How many musicians does it take to make an album?  

1. Go to https://www.discogs.com/ and search for your favourite (or a well-known) album.  

2. Take a look at the main album credits. Are there more people there than you expected?  

3. Scroll down until you see the 'Versions' heading and select the main US / Europe release.  

4. Take a look at the crediting under the track listing. Are there again more people and jobs than you expected? 

5. Present your findings as a MINDMAP to indicate all the processes and job roles involved in creating your chosen album

As an example take a look at this Beyonce album and the sheer amount of people and jobs involved in creating such a record! https://www.discogs.com/Beyonc%C3%A9-Lemonade/release/8486714 

https://www.ukmusic.org/skills-academy/careers-advice/job-profiles/ 

1. Discuss the main thing you want to do in the music industry. 

2. Find your musician 'hero' - someone who has had over a 10 year successful career in the industry doing the main thing, you want to do. 

Research your 'hero's career path finding out the following info for your Industry Sway on your hero. 

Try to present your findings as a chronological timeline:

• Their musical upbringing

• Relevant education / training.

• Early endeavours in the music industry (pre-success)

• Their first break.

• How they built their career success

• Particular skills, ideas, knowledge that helped pushed their career forward.

• How they adapted / changed direction / developed due to changing times, technology, industry etc.

• Key networking / links / collaborations / mentorship which helped pushed their career forward. 

• Key career milestones, releases, shows, awards, collabs etc. 

• Where / how do they earn money? 

• What area(s) of the industry do they work in and what connections do they have in those areas: Live Performance, Recording, Publishing, Artist Management.

Be prepared to present your Sway to the class. 

'Independent artists increasingly have portfolio careers – they need to manage multiple revenue streams to build career momentum'.

'Artists should think of themselves as small entrepreneur businesses, and they may need four or five income streams to get off the ground'. 

'The key for today’s artists is to make revenues from multiple professions, such as publishing, session work, sponsorship and merchandise'. 

https://www.ism.org/professional-development/webinars/ismxdelic-make-money

Mind-map all income generating activities you could develop as part of your career as a musician / music technologist. 

Research the 3 most interesting (to you) income generating approaches. 

• What is it?

• How does it work? 

• How does it generate income? 

• How to get into it? 

• What skills / knowledge / equipment do you require? 

Research the following income generating activities. 

Extension - go further researching your own ideas of ways to generate income. 

Releasing music has dramatically changed in the last few years. Check out this excellent video on how to plan a release to maximise its impact. I have also provide the 21 Day Plan Damian refers to which is an excellent practical plan for releasing a track. 

BBC Introducing is the best free way to get your music on national and international radio, with a chance to get played on major radio stations.  

You upload your music and there is a chance it will be played on local BBC radio. If it does well and / or they like it, it may get pushed up to the major stations such as BBC Radio 1.  

TASK: Festivals  

• Research on the www.bbc.co.uk/introducing website what festivals could you end up playing at through BBC Introducing?  

TASK: How do I apply?  

• Go to the www.bbc.co.uk/introducing website.  

• Click Upload Track 

• Research and discuss some of the information / resources you need to supply when uploading a track.  

  • What information / resources have you already got sorted? Such as an Instagram page?  

  • What information / resources do you need to develop / improve before applying?  

TASK: How can I improve my chances of success?  

• Find and read through the story 'How can I get my music selected on the BBC Music Introducing Uploader' on the website. 

• Discuss in groups – what do you think is the best advice and why?  

The Performing Right Society was founded in 1914 by a group of music publishers, to protect the value of copyright and to help provide an income for composers, songwriters and music publishers. At the time, PRS collected fees for live performance from sheet music.

PRS for Music Limited is a British music copyright collective, made up of two collection societies that became an alliance in 1997: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). 

PRS represents their songwriter, composer and music publisher members’ performing rights, and collects royalties on their behalf whenever their music is played or performed publicly.

MCPS represents songwriters, composers and music publishers – representing their mechanical rights, and collects royalties whenever their music is reproduced as a physical product – this includes CDs, DVDs, digital downloads and broadcast or online.

PRS for Music licenses and collects royalties for its members' musical works whenever they are publicly performed, or recordings of them are broadcast, streamed online or played in public spaces, both in the UK and globally through its partner network.

The principal sources of PRS for Music revenue collection are broadcasting (i.e. radio and television channels), public performance (i.e. music at gigs, concerts, theatres, restaurants, retailers and workplaces), online (i.e. music streamed online, digitally downloaded), and international.

Make sure you take quotes and screenshots (CMD + Shift + 4) and paste the URL in your Sway Research Document. 

Search for the 'Big Numbers' documents on PRS's website. 

1) Where does the money come from? Can you find some amounts for different business types / industry.

2) How much does it cost for musicians to join? 

3) What kind of musicians / organisations might join. 

4) How often are royalty payments? 

5) How much money did PRS return to musicians last year? (What is the trend on this) 

6) What is the % difference of male and female artists? - Why is this so extreme? What are they doing about it? 

7) Where does the most money come from? 

8) Compare how much money comes from Streaming compared to out sources. Do you think this is fair? Why? 

1) What is the PRS Foundation - where does it get its money from? What is the aim of the foundation? 

2) Find a fund that looks good for you. Research it - what can you get, what's it for, who's it for, would you apply in the future? 

Is the UK Music Royalty System Complicated? Yes! However to simplify it:

• PRS gives you money if you wrote the song. 

• PPL gives you money if you performed on the recording of the song

• MCPS gives you money if you own the master copy of the song (usually the label).

Image from https://www.bemuso.com/musicbiz/musicroyaltycollectionsocieties.html

Pros and Cons of Different Social Media Platforms

https://www.click.co.uk/resource/the-pros-cons-of-social-media/

Social Media Platforms by Demographics

Great for thinking about which is best to find your audience / target market on! https://socialfactor.com/blog/choose-best-social-media-platforms-business/