Monday, July 6, 2009

Where the money is right now

Maman also made sure that MTV credited him so that people would know exactly who to call when they heard the tune — a shrewd move that ensured the song would continue to pay dividends long after the first airing.
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The bottom line is that connecting with music supervisors is more important than ever. They're the ones who are going to get your songs on TV and commercials, and that's where the money is right now from upfront fees and royalties.
Elie Maman in Mix Online.

A couple of years ago, I posed the question: Are ad agencies the new record labels? My answer today is "Not really". Ad agencies answer to their clients, and to have an in-house label would create a potential conflict of interest (a point driven home by Eric Korte in this clip). I would say, however, that ad agencies have complemented (or co-opted, depending on how you look at it) one traditional function of record labels, which was the testing and "breaking" of new music.

Critics can bemoan "selling out" all they want - this is the reality for music producers and artists.

Last point: the detail about getting an onscreen credit being the trigger for royalty payments. IANAL, so I'm not sure if that's actually a devil-in-the-details fact, but nonetheless, I urge all music producers to have an entertainment attorney in their camp.

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