WE NEED TO GET PAID - PART 3

In the previous segment I spoke about how producers and beatmakers are able to get paid regardless of whether or not the song makes it onto radio. However, when it comes to songwriters or lyricists, they seem to get the short end of the stick.

In my opinion the songwriters in Cape Town, if not the rest of South Africa, get screwed over the most in the music industry.

As a songwriter, you spend as much time, if not more (or less) writing to the music that was made. The time spent is irrelevant. The fact is that you spent time and provided a service. So why is it that the beatmaker can get paid ahead of time but the songwriter has to wait until the song makes it to radio or possibly onto an album.

Again, the way the rest of the world works is a lot different to the way we do it here and hopefully these insights into the way the music industry works elsewhere will help the way you handle your business here.

Here in SA, as artists, songwriters and producers have adopted a culture where we need to do everything ourselves. The mentality is that you can’t trust labels or publishers. And to a certain extent, it might be true that you’ll get screwed over if you sign any legal document.

But it really shouldn’t be that way if the label/publisher firstly knows what they are doing and secondly, actually does what they’re supposed to do.

I attended the Music Exchange Conference 2013 and Nick Matzukis, an expert in copyright law has in no uncertain terms explained that there is no such thing as “standard” in any agreement. Whenever a label or publisher feeds you the story that this is a standard contract and everyone offers this, then chances are, they don’t know what they’re doing or they’re full of shit.

How it is supposed to work for the songwriter-publisher relationship is actually similar to that of the artist-label relationship.

If a publisher recognizes the talent of a songwriter, they can offer an advance for them to work and then obviously recoup their costs once royalties start coming in. It is their responsibility to then make sure that your work is exploited in every possible way. Whether it is pitching it to artists for album placement, or song-plugging at radio stations, or synchronization – which is getting your work placed on visual works. The publisher now has a vested interest and has to make sure that your song makes money in order for them to recoup their cost and make a profit.

However, that is not how it works here. Most publishers ask you to either sign a non-exclusive or exclusive agreement. In that you sign away 50% of your copyright over to them. And in exchange all they are doing is registering your song with SAMRO (South African Music Rights Organisation) and collecting their half of the royalties.

So what’s the point of signing away half the copyright to songs you’ve put so much time and effort into, if you are pushing it to radio yourself and made contacts in order to get it placed? I think it is a little unfair that if I write a song and got it placed on an album myself, pushed it to radio myself and maybe even got it on TV myself, the publisher says thanks very much for my 50%.

If all you doing is admin work on my song, then you’d be lucky to get 10% of that copyright. Let alone 50%. This is also why most songwriters prefer to handle their own publishing but it becomes very laborious.

However, if I had a publisher that knew what they were doing and one I could trust then I could just concentrate on songwriting, knowing all the other stuff is covered and my publisher is making sure that my song is exploited in every way possible.

I hope that I could help our Capetonian music industry somehow with this blog series. If I inspired at least one person, then it’ll be mission accomplished.

WE NEED TO GET PAID - PART 2

Now let’s look at beatmakers. When you say you sell beats, what exactly are you selling? Do you even know?

I know in Cape Town, beatmakers are just selling beats but they still have their names on the royalty sheet to collect royalties from radio airplay. So what did the artist pay for?

If I sell you a car, then the car is yours. I don’t take your money and then still have my name as the owner and still drive it from time to time. So why is it different for a beat? If I’m selling it to you, why should I still collect royalties?

I recently asked a colleague of mine how it works in Jozi and he says that the artist pays a production fee. So basically that means that the artist is paying for the time the beatmaker spent making that particular composition.

Now that would make sense why as a producer, you would get paid and then still earn royalties from radio airplay and other exploitations of that work.

However, this is not how it works everywhere else in the world. I’ve heard the term “leasing” beats but never really understood the concept.

Again, allow me to use a car analogy. If you just want to rent a car, you would pay a certain amount for usage of that car but at the end of the agreement, you would return the car. You don’t own the car and someone else has the option of hiring it too. If you want ownership, you have to buy it and put it in your name. More expensive but no-one will use it without your permission unless they steal it.

Similarly you can lease a beat exclusively or non-exclusively.

Exclusive means that as the artist, the beatmaker has sold the sole usage of that composition. No other artist is allowed to use it but you will pay a lot more. In some cases, I’ve heard that producers will charge a more established artist less as they know that they will gain a lot more from radio airplay or sales. But for new artists, they will charge more up front as they don’t know if they will make a success from that song.

Non-exclusive means that you’ll pay less for the usage of that composition, however, other artists are allowed to also use it. So the beatmaker can repeatedly lease a beat non-exclusively to many artists. However, in many beat leasing contracts, I’ve seen the clause that if a beat is leased non-exclusively initially but it sells more than a certain amount and becomes really successful, then the artist must change it to an exclusive deal and pay in the difference.

However, you decide to work with your beats, it is up to you but these are just some guidelines you can use and rather get paid for your work than giving away free beats. If you think, you’re doing it for exposure then STOP that mentality now. With Youtube and Soundcloud, you can post your beats online and from there artists can hear whether or not they like your beats and from there if they can make it work then great, if not, at least you got paid.

Part 3 coming soon…

WE NEED TO GET PAID - Part 1

I think it is time for one of those blog posts/rants again. And unfortunately 140 characters on Twitter are not enough, so allow me to get this off my chest once and for all.

We all know that our music industry infrastructure here in South Africa isn’t exactly on par with the rest of the world but we are growing and we are doing much better than we used to but there are still aspects of our industry that disturbs me. Especially the way industry “professionals” work in Cape Town.

I always hear about how the grass is greener in Jozi but I don’t live there so I wouldn’t know and I’m not going to comment about the industry up north. I can, however, comment about what’s happening here.

I think the biggest problem is the lack of knowledge when it comes to how we can earn an income in the music industry. I’m not saying I know it all but I’ve come to learn some things that might be helpful.

Let’s take a look at a typical example of how things work here in our beloved Mother City. This might not apply to everyone but it certainly is the famous tale we hear often.

An artist would like to work on a song. He finds a producer and needs a “beat” or instrumental composition. Most likely because this artist has befriended the “producer” or beatmaker, they don’t normally pay for it. The artist most likely does not have money so cannot afford to pay for the “beat”. The producer is probably up and coming so won’t ask for money because why would the artist pay for something by someone who doesn’t have a track record? Right? Never mind the fact that the composer spent time making that instrumental.

Then another “friend” of that particular artist probably has a studio and then they record the song. The “friend” also mixes and masters that song for free because we live in a world where we are too scared to charge our so-called friends even though, we’re granting our time and expertise.

Then let’s say the song is a success. It launches the career of the artist. From there they’ll get radio airplay, exposure, live gigs – for which they’ll get paid. The 2 “friends” who were involved in making that song a success still never got paid. The beatmaker might get royalties from radio airplay IF the SAMRO (South African Music Rights Organisation) forms were filled in correctly and submitted (if at all).

Bottom line is the 2 other parties involved will never truly be compensated for the time they put in. Let’s say the song was a complete flop? Well again the time of the beatmaker and studio engineer was wasted but the artist will feel ok because they didn’t waste money. Although your pocket is happy with you, that isn’t exactly ethical.

But this seems to be the norm when it comes to most Capetonian artists. And this should change.

If you cannot pay for the services you need, either don’t ask for it or come to some kind of agreement in which you can offer something in return. Perhaps you as the artist have access to some other kind of resource that the service provider needs.

OR , and this is best case scenario, you find out what the services will cost, save up the money and then pay them. This way you can also have more control over your project. Because you’ll notice that once someone has to do something for free, they might not feel the need to put in as much effort and might feel offended if you as the artist still want to dictate every aspect of the process.

I’ve watched numerous interviews of established overseas artists and even they will speak of having to save up money for studio time. 

Kendrick Lamar speaks of this. 

Noah “40” Shebib who is not just Drake’s producer but personal friend spoke of charging Drake if he is in need of his services.

And this reminds me of a philosophy that my dad taught me. He said that he could give me my first car but if I had to buy it myself with money that I’ve earned then I would appreciate it more and take better care of it.

If you pay for your production and studio time then you’ll cherish the time more and get work done as opposed to just messing around. Once the product is done, you’ll also do a lot more to ensure that product is a success so that you get the return on your investment.

This is the music business after all. In Cape Town, we have plenty of the MUSIC talent, but in most cases, we are sorely lacking in the BUSINESS department. We need to stop blurring the lines between friendship and colleagues. I'm not saying our colleagues can't also be our friends but let us at least treat our friends with the same respect we would give a business associate.

PART 2 coming soon…

Bridging The Gap between Artists & Radio - A MUST READ for all Upcoming Artists

Bridging The Gap

Up until 4 years ago, I thought there was a huge rift between music artists and radio but after working in both spheres, I’ve come to realise that there is just a huge miscommunication.

There is this perception that there is an ongoing war between radio and artists – more so, upcoming artists. It’s sort of a “frienemy” situation where an attitude of “I need you but don’t necessarily like you” exists.

To a certain extent, I could say that this is true but there are many things that can be done to reduce the wound a little! However, scar tissue will still exist.

Enough with the medical analogies!

As I’ve mentioned earlier, there’s also a big misunderstanding from both parties that could also have attributed to the divide. And I’ve come to this realisation after working as both a recording artist and broadcaster for quite some time now.

Firstly, let’s look at radio. There are some who work in radio who would like to make it about the music that is played and the content that is spoken about and that it is meant to inspire, stimulate conversation and provide the soundtrack to your everyday life. Maybe that can still be said about certain community radio stations, where that is what is expected and where you have more of a niche market.

However, when it comes to commercial radio, we have to take it for what it is, commercial radio and the operative word being, COMMERCIAL. Which essentially means that it is a business. It exists to generate a profit. So the whole aim is to generate content either by the presenters or the music that will increase listenership. The higher the listenership, the more money it can make through advertising.

It might sound cold BUT that is the main objective of a business…to generate a PROFIT!

Now allow me to use an example from the perspective of an artist. Your passion is music. You make music because you love it, right? Well that’s the reason why most people in radio do it too. Yes there are some who do it solely for the money but you also get artists who do it purely for the fame and the “possibility” of fortune.

Having said that, the people in commercial radio have other people that they need to answer to. You can be as creative as possible in radio with regards to concepts and features as well as playing a wide variety of music and supporting SA music BUT if that does not translate into a higher listenership, it bodes a problem for a commercial station and they would have to research what will attract more numbers and will execute a new plan.

For artists, you can do music because you love it sure but you will also become dejected and negative when you can’t successfully make a living from your music. You’d love to do what you love to do and make money from it! Well, so does everyone else. And your plan might not always fit in with someone else’s.

So where do we go from here?

So far, it seems like I’ve been a bit biased towards the radio side so let me vouch for my fellow musicians.

Yes there are many talented artists in SA. Are all of them getting the exposure they deserve? No! Are there mediocre artists getting the exposure that you think they don’t deserve? Probably, yes!

I’ve also encountered that there are some music compilers that can be “difficult” BUT that shouldn’t stop you from getting to do what you love.

If you are the type of artist chasing a hit, where you are changing your sound to what’s current, hoping you’ll get more radio airplay, then you need to really evaluate why you’re doing music. Then maybe you’re lying to yourself about why you’re really doing it. Maybe you’re not doing it for the love. Maybe you are doing it for the fame. Maybe you are being commercial yourself! And if you are doing the music that you love and radio stations aren’t playing it because it doesn’t “fit” their “format”,  and you’re still upset about that, then maybe you still are not doing it for the right reasons.

If you are truly doing music for the love of music, then you wouldn’t care whether or not certain radio stations are playing your stuff and others are not.

So then let’s look at what you can control as an artist and how you can stand a better chance of having your music playlisted and understand the radio game the way record labels do.

Firstly, don’t let a radio station dictate what kind of music you should make! Make the music that you love to make and that best showcases your own abilities. Write songs or perform songs that feel right to you and not that’ll make a hit!

Because what is a hit anyway? I’ve been to many workshops where they say that there are many great songs that were never hits and many hits that were never great songs. The hype surrounding Gangnam Style has already died and it WAS a hit but was it a “great” song? And the opinion of a great song is subjective anyway.

Also, if you look at all the number 1 hits out there. They don’t always sound the same. So there isn’t one formula for a hit song.

Some songs are hits because it’s catchy and sing along (Party Rock Anthem – LMFAO). Others are hits because you can relate to the story (Somebody That I used to Know – Gotye). Some hits have a new school sound (Gangnam Style – Psy) and others have a classic feel (Someone Like You – Adele).

And of those four songs, how many were hits and “great” songs?

WOW this blog is turning out to be really long and I haven’t even gotten to what I needed to really say but please bare with me.

So now you’ve established the kind of music that you want to do now it’s finding the right people to work with to develop your song. Basically, finding the right producer (and/or songwriter if you cannot write yourself).

With social media, the world has become considerably small, which means your city has become even smaller, so trying to find a producer should not be that difficult. I’ve said this before on Twitter and still some were complaining, “Yeah it was easy for you to find people…not everyone’s so lucky”. BLAH BLAH BLAH! If you put in the effort, you will find someone. And when I say find someone, I don’t mean the first person you meet. It’s no use working with an EDM producer if your style is jazz…although stranger things have happened.

If you find someone who does fit your style and you find that there’s some sort of chemistry and they are slightly out of your price range then once again ask yourself how important this is to you! Then you gotta put in the extra hours to save up the money you need to fund your project. Of course you can work out certain deals with producers but bottom line is they need to get paid. You can’t always get freebies. And I think because there’s this culture of not paying for anything, the Cape Town scene isn’t thriving. And believe me, so many of the Cape Town talent have moved to Joburg because the gripe is that we are slow here and we don’t pay. And they have a point and we need to stop this freebie culture. If we expect to get paid for what we do then we need to be prepared to pay for the work others do for us.

I digress once again and I apologise. That is a subject for another time.

So now you’ve recorded a few tracks with some good producers! I cannot stress this enough but quality at EVERY stage in the project is ESSENTIAL! SO the quality of your recording has to be up to standard as it makes the mix and master engineers work a lot easier. SO make sure you work with the right people again. Rather pay extra for the quality as opposed to cutting corners and risking your “great” song not being played because the quality is poor!

Please DO NOT submit the first song you’ve recorded to radio. I would urge you to record up to four or five songs so that you have options. Once you’ve decided on a lead single, another crucial step is packaging and preparing it for submission.

Let’s focus on the packing for a second. Some radio stations prefer physical CD’s being submitted and others now allow digital submissions. You can attach an mp3 of your song to an email OR include a link in the email for them to download. This is all dependent on the station’s protocol regarding Internet usage. So have all options at your disposal.

Let’s look at the physical CD submission. You don’t need to have a fancy cover unless you can afford it! All you need is that all the relevant info is PRINTED on the cover as well as on the CD itself. PLEASE DO NOT – I REPEAT – DO NOT have handwritten notes or CD’s with the details written with a permanent marker! The presentation is key here. Sometimes the presentation of a disk could already put a music compiler off. It does not have to be fancy; it just has to look professional.

Here is a basic example:

  

Here’s another example that’s a bit “fancier”

  

What is important is that you include the song title, the artist name, the writers and composers details and any other relevant publishing information, if there are any.

It is also good to include a press kit. This includes a short press release regarding the song and a short bio about the artist.

All of this counts in your favour as far as presentation. If compilers see that you haven’t put effort into your work, why should they listen?

Let’s look at the digital submissions quickly. Your press kit will be included in the body of the email and you can either attached the song or include a link where they can download a high quality mp3.

I don’t really need to tell you this next part but I have heard radio submissions that are not radio friendly. FILLED with expletives. Please submit a radio edit or clean version of your song.

So now your have your physical and digital submissions prepared. The next step is to do your research as to which radio stations play your style of music. It’s no use submitting a rock track to a station that plays predominantly hip-hop and R&B music.

In some cases there are stations that play your style of music but they don’t want the rap part of it (if there is one) so you might have to have a version without a rap.

Once you’ve compiled your list of radio stations and have made contact with them to discuss how they prefer their submissions then you can submit to your heart’s content. Here I have to say that you should NOT limit yourself to South African radio stations. It is possible to submit your music to radio stations across the globe. Who knows? Your song might be rejected at EVERY station in SA but you could be “BIG IN JAPAN” to quote a song. The Internet has made the world a lot smaller remember?

If a radio station in SA has rejected your song, you have every right to resubmit that track. If it is rejected a second time then leave it be. It makes no sense calling the station up and arguing with them. Your second single being released in 2 months could be better suited to that station but now you’ve burnt bridges by fighting about something you have no control over. You also have the right to call the station up to make sure they’ve received it and you also have the right to know whether it was accepted or not.

The main objective that artists need to realise is that you need to make the music you want to make. We can’t all be Justin Bieber or Beyonce. Some of us might make music that is generally popular and some might be more niche orientated. The important thing to realise is that you should not try to convince people to like your music. Rather take it to the people who will appreciate it without coaxing from you. How many Internet sensations haven’t we seen emerge because they put their music out there and it was spread across the world via word of mouth. There is a market out there for your music. It might not be as big as you want it but it is out there. You just need to find it! Rather perform for 50 people who absolutely love your music as opposed to 1000 strong bored audience.

All I want is for artists and radio to understand each other a bit better so I hope this helps everyone concerned somewhat and I hope we can strengthen the Cape Town music industry!

EBI - RUNNING

RUNNING is the 4th and final release off The Inglisman EP Written, composed, produced & recorded by Ebrahiem "EBI The Inglisman" Inglis at Inglis Class. Mixed by EBI & Neil-T. Mastered by Neil Thurston of NeilT Music Studios (contact 27832126967 or 27824520710) - www.neilt.co.za

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DOWNLOAD "Running" here

EBI - KISS MY...(Audio Video)

3rd release off The Inglisman EP Written, composed, produced & recorded by Ebrahiem "EBI The Inglisman" Inglis at Inglis Class. Mixed by EBI & Neil-T. Mastered by Neil Thurston of Mzanzi Mastering (contact 27832126967 or 27824520710) - @MasterMusic021 on twitter

Download here: http://bit.ly/SLJihY

email: eb.inglis@gmail.com
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SO NOT AVERAGE - The Inglisman Original Instrumental

Never been much of a sampler but I couldn't help myself. I had to flip this Average White Band sample. If you can guess the song, then you're an AWB fan!

Email: eb.inglis@gmail.com

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