cut by a major artist if I’m an out-of-town songwriter?” “I don’t live in a big music city” is the challenge. This strikes at the very core of why Marty Dodson and I created this virtual SongTown of kindred…
Read MoreHow Songwriters Get Paid: The 5 Minute Overview Of Songwriting Income Streams
Several people have asked about the different ways songwriters get paid. So, here’s the 5 minute overview: Publishing Draws for Songwriters. This is a monthly amount a publisher pays to a writer that is on a staff publishing deal. These are really advances on royalties that have to be repaid out of incoming royalties. Once your catalog…
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