Crazed Hits - A&R Site for Artists

[Nietzsche]

Crazed Hits - Music Industry Forum

Interview with Don Passman, one of America's foremost entertainment lawyers. His clients include REM, Janet Jackson, Bryan Adams and Green Day.

Nietzsche Review: Explains the difference in lawyers, what exactly a lawyer does. Who a music lawyer works with, artists & songwriters, producers, indie labels, major labels, internet companies. When an artist should get a lawyer: Right when something happens in your life. Billie Joel, Bruce, all have had troublesome contracts. Some lawyers are willing to shop demos, especially by lawyers. How to find the right lawyers is research. Best way to become a music lawyer, go to music school first. His background. What he enjoys about his job. Key to having long successful career, is loving to do it, and feel insync with who you are and what your doing. Have Variety. Treat people with respect, important to stay alive in the music industry, based on relationships. Like a community and have to be a good citzen. Talks about his book, "ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE MUSIC BUISNESS", made a easy, and save people alot of time, with a broadoutwork and framework. Who are his readers. "The more you know the better off your going to be." Artist ought to know enough to make the big decisions in thier lives. Know enough to pick a team around, so that they can create succesfully. What he changes in each edition of his book. In 6th edition. Then talks about how the industry changed. Things have gotten complex and is not clear. What he does when he revises it. It changes rapidly. Specific issues are left out. Key members: Personal Manager, who oversees everything in artist career. Invovled in everything. Lawyer, most important, who takes care of legal aspects, and makes sure artist gets what they want to accomplish with least amount of legal hassels. Agent, deal with live concert performances, get into sponserships and commercials, concerts and personal appearences. Buisness manager, who takes care of artist money, so they can do taxes and make money. Varies on who comes first. Manager is usally a friend, Lawyer sometimes is the first as well, to help you shop and get a deal. Agents come laters, Buisness managers usually last, because expensive. Understand terms and money issues. Decision to audit a record company, need to be successfull before you do it because audits are expensive. Done by someone who specializes in the audits. How deals have changed, but have become difficult with smaller and few number of the deals. Economics of the buisness is changing, companies are scared. Do it to survive, makes for tighter buisness. New revenue model schemes. No one knows the answer about how the buisness revives itself. Key aspects of the future are cell phones, and easy to get when you have a cell phone. A model for the future to get any song you want, any time you want on a cell phone with high quality, with a monthly service fee. Becomes a way of your getting the same type of expirence. Constantly updated, on someone elses server. One model, a tax on every type of music player, burner, but there are always politics. Advertising on the internet is a real model. Cell phone market: ringtone and ring backs. What happens when a record is sold. Artist and songwriter, artist payed by record company get a royalty. Person who wrote song gets a mechincal royalty. Record royalty between 12-18 percent. 20 percent for superstars. USA and Canada pay out a per song bases. 1.9 cents. Major changes in the industry are changing everyone. Have to let alot of people go. Radio becomes narrower and narrower. Artists are not used to making the kind of money they will have to settle for now. Today they will end up selling a 1/3rd of that now. Market shrinks incredibly, touring is the only thing successfully but even that has limits. Ticket prices are rising. People lose jobs but don't make it back into the buisness. This challenges the whole industry to change thier ways. To invent a new model. In the next ten years, it will be prediction: Digital. Will become more coporate. If don't have a hit in next months, and only works for a short term. Indie record labels, can sell records and make money and he says he sees growth in indie labels. Marking through none-traditional means. Focused drive on getting goals. Thats more important than anything. Walk through all brick walls and everything. Commited, passionate, and willing to do whatever it takes. If you really want you keep going and you'll get there

[Nietzsche]

Crazed Hits - Music Industry Forum

Trudy Green, manager of Aerosmith and Def Leppard.

Nietzsche Review: Music Manager, her background, how she started. A manager is the person who is instrumental and guiding and help building artists career. Sales, touring, packing, image is, what we are trying to build. Manager should set short term goals, with 5 year, 10 year goals. Artist should choose wisely, because it's somewhat like a marriage. Have to have a passion and a tremendous driving goal to be a manager. Skills in communication, philosophy, buisness. Artist must be able to voice opinion and have a firm opinion. Hours a day: 24/7. Most rewarding: Success. Manager is a advisor to get wisdom, truth, knowledge, and get feed back on industry, to get strategy, and bring artist vision make it happen. New artists lives are in manager's hands. Takes alot of expirence. Artist: Has to be your everything, it's a real hard buisness especially for new buisness. Endless amounts of time to be successful and to grow. Industry - alot of artists, few successfull ones. Must be a artistic genuis and understand the buisness. Real successfull artists because they don't understand the buisness. It's about making a great record and time. About people, marking, advertisting, promotion, building, imaging, radio, and more. If you don't have a good manager your in the hands of the record company. Alot of artists don't understand that if you don't have someone taking care of your money, it may be lost or not be around. Make sure you have a team and don't leave it up to one person. Buisness manager, should let you know where all your money is. Be careful who you trust. Read Donald Passman's Book. Alot of young artists today, should make up own CD's, book own gigs. Once you want to turn around and make it a long term thing, then you need to find a team. Find a manager? Do Research. Or find a great lawyer and recommend them as managers. Through internet and doing shows live. Gotta be great as a live performer. Branding comes after big success. Find ways to reach millions and millions of people. Cell phones will take over record buisness. <- Ipod of the future. Make sure you want it more than life itself. Has to be your life. Drive, passion, and tenacity.

[Nietzsche]

Crazed Hits - Music Industry Forum

Interview: Irv Gotti - Owner of Murder Inc

Nietzsche Review: Explains his record label, what he looks for in songs, sing-a-long factor. Sell you in the first 15-30 seconds. Then you'll listen more. What he does as the record label exec of his own company. Works the radio to fly to program directors, all across the world. Even directs/shoots the video. Helps the overall image of the artist. Talks the chain stores. How he works the media. Buisness is based on relationships, but even more the buisness is based on hits. "Hear the music, that they want to play" -- That's what you want in the music industry. How to make a great record deal. Forget the first deal, just get in with a good team, then you have to get a new deal. How to get heard: Mixtapes, alot of shit comes from people who knows him. Rick Ross put record out on his own. To be successful, try and choose what you want to do in life early. Go intern for record labels. Conquer your fears and don't be afraid of anything.

[Nietzsche]

Crazed Hits - Music Industry Forum

Feldman is the manager of Norah Jones, Diana Krall, and Elvis Costello.

Nietzsche Review: Describes what booking and management talent does. Day to date life. How he started, managed. No conflict, no interest. Manager must have control on all aspects of a artists' career. Make artists partners. Working with artists and how to manage artists. Have real challenges in keep artist motivated and happy. How to become a manager: Read Donald Passman book. Get out there. New Talent? Ability to change something.

[Nietzsche]

http://www.crazedhits.com/forums/showthread.php?t=348

Interview with Dave Stewart of Eurythmics.

Nietzsche Review: What he does, find something to alter popular culture, a way to reinterpret. How he started. Roots are different, for people who have talent and want to get to point "a to z". Continue what you love, and it becomes a question of what you want to do with life. How important bands don't compromise. People only know what they have been fed. It factor. Before the band Eurythmics. Collaboration. How do work a great collaboration. Location for writing. Music for films. How you play something on TV, is you make a score for it. Talks about the factory buisness of the music industry. Shows his new buisness model for the music industry.

[Nietzsche]

Crazed Hits - Music Industry Forum

Interview: Peter Standish - Senior VP of Marketing at Warner Bros

Nietzsche Review: Have to make things happen for your artists. If you don’t nothing happens. Very small budget and efficiently and being smart. Getting the music heard and creating awareness. Market is much more complex than it was. Talks about his background, moving up a label and working and creating a label. How he mainted a label. Build relationships up. Talks about interns. If want to intern, always being doing a internet ship. Each company has certain parts of everything. Are people trustworthy, expertice, work ethic. WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A LABEL: Understand what your doing? And the project. With people that are actually excited. Same values, goals. Inverse in any of these things is bad. Where he see’s the future of music marketing. At the end of the day, it’ll come down to great music. What makes a great artist, listen to whats inside you and not outside.

[Nietzsche]

Crazed Hits - Music Industry Forum

Nick Phillips is Vice President of A&R at Concord Music Group, one of the largest independent record companies in the world.

Nietzsche Review: Talks about how he got started. Daily life at his company. Production of records. CD Sales went down 20 percent in one year. Marketing comes into the picture before a project is recorded, because first part of it is doing the P&L process. Don't get a green light if P&L process is denied. Got to make the dollars. P&L Goes through process, and has to look good to the head management. 80 records released by Concord Records. 50-60 reissue complilations. Another 20 new recording CD's. Hear music label a new partnership w/ Starbucks. Considering signing a new artist: Already has a fanbase, record company is just one leg of the stool. Need booking agent, management has to be in place. Difficult to have your recording projects make sense. Important to have a established fan base. To have a tour company. To have management in place. US in records outsells the rest of the world. Future of his music, and music industry: Ringtones <-- Small part but big part of future. Adult company = Jazz. Does not go for the latest teen hit. Best way for them to get discovered by artists: More proactive in managers they are intrested in, and letting them know. Get alot of material sent to them. Listen to them when he can. No quickly. Too many real priorties. Not typically even signed a artist because got music through the mail and doesn't usually happen. Rare for someone to come out of nowhere from at least Jazz. Really not the way it's done these days. Guiding the whole process with smart ears.

[Nietzsche]

Crazed Hits - Music Industry Forum

Robbie Buchanan is a producer, arranger, and pianist. He has recorded with artists such as Bette Midler, Cher, Neil Diamond and Whitney Houston.

Nietzsche Review: Talks about his backround, arranging songs, producing songs, and says you must have chops. How album producers work now. What he looks for in stars: Charismatic, star quality, attracts you too them. Real nice, and real bitches. How to arrange a track working with a old track. Music end of the industry is competitive. Get the biggest buck for the bang, have to pay attention to and look as simple as the person hiring you. Just say YEA and do it. HAVE TO HAVE PRO-TOOLS. One great mic. Gotta have a great mic for vocals/ Do anything with a good mixer.

[Nietzsche]

Crazed Hits - Music Industry Forum

Over the course of his career as a label executive with Mercury and later with Elektra, Peter Lubin helped launch the careers of artists like John Mellencamp, The Pixies, Phish, They Might Be Giants, and Def Leppard.

Nietzsche Review: Talks about A&R work, how he signed so many bands. Staying hot with hits. How he discovered bands. How you have to have chops to make it musically. Great for producers, talks about how everyone uses Pro Tools. He arranges and shows examples of his arranges.

[Nietzsche]

Crazed Hits - Music Industry Forum

Greg Curtis is Executive Creative Director of Fox Music Publishing, a subsidiary of 20th Century Fox.

Nietzsche Review: Talks about the future of cell phones, buisness of cell phone, goes into alot about the buisness of cell phones, couple years behind so talks about the coming iPhone. The buisness of the music behind the TV themes. His marketing campaigns.