Product Review Of Music Business Academy
Product Review
Product review for Damian Keyes’ Music Business Academy. I am a large Keyes fan. A friend introduced me to his cheeky YouTube videos about 18 months ago. I’ve drank the Kool-aid since. Fast forward those 18 months and a lot of research, reading, watching and learning has taken place. And guess what? I still like him. He’s forthright, a good actor (even when he knows he’s spewing B.S.), and manages to infuse humor. That said, I was rather surprised how cookie cutter his Music Business Academy course is. Or, do I have silly expectations?
Please don’t get me wrong in this product review. Keyes’ is preaching things I can agree with a good 97% of the time. The problem is is he falls in a trap I find all too many tutorials (of any kind) on Youtube do. He explains the 101 in an excellent fashion. This makes perfect sense. The guy is a marketer after all. He knows how to set the stage well. There is professionalism and comfort towards the camera which he exudes. This instills confidence for his followers and helps ease learning. All awesome things!
Common Traps Oh No!
The common trap he falls into is he goes on to explain the 101 for tooooo loooong. I inevitably lose focus as he drones on with things I learned from him for another 97 minutes. Now that there was too much time spent on pitching the tactic as a worthwhile one, there’s a rush job of an explanation. Pragmatic elements to his approaches and their explanations come and go all too fast. Again, not his fault. It’s become a standard format among youtube videos (in my opinion, I can’t validate this).
I don’t exactly blame him for wanting to be comprehensive either. This is a problem with YouTube tutorials in general, as life-saving as they are! The problems I mention are not unique to Keyes in particular.
There’s nothing malicious at play here, but it makes for a lousy learning experience. If one is teaching a mid-high level music marketing course, it’s not necessary to define what an ‘ad campaign,’ is. We can probably skip the definition of sales and marketing funnels. There needs to be an understanding that musicians should already know these things.
Or, Am I Being Too Critical In This Product Review?
That’s the predicament I’m sure Damien finds himself in often while explaining the music industry. Satisfying both sides of this argument. Should this knowledge be a pre-requisite to signing up? Or did we all already drop the ball?
He does do a good job of towing the line between painful beginner info and equally painful advanced info. Need to be sure to give credit where it’s due.
I thank Damian for his music business course, and may still (happily) be proven wrong about his teaching style. I would adore this because, well, I actually rather like the guy!
My Product Review On Damien Keyes’ Music Business Academy?
After Being Subscribed 6 hours And Having Watched 1.5 Modules So Far? Well…
On Get More Listens Dot Com, I try to drive home the fact no one person has the ultimate advice to provide. Each artist has a unique road to travel with their own special sort of music. It’s always best to take in as much information from credible sources as possible! Don’t limit your knowledge because some guy on the web said, “This one tiny stupid, innocuous thing.” This should not dismiss all credibility.
Cutting to the chase and point – Try it! They give a week free trial and if there’s one thing I’m a sucker for, it’s free trials. All you will want to ensure is that you mark your calendar to de-activate it at that 7 day mark! That’s because this course has a hefty price tag.
There’s two billing options present for this product. A monthly subscription where the cost is $19.99/month, or you may pay for the year upfront for $200 in total. A bit steep! But, that’s why there’s a trial right? I can’t imagine it’s hard to upgrade service level either.
Damian wants you to be a customer for as long as possible. And he wants your money, so an upgrade is likely doable, though I’ve not investigated this at all. It might be worth mentioning that part of Keyes’ pitch relies on the fact he will be raising prices soon. I’m sure he will be! Not sure how much further up you can go in a sensical manner. But, hey, so long as he doesn’t tell me what to do with my business, I won’t tell him what to do with his!
As always, please feel welcome to contact Chuck with questions about music business, music marketing or anything at all!
Music Royalties And Streamshare
Music Royalties And Streamshare
Music Royalties – This past week music streaming service gargantuan, Spotify, released ‘Loud and Clear’. The aim of the website is to discuss how music royalties and Spotify work. How Spotify ultimately pays distribution companies these royalties. The idea then being that distribution will pay the musicians royalties they deserve.
What Are Music Royalties?
To avoid digging too deep into music industry terms again we’ll be brief. Music royalties can be summed up in one word; Payment. It’s not anywhere near that simple to go further on the topic, but now you at least have an idea. Aside from the Creator, one must consider anyone else included on the track/EP/Album. Other recording artists, songwriters, composers, music publishing companies and copyright holders.
There Are 4 Types Of Royalties In The Music Industry You Should Be Aware Of
- Mechanical royalties
- Public Performance royalties
- Synchronization royalties (sync)
- Print Music royalties
Mechanical Royalties
Mechanical royalties mean music income. Income for reproducing and distributing this copyrighted music work. All formats of playback would be acceptable examples of mechanical royalties. Examples including CDs, Vinyl and Streaming Services.
Public Performance Royalties
Public performance royalties mean music income for artists as well. When copyrighted works are performed, streamed or played publicly the musician receives royalties from its public use. Publishing Rights Organizations, or P.R.O.’s, will collect and dispense royalties in regard to public performance. Some examples of P.R.O.’s would be music publishers like B.M.I., A.S.C.A.P., or S.O.C.A.N.
Sync Royalties
Sync royalties mean musicians earn revenue for their copyrighted works through its use, or ’sync’ in visual media. Synchronization licenses make this possible. A sync license is deployed when the copyright owner lends the music for use in films, ads, TV, video games, etc. It’s worth noting the importance of a master use license here as well. Both are necessary to see a sync license through to completion.
Print Music Royalties
Print music royalties are scarce for the independent artist in the 21st century. This is unless you are working on material which is more traditional and requires sheet music. Since most of us are not distributing sheet music manuscripts with the hope of making a profit, this is why it is seen more infrequently nowadays.
Spotify’s Streamshare And Music Royalties
Well, for an effort at being straight-forward, I find it funny I need to click no less than three times to get an answer from the loud and clear page. Worth adding that click one was on a link titled, “What is Spotify’s Streamshare?”
Streamshare is, as defined by Spotify on Loud and Clear, “Every month, in each country we operate in, we calculate streamshare by adding up how many times music owned or controlled by a particular rights holder was streamed and dividing it by the total number of streams in that market.
So if an artist received one in every 1,000 streams in Mexico on Spotify, they would receive one of every $1,000 paid to rights holders from the Mexican royalty pool. That total royalty pool for each country is based on the subscription and music advertising revenues in that market.”
Uhm, Excuse Me? *Raising Hand* I’m Going To Need To Call Bogus On This One
The trouble enters here, when Spotify says, “…and dividing is by the total number of streams in that market.”
This means the top dogs in your market of the music industry define your music royalties. Spotify tries to deny this on the same page, but by using logic, it’s hard to see how this is not the case.
How Do We Reclaim Our Music Royalties?
Unfortunately, major change at Spotify or to music distribution laws needs to occur to change this. I don’t foresee either happening any time soon. What would be nice is if Spotify adopted a more one-to-one, direct monetization system. Similar to what Deezer has done for years. Also similar to what Soundcloud will be making universal shortly.
I commend Spotify for coming forth and admitting what streamshare was (finally). Other than that, this is another slap in the face from Ek and Co. A really unnecessary one that sings. Well, we can still make fun of Spotify’s CEO for being super bald and looking like a baby in a grown man’s body. Can’t take that away!
Good Music Ads Are Hard To Come By
Good Music Ads
A good musical ad is different than other types of ads. And in reference to this term ‘music ads’ we’re referring to music ads on youtube, music ads on Spotify, music ads on Instagram, and on.
I’ve noticed something lately! It’s not a good thing, or a bad thing. But there has been an uptick in how many questions I receive in regards to advertisements. Personally, I have no issue with advertising. I run ad campaigns regularly. There’s something I was holding back until I launched Premium. But, with this increase I find it important to mention now. That is YOU CANNOT BUY YOUR WAY IN!!!
This Isn’t Always The Case
After all, I’m in New York in The United States. It is often the case in this Country within 2021 one can buy their way into many scenarios, especially in relation to music ads . It’s worth stating and clarifying right now AGAIN that this is not the case with music.
This does not mean you should not advertise. It means you need to do your homework before starting any ad campaigns. With regards to music ads, you’ll be doing regular homework. If you’re taking your music very serious then ads need to be implemented (this last point may not sit well with all my peers, but I do believe in running a tiny campaign for awareness at all times if you have the means). Why do they need implementation?
It’s a super saturated market. For every you, there’s ten people as talented vying for the same spot. I’m sure you knew that already but when addressing musical advertising you’re basing all decisions off this fact. And this brings us to our first important point for ads today. We’ll also go on to a few other things to realize before any campaign begins.
First Thing To Know With Music Ads
There is, and always will be, competition. In this world the ‘competition’ is your friends. I doubt you want to cut down their dreams. And there’s no need to. Your ads will only be successful with their support. So, don’t be a D***. Don’t view friends as traditional competition. Instead learn and develop your business model from them, their efforts and criticisms.
Second Important Point For Music Ads
Do some homework. Advertising is not a new concept. Establishments like Facebook and Google make everything seem fresh and exciting. The reality is they are polishing an old turd. Being honest, stole the term. But it’s a great one!
Education on advertising is rampant. Google terms and I’m certain you’ll your browser knowing double then what you started with. Watch some videos/tutorials on music ads on YouTube. There’s even specific channels on music marketing! Whooooa!
Third Thing .. On .. You Guessed It .. Music Ads
Advertising has a long history. It’s likely that answers to any questions you have are already listed on the web. Learn the traditional, TV ads type stuff! It became a tradition for a reason. If you’re interested by this stuff, I can say it’s wicked interesting. If you’re not, it’s, fortunately, not terribly difficult! Or, long-winded.
Traditional Ad Tip Of Today!
Before running music ads, check out what the A.I.D.A. advertising model is all about. The acronym stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.
Attention
Attention or awareness, refers to making the ‘customer’ (or for us, fanbase) aware of the new product (for us, it’s a new album, or single). In short, it means when starting with ads they will serve you best when casting as wide a net as possible. If no one knows about you yet, you want them to know you first. Then their parents all the way up through Great-Great-Aunt Tillie. Like I said, wide net. You don’t know what Tillie is into.
Interest
Desire
Action
Action is the final stage of A.I.D.A. You’ve mitigated any concerns. This person’s sold on you. Now, don’t disappoint! There’s not much more to do from here then get them aligned with you and your brand and keep them entertained!
Makes enough sense, right?!
Fourth! … Music Ads!!!!
You need to step outside yourself for a moment when pondering angles for new music ads. This I because you need to realize you are the commodity. You’re selling stuff, like it or not. That stuff happens to be you.
What Does That Mean?
Get over your trepidation! If you’re bothering/willing to run music ads then you must be dang sure you have a bang-up musical product to present. I’ll assume you do! With that being the case, you’re the S**t. Now, display that! You’ve earned the right to talk the talk, so use it.
