Your success as a singer-songwriter depends a good deal on the strategic way you position your self as a musician. The artistry of composing great new music—your vision, your disposition, your intuitivesense of rhythm and musical figures—is a vastly different beast than the often daunting legal and financial landscape of audio in this new generation of electronic distribution. One undertaking is creative and intuitive; the other entails red tape, legality, logistics and factors.
Aside from the creative process, it's vital to contemplate strategy when considering where you want your music to take you. Do you produce music as a career? Is music your largest form of income? Do you produce music to promote albums and create a fan base, or do you primarily wish to have your productions placed in film, television and video games? Perhaps you create new music for all three reasons.
Another fundamental factor to contemplate is what distribution method will actually make you money. Given the present landscape of diminishing download revenue and the high cost of antiquated physical distribution systems it is often a daunting undertaking to find the course of action that is right for you. In 2012, most producers agree that the main two ways to make money from music are to tour, or to license productions for film, television and video games. After examining the effort and expense involved in organizing, booking and carrying out tours licensing clearly emerges as a preferred revenue stream generated by music. If placement in films and television is your primary goal, please keep reading.
The way in which you control ownership of your music is an essential element for prospective music licensing deals in the future. You'll want to research what would make the most sense for your own productions with a lawyer, but in general, you'll want to consider:
1) You will need to keep your own publishing.
2) It really is easier to contemplate licensing contracts if there is one sole
songwriter credit for your productions.
3) It is less complicated to work with licensing agents if you release your own
songs as an independent artist. In general, the less parties there are
in a contract, the better.
4) It is ideal to evaluate licensing companies well. Have a lawyer
review any possible contracts. If you choose a licensing agent, they
frequently prefer to be the exclusive agent—so choose well.
Musician Jennifer Clarke is one such singer-songwriter. She creates her music mainly as an emotional pursuit. Her songs are deeply personal and soulful. Yet once the album is mastered and printed, Jennifer becomes all business. She licensed her song, “More Than I Have,” on the FX Series starring Denis Leary, Rescue Me. Her current album, Trinkets in Rubble, is slated for release in March 2012, when she'll begin new efforts to get the album licensed.
What can you do to pursue licensing? Get in contact with Music Nomad, ASCAP, or use your favorite search engine to research companies that specialize in the field. Most importantly, never give up. If you knock on enough doors at some point one of them will open.
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