Episode 243
Understanding the Dynamics of Music Publishing and Royalties
The primary focus of this podcast episode is the intricate strategies that artists must employ to effectively disseminate their music across various platforms. As an artist, it is crucial to understand that a multifaceted approach to promotion significantly enhances the likelihood of reaching a broader audience and establishing a recognizable name within the industry. The discussion delves into the necessity of cultivating genuine relationships with influential figures, such as DJs and playlist curators, to facilitate one's presence on platforms like traditional radio and streaming services. Furthermore, we explore the roles of songwriters, publishers, and administrators in the music ecosystem, emphasizing the importance of understanding these distinctions for effective career management. Ultimately, this episode serves as a comprehensive guide for artists seeking to navigate the complexities of music distribution and relationship building within the industry.
Takeaways:
- Artists must employ a multifaceted strategy to effectively disseminate their music across various platforms.
- Building genuine relationships within the music industry is paramount for artists seeking broader exposure.
- Self-promotion on platforms like Spotify is insufficient without establishing connections with influential curators.
- Understanding the roles of songwriters, publishers, and administration is crucial for navigating the music industry.
- The disparity in payout structures between traditional radio and streaming platforms is a significant concern for artists today.
- Strategically viewing one's music career as a business is essential for long-term success and sustainability.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Spotify
- YouTube
- CBC
- Socan
- Rihanna
- Beyonce
- Ed Sheeran
- Erin Ashley
- Amanda Paris
- DJ Jester
- Ricochet
Transcript
So as an artist, as you mentioned, there are so many different ways to disseminate your music, to get it out there.
Speaker A:And the reality is when all of them are working simultaneously, you have the better chance of reaching more people and actually making a name for yourself.
Speaker A:And that sounds really daunting because it is.
Speaker A:You know, there's platforms that I don't even know about.
Speaker A:You know, I.
Speaker A:People are 16 and 17 years old and I'm not that age and they're on a different platform than I'm using.
Speaker A:And then there's my parents age who might, may be stuck in the Facebook zone.
Speaker A:So the ways that I think about releasing music are always in terms of a strategy.
Speaker A:Sit down with yourself for a second and it's going to take you definitely longer than that one second to really think about where you want your music to be heard or platforms where you listen to music.
Speaker A:And then once you think about the platforms where you consume music, look at the intricacies of that platform.
Speaker A:How do I get my music on that platform and is it enough to put my music on a platform being self promoted?
Speaker A:Or should I reach out to somebody who may be creating the playlist for that platform?
Speaker A:Should I reach out to a DJ who is going to be spinning on a platform that I listen to?
Speaker A:So I'll give you an example.
Speaker A:Take traditional radio, for instance.
Speaker A:Your favorite station you hear and you hear all the music that's playing on the regular rotation.
Speaker A:Well, in order for you to honestly be on regular rotation, you would have to have either an in or a radio promoter, because otherwise you're not going to end up on their regular rotation.
Speaker A:However, the way to get in there without being on their regular rotation is by reaching out to that dj, a DJ that plays any spin block within the day, and reach out to them and try and build that relationship with them.
Speaker A:People like DJ Jester or Ricochet is good.
Speaker A:Who.
Speaker A:He doesn't necessarily spin a set, but he does have a platform for new artists, people like starting from scratch.
Speaker A:If you reach out to these people and you send them a song, what they can do is they can use that song and the platform that they have, like traditional radio, as their testing ground.
Speaker A:So when they're doing their mix, they can throw your song into the mix.
Speaker A:If it's well received both by them and by the people who are listening, you have more, there's more of an opportunity for you to end up on that regular rotation.
Speaker B:Got it?
Speaker A:So that's it.
Speaker A:That's one example.
Speaker A:You know, of course there is Spotify Spotify is a similar method.
Speaker A:You know, yes, you're going to put your music on Spotify, self promote it.
Speaker A:But if you can find people within the industry who know others who are making playlists than like Erin Ashley for instance.
Speaker A:She does playlists for YouTube with her doing playlists for YouTube on R&B.
Speaker A:Or Amanda Paris over at CBC building relationships with these people that are genuine because nothing is worse than an ingenuine in connection within the music industry because we can see right through it.
Speaker A:But if you're really there about let's collaborate, let's care, this is what I'm trying to do.
Speaker A:Can you assist and be patient because we are all busy, then take that time and build that relationship.
Speaker A:And over time, not only are you on a platform like CBC or YouTube Music, but now you've, you've built in a relationship and have an ally, someone who's going to vouch for you on their platform.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:That's what I think.
Speaker A:I think really strategically high level, drill it down to what I really need to do.
Speaker A:And yes, it's lots of work.
Speaker A:Not going to.
Speaker A:But if, but if we think about it like this is my brand, this is my career path, this is my business, then you operate it like a business.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Yeah, that is, yeah, that's definitely some good information for, I mean, artists at all different levels.
Speaker B:And yes, building relationships that are sincere and genuine is definitely a key.
Speaker B:I'm sure we could go on long about that because then we can talk about how you even reach some of these people and who to look for.
Speaker B:I'm not going to get too much into that because I think there are some other things that we can cover that are just as, or more important, just as far as the knowledge that's needed.
Speaker B:So we can kind of, I'm sure we can touch on relationship building at another time.
Speaker B:But for now there's some questions that I have, so I know that other people are going to have them as well.
Speaker B:Now I've heard of these three sort of distinctions or management over recorded work.
Speaker B:And I don't know if there are distinctions really or categories, but we have for example, the songwriter, we have the publisher and then administration and they're terms that kind of come up a lot.
Speaker B:I don't know that people necessarily understand what's the role of each or where they might even fit into each or what they need to be doing.
Speaker B:Can you kind of give us an overview of those three?
Speaker A:Of course.
Speaker A:So a songwriter is a songwriter and I'm actually going to change that if I can, to a creator, because a songwriter is typically thought of as a person who writes the lyrics.
Speaker A:However, just as important is the producer.
Speaker A:So if we say creator, that's anybody who's part of the creative process, that intellectual property, an idea within your head that you put on a piece of paper in the form of lyrics or you lay down in the studio in the form of production.
Speaker A:These are what creators are.
Speaker A:And those creators are part of, you know, are the base of any song that you hear.
Speaker A:Even if they are not the artist that's singing it, there's a songwriter behind that artist.
Speaker A:You know, Rihanna is a good example.
Speaker A:You know, she's not the one who's writing most of her music.
Speaker A:She has a songwriting team, many of which of that team comes from Canada.
Speaker A:And these songwriters are paid through royalties because their copyright or their intellectual property is licensed and they are receiving a royalty from it.
Speaker A:So that's a creator, that's a songwriter or producer, or anybody who takes part in the initial, the initial creation of that song.
Speaker A:And then you have a publisher.
Speaker A:So the areas where you hear the word publisher often would be again in that songwriting or creator circle.
Speaker A:And the publisher is actually your representation.
Speaker A:It is the similar scenario to having a recording artist and a record label.
Speaker A:This representation of the publisher is the one who takes care of your catalog, everything that you're writing, and recognizes that in order for you to get paid for your writing, somebody else has to release this song.
Speaker A:So if I write a song or I produce a song and I am represented by a publisher, then that publisher, my management essentially and says, oh, you know what?
Speaker A:Beyonce is releasing an album.
Speaker A:Ed Sheeran is releasing an album.
Speaker A:Can we have this song?
Speaker A:They would pitch your song to these particular artists, and once the artist records that song again, now we've activated a royalty that you're going to get paid for.
Speaker A:So that's where the publisher comes in.
Speaker A:Now, many people who are new to songwriting or they are not as established as some others, would prefer to be self published because you don't need a publisher.
Speaker A:If you have connections or you are working with your local community or you're writing for your church, you don't need a publisher in those cases, but a publisher, as you have more to handle, more on your plate, more demand, a publisher becomes beneficial because they're able to take that over.
Speaker A:Now, publishers, of course, will have their own cut.
Speaker A:And when it comes to administration, as you specified, we have companies like Socan, which is a performing rights organization, and they have members at socan and Those members include publishers.
Speaker A:So when a publisher is thinking about signing you, they also recognize they're going to get paid from your creative and intellectual property.
Speaker A:That amount amounts to about 50%.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:So, yeah.
Speaker A:So if we look at a song, a song in total in Canada, and I'm only going to speak to Canadian royalties and copyright because the.
Speaker A:The states is a little bit different and I don't want people to be confused.
Speaker A:But in Canada, you have a whole, and the whole is 100% that is a song.
Speaker A:Now, if you have a songwriter and a producer, so one producer, one songwriter, then we're going to say that of that song, 50% will go to the songwriter and 50% of the royalty will go to the producer.
Speaker A:If both are represented by publishers, then 50% of that intellectual property still goes to either, but the publisher takes 50% of each half.
Speaker A:So if songwriter is represented by a publisher, yes, technically on paper they wrote the lyrics.
Speaker A:However, the publisher is going to take half of their earnings looks.
Speaker A:When we look at the royalty distribution, you'll see publisher A with songwriter, Publisher a will get 25%, songwriter will get 25%.
Speaker A:Then we'll see publisher B, who represents the producer gets 25% and producer gets 25%.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:Okay, that makes sense.
Speaker B:Yeah, that does make sense.
Speaker A:It does get a little bit confusing, especially because this is not a visual platform, so, you know, there's no pie to cut up.
Speaker A:But yes, your publisher does typically take 50%.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:And now I just want to just expand on that a little bit.
Speaker B:So now we have these different platforms.
Speaker B:I think you mentioned one of them earlier, Spotify.
Speaker B:So I guess I'm just really trying to see, and hopefully you can highlight the difference between going through one of these online platforms versus traditional radio.
Speaker B:Are there some major differences as far as payouts go?
Speaker A:In terms of payouts?
Speaker A:I mean, I'm hoping, I truly am hoping to see a change in terms of payouts because right now as it's licensed, the music platforms online, as far as I'm concerned, are not being.
Speaker A:Are not responsible for enough in terms of their license fees.
Speaker A:And streaming is becoming the way of listening, but yet the streaming services aren't paying as high of a percentage of license, license fees as would seem, would seem applicable given that again, that platform is being so widely used.
