TuneCorner

How To Succeed in the Music Biz (Part 2): The Hedgehog Principle

by George Howard

The second critical foundation element you must confront is discerning your inner Hedgehog.  As mentioned, this is a concept that Jim Collins articulates in his book Good to Great. To find your Hedgehog you must determine:

• what you are passionate about
• what you can do better than anyone else
• what will be your economic driver

You must have all three of these elements defined in order to become great at what you do.  The Hedgehog Concept forces you to focus on three crucial elements, and, importantly, to be sure that you don’t focus on things outside of these three elements.  As Collins says, “The key is to understand what [you] can be the best in the world at, and equally important what [you] cannot be the best at….The Hedgehog Concept is not a goal, strategy of intention; it is an understanding.”

Consider what it is that you’re passionate about; consider what it is that you can do best or could do best; consider how you will make your money.  The Hedgehog Concept lays the foundation for three crucial management elements: mission, vision, and values. 

Certainly, your passion will revolve around music, but you need to determine precisely what your “wedge” or competitive advantage is in the music business.  If you're a performer, what precise element of performing are you most passionate about; is it writing the songs you perform, is it playing in front of the audience, etc.?  If your passion involves working with musicians in order to get the music you believe must be heard heard, you must identify precisely how you will do this: managing artists, booking artists, financing artists, producing music, or some combination of each?

Importantly, this idea of doing what you're passionate about is not as simplistic as doing what you love.  Unfortunately, many of the things we are passionate about are not things we can be the best at, nor are they things that can generate income for us.  The genius of the Hedgehog Concept is that it requires you to make some difficult choices, and even some trade-offs.  We all know people who have decidedly found their economic driver, and have made more money than they can ever spend, but who are miserable.  In essence, while they have at least one (the economic driver), and maybe two (what they can be best at), they are missing the crucial third circle (what they are passionate about). 

By not having each of the circles, they can never truly be great.  More frequently, of course, people know (or think they know) what they are passionate about, and tend to believe that they can be the best at this thing.  However, they can’t figure out a way to make a living doing this thing.  The sad consequence of this is that, because they lack the economic denominator, they are not able to truly focus on doing what they are passionate about and what they believe they can be best at, because they are too busy doing all sorts of unrelated things (“Would you like that coffee as a venti for only a dollar more?”) in order to pay the rent. 

The challenge, therefore, is to balance the three circles.  You may, for instance, find that you must re-evaluate your passion in order to make it overlap with an economic driver.  While this may seem as if you're compromising your dream, the reality is that it represents the first step towards a strategic approach of monetizing your passion.

So, briefly, before you can begin delving into actual practices/setting goals for getting your music, or the music you work with heard, you must address two essential issues.  First, you must make certain that you have the unwavering belief that your music (or the music on whose behalf you work) must be heard.  Second, you must begin reconciling the three elements of the Hedgehog Concept.  When you combine these elements you drastically increase your odds of success.

Stayed tuned for part 3 next week.

Outsourcing Music Production--What Do You Think?

By Nicole Albertson

[TuneCore friend Nicole Albertson is gathering data for an article and needs your help. Your responses will shape the industry. Be part of it! --Peter]

As a die hard music fan and an eclectic listener, I have always been envious of those who could express themselves through music. I’ve taken a stab at playing a few different instruments, but reluctantly realized that no amount of lessons could cure my lack of talent.

So instead of causing agonizing pain to other’s ears, I took my excitement and passion for music and decided to start writing about it. Now I am living in the heart of creativity, New York City, and exploring the true meaning of music.

I am currently working on an article for a Los Angeles based magazine called Music Connection and have hit a road block in my research. So I'm reaching out to you readers to guide me through.

It is no secret that the economy has gone from bad to worse. Every industry has to scale down and rationalize its means in order to compensate for nation’s economic crisis. And of course, the music industry is no exception. A new trend called outsourcing has been on the rise as a way for record companies to cut costs and still produce a great product. Outsourcing is being utilized in two different ways, music production and distribution.

As a first effort to save costs, outsourcing music production sends music scores overseas to be produced and recorded at a much cheaper price compared to the high expenses of U.S. musicians, producers and studio time. New programs like eSession’s Virtual Glass are designed to bridge the gap by connecting musicians across the globe during recording sessions. With the use of in-studio cameras, high-tech microphones, and real-time video, producers and musicians are able to interact and collaborate as if in the studio together.

In a second effort, music companies like EMI and Universal Music Group are making deals to outsource marketing and distribution, an idea that has been in the works since CD sales started declining over decade ago. Deals with countries like Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand have been set to lower costs and make records more affordable for the music industry.

While outsourcing may lower the price tag for record companies, how does it affect the industry as the whole? As fewer musicians and producers are being hired for studio recordings, will there be a greater strain on freelance musicians? Is outsourcing production going to have an affect on the in-studio creativity that has spawned so many brilliant albums or is this simply another way to broaden the scope and invite other influences into American culture?

Tell me your thoughts, your experiences and your ideas on outsourcing music production. I want to hear about the benefits that it provides, the problems it spawns, and the next step in making music more economically friendly for all parties involved, including the corporations.

The DIY Guide to Submitting Your Songs to Anyone in the Music Industry

Cliff Goldmacher is the owner of two successful studios, an accomplished songwriter, session musician and a regular contributor to EQ Magazine and Pro Sound News. He can be reached at [email protected].

So you’ve written a great song, made a fabulous demo and now you’ll live happily ever after, right?  Well, kind of…  This article is the official “chapter after” you’ve written and recorded your song.  There’s no doubt that being a great songwriter and having beautifully recorded versions of your songs is an admirable goal in and of itself.  However, if you’re interested in having your songs see the light of day then your work is really just beginning.  While organizations like Tunecore do a beautiful job of helping you get your music out in the world, it’s still entirely up to you to make sure your songs get in the right music industry hands.  Until the people who can actually do something with your song (i.e. record labels, producers, managers and publishers) have heard it, it might as well not exist.  I know this sounds obvious but I think you’d be amazed at the number of songwriters out there who have great song demos that very few, if any, music business people have ever heard.  Creating the music is one thing but getting your music out in the world requires an entirely different set of skills.  The skills I’m going to focus on are networking, professionalism, persistence, persistence (yes, I know I wrote it twice…) courtesy and patience.

 

Networking

 

Like any business, it’s not only “what” you know but “who” you know that gets you ahead.  What this means in the music world is getting yourself out there to open mics, writer’s nights and any industry events you can find.  For those of you in music cities like New York, Nashville and Los Angeles there are an almost endless stream of opportunities.  For everyone else, you might have to look a little harder or travel from time to time to one of the cities I just mentioned.  I think it’s a universal truth that this kind of stuff isn’t always that much fun but especially when you’re starting out, it’s essential.  Let’s put it this way, all things being equal, if you’ve met someone from a record label or publishing company in a social setting and assuming you’ve had a nice exchange, there’s a much greater likelihood that they’ll not only remember you when you call but will make more of an effort to help you out if they can.  The point is that the more you’re out there, the more people you’ll meet and the greater the chance it will pay dividends down the road.  I’d also recommend remembering a few basic social skills while you’re at it like not immediately launching into your 10-minute, spoken-word bio when you meet someone.  It’s a much better idea to find out a little something about the person you’re talking to by remembering to ask a few questions as well. 

 

Why You Should Seriously Consider Using a Professional Recording Studio

Cliff Goldmacher is the owner of two successful studios, an accomplished songwriter, session musician and a regular contributor to EQ Magazine and Pro Sound News. He can be reached at [email protected].

Who's the Expert

You’re a songwriter. It’s what you do. It’s what you’ve trained yourself to do through countless hours of study, practice and effort. Your songs are yours and no one can write them for you. In other words, you’ve become an expert at writing your songs. That’s how it should be.

However, if you’re going to treat your songwriting as a business that you hope to profit from, then it’s in your best interest to employ experts at every level. In other words, unless you’re also a recording expert, I’d advise you to employ the people who are. Writing a great song is the first and most important part of the process but a high quality, well-performed demo of your song comes a very close second. Unless you’ve devoted as much time to learning the art and craft of recording as you have to your songwriting, you will be doing your songs and your career a disservice by attempting to record your demo yourself.

We’ve all heard the argument that a great song is a great song and anyone with ears should be able to “hear through” any recording no matter how rough. To my way of thinking, this is the music industry equivalent of being set up on a blind date with a person who may very well have a heart of gold but who doesn’t bother to shower. In other words, you’ve only got one chance to make a first impression with your song and given the competition out there, it had better be a great one. You might even meet a music industry person who can genuinely hear through a rough recording. This may be true for that one individual, but if you’re planning on showing your song to a variety of artists, managers, producers and A&R reps as well, it’s never safe to assume that anything less than a first-rate recording will do. By “first rate” I don’t mean full-band or elaborately produced, I simply mean your song should be recorded and produced by professionals.

How and Why Your Band Must Tour

By Ben Grimes and Paul Rogers of TourSavant

Here are some touring tips and opinons from TourSavant, a company dedicated to hepling artists reach their fans.

Why Every Band Can and Should be Touring

You need to get in front of people who are not your classmates, girlfriends and parents. You need to get out of town, blow open peoples' minds, show them exactly who you are and connect with new fans who will love you like friends. Because a fan who loves your band like a best friend is your most valuable resource. Touring may seem a little daunting, but you can do it and we can help you do it more efficiently and with great effect. You need a team to build any music career, and your initial team is your band itself. You’ve already got that part worked out, so now you're ready for the next step: a tour manager. Let’s hit it!

Agreement Royale

The Future of Music Coalition is hosting a major conference this month, including a panel featuring TuneCore founder Jeff Price. We're very happy to be working with the FMC, and they've given us this very timely article to keep you abreast of the royalty decisions happening in the industry today.

On September 23, 2008, songwriters, publishers, record labels and digital music services announced they had reached an agreement on mechanical royalties for songs played on online music services.

Called a “breakthrough that will facilitate new ways to offer music to consumers online,” the voluntary agreement crafted by the Digital Media Association (DiMA), the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), the RIAA, the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) and the Songwriters Guild of America (SGA) ended a longstanding dispute about mechanical royalties for interactive streaming and limited downloads.

According to the agreement, which still must be approved by the Copyright Royalty Board to take effect, limited download and interactive streaming services will pay a mechanical royalty of 10.5 percent of revenue, less any amounts owed for performance royalties. In certain instances, royalty-free promotional streaming is allowed.

This agreement garnered a significant amount of press and blog coverage last week, but lots of it jumped to the conclusion that this was the answer to the ongoing digital performance royalty fight between SoundExchange and webcasters like Pandora and soma.fm. Not so. That’s a different issue, related to a different part of copyright. We know this stuff can be horribly confusing, so we’ve put this blog post together in an effort to explain what happened last week, and how it affects musicians, music services and webcasters.

Jeff Price Provides Thoughts on Effective Marketing

This article began as a response by Jeff Price to TuneCorner contributor George Howard's essay on Psychographics. Here it is with its own space, including plenty of room for comments. Chime in!

Many artists believe that if they just had the proper marketing and promotion their music would get heard and their careers would take off.

When a major releases an album they are NOT looking to sell 50,000, 100,000, 250,000 copies of an album. They want to have a "grand slam", sell millions of copies and have a multi-platinum mega global hit. In order for them to have a "grand slam" they have to swing hard and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, on marketing and promotion - print ads, radio spots, videos, expensive re-mixes by top producers, flier campaigns, street teams, placement in record stores, independent radio promoters, posters, stickers and on and on. They go for it. Majors have spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the past 50 years marketing and promoting bands yet 98% of major record label releases fail (this is such an important point, I am going to state it again - 98% of major record label releases fail!). How could this be possible, after all, they are marketing it aggressively?

Musician's Strategy: The Anti-Genre of Psychographics

A note from TuneCore founder Jeff Price:

Before I give a quick two-second preamble on George Howard's article, I need something from you: WE REALLY WANT YOUR INPUT!

In the late 90's, during the Dot Com boom, there were scores of new companies, funded with lots of money, who entered the music business and started telling the labels and artists what they "had to have." They claimed, "You need DRM encrypted music files that self destruct after three plays," and so on. I got into arguments with them, and they would literally scoff at me. After all, they had the $50 million and they knew everything. My final point to them: "Stop telling me what I need and listen to what I want: after all, I am the "customer" you are going after."

And now I run TuneCore, and we are starting a complete site overhaul, and I WANT YOUR INPUT! I do now want to tell you what you need, I want YOU to tell me what you want. We will listen to your ideas, and things you want will end up in the site. Your input will shape what we do. So please, if you have a moment, visit our Forum (didn't know we had one did you!) and rant, constructively criticize, present your ideas of what you like, don't like, what you want changed and what new things you want. Your comments will build this site: its our job to work for you. We want to build you the site and features you want to make TuneCore yours.

That being said, below is this week's article, written by my friend George Howard. George was there in my father's living room with Peter, Gary and Gian in November, 2005, and he helped us take this brainstorm of an idea called TuneCore and turn it into a reality. George kicks butt. He is a musician, a professor, ran Ryko Disc and his own indie label, and remains one of the people out there in the world who really has something of value to say. He's also great in an argument. He is the senior editor for Artists House Music, and a board member and advisor for a number of companies including Wolfgang's Vault and Daytrotter. He has written two books on the music business for Berklee Media. Check out his personal blog at www.9giantsteps.com.

One of the great unintended consequences of the massive success of iTunes is the way it has irrefutably demonstrated that people simply do not align with one genre of music. Take a look at a random iTunes playlist sometime, and you’ll find Jay Z sitting alongside Janis Joplin and, even, Scott Joplin. What is going on here? Didn’t radio, record stores, and even labels long ago conclude that people could be marketed to most effectively by determining what genre of music they liked, and then deliver it to them? This is certainly the philosophy of radio formats. You have, for instance, formats like “country,” “oldies,” “classic rock,” “urban,” and even formats like “Triple A,” which is sort of a not-too-folksy singer-songwriter format. Of course, the most profound example of this attempted categorization of customers is found on Amazon.com. As soon as you hit the site, you’re bombarded with products “Recommended for you.” How are these recommendations picked? Well, it’s a process of algorithms based on things you’ve bought in the past, and things other people who have bought that you have also bought. These so-called “preference engines” represent sort of the Holy Grail for Internet retailers and marketers. They’re at the heart of many new music related web applications, such as Pandora, Last.fm, LaLa and many others including the new “Genius” technology embedded in iTunes. The thinking goes, if these marketers can get inside your head and tell you what you like, it represents a sale for them.

"Supervision"--Placing Music in a Movie or TV Show, Part II

When TuneCore first began, we called George: few people understand the music business as deeply. George Howard is a professor of management at Loyola University, New Orleans. He is the former president of Rykodisc, and founder of Slow River Records. He is the senior editor for Artists House Music, and a board member and advisor for a number of companies including Wolfgang's Vault and Daytrotter. He has written two books on the music business for Berklee Media. Check out his personal blog at www.9giantsteps.com.

Supervision

This article provides an overview of the history of music supervision, the process of placing music in a movie or TV show, and a description of the relevant licenses and parties involved in this process. It is relevant to anyone interested in having their music used in movies, as well as those considering a career as a music supervisor.

For Part I, please click here.

A Note on Score

There is a difference between synchronization—taking a pre-existing piece of music and connecting it with a moving image—and score. Score is music that is specifically composed for a movie. I mentioned Bernard Herrmann above, and his work for Hitchcock is an example of score. It doesn’t have to be symphonic or classical. Randy Newman, for example, has scored numerous movies, such as the Pixar films, and his work is largely piano and vocal based. I recently watched a documentary on the Pixies (LoudQuietLoud) that contained a very evocative guitar score performed by the great producer Daniel Lanois. As these scores are commissioned by the director/music supervisor, they are typically what is referred to as “works made for hire.” This means that the composer is paid a fee for his work, which then becomes the property of the director (or the production company), as opposed to a synch license, in which the ownership of the piece of music never transfers.

"Supervision"--Placing Music in a Movie or TV Show, Part I

When TuneCore first began, we called George: few people understand the music business as deeply. George Howard is a professor of management at Loyola University, New Orleans. He is the former president of Rykodisc, and founder of Slow River Records. He is the senior editor for Artists House Music, and a board member and advisor for a number of companies including Wolfgang's Vault and Daytrotter. He has written two books on the music business for Berklee Media. Check out his personal blog at www.9giantsteps.com.

Supervision

This article provides an overview of the history of music supervision, the process of placing music in a movie or TV show, and a description of the relevant licenses and parties involved in this process. It is relevant to anyone interested in having their music used in movies, as well as those considering a career as a music supervisor.

Overview

Before I begin, let me give you a quick overview of the important details of supervision. First off, music supervision is primarily concerned with connecting the right song with the right moving image; be that a TV commercial, a movie, or a TV show. The more accurate term for “connecting” in the sentence above is “synchronizing.” So, a “synch” or “synchronization,” is the act of taking a piece of music and connecting it with a moving image in a movie or TV show/ad. Given this, you should quickly realize that music supervision has a lot to do with music publishing. You can’t simply grab any piece of music you want and throw it in a film. There are a host of copyright issues surrounding synchronizations that, in large part, define the role of the music supervisor.

First the cool/glamorous part. A music supervisor gets to work with the director of the visual content (movie, TV show, Ad, etc.), and help this person realize her vision by the addition of music. If you’ve ever seen a film where you have the option to turn the music off, you’ve seen just how important music is to making a film successful. Think, for example, what Goodfellas, would have been like without the coda to “Layla” coming in just at the right moment; consider any of the Tarantino films devoid of music; imagine any of the Hitchcock films without the phenomenal contribution of Bernard Herrmann. The music augments and often completes the vision the director had.