{"id":82049,"date":"2024-05-06T12:03:36","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T16:03:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2024\/05\/06\/how-will-new-artists-learn-to-navigate-the-music-business\/"},"modified":"2024-05-06T12:03:36","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T16:03:36","slug":"how-will-new-artists-learn-to-navigate-the-music-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2024\/05\/06\/how-will-new-artists-learn-to-navigate-the-music-business\/","title":{"rendered":"How Will New Artists Learn to Navigate the Music\u00a0Business?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tDon Passman<\/strong> had been teaching a course on music law at USC for several years when he realized his class notes were the outline of a book. \u201cBecause musicians are oriented to their ears,\u201d he says, there was an opportunity to write \u201can easy-to-read overview of the business for people who don\u2019t like to read.\u201d Think \u201cbig print, lots of pictures, analogies, simple language.\u201d When the first edition of All You Need to Know About the Music Business <\/em>came out in 1991 \u2014 the 11th edition arrived this past October \u2014 \u201cthere was only one book on the music business at the time that was of any consequence,\u201d Passman recalls. \u201cAnd it was a bit difficult to read.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRecently, however, music business education appears to be an increasingly hot topic. Thanks to technological advances, the number of aspiring artists releasing songs with little-to-no understanding of the music industry has ballooned. Many of these acts start releasing tracks in their early teens, long before they might get the chance to take a college-level course on the music business, much less master the nuances of copyright law. And they often hire a similarly-inexperienced friend to serve as a \u201cmanager,\u201d ensuring that even their closest advisors lack experience in navigating the industry.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tMusic Attorney Don Passman on Contracts, AI and What Makes Superstars\u00a0Different\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tAs a result, there is a dire need for quality, accessible music business education. Many of the platforms that allow artists to create, listen to, or distribute music today see educational initiatives as a way to foster loyalty and community \u2014 which will in turn help them stand out in the neverending battle for users and attention \u2014 and possibly as an additional revenue stream as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSome of these educational efforts are in their early stages: Spotify started testing video learning courses in the U.K. in March, for example, while TIDAL has said education will be a cornerstone of its new era as it works to build financial tools for artists. (It was acquired by Block in 2021.)<\/p>\n

\n\tThe company Creative Intell is further along \u2014 it has raised money from around the music business and created an animated series to teach young artists the inner workings of the industry, from record deals to publishing. And the platform Bandlab, which allows its 100-million-plus users to create songs on their phones, has been releasing a steady stream of free tutorials and blog posts.<\/p>\n

\n\tHelping aspiring artists grasp the intricacies of the music industry is \u201csomething that we\u2019re investing a lot in,\u201d says Krevin Breuner<\/strong>, Bandlab\u2019s head of artist development and education. \u201cThe industry is more complex than ever, and understanding the business from day one is not just an advantage; it\u2019s essential. Bandlab has such a young audience, it\u2019s growing, and we want those artists to feel like they have a partner \u2014 somebody they can trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Gears\"<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tWelcome to the Spotify Machine: Podcasts, Audiobooks, Video, Education \u2014 And, Yes,\u00a0Music\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tAusten Smart<\/strong> agrees: The DJ, who co-founded the U.K. music-education company PLAYvirtuoso in 2020 with his brother, sees \u201chuge potential in this space.\u201d \u201cI look at it like, there will be one in eight people, at least, learning at home,\u201d he says, and a portion of those will be interested in the music industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tCreative Intell co-founder Steven Ship<\/strong> divides the music education field into three buckets \u2014 how to create music, how to market music and the business of music. While YouTube alone is littered with free videos on the first two topics \u2014 not to mention all the Reddit threads, blog posts and TikTok tutorials \u2014 finding reliable and accessible information on the third is more challenging. \u201cThe business of music is probably the most important; it has to be the most accurate, and it\u2019s often ignored,\u201d Ship says.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIf an aspiring artist produces a track poorly or markets it clumsily, that song probably won\u2019t do well \u2014 a temporary setback. In contrast, if they don\u2019t understand how the industry works, the consequences can be far more damaging: They could sign a contract with a manager, label, or publisher that cedes control of their output for decades. \u201cArtists were horribly taken advantage of in the early days of the music business, because they just didn\u2019t know what they were doing,\u201d Passman says. And today, \u201cthe industry is changing so fast,\u201d Breuner adds, making it even harder to \u201cknow what\u2019s important and what\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen Smart signed a major label deal<\/strong> with his brother \u2014 just \u201ctwo hungry young artists living in London\u201d \u2014 he admits the pair \u201cdidn\u2019t have the knowledge and the understanding of what we were ultimately signing.\u201d An attorney would have helped, but they didn\u2019t have the cash \u201cto engage with lawyers who could help us interpret it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Market,<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tThere\u2019s a Free Mobile App Helping Teens Crash the Hot 100, and It\u2019s Not\u00a0TikTok\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tContracts are often \u201cmurky and complicated,\u201d Smart continues. \u201cYou get offered a relatively big advance; it\u2019s quite a big number when you\u2019re 25 and 22. What does it actually mean? What does it mean ten years later?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIf he could rewind the clock, he imagines going through the process again \u2014 but this time, \u201cwe\u2019ve got that course on understanding label deals\u201d available. And if necessary, he could \u201cbook a one-on-one session with someone for 30 pounds\u201d to help provide extra context. This is part of the reason that one of PLAYvirtuoso\u2019s \u201cthree pillars\u201d of educational material centers on understanding the music industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tPLAYvirtuoso is one of four companies that partnered with Spotify initially to provide courses on a variety of topics. The streaming service\u2019s decision to test new education materials came about because it saw data indicating that some users were eager to acquire more knowledge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIf I take you 10 years back, most of the people that came to Spotify came with a single intent: listening to music,\u201d says Mohit Jitani<\/strong>, a product director at Spotify. \u201cBut in the last few years, as we brought on podcasts and audiobooks, people started to come to Spotify to listen to an interview or learn leadership and finance.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tTIDAL Plots a New Course \u2014 Will It Pay\u00a0Off?\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tCurrently Spotify\u2019s courses are offered via a freemium model: Users are able to access the first few lessons for free, but they must pay to complete a full course.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Spotify\u2019s exploratory foray into education stemmed from the fact that \u201cpeople started coming to [us] for casual learning,\u201d as Jitani puts it \u2014 and it potentially offers the platform another new revenue stream \u2014 TIDAL\u2019s recent drive to help artists raise their business IQ is driven in part by its new owner, the payments company Block.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBuilding tools and services for business owners, we saw that the moment that you get a little traction outside of your friends and family, the world becomes a lot more complicated,\u201d says Agustina Sacerdote<\/strong>, the TIDAL\u2019s global head of product. \u201cYou have to start to understand your numbers to understand where the next big opportunity is going to come from.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe same principle applies to artists. Understandably, they tend to focus on the art. But as Ship notes, \u201cThe moment you release a song, you\u2019re in business\u201d \u2014 whether you like it or not. So TIDAL has started offering webinars and rolled out a new product called Circles, which Sacerdote likens to \u201ca very curated version of Reddit, where we have the topics that we believe most artists have questions about,\u201d including touring and merchandise.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Spotify\"<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tWhy Spotify\u2019s Latest Price Hike Means a Lower Royalty Rate for U.S.\u00a0Songwriters\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tFor now, TIDAL\u2019s products are free. \u201cOnce an artist does get a really good piece of advice that they would have never gotten [elsewhere] on Circles, then we\u2019ll start to think about, how do we monetize?\u201d Sacerdote says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tCreative Intell\u2019s materials on the music business are currently far more comprehensive than TIDAL\u2019s or Spotify\u2019s: The company has created 18 animated courses to help aspiring artists \u2014 the vast majority of whom don\u2019t have a manager or lawyer \u2014 \u201cunderstand what they\u2019re signing, learn how to monetize themselves better and learn how to protect themselves,\u201d Ship says.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tCreative Intell releases some materials for free and charges for access to everything ($29.99 a month). It\u2019s also aiming to work with distributors like Vydia as marketing partners. Vydia is not the only company looking to provide this type of resource \u2014 Songtrust, for example, has built out its own materials to help songwriters understand how to collect their money from around the world.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOther industries have all kinds of corporate resources for training and the music industry is lacking those,\u201d Ship says. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to fill that void.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Aller \u00e0 la source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don Passman had been teaching a course on music law at USC for several years when he realized his class notes were the outline of a book. \u201cBecause musicians are oriented to their ears,\u201d he says, there was an opportunity to write \u201can easy-to-read overview of the business for people who don\u2019t like to read.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musique","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82049\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}