Musicpress

The Heretic’s Comment: We wanted to share a very popular post from the TOO Much Joy Blog entitled “My Hilarious Warner Bros. Royalty Statement”.

Well I think the title of the post pretty much sums up what you can expect to learn, but we highly recommend that you invest the time to read the post in its entirety. If you have the time,  also read the comments that follow the post. The post will take you about 10 minutes to complete and we have provided a direct link below. Let us know your thoughts/comments.

http://www.toomuchjoy.com/index.php/2009/12/my-hilarious-warner-bros-royalty-statement/

Closing Comments:

Let me give you a definition of that famous Major Label “Fuzzy Math”:  when three full albums earn the artist $62.47 for five years worth of sales, but they still don’t get paid because they owe the Major Label $395,000.00. You can rest assured that this group will never make another dime from record sales despite the fact that the Major Label is probably making a profit on the catalog.

Let me give you one more definition: Recording Artist Slave Deals….you do all the work…you owe for everything that is spent…you own none of your master recordings….you make pennies on the dollar

Let us know your thoughts.

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Let us know your thoughts and comments.

The Heretic™ © 2011 Cross Live Media All RIGHTS RESERVED For the MAKE YOUR OWN MONEY FROM YOUR PROJECT Movement……..

www.thecrossfirm.com

Follow us on Twitter @attorneycross

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The Official Release of the  “Before You Sign That” is coming soon. An indie artist inspired book Authored by The Heretic’s very own Leslie W. Cross Jr. and co-authored by platinum recording artist Paul Wall.  More details are coming soon if you are interesting in pre-ordering the book. We are very excited about this Project!!!! We also have other projects in the works that we will be sharing with you soon!!!

The Heretic’s Comments: We wanted to share a very popular post from Mike Masnick  of TechDirt describing why even major label artists rarely make any money from Album Sales. Mike’s post will take you about 10 minutes to read and we have provided the link directly below. Let us know your thoughts/comments.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100712/23482610186.shtml

Closing Comments:

The individuals that the entire industry is built on (artists/musical groups/bands/songwriters/composers/producers) are getting paid peanuts in some select cases, but in the vast majority of deals, artists end up being upside down to the Record Label and walk away with no money and no music….just fleeting fame.

The Major Label Game is not designed for you to make money.The Major Label Game is designed for you to make the Major Label money and then they chunk you some peanuts after they have fuzzy math(ed) you to death.

Unfortunately, these arrangements won’t change as long as Artists/Songwriters/Musical Groups/Bands/Producers keep biting and scratching to see who will be first in line to secure the next “big” slave deal.

One Final Note:

The lawyers, managers and accountants you might be introduced to represent you (in a lot of instances) have ongoing business relationships with the major labels you are paying them to protect you from. Always know that when a major deal is signed there is underneath table monies and kickbacks if your team is more loyal to the Major Label than to you.

Let us know your thoughts.

If you enjoy The Heretic™ and the information we provide please sign up as a subscriber today! Thank You!!!

Let us know your thoughts and comments.

The Heretic™ © 2011 Cross Live Media All RIGHTS RESERVED For the MAKE YOUR OWN MONEY FROM YOUR PROJECT Movement……..

www.thecrossfirm.com

Follow us on Twitter @attorneycross

Join our Facebook Fanpage: Search for Music Business Heretic

The Official Release of the  “Before You Sign That” is coming soon. An indie artist inspired book Authored by The Heretic’s very own Leslie W. Cross Jr. and co-authored by platinum recording artist Paul Wall.  More details are coming soon if you are interesting in pre-ordering the book. We are very excited about this Project!!!! We also have other projects in the works that we will be sharing with you soon!!!

The Heretic’s Comments: Black Friday has been purposefully marketed and developed to be a financial juggernaut for Big Box retailers and Conglomerate owned retail stores.

However, the independent Creative Community wants to make money on Black Friday and Cyber Monday to.

I was unable to get this post out earlier, but to those of you who are out make purchasing today and you are reading this post on Facebook or Twitter, spend some money with the independent creative community today. Be it, buying a CD, poetry, a book, a painting, a dvd, photography, a scuplture or attending a live performance later tonight….spend some of that hard earned money with the indie creative community.

Now those of you in the indie creative community, should come up with sales incentives to make your product attractive for purchase during the holiday season. Give your fans and potential customers an incentive to spread money your way instead of solely with big box retailers and Conglomerate owned stores.

All of the above should also apply to Cyber Monday coming up in a couple of days.

Closing Comments:

Small and/or independent businesses are the backbone of this country and our greatest statement concerning what we support is evidenced by where we spend our money. Let’s make the effort to support independent business.

Personally, I have often found that the products and services I have obtained by doing business with independent businesses far exceeded the generic and impersonal products and services I have received from the big box retailers and conglomerate owned stores.

If you enjoy The Heretic™ and the information we provide please sign up as a subscriber today! Thank You!!!

Let us know your thoughts and comments.

The Heretic™ © 2011 Cross Live Media All RIGHTS RESERVED For the MAKE YOUR OWN MONEY FROM YOUR PROJECT Movement……..

www.thecrossfirm.com

Follow us on Twitter @attorneycross

Join our Facebook Fanpage: Search for Music Business Heretic

The Official Release of the  “Before You Sign That” is coming soon. An indie artist inspired book Authored by The Heretic’s very own Leslie W. Cross Jr. and co-authored by platinum recording artist Paul Wall.  More details are coming soon if you are interesting in pre-ordering the book. We are very excited about this Project!!!! We also have other projects in the works that we will be sharing with you soon!!!

The Heretic’s Comments: Steve Albini providing wisdom on how Recording Studios and Engineers can survive in the music game that has been turned upside down.  Let us know your thoughts!!!

If you enjoy The Heretic™ and the information we provide please sign up as a subscriber today! Thank You!!!

Let us know your thoughts and comments.

The Heretic™ © 2011 Cross Live Media All RIGHTS RESERVED For the MAKE YOUR OWN MONEY FROM YOUR PROJECT Movement……..

www.thecrossfirm.com

Follow us on Twitter @attorneycross

Join our Facebook Fanpage: Search for Music Business Heretic

The Official Release of the  “Before You Sign That” is coming soon. An indie artist inspired book Authored by The Heretic’s very own Leslie W. Cross Jr. and co-authored by platinum recording artist Paul Wall.  More details are coming soon if you are interesting in pre-ordering the book. We are very excited about this Project!!!! We also have other projects in the works that we will be sharing with you soon!!!

The Heretic’s Comments: Chris Payne at Billboard.com has written an informative post concerning 10 do’s and don’ts in using the blogging program Tumblr. We have provided a direct link to Chris’ article later in this post. Fortunately, more and more artists/songwriters/musical groups/bands are finally understanding and accepting the importance of blogging to help build connection points between their music and their fanbase. Tumblr is a great blogging vehicle, because the platform is easy to setup and you can literally began blogging and posting within minutes of opening a free account.

Closing Comments:

In looking at Blogging, we want you to keep the following in mind:

1) Once you start, don’t stop!! If you get fans following your blog, you can’t disconnect. Keep the content coming. I know that this is easier said than done, but it’s a fact of life if you are going to achieve a positive outcome from your blogging activities.

2) Develop a thick skin!! Know that when you start a blog, most people will ignore you. This can be quite discouraging, especially when you put your heart and soul into coming up with great and inventive content. Despite the lack of initial response, however, don’t quit. Keep plowing forward. People are looking at your content even if they are not commenting. Stay consistent!!!

3) Keywords!!! Began understanding how Keywords and tags can help get you higher rankings with search engines such as google, bing, etc. There is a wealth of information on this on the web. Just type in something like  “Understanding Keywords” to get yourself up to speed on this very important topic.

4) Create a Universe around your Music/Product!! If you are using your blog to develop a connection between your music/products and your fanbase, then make sure to create an inviting environment for readers to feel comfortable in getting to know more about you, your music and your products. This means that you don’t hard sell your readers. Instead, you provide them with informative insight and information about why you do what you do, what you have done in the past, what you are doing now, and what you plan to do in the future. In other words, focus on building relationships and not just customers (who will come and up). You have to develop a core fan base and the only way to accomplish this goal is to build relationships and building solid relationships takes an investment of time and effort on both sides of the equation.

A link to Chris’ article appears below. Let us know your thoughts.

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/indies/musicians-on-tumblr-ten-dos-and-don-ts-from-1005541772.story

f you enjoy The Heretic™ and the information we provide please sign up as a subscriber today! Thank You!!!

Let us know your thoughts and comments.

The Heretic™ © 2011 Cross Live Media All RIGHTS RESERVED For the MAKE YOUR OWN MONEY FROM YOUR PROJECT Movement……..

www.thecrossfirm.com

Follow us on Twitter @attorneycross

Join our Facebook Fanpage: Search for Music Business Heretic

The Official Release of the  “Before You Sign That” is coming soon. An indie artist inspired book Authored by The Heretic’s very own Leslie W. Cross Jr. and co-authored by platinum recording artist Paul Wall.  More details are coming soon if you are interesting in pre-ordering the book. We are very excited about this Project!!!! We also have other projects in the works that we will be sharing with you soon!!!

The Heretic’s Comments: Vinny Ribas over at Indie Connect Magazine has come up with a great post today entitled “10 Places You May Never Have Thought About Looking For Gigs”. We did a somewhat similar post a couple of weeks ago entitled “Creating Music to Generate Cashflow through Everyday Life Events”

We encourage you to click on the link below and gain wisdom from Vinny. The holiday season is in full swing and for the performing musician/artist its money time as well as crunch time to get gigs secured. Be creative and get your music before a live audience!!!

Closing Comments:

If you are successful in getting gigs booked, make sure you give them a show. Don’t just give them a performance….give them a show!!!

The Link to Vinny’s post is directly below

http://indieconnectmagazine.com/2011/11/indie-artist-tip-day-10-places-thought-gigs/

The Heretic’s Comments: If you use LinkedIn, please consider joining our Occupy Music Industry LinkedIn Group which was started earlier during this week.

We know that for some it will take courage to support the Occupy Music Industry effort because many of you still see signing with major labels/distributors as your best opportunity to achieve national and/or international success of your music.

We respect your concerns of not wanting to ruffle the feathers of those controlling the music power structure, and many of you have told us such in your feedback, however, we want you to consider that what we are proposing is to make a fundamental change in how Record Labels muscle ownership over content and control artists like indentured slaves.

We know what we are attempting to do now is extremely difficult because we have already been fighting this fight for years to enlighten artists to the importance of maintaining ownership and control to their content and products, and it has been a uphill battle to change belief systems that success can be had outside the control of the major music system.

We really feel that with the occupy movements sweeping the country, right now at this moment presents a great opportunity to also push and advocate for the rights of men and women trying to make a living through their music.

We will keep you posted moving forward and our goal is to use the Occupy Music Industry LinkedIn Group as a gathering place  to share information and encouragement to further turn the tables on Conglomerate control over the music business.

The Heretic’s Comment: As a follow through to our Occupy Music Industry Post of last month, we want our readers and subscribers to have the opportunity to review the initial draft of the Petition we have been working on to support the Occupy Music Industry movement.

Essentially, once completed,  the petition will be circulated to the music community who will prayerfully support and sign the petition. Once we have obtained as many signatures to the petition as possible we will then present copies of the signed petitions to the various CEO’s of the major music related conglomerates controlling the overall music entertainment industries. Of course we want to know your thoughts and feedback on the petition draft before we finalize it. So please provide your comments/complaints/recommendations and we will take those into account.

The Draft of the Petition Follows:

The Heretic’s Comments: Recently Amazon announced a new program whereby members holding a Amazon Prime subscription, have the option to download one free ebook to read per month.

Well quite naturally, authors and some book publishers are not happy with Amazon’s new program and are openly protesting it.

To counter some of the authors and publishers complaints,  Amazon has agreed to pay a wholesale fee for each time an Amazon Prime member downloads a book.

Authors and publishers have countered back, arguing that while its true Amazon is making a wholesale payment to them, it is also true that they did not give Amazon permission to use their books as part of some lending program.  In essence, the publishers are arguing what gives Amazon the right to make uses of our books beyond the permission we gave them.

Amazon’s basic response back to the publisher’s argument concerning what gives Amazon the right to go beyond the permission granted by the publishers….BECAUSE WE CAN AND TOUGH IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT!!!

And you know what? For the most part Amazon is right. Publishers don’t like the fact that Amazon is aggressively working out plans and agenda using the publisher’s books as part of the plan without approval, but publishers also realize that Amazon has developed a powerful platform that they can’t afford to walk away from.

On last week, we did a post entitled “They gave your book away for free without your permission.” Well Amazon’s new lending program is a prime example (no pun intended) of what we were hoping to get across to you in that particular post.

Closing Comments:

Don’t just surrender to selling your products through Conglomerate “controlled” platforms.

Don’t just  point your fans and customers to Amazon or iTunes to make purchases of your products.

Instead, point them to your website that you own and control.

I am not telling you to pull your product from Amazon or iTunes, but  I am saying that you should always push your fans and customers to make purchases of your product from your website first.

Don’t just do what you see everybody else doing. Have the courage to find your own way of making things work!!! At The Heretic we call this “Off D Grid”

One last thought:

Personally, as an author, I don’t have a problem with Amazon’s program to lend my book to Amazon prime members.  Anytime I can get someone to read my book and I can get paid for it…that’s a good day. Just my thoughts!!!!

If you enjoy The Heretic™ and the information we provide please sign up as a subscriber today! Thank You!!!

Let us know your thoughts and comments.

The Heretic™ © 2011 Cross Live Media All RIGHTS RESERVED For the MAKE YOUR OWN MONEY FROM YOUR PROJECT Movement……..

www.thecrossfirm.com

Follow us on Twitter @attorneycross

Join our Facebook Fanpage: Search for Music Business Heretic

The Official Release of the  “Before You Sign That” is coming soon. An indie artist inspired book Authored by The Heretic’s very own Leslie W. Cross Jr. and co-authored by platinum recording artist Paul Wall.  More details are coming soon if you are interesting in pre-ordering the book. We are very excited about this Project!!!! We also have other projects in the works that we will be sharing with you soon!!!

The Heretic’s Comments: A short post to remind songwriters and composers that limiting your entire creative focus to always working on your next single or album is not wise , especially as it relates to generating cash-flow.

Why do I say this? Okay I will answer the question, but before doing so, I want you to think about the following:

Keep in mind that (at its heart) one of music’s most powerful qualities is how effectively it attaches itself to certain moments in our lives.

Once a particular song is attached to a life event, like a special date with a girl or guy, our first kiss, a special night, or special event, that song sticks like cement glue to the point that whenever we hear that song, (even years later) the entire scene of that previous event can come alive again.

Okay I will answer the question now. So the reason limiting your creative focus to just working on your next single or album is a mistake,  is that it positions you to miss daily opportunities to make your music come alive by attaching it to everyday life events.

So instead of just closing yourself in the studio to work on your single or album, as a creative songwriter or composer, create music in real time as life events occur.

For example, you can write words and music for a guy or girl who wants to make an immediate impression on a love interest. You don’t have to charge them a lot of money, make it reasonable so that the word will spread and prayerfully they will tell more of their friends to use your music services so your phone will keep ringing.

Or if you know of a small company that is having a special event, pitch them on letting you come up with the theme music for the event. Again, you don’t have to charge a lot of money at first, just see if you can get this particular niche  to grow, and the money will start flowing more easily.

Closing Comments:

What I have described above of course is not limited to music and can be applied to a host of creative activities. Poets, Painters, Photographers, Dancers, etc can all apply their particular art to everyday life activities and events which people will be willing to pay for if the price is reasonable.

Something for you to Think About!!! Remember you don’t have to always  hit a homerun to score….you just have to keep the ball in play long enough for you to get to the next base without being tagged out…Home plate is coming!!!!

If you enjoy The Heretic™ and the information we provide please sign up as a subscriber today! Thank You!!!

Let us know your thoughts and comments.

The Heretic™ © 2011 Cross Live Media All RIGHTS RESERVED For the MAKE YOUR OWN MONEY FROM YOUR PROJECT Movement……..

www.thecrossfirm.com

Follow us on Twitter @attorneycross

Join our Facebook Fanpage: Search for Music Business Heretic

The Official Release of the  “Before You Sign That” is coming soon. An indie artist inspired book Authored by The Heretic’s very own Leslie W. Cross Jr. and co-authored by platinum recording artist Paul Wall.  More details are coming soon if you are interesting in pre-ordering the book. We are very excited about this Project!!!! We also have other projects in the works that we will be sharing with you soon!!!