Andy Lykens

Innovating and operating through growth

music business development

This Simple Method Helps Song Pitchers Land Placements

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Putting things…off.

No matter how productive you are everyone is guilty of dragging their feet now and then.

The crazy part is if you look around for advice on avoiding procrastination, you get a bunch of productivity tips. Stuff like ‘make a list’ or ‘give yourself a time limit.’ Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying those things don’t work.

But how many of them can you consistently rely on or remember?

For me, being more productive and improving has a lot to do with personal work-flow. Lists work for me sometimes, but not always. Time limits don’t apply for me as I tend to work focused and fast once I start on a task.

So is there a method that is common to everyone across the board to help us not only choose to do what’s next, but do it in a timely way?

There is, and it’s called your gut.

For the past few years I’ve been really trying to improve my productivity by simply listening to myself. I do this as often as I get a feeling that starts with

I should really…

Whether the end of that statement is ‘take out the trash,’ ‘tell that person I like their shoes’ or ‘reach out to John about any new projects he may need music for,’ it’s been extremely useful.

Case in point, yesterday I was plugging away working on a license when suddenly I thought “Gee, I haven’t heard from Arnold for a while, I should check in” immediately followed by “and you know what, there’s another creative director in North Carolina who hasn’t touched base lately.”

I wrote them down, finished what I was doing, and then sent two really brief emails.

The next thing I know I had a music search from Arnold and a really nice note from the creative director saying he’d check out one of our indie bands.

Not too shabby!

This happens to me all the time now, and every time I listen to my ‘shoulds,’ I end up not only getting more done, but feeling REALLY good about it.

What about you? Do you ever use your instincts as a good indicator of what to do next? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Learn How A Record Label Pursues Music Licensing

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If you’re an artist or in a band, chances are you’ve got a record out. Maybe you put it out yourself, maybe you’re signed to a small indie label, or maybe you landed a major deal with a nice advance from one of the bigger guys. The bottom line is you have a record.

But what exactly does that entail, and what does your label have to do with music licensing?

One of the basic elements of how music licensing works is the copyright for the sound recording. Just like the song you wrote, the actual sound recording has copyright protection as well. Typically sound recordings have only one owner.

A sound recording is often owned by the funders of the album.

That could be a record label, your band, a single member of your band, and less commonly a music publisher or company that had you create a work-for-hire…or your Aunt Mildred.

Ownership comes with responsibilities (ask Spiderman) and while a record label’s aims are more than just licensing your music on television or getting music in a commercial, it’s a valuable revenue stream and that’s what we’ll focus on here.

Here are some ways that your label (or you) can go about getting that recording licensed:

  • Direct Outreach – Market directly to music supervisors on TV shows, ad agency music producers, and other relevant contacts
  • Indirect Outreach – Create PR around your music by revealing a story through video, press release, or other media hoping the buzz brings you to the forefront of new music
  • Public Performance – Whether it be a tour around a region or playing at a branded event or for an ad agency’s happy hour, this can be an excellent venue to get your music heard and your charisma felt

Should your song achieve some traction and a license be requested, the label (or owner of the sound recording) will then be responsible for licensing the sound recording for use. They should be able to negotiate some standard terms and collect a ‘music synchronization fee’ (or ‘sync fee’) for the use of the sound recording.

If you own your masters or perhaps your band owns them collectively, you can get your music licensed with your own efforts. You can also seek representation by labels, publishers, and synchronization representatives in exclusive and non-exclusive agreements.

Do you have any experience with a record label and licensing your music? Leave a comment and let us know about it!

If you want to learn how to start building relationships with record labels for music placements, subscribe to my newsletter.

Learn About Music Licensing And Why Getting Music On TV Can Be Valuable

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Music licensing is something record labels, music publishers, artists, songwriters, and pretty much everyone who survives in music is focused on. Music licensing, or more specifically music synchronization licensing, simply means the fixing of music to moving picture.

(Other types of music licenses exist, so clarify music synchronization licensing when necessary!)

Music In Commercials

Types of common music synchronization licenses

  • Advertising – The use of music in commercials promoting products or services

  • TV – Adding music to television programming, or television promotions, to enhance the project

  • Film – Probably the highest profile use of music in media

  • Video Games – This covers everything from consoles to apps and is an area more and more musicians are trying to get involved in

As you can guess, music on television, music in commercials, and music all media serve as excellent outlets for artists both classic and emerging. Let’s look at three key benefits of licensing music.

Benefits of Music Licensing

  • Exposure – Licensing music can be an excellent way to reach a lot of people at once. Music used in commercials, popular TV shows, and big films can end up in front of an audience many times a day for years!

  • Pay – If a song gets licensed, there’s usually a good fee involved. Unlike selling albums where a significant amount of sales is needed in order to generate revenue, a few licenses a year can be enough to live on for a decade!

  • Association – Association creates an instant recognizability. When someone hears your song, they may automatically remember a favorite scene in a film or identify it with values like ones their favorite brands represent.

Lots of other questions arise when you’re considering licensing your music on TV, in commercials, or for any type of media like how to value exposure? What is your song worth? And what do you need to know in order to start the licensing process?

Have you had any experience with music licensing? Tell us about it in the comments or ask any questions and we’ll help you through the process!

What Does It Take To Get 6 Songs Licensed By MTV?

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MTV Music Placement Case Study 2

Today we’re continuing the series of case studies from the exposure vs. value post. In this post we’ll be looking at someone who is self-published and has licensed music across a couple MTV series.

First, if you’d like to check out the origination of this series, you can do so here.

Also, here is a link to the first case study. Caught up? Man you can read fast. Nice work. Here we go.

I like a lot about Andrew’s story because he’s done two very smart things (which is 2 more than most people do); First, he’s acting as his own music publisher, and second he’s outreaching directly to a music supervisor. Here’s what Andrew had to say about his experience:

“I am new to the licensing side of music and when I first decided to give it a shot I was really surprised at how hard it is to get someone to listen to material! But after lots of research, emails, calls, and follow up emails I got in contact with the music supervisor for 16 and Pregnant. He listened to some of my twin brother and I’s material and liked it (and more importantly he liked us) and decided to use 6 of our songs for his shows! It was amazing!”

Pretty awesome right? Here’s a guy who literally just boot-strapped his way to some placements, represented his own catalog, and got a really nice result. Here’s what he has to say about what he gained from the experience:

“I hear a lot of people say MTV doesn’t pay much for their music but for us the amount we got up front was pleasing.  On top of that MTV soundtrack was tweeting our twitter handle and song name every time our song played on the original air date…We Also got the opportunity to be the featured artist on MTV soundtrack website and with that we got extra tweets and Facebook shout-outs.

Music Licensing Can Be Great Money!

I will say that the number of fans we got wasn’t as good as the money we got from the licensing fee and royalties for being the songwriter and publisher. Over all we gained some fans and got credible placements that generate royalties! We also got to establish a solid relationship with someone who can really help us.”

This is awesome and you can probably see why this is one of my favorite stories. Let’s do a brief recap and then I’ll offer some insight of my own to see where Andrew might start setting himself up for more big wins like these.

Value Gained: Andrew got the best of many worlds. Multiple placements that paid him out fairly, royalties, exposure as featured artist and lots of twitter activity.

The Doc Brown Advantage: Like Lauren I asked Andrew what he might do differently were he given the chance again:

“Well one thing i found out is that it’s a very long process. It took me well over a year to get those placements and in that time I learned a lot. One thing I learned and will always do is to build a professional relationship. These guys get thousands of songs every single week so it is very important to stand out and be memorable, if they get an e-blasted email addressed to them and every other music supervisor I know for a fact they wont bother to read it….The reality is that i have tried ALL of the sites where you pay to submit songs for big deals hoping that it will get used in something. The most important thing I have learned is if you want something to happen you have to make it happen yourself.“

IMHO: There are three highlights I’d like to make about Andrew’s situation. First, since he was representing songs he had composed, not only is he directly negotiating his own fees & terms, BUT he also gets to keep ALL of the money generated from the license. He keeps the sync fee, the writer’s share, and the publisher’s share of the performance royalties. Generally speaking if you’re using a library or placement service, you’d get ONLY your writer’s royalty. If you had a typical publisher, you’d get half (or less) of the sync fee plus writer’s share. What a HUGE difference it makes to do it yourself. More work? You bet. But I think it’s totally worth it for a number of reasons.

Great Relationships Mean More Music PlacementsNext, let’s not overlook the value of the relationship he established with the music supervisor. Yes, the placements are awesome, the upfront money and royalties are great, and all the social media attention is nice. But probably the MOST valuable takeaway from this experience in my opinion, is his music supervisor relationship. That person could go on to work on many more shows, films, at an ad agency, you name it. If Andrew periodically checks in with the music supervisor, it could mean YEARS of placements, royalties, and heck, even a new friend. This is why I constantly stress being professional and building connections in a genuine manner. It just works better for everyone.

Finally, Andrew REALLY worked hard to get these placements. One year is not an atypical amount of time to securing your first placement (sometimes it can be longer)! Remember to keep on plugging away, stick to your goal and follow your plan. Stay in touch with the good connections you end up making and let yourself grow with them. I’ll talk about this more in my upcoming book which I think you’re really going to love.

If I were to offer advice to Andrew, I would tell him first and foremost to keep following up with that music supervisor. Ask him what new shows he’s working on or even if he wants to grab coffee sometime soon as a thank you. Second is to reflect on that year of research and outreach and try to hone in on the processes that worked. What did that music supervisor respond well to? Was it a particular email or phone conversation? What were key talking points with him that might be relevant elsewhere? Use it as a starter-template to start outreach to new connections. Finally, Andrew had a lot of social media attention but it seems like there’s more opportunity there to engage fans and potential fans. What about creating an email list sending a free single to anyone who saw his music on the show?

I hope you enjoyed Andrew’s story as much as I did and Andrew, I hope you’re really proud. You did excellent work and I’m really happy it paid off for you. You’ve all heard my opinion, what about yours? What would you tell Andrew to do as far as social media goes? Have any of you found really effective strategies for capitalizing on quick bursts of activity online? I’d love to hear about it so send me an email!

We’ve got a couple more case studies to review and I think you’ll find them equally as interesting. Also, please do me a huge favor and check out Andrew’s band Ratham Stone online as a thank you for sharing his story, ideas, and thoughts with us:

http://www.rathamstone.com/

Low Hanging Fruit in the Music Business: Leap-Frog Cold Calls And Get Noticed By Music Supervisors

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Before we get started, if you’re new to the blog you can read Part 1 of the Low Hanging Fruit series about getting music licensing or other music opportunities here. When you’re done with that, hit up part 2 here to learn how to make key music licensing contacts. If you’re done with one and two, strap in! We’re going to cover how to rapidly make connections with people who can actually help you in your career.

When you’re engaged in a conversation with someone – friend, stranger, or enemy – it’s key to have some triggers set up mentally. These triggers will act as stimulus for you to ask leading questions to help bring you closer to generating a genuine connection with someone that can help you. For instance, if I’m talking to a new acquaintance or stranger, the topic of “what do you do?” inevitably comes up.

In the last email, we talked a bit about how to respond to this question (you can tweak those phrases a lot to really behoove you, but I’ll cover that in a future email). Once a conversation is rolling, here are some key phrases to listen for (they should be blatantly obvious):

  • Advertising
  • TV
  • Film
  • A&R
  • Record Label
  • Publishing
  • A Brand

These triggers are probably already setup in your head and if you meet someone that works in these areas or knows someone in these areas, you obviously would like to dig without sounding greedy or pushy. Ideally, you’ll setup some form of informative conversation where you’re not taking too much time from the other person and make it REALLY easy for them to help you out.

When you hear any of the above, here is a string of questions you can use to try and find out if you can get connected:

1. Which company do they/you work for? This is an obvious one but even having the name of a company means you can at the very least go home and research it online. For instance, if someone works for a brand, even a local one, you can see if they’ve done any sort of media with music under it.

Example: Griffin Technology is a well-known brand. If you live in Nashville, TN this means that you may have a connection to the company. Their website is easy enough to find, and if you head over to YouTube, you can see they’ve posted content that has music under it (check it out here).

2. What do they do for the company? Another obvious question and to be honest, the answer doesn’t really matter. This conversation is all about connecting with someone who is willing to help you. If they happen to work in the mail room or are the CEO, someone willing to help you is more valuable than where they lay on the food chain (you will also find that people who are willing to help others are often higher on the food chain anyway).

3. How do they/you like it there? This question is great because you’ll almost always be interested in the answer. People really open up when they talk about what their work life is. Also, they can leave clues here if they’re struggling in accomplishing a task or project. You never know, that could be something you can help them with.

4. What are they/you working on right now? A heavy hitter. Here again you’re giving the person a chance to talk about what they’re doing and to see if you can help. If you’re talking to a connection, here’s where they may not know. That’s fine but if it’s the case you can follow up with “I would love to sit down and chat with X about what they’re doing.”

As you can probably tell, these questions are great and they’ll help you start a natural dialog. Even with people you may have little in common with, you may just find out something interesting about what they do. Here’s where what we talked about in part 2 comes in handy – always saying yes. Keep your eyes open for ANY opportunity through the natural dialog above will help you help more people.

Next it’s good to know some job titles because ultimately we’d like to get our music on TV (or published or what have you), wouldn’t we? So when you hear these job titles, or phrases, get real curious and see if you can’t fix yourself up with a meeting by drilling down with the questions above:

Producer
– Producers exist in music, TV, advertising, still photography, and much more. Generally being a producer means being responsible for over-seeing a project and helping facilitate the various logistics.

Art Buyer
– Ad agencies have art buyers to, duh, buy art. That includes ANY sort of art including music. And because music and picture so often go hand-in-hand, these folks can be great to get to know. Even if they don’t do anything with music, they will know who does.

Creative Director
– At an agency, creative directors are responsible for the overall creative vision for a brand. They oversee and conceive of major creative ideas for commercials, packaging, and any place where you’d see some sort of brand execution. Obviously they are key decision makers and are great to know or meet.

Copywriter
– These folks write the verbage for whatever brand they’re working on. Whether it’s a commercial script or a print ad. Sometimes they’ll be tasked with coming with lyrics for custom music as well.

Director
– An obvious one, these guys are responsible for the overall vision of a video project for either film, video, commercials or music videos.

Publishing
– Generally speaking people at music publishers can do any number of jobs – the good news is they’ll typically know who to talk to if they’re not it!

Record Label
– Another obvious one. Same as publishing above.

Line Producer
– Line Producers are tasked with budgeting on a given production. For this reason they interface with all departments and know how much money they have to spend on any given piece…like music!

Any of the above with the word “associate” in front of it, or “coordinator” behind it.
– Generally speaking these folks are going to be pretty new to their industry, or to the company they work at. They’re great to get to know because they can move up very quickly but are also receptive to things like free show tickets and album downloads.

These are just a few of the many types of names and titles at production companies, ad agencies, music companies, and people in the film world. However, having a good idea of the TYPES of jobs available at these companies, combined with a few simple questions, you can really set yourself down a path to making solid, real connections quickly.

It’s also important to remember what I said in a previous article: you’re not looking to solve your ultimate goal, you just want to meet and talk about what they do and see where it leads. The very worst that can happen is they can’t help you directly but you end up with a new friend or contact. It’s important to keep that in mind because literally ANYONE can be a fan.

Action Step: It’s time to prepare yourself for conversation. First, do a Google search for any music companies, ad agencies, production companies, or other entities in your city (or in the one nearest by) you’d like to contact. Take a look at their “about us” or info pages and look for any relevant material like video with music underneath it. Then do the following:

Email 15-20 of your friends individually (personalized messages)
Ask if they know someone who works for one of your target companies
If so, ask them if they’ll connect you to that person, and see if you can all grab a coffee together sometime.
If not, tell them to keep their ears open and that you’re looking for music connections based on what you found doing research on the company.

I hope you’ve found The Low Hanging Fruit Series useful. I’m working on my next batch of emails so stay tuned for more music business strategy (including how to put your best foot forward when pitching your music to a contact) and if you need to subscribe, click here!

How To Start Crucial Music Industry Conversations

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What do you mention when talking about what you’re up to musically? Anything! As an indie musician you need to be highly versatile and agreeable to ANYTHING that has to do with music. A friend wants a band to play at a party? Someone else needs a DJ for their wedding? Your boss needs help choosing music for her kids? Yes, yes, and yes.

Get used to saying yes to everything that has to do with music. Even if you’ve NEVER done it before. Even if you don’t have the right equipment. Say YES and figure it out.

This is a key insight into the minds of some of the world’s greatest entrepreneurs. They see someone with a need and find a way to fill that need for that person. Eventually their reputation grows as a problem-solver and soon enough they’re making money – or even building a company – by simply having capitalized on the opportunities all around them.

Here’s how it could work:

Your friend’s friend needs a band to play at a party.

You say YES, figure out what kind of music they want, and do it.

When you go to the party, use it as an opportunity to:

    a. Talk about your upcoming EP release.
    b. Subscribe people to your mailing list.
    c. Chat with a few individuals and mention all the capabilities you have as a musician.
    d. Say YES to any other opportunities that arise.

Sure, you may get nothing or you might meet a bunch of people who work in accounting firms who seemingly can’t help. However, if you convey your message clearly, it makes your message easy to remember and easily repeatable. They can then relay your skills to their friends. You can see how literally anyone becomes a great new lead. Plus you might need an accountant some day anyway!

Here’s another more basic setting:

Your friend needs some new music for their daily workout.
You say “I know a TON of great workout music, what kind of stuff do you like?”
You put a playlist together, put yourself in the meta-data in iTunes with your email address, and tell your friend to spread the playlist around if they like it.
– This could potentially lead to a few new fans or mailing list subscriptions, or just some new friends-of-friends who loved your choices, who can now think of you when they think of music.

Saying “yes” is also a great way to learn new skills and develop side projects and alternate revenue streams as you pursue your passions – all because your friends know that when they think “music,” they should think of you.

But this email is titled “what to say” and I know how most of you feel when it comes to self-promotion. You think of it as annoying or contrived and it may make you feel uncomfortable. Well the great news is if you’re starting with friends and colleagues conversations are immediately more comfortable.

But the key when talking to anyone is to thinking about talking UP!

U – Updated
P – Positive

This means that everything you say about your career should be some new detail with a positive spin. Let’s say you’re currently trying to find a music publisher. When your friends ask “hey how’s it going” you could respond by saying:

“It’s going really well, thanks for asking! I actually reached out to a few different music publishers last week about my new EP!”

Your friend might ask what a music publisher is, or ask to hear your new songs, or maybe they just change the subject. Whatever they do, if they engage in a conversation later and music comes up, you can bet they’ll say “oh yeah my friend’s in a band – in fact, I think he just recently was talking to a music publisher about his new EP.”

Simple phrases like that go a very long way. From here it’s possible your friend’s friend could want to get in touch and ask how you did what you did. Maybe they need advice because they’re starting to record their own EP. Or maybe it’s something simple like they’re looking for a new guitar player. This means potentially being able to advise them about publishing, helping produce their EP, or getting an extra gig with their band.

Either way you can see how each time you simply mention what you’re working on in a positive way, the response can lead to a situation where your skills become relevant, interesting, and useful.

Why is it so important to be positive?

Well, check out this response to the same question of “how’s it going?”

“Pretty good I guess. I tried emailing some publishers but I haven’t heard anything back yet. It’s really frustrating. The music business is so tough to get into. I’m not even sure my new EP will get listened to by anyone.”

WHOA! Big difference right? This statement sure says A LOT about how you feel about your own music, and how successful your friends perceive you to be. What do you think your friend might say to their friend now? Do you think they’ll relay a simple, positive statement that gets the person they’re talking to interested? Probably not.

Furthermore, how do YOU feel when someone talks to you in this fashion? How does someone who is positive affect you? Start paying attention to it today – you’ll be blown away.

Here are a few more examples of updates you can give to friends when they ask you “what’s going on?”:

  • Invites to upcoming live shows (that you’re either playing or attending).
  • New gear you bought.
  • New songs or bands you love, or how you’re re-discovering a classic (this one is really easy)
  • Some new tool you use on the business side of your efforts (maybe you started using Evernote for keeping an archive of industry contacts)
  • New songs you’ve written or co-written (feel free to talk UP co-artists too!)

You might even mention that you dig working your day-job because every paycheck brings you 10% closer to your next studio day or an awesome effects pedal or whatever.

Finally, I’d like to talk about when you really don’t want to, or can’t say “yes.” Keep in mind you can always TRY to help. Let’s say someone loves Neil Young and wants to meet him. Well, unless you know Neil or his manager, it’s unlikely you can help, right? But what you might do is head home, hit up the internet and see if you can find a few tips others have used to meet famous people. Then fire off an email with a link.

It might not be an intro to Neil Young himself, but you never know how it can help someone until you try.

Action Step: Write down an example phrase you can use no more than 2 sentences long for each of the 5 examples above. Then, just like you would when working on a song lyric, edit them relentlessly until they are positive, precise, and clear. Start putting one or two of them to use immediately the next time someone asks you “How’s it going?”

We covered a lot in this email, but I hope you found it useful. If you have, please pass it along to a friend, or tweet it and mention my name (@andylykens). I would very much appreciate it!

In the final LHF article we’ll be covering WHO the best people are to find when it comes to advancing your career, and how to find them more quickly through genuine connections to build strong relationships.