Recording - December 2010 - 48

Getting Your Music Heard in Today’s Commercial Culture
By Justin Matley

If your New Year’s resolutions include getting more music to more ears—read on!
We all know that the old path to super stardom—band records demo, demo impresses A&R guy, A&R guy comes to gig, label signs band and spends a fortune making band famous—isn’t exactly the norm any longer. However, that is not to say you can’t make some money off your music. It just takes a little more work, and a different approach. Today, with the collapse of many of the industry’s big recording studios, the shrinking contracts and downsizing at record labels, and the reluctance of investors to jolt additional cash into the industry due to obvious economic fears, your music career can really benefit from music licensing. What is licensing? Licensing is different from scoring for television or film, because it’s not custom music written to sync with a specific spot. It’s also different from stock music in that you are not hired to write for the stock library exclusively. Licensing is for artists and bands, and appealing because it is exclusively for your music, giving you the freedom to write and submit your own music as you wish.

recent years such as NYC’s Stray Dog Haus (www.straydoghaus.com) and L.A.’s Noma (www.nomamusic.com). They foster relationships with artists to add to their roster, and promote the music to solicitors (producers, creative writers, directors) looking for specific music ideas for their pitches, for commercials or even film work. Also check out—to name just a few—licensemusicnow.com, rumblefish at musiclicensing store.com, ascap.com/licensing, sesac.com/licensing/licensing.aspx, and bmi.com/licensing. Get in touch Developing the relationships generally happens the old-fashioned way. Getting heard through licensing is generally much easier than being heard by someone with legitimate leverage at a major record company—it’s not about nailing that show the one night the A&R rep is in attendance. A music licenser’s roster (usually available online) should give you a good idea as to their genre specializations. Generally, the rosters are very diverse, even eclectic, as it is in their best interest to fulfill as many genres as possible to satisfy their clients’ varying needs. This openness, along with the

“There was a time when music videos used to be a great method for popular artists to get their music [out]... now, more than ever, artists need to have a much better understanding of music licensing as it pertains to the gaming industry.”—Bill Mueller of Turbine, Inc.
Big-name acts have licensed their music commercially for years. Pepsi has partnered with some notables in its 1984 Michael Jackson street-dance rumble à la “Beat It” and its 2000 Tina Turner “Simply the Best” campaign, among others. Philips paid a fortune (rumored at around $1 million) for The Beatles’ “Getting Better”. Others are expanding on it today: Apple with U2’s “Vertigo” and Comcast with The Temptations’ “Get Ready” are just a couple more. Not only are soft-drink makers and the tech-savvy getting in on it, but high-end car makers, retail chains, electronics manufacturers, and others have all cashed in. However, only recently have the bigger corporations prominently tapped into less main stream, more “indie” music. This presents great opportunities for artists looking for new avenues to make money, and these companies, and the agencies that represent them, often have dough to spend. Outside of major long-existing music licensing companies that stemmed from major label work such as EMI (most notably The Beatles through their publishers, Apple Corps) and BMI (Paul Simon, Black Eyed Peas, etc.), several smaller boutique licensers have grown in
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generally minimal staff size of such places and unpredictability of future trends, makes your music more competitive and valuable in this market than going the label route. And while they may not always accept unsolicited materials, it can be much easier to get the ear (or email) of someone who can help out. Contacting a music licensing company is generally easy. Most have websites easily formatted with contact info, and quite often you’ll find submission areas where you can get to someone directly. Better yet, you don’t need to be living in a major metropolitan area to get an opportunity. Searching on Google isn’t the only way to start. Trade shows such as NAMM and South by Southwest (SXSW), industry magazines, and local artist showcases can all uncover leads into meeting music licensing folks. While it helps to have the opportunity to meet anyone face to face, the music generally will speak for itself. Constructing your email properly or placing a courteous call, coupled with a professional press packet of materials and well recorded and produced songs, certainly is a good second step (with the first step being the music!).

http://www.straydoghaus.com http://www.nomamusic.com http://www.musiclicensingstore.com http://www.musiclicensingstore.com http://www.ascap.com/licensing http://www.sesac.com/licensing/licensing.aspx http://www.bmi.com/licensing

Recording - December 2010

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