The Music Business

Definition: 

A composer is someone who writes and creates music.

Responsible for:

They are responsible for creating music. However, they are not always the same person as the musical artist.

Many musical artists have composers who they work alongside to help them create their music.

Definition:

A songwriter is very similar to a composer. The difference being that they will be writing songs that have lyrics.

Responsible for:

They are responsible for creating music. However, they may be a separate person to the musical artist.

Many musical artists have composers who they work alongside to help them create their music.

Definition: 

A person who writes lyrics or poems that are intended to be used for songs.

Responsible for:

They are responsible for writing the words that will be set to music.

Definition: 

Someone who takes partially or fully composed pieces of music and changes the way that instruments or parts are played or interact with each other through changes in instrumentation, texture and genre.

Responsible for:

Working with composers, songwriters and musical artists to help them arrange their musical ideas.

Definition: 

This is someone who plays at least one instrument to a professional standard. They are hired to perform for recordings or live performances.

Responsible for:

They are responsible for learning instrumental parts and performing them correctly. They may also be involved in the song writing process. For example, a guitarist may change how a solo section is played.

Definition: 

Involved with the production and manipulation of sounds. They usually work within the theatre and media industry.

A Foley Artist is an example of a job in the sound designer role.

Responsible for:

Creating and recording sound effects for films, television, video games and live theatre.

Definition: 

DJ stands for Disc Jockey. Jockey refers to an operator of a machine. Before automatic playback, music was played back from a vinyl record. This required someone to physically set up and cue a song on a second record player so that there were no gaps between songs. As DJs began experimenting with vinyl, they turned the playback into a performance. Techniques such as: vinyl scratching, looping and beat matching meant that different parts of multiple records could be used to create an entirely song. This is essentially what we would now refer to as a remix.

Responsible for:

The selection, playback and performance of music in a venue.

Definition: 

Someone who is in charge of leading and directing a musical project. Their role is similar to that of a film director. 

Record producers will often also be composers, songwriters, arrangers, musicians and mix engineers.

This role has become more diverse as technology has developed.

This has allowed for people to develop their skill set meaning that the role of the record producer can be much more hands on.

Responsible for:

• Overseeing and leading projects

• Developing and arranging material

• Helping to realise the artists’ vision

• Making/creating decisions

Definition: 

This is someone whose main area of expertise is with the maintenance of musical equipment.

They may work within a venue, recording studio or a touring company. If a band were to go on a tour, they would require technicians to look after their equipment so that they can focus on performing. Guitarists will often have a team of technicians who will, restring and make set up adjustments on their guitars, as well as maintain their amplifiers and pedals. This is essential when touring around the world as changes in temperature, humidity and wear and tear from transporting equipment can adversely affect guitars.

Responsible for:

Maintaining and repairing equipment.

Definition: 

They are in charge of setting up and managing the technical aspects of the recording. They do not usually make creative decisions; this would be the responsibility of the producer.

Responsible for:

The set-up of recording hardware and software.

They need to be able to interpret ideas that the artist of producers has and be able to set up microphones and equipment to achieve the desired sound. Their duties may include:

• Setting up microphones

• Placement and positioning of microphones

• Setting up the audio interface or mixing desk

• Setting up the recording project in the DAW

• Managing playback and basic audio editing

Definition: 

This is a person or team, who are in charge of the business side of an artists career. Managers work on commission, this means that they take a percentage of the artists earnings in return for managing them.

Responsible for:

• Negotiating contracts;

• Finding opportunities for clients;

• Overseeing the career development of clients.

Definition: 

This is some who deals will any public relations. They will often be referred to as a PR manager.

Responsible for:

• Creating marketing strategies

• Running promotional campaigns

• Developing public image of clients

Definition: 

More commonly referred to as A&R. These are people who usually work for a record company and essentially are in charge of searching for new talent to sign to their record label.

Responsible for:

A&R representatives are also in charge of developing the artists that they sign. A big part of their job will be attending open mic events, gigs and networking in different music scenes to discover pre-empt what will be the next big hit.

With the rapid expansion of the internet and social media starting in the millennium, the need for a traditional record deal has declined. A&R representatives have had to adapt in order to source artists. The use of Social Media, such as Instagram and TikTok is becoming a far more common way for a musical artist to be discovered.

*I have summarised information from this blog feel free to take a look*

Definition:

Music marketing is the act and process of creating, sharing, delivering, and exchanging music offerings that have value to customers, fans, or partners.

So let’s break down this definition.

Creating – Marketing is about creating music products (which you’re doing already).

Communicating and sharing – Marketing is telling people about your music. “The best thing about doing something you love is sharing it with someone who loves it too.” – Eric Prydz

Delivering – Marketing is about delivering music to fans and customers.

Exchanging music offerings – Your music gives fans value; in exchange, they provide you with value by consuming or buying your music.

Developing a Brand- Making a brand visible, designing logos etc

All marketing starts with a product, even if it’s just one song.

Products:

A song or album

You create a song; a single release is a product.

You have three or four demos sitting in Logic; that’s an EP in the making. 

A gig, DJ set, or tour

A one-off gig or DJ set is a product. Extend those gigs into a series, and you have a tour, which is another product. A good rule of thumb for artists and concert tickets is the 15/85 rule. That means 15% of the gig income is for you; 85% is spent on agents, the venue, promotion, travel, accommodation, and other musicians.

Licensing

 If someone want to use you music in a film, TV, then you would receive a fee for them to use it, mostly you would get an upfront fee but sometimes you could be paid each time the music was played.

Merchandise

 Different types of merchandise, such as clothing, vinyl, and CDs, are products. Go to most concerts, and you’ll see T-shirts, hats, and other artist merchandising.

Streaming

Music on streaming platforms, such as Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Spotify, is considered a product. The average payment per stream is  £0.009. As the artist you wouldn't get this total fee, you might get about 20%. You would have to get load and loads of streams to make much money!

It might sound like a silly question but you’d be surprised how hard it can be to give an accurate definition of what music distribution actually is.

In the first instance, an image of physical albums being transported to shops around the country may spring to mind. In essence that is the main concept. Music distribution is the process of getting music from artist to store, making it available to the public for purchase. This is the same whether that store be a physical store or digital music retailer.

Physical Music Distribution

The more traditional method of distribution; this is how albums get into shops. This involves the manufacturing and shipping of media.  A music distribution company signs deals with record labels or artists which then gives them the right to sell that their music to shops. A distributor can only sell to shops that have an account with the distributor. Put simply, the distributing company act as a middleman between the artist/record label and the store.

Examples of physical media are:  Vinyl Records, CDS, Cassettes

Digital Music Distribution

Digital music distribution works much the same, just on a different platform. Instead of transporting albums to a physical store, the distribution company will distribute music in digital format (usually mp3 or .wav). The music is sent to online music platforms such as iTunes, Spotify and AmazonMP3. It is then the distributors job to ensure that royalties for the use of the music is passed back to the artists and rights holders.

Some digital distributors accept everyone that wishes to sell via their site.

Others also sell via their own site but are more picky with who they allow to sell on it.

Digital music aggregation?

Digital music aggregation allows you to distribute your music on various channels through one single point of contact. Usually, that single point is a music aggregator or music aggregation company. Music aggregators allow artists to distribute their work to a wide range of different outlets, all from one place. They will charge a fee for their services and artists have to sign a contract. 

Examples of Digital Music Distribution are: Compressed (mp3) and uncompressed audio files (wav), Compressed (mp4) and uncompressed video files (MPEG).

PRS (Performing Rights Society) 

The Performing Rights Society for Music (PRS) is the organisation that manages the licensing of music for public and private, non-personal use. PRS represent thousands of artists to ensure they get the correct fee for their music. The amount of money paid covers music played through various methods. These include radio, listened to in offices, warehouses, all workspaces, and any other settings that music is played. This includes whether the music is played through a streaming service.

How Does the Music Licence Work?

All businesses and venues must sign up for the PRS for Music license. This is done via their website, where you can sign up and pay online. This process includes giving detailed information about your business, how you use music and how many people staff/customers you have. Each year you will need to renew this license. Here, you will be asked for up to date information about your business.

Here are some examples of promotional tools:

Physical promotion:

• Launch party

• Radio shows

• TV shows

• Interviews

Performances:

• gigs

• tours

• festivals

Materials:

• Posters

• Billboards

• Flyers

Digital promotion:

• Social media posts

• Videos

• Live streaming

• Websites

Platforms:

• Websites

• Social Media Platforms

A music streaming service is a type of online streaming media service that focuses primarily on music, and sometimes other forms of digital audio content such as podcasts. These services are usually subscription-based services allowing users to stream digital copyright restricted songs on-demand from a centralized library provided by the service. (source Wikipedia)

Examples of streaming services are:

• Spotify

• Apple Music

• Tidal

• Amazon Music

• Deezer

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