The iPhone recently turned five years old which means it’s the same age as my niece and despite Emily being cuter, more adorable and full of innocent wonder, when it comes to giving me directions to find The Brudenell Social Club in Leeds, or telling me how many league goals Des Walker scored in his career (one), the iPhone definitely has the edge.

The lovely people at Music Week posed this question over on Twitter, you can see my reply below…

@MusicWeekNews - Stoking the fire of debate as ever

I kept one eye on the debate throughout the afternoon and I was rather surprised to see there were quite a lot of naysayers out there, saying the iPhone and iTunes have had a negative impact on the industry. Now I may have been told my incessant optimism resembles that of puppies sliding down rainbows whilst singing S Club 7’s ‘Reach’ over and over again, but I believe these people are wrong, so I thought I’d do a little blog on why I think so…

Come with me on a journey back to 1999 and imagine a young man with awful hair, a bulging waistline and questionable musical tastes – ladies and gentleman, you’re currently picturing me as a fourteen year old adolescent. Being a December baby I did the classic ‘Christmas + Birthday- present combined’ trick to bag myself a Sony Minidisc Walkman. This beauty in fact:

All technology is better when it comes as an equilateral square. Fact.

At the time this was an utter revelation; it allowed me to create mixes just like a cassette does, but at CD quality?! “THIS IS THE FUTURE” I exclaimed to my parents and peers before locking myself in my room to record a mixtape *in real time*. Baring in mind this is a good few years before broadband made it’s way into the Pursehouse household and at the time only one kid in my entire year at school had the ability to burn CD’s (I used to pay that said kid £10 a go to make me a mix CD of the 15 tracks I was currently enjoying on KerrangTV/MTV2 which he pirated over dial up Internet – halcyon days).

Fast forward five years and after saving up my wages from working in a call centre selling catalogue insurance to pensioners with more money than sense (they had very little of both it would appear) I purchased myself a Creative MP3 player (I couldn’t even find a picture on the internet of the first one I owned it, so here is the second, a ‘Zen’. Flash eh?) :

I adored this. With hindsight it was rubbish and crashed a lot.

If the Minidisc Walkman was a revelation, the Creative Zen was life changing. I had my *entire* music collection in my pocket. Every single song I had acquired (either legally, or illegally) was in my hand, ready for me to listen to whenever the mood took me. On the bus to town and fancy listening to a bit of JJ72 Simon? Don’t mind if I do thank you very much. Follow that up with a Seahorses B-side? Oh go on then.

Then the iPhone came along and with it the ability to listen to pretty much any song ever released whenever you want.

Any song ever released. Whenever you want. Wherever you are.

That, my friends, is awesome. And I mean “awesome”. It inspires awe within me.

I was in the car with a friend the other day and he was playing something that caught my attention.

“What’s this?”
“Erm, DJ Format I think”

I got out my trusty iPhone, Shazam informed me it was Ill Culinary Behaviour by DJ Format, I pressed ‘Purchase on iTunes’ and I then owned it.

Before the record had even finished on his stereo, I had discovered what it was and bought it. If you can tell me that scenario is bad for the music industry then I’ll eat all the hats in Western Europe.

My inkling on why the naysayers were naysaying is because the rise of iTunes and the iPhone paralleled the rise of piracy. As internet connections become cheaper, quicker and more accessible so has the ability to pirate music, but, least we forget, also the ability to legally purchase and consume media in all forms.

What Music Week asked was what effect the *iPhone* has had on the industry, not what effect the continuing improvement of technology has had. Using iTunes and owning an iPhone have caused me to purchase more music than ever before, and I’m not just talking a bit more, I mean a lot more. I buy more albums because the Spotify App on my iPhone allows me ‘test run’ them first, and I would have never previously spontaneously bought singles à la carte like I did in the DJ Format example above.

This post may very well just be going over old ground and you may have agreed with everything I have said, if so I apologise for wasting your time. I was just genuinely surprised to see some of the discussion happening online around the impact iTunes and the iPhone has had on the music industry in the past five years.

So the next time you’re iPhone battery dies on you, don’t swear at it, just remember what your life was like when you had a Nokia 3210 in one hand and a CD Walkman with two dead AA batteries in it in the other.

Anyhow, feel free to make your feelings known via the usual methods.

What I’m listening to this week: Lykke Li, BOY and Kankouran.

What I’m reading this week: 1Q84 (Book 3) by Haruki Murakami

Pursehouse.

If one of your New Year’s resolutions was to ‘discover more new music’ then you’ve come to the right place. New year, same old nonsense sprouting from Pursehouse’s mouth as he introduces ten tracks by ten rather brilliant emerging UK artists. This month featuring…

Kankouran
Vinyl Jacket
I Dream In Colour
Mammal Club
The Nice Sharp Pencils
Young Liar
Auction For The Promise Club
Pandas And People
Deafen The Creatures
The Day I Snapped

You can also subscribe via iTunes if you’re really modern and all that here: http://senmusi.cc/a0Ljzs

Yes, you’ve read correctly, it’s the now ‘regular’ (there have been three, how many until something becomes regular? Let’s say three) yearly blog where I look forward a whole twelve months ahead of other lists and give you my tips on who I think has a decent chance of being on the populous’ radar in 2013.

So what is the purpose of this list?

I started it a few year’s back when the ‘BBC Sound Of 20XX’ list was evolving from pretty much being a little feature on their site to becoming a fully fledged ‘thing’ in the industry which now receives a bucketload of attention from pretty much anyone who has anything more than a passive interest in music.

It’s widely acknowledged that the lists are usually ‘safe bets’. For example out of the fifteen artists on 2012’s longlist, only one of the artists doesn’t have a major label backing them (Friends). And whilst Joe Public might not be aware of that fact and therefore when they’re plastered all over BBC Radio 1 next year they will be genuinely ‘new’ to them, us lot (and I include you in this as you clearly have enough interest in the music industry to at least be reading this) probably already saw this coming.

There has been an alarming backlash towards end of year lists in 2011, so much so that ‘slagging off end of year lists’ has become the new ‘end of year list’, but as the ever knowledgeable Andy Malt said on the CMU podcast; “It’s just a list”.

So with that perspective in mind, read on and hopefully you’ll come across something you quite enjoy. At the end of the day and other such clichés, it’s all about the music isn’t it?

James Njie – Facebook – Twitter

When DeadMau5 believes in you enough to take you under his wing then you’ve clearly got ‘dem mad skilz’ and London based Norwegian producer James Njie (which I believe is pronounced Nigh, as in; ‘The End Is Njie” – just think of the merchandising opportunities) has quite the ear for a catchy beat. I also went to university with him and he’s bloody lovely *AND* once completed a Rubix Cube, but you can make your own mind up by listening to Anti Crisis below.

Mammal Club – Facebook – Twitter

Responsible for one of the best EP’s in 2011 ‘The AU EP’ (which you can listen to here) and after hearing a couple of their newer tracks set to be released early 2012, I can confidently say that Mammal Club are maturing beautifully. Their ‘sound’ is becoming more unique and accomplished and they’ve also just bagged themselves a rather brilliant manager, which always helps. Have a listen to ‘Hang’ below.

Cattle & Cane – Facebook – Twitter

Despite it not being a competition; the North East is well and truly ‘winning’ when it comes to churning out talent at the moment and Cattle & Cane are up there as some of the best raw emerging songwriting talent the UK has to offer. Listen through their two EP releases on Spotify and you’ll quickly notice that when they get it right, they get it absolutely spot on. This track ‘Sold My Soul’ has BBC Radio 2 playlist written all over it.

ItsNate – Facebook – Twitter

North London based Nathan Anidugbe released his debut mixtape ‘Never Ask Take Everything’ (which you can listen to here) late 2010 to much acclaim amongst the blogosphere of that scene. After several features on SBTV and a string of live performances under his belt, if this young gentleman can carry on growing his reputation like he has so far then he shouldn’t have much to worry about. Listen to City Lights below.

Rae Morris – Facebook – Twitter

Young. Beautiful. Voice that makes you realise life’s worth living. What more could you want? Her performance on the BBC Introducing stage at Leeds festival this year was one of the musical highlights of my year. A genuinely special talent. Have a listen to Wait A While below.

Tarek Musa – Facebook – Twitter

Self-confessed Sound Engineer/Producer rather than solo artist, this doesn’t change the fact Tarek Musa has penned some bloody catchy songs over the past twelve months. His ‘Kankouran’ EP is a hidden gem on Spotify with track ‘Rivers’ being my personal highlight. If all goes to plan you should be hearing his music on some rather high profile UK TV shows next year.

Young Liar – Facebook – Twitter

More geordies! I’m a sucker for a good bit of instrumental music and this track ‘The Line’ pushes my buttons in ways that only fantasies of time spent alone with Mila Kunis can. I’m informed their second EP is on its way early 2012 and I’m rather interested in finding out where they’re going to go next. Be sure to follow them on Twitter as well, they’re pun-tastic.

Professor Penguin – Facebook – Twitter

I’ve had Professor Penguin’s debut album sitting on my iPhone for a good few months now and I can assure you now it’s one to get your grubby little hands on as soon as it’s released in early 2012. Brian Eno likes it FFS, what other proof do you need? The brainchild of Jonny Abraham, Professor Penguin is a collective of various musicians who’ve genuinely created something rather special in the form of ‘Planes’ (the debut album) and you can listen to the lead single ‘Pilot’ below.

So they’re my picks for you. You like? You dislike? Let me know your thoughts via the usual channels.

As ever I’ve asked a few chums of my to contribute…

Natalie Shaw - Music Journo/Label Owner/DJ/Raconteur – Twitter

After writing last year’s tips for next year, something unbelievable happened – my top tip, Canadian duo Bonjay, ended up getting in touch. A few months later, I released their debut European single on my label One Bird Records, and ‘Stumble’/'Creepin’ attracted high praise from The Stool Pigeon, The Fly, The Guardian and heck, even people who don’t write about music for a job. A few copies of the single are still available here (the release is on a physical, touchable notebook – with a download code – don’t you know), if you’re that way inclined. It’s ace.

I made great friends in Bonjay, so if any of the below people want to get in touch this year, I’m at @natalie_shaw. Apart from that, treat it as silly:

Jhené Aiko – Facebook – Twitter

Unbelievably, it’s the girl who appeared on B2K’s remix LP back in 2002 – nine years on, here with her own hauntologically eerie slow jams. Her pure, soft, understated vocal brings up the obvious reference-point of Aaliyah, but her sparse beats and swirling, crushed production are unmistakably present-day.

Beyonce’s ‘I Care’ is the nearest we’ve come to a crossover of ~obvious names~ The Weeknd and How To Dress Well’s spooked-out sounds into the big old proper mainstream. and with her off having a baby in 2012, we’ll have to wait for another while longer for the doors to open again for Jhené.

And besides: a free mixtape is a literal flash-card for “Hi, I’ll be big in two years’ time”, and you can even ask Daley if you don’t believe me.

Have a listen here.

Astro (The X Factor USA) – Facebook – Twitter

The indiest activity I’ve partaken in this year has been closely following The X Factor USA. The stand-0ut for me was Astro, a 15-year-old rapper from Brooklyn.

His passion, drive and flow are impeccable, and it’s been fascinating to watch the kid deliver his own rhymes week in week out – but what he’s lacking at the minute is maturity. Given a year (or two – durrrr), he’ll turn up once again with something incredible.

Have a listen here of his refix of Drake’s ‘Over’.

Vanessa White from The Saturdays - Facebook – Twitter

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of working with The Saturdays on their social media and digital properties, and getting to hang out with the girls for a while. Vanessa White is a lady who loves music, be it SBTRKT, JoJo’s new stuff with Drake, Marsha Ambrosius, Jazmine Sullivan…

Her vocal is the lynchpin of ‘Notorious’, ‘Issues’, ‘Forever Is Over’, ‘Higher’, All Fired Up’ and more, but I find that all too often now, she’s pushed into head voice to avoid taking over.

It’s inevitable that The Saturdays won’t go on forever, which is great because it means eventually, Miss Vanessa White will be given songs all of her own. Maybe that’ll be 2013, maybe not – but whenever it happens, it’ll be a bolt out of the blue.

Have a listen here.

Khaliyl

Here is a two-year-old boy who I found on YouTube the other day, rapping with his dad.

He’ll be at least four by the end of 2013, therefore old enough to have either (a) expanded his repertoire of vocabulary, or (b) learnt a pre-existing language. The boy’s got flow!

Have a listen here. 

Jim Warburton – Music Supervisor at Lime Pictures (Hollyoaks/The Only Way Is Essex/Geordie Shore)

DEMS – Facebook – Twitter

Taking influence from the XX’s intricate sound scapes and Burial’s fractured way with samples and augmenting them with confident and powerful vocals, Dems create a mysterious and beautiful sound all of their own, which is very much a sound of the future.

Have a listen here.

Heart-Ships – Facebook – Twitter

Rabble rousing vocal chants, inspired lyrics, deft and subtle instrumentation, all coupled with a powerful rhythm section. For fans of Sunset Rubdown and Arcade Fire.Heart-Ships create songs with the depth and the power to take them to the top of festival line-ups around the world.

Have a listen here.

Boaz Sachs - Music Blogger, Dilettante Photographer and occasional DJ - Twitter

Takeshi Miyaki 

Its 2011 and this band don’t even have a twitter account or a “marketing strategy”. Strangely refreshing actually and having seen them live by complete accident in the build up to Halloween (dressed in full animal suits I should add) this Californian duo held my attention for their whole set (quite a feat considering the kind of costumes people were rocking out). Singer and drummer Lucy has a soothing and almost hypnotizing quality to her vocals whilst her guitarist Rocky showed some Jack White-esque fire. There are just a handful of songs available right now through their Soundcloud but the band suggested they have plenty more ammunition come 2012.

Have a listen here.

Tigercats – Facebook – Twitter

Londoners Tigercats continue in the fine tradion of twee British indie mashing Belle & Sebastian and Los Campesinos style sensibilities. Frontman Duncan Barrett, once with Hexicon, offers a slightly twisted viewpoint with his unmistakable vocal delivery while the rest of the band do a great job keeping it nice and keeping clean. The band have recently recorded new material with Darren Hayman from Hefner at the helm and I cant wait.

Have a listen here.

Kick Up The Fire – Facebook – Twitter

South East London’s Kick Up The Fire released their debut EP late in 2010 to great reviews but initial indifference from “the public”.  Still, they plugged away playing the traditional London watering holes and beyond building a following. Tracks like ‘No Fun In London’ personify why this lot hold so much promise and arguably ‘These Canvas Shoes’ offers an even more outstanding single material. The band were recently reunited with producer Ben James and if the progress they showed under his tutelage last time is anything to go by we should expect some great new material soon.

Have a listen here.

Alana Stewart – Facebook – Twitter

Alana Stewart is another one of those artists that I knew very little about until she hit the stage and wanted to know everything about her by the time she got off. The West Coast native who relocated to NYC was first spotted busking in NYC before someone wisely whisked her off for that impromptu set of shows in London and what struck me right away was how sincere she comes off from the stage. With that comes a degree of vulnerability which endears you to her further.

Have a listen here.

The Difference – Facebook – Twitter

Here is something  a little different with this selection as The Difference are not actually an act per se but a pair of producers based out of LA. I started following their in my time in LA where I witnessed their collaborations and beats start to infiltrate the local scene. I had the pleasure to drop into their studio for a jam session they were recording and I have to say their production ideas where both meticulous and interesting. Clearly the twosome bring different qualities to the table that augment each other and it was a pleasure to watch. They’ve got a bunch of collabs planned for 2012 so we may hear them on our shores soon.

Have a listen here. 

Bastille
David’s Lyre
Polarsets
Sound of Guns
Three Trapped Tigers
Tall Ships
Young Runaways
Kowalski
Revere
The Loud

You can also subscribe via iTunes if you’re really modern and all that here: http://senmusi.cc/a0Ljzs

Facebook. You’re on it. I’m on it. The vast majority of people who are ever going to show even the slightest bit of interest in your music whatsoever are on it. So you’d better ‘do’ it right eh?

Judging by the amount of emails I receive from musicians trying to flog their wares to me, it appears Facebook has now become the default destination for an artists’ social media presence which I’m all for. Despite my incessant joie de vivre; if you had asked me a year or so ago what I thought about Facebook as a tool for musicians I would have told you it still had some substantial flaws which now appeared to have been fixed by various apps and plug ins.

So, as ever, this blog has been written like all my other blogs have – basically this is what *I personally* want to see from your Facebook page as someone in the industry. I’ve no doubt there will be other posts out there which will delve into the nitty gritty features of Facebook Insights and what not, but you’re not going to find them here. Just a good few tips which, if followed, will stop me from shouting at my computer because after ten minutes of browsing I still can’t actually find where to listen to your goddam music.

• 1) Sort out your Facebook URL

Have you got one of those Facebook web addresses that goes on longer than an aristocrats full name? If so all you have to do is head over to www.facebook.com/username and within seconds you’ll have a nice clean succinct URL. I’ve done it, that’s why ours is www.facebook.com/sentricmusic and not www.facebook.com/pages/OMFG/WTF/ROFL/ShouldHaveReadSentricsBlog/FENTON!

• 2) Utilise plugins so I can listen to your music

You’d be shocked and appalled by the amount of artists’ FB pages I mosey on across to only to discover that they’ve not actually put any of their music up there for me hear. It’s baffling. Currently for my money there are three strong apps you should look at using

ReverbNation (as modelled by By The Rivers)

ReverbNation Facebook App

BandCamp (as modelled by Kowalski)

Bandcamp Facebook App

BandPage (as modelled by Bastille)

BandPage Facebook App

If you already have an account set up with one of these guys then utilise their app. They all do their job wonderfully and allow me to listen to your ditties.

• 3) NEVER, EVER, EVER make me ‘Like’ your page to listen to your music

I hate this. Don’t do this. There is a strong chance I will just leave your page and not listen to anything if you make me do this. Sorry, but it’s the truth.

I understand why you do it; I truly do, so let’s meet in the middle and compromise:

Let me stream at least one track without commitment, but if I want to hear to more because I’ve enjoyed that song then it’s okay to make me ‘Like’ the page in order to listen.

That’s fair isn’t it?

• 4) Include Tour Dates

Pretty basic stuff, but again, you’d be surprised the amount of pages I come across which doesn’t include this info. The plugins mention in point two should offer this, if not then check out the Songkick App which is rather lovely (as modelled by Antonio Lulic).

SongKick Facebook App

• 5) Include information on who you work with

If you have a manager, an agent, a lawyer, regional press, national press, online press, butcher, baker, candlestick maker then list them so I know who believes in your music enough to put their name to it. You don’t have to list their contact details, or even their name if they don’t want you to, but at least the company. Seeing that an artist has a team around them instantly makes them more attractive to work with.

• 6) Let me see what you look like

Good up to date photos or a video will do nicely here please. If I’m spending a day rooting through new music I’ll always watch a music video before streaming a song because a) in theory it should be one of your strongest songs or else why on earth would you go to the hassle of making a video for it? And b) I get to see what you look like. If you look like this gent Heino then I may move on (or fall in love with you instantly):

Heino. May he haunt your dreams/nightmares forevermore.

• 7) Keep your fans and your friends separate

This is a side note which doesn’t really affect me on a day to day basis as a casual observer, but if you have your personal account and your artist account then don’t be that person who posts the same thing all the time on both. No one likes that.

If your friends chose to ‘Like’ your artist page then fool be them; you can spam the hell out of them with your musical shenanigans, but in the grand scheme of things remember that your friends aren’t your fans. The ones who want to know about your lunch via a status update where you showcase your rapier wit may not want to know about your day in the studio where you “lost my tuner LOL’.

There you go – follow those steps and I’ll be a happy bunny. Feel free to agree/disagree via the usual channels.

What I’m listening to this week: Daughter, Dry The River & Professor Penguin.

What I’m reading this week: 1Q84 (Parts 1 & 2) by Haruki Murakami

Stay tuned.

Pursehouse.

David’s Lyre
The Loud
Professor Penguin
Perendiz
Stalking Horse
By The Rivers
The Spills
Washington Irving
Shane Beales
The Mexanines

You can also subscribe via iTunes if you’re really modern and all that here: http://senmusi.cc/a0Ljzs

So you’ve signed up with Sentric Music? Welcome! How do! Alreet! Etc! In this post I’m going to talk you through what you now need to do in order to make the most of our service. As you may already know we’re home to thousands of artists here, we’ve distributed hundreds of thousands of pounds in royalties and have had landed hundreds of synchronisation placements for our users, follow this guide and you’ll be well on your way to all these benefits and potentially more.

(if you need to brush up your knowledge about music publishing then be sure to read this handy WTF is Publishing? blog here)

• Signing Up….

Nice and straightforward; give us the information we ask for please! You’d be surprised how often an artist will sign up to the site and not let us know what their website is. Be sure to include your preferred social network (if we’re honest, we prefer Facebook over MySpace, MySpace is proper rubbish) and put a nice interesting biography in there as well (if you don’t have one of these at hand then you can come back to it and add it at a later date). For the walkthrough I’ve created a hypothetical band -I worked on the name for ages…

Also be sure to add additional email addresses as well to make sure you don’t miss out on any emails we send to you, preferably one for each member of the band and also your manager if you have one. There have been times in the past where we’ve emailed an artist with their royalty statement for quite substantial amounts of cash and it’s taken them over a year to get back to us with their bank details because “Harry the drummer is usually the one who checks the Gmail address and he forgot the password. Then he forgot his mother’s maiden name. Then we kicked him out of the band”.

• Track Details

Before we can do anything for you we need to know about the songs you’ve written. Remember – here we need information of every song you’ve ever played live, regardless whether or not if you have it recorded. Collection of publishing royalties is for the intellectual property behind the song, not for the recording of it.

Firstly input the title and duration of the song and then add the writers of the track, if any of the writers are direct members of the PRS then please be sure to add their CAE number so we can administer accordingly.

Once all the writers have been added then input the splits that have been agreed. In this example ‘Simon Pursehouse’ is receiving 40% compared to the rest of the bands 20% because he is the only genuinely talented one and without him no one would be interested in the band whatsoever.

If the same writers and the same splits are agreed on more than one track, then use the ‘Would you like to submit more songs based on the above details?’ option to input your other track information.

Now it’s time for you to give us a copy of whatever songs you have recorded. Before you even think to upload your tracks to our site it’s of the upmost importance you’ve got the metadata sorted out on your MP3’s. Seriously this is up there with remembering your mum’s birthday. Every time I get sent an MP3 file with bad metadata I use full fat milk in my coffee rather than semi skimmed to ease the disappointment; might not sound much, but the cholesterol slowly filling up my veins could be stopped by you good people by simply reading this blog and taking heed it’s advice – 7 Steps To Metadata Utopia. Here is an example of good metadata:

When you’ve done that, head over to the Track Details section on your Sentric profile, select the blue arrow and a pop up will pop up (that’s why they’re called pop up’s apparently). Select the file you wish to upload and let the site work its magic.

If you have an instrumental available for that track then it’s time to upload that as well this time by selecting the little blue arrow in the ‘Inst’ column.

(A quick note on instrumentals – they’re really rather important! 9 out of 10 syncs we land here at Sentric use the instrumental version of the track in question as quite often it’s being used on something which has dialogue and therefore needs the vocals stripped off the track so it doesn’t clash).

• Gig Claims

Now it’s time for you to give us the information which could really start earning you money. Over 70% of the royalties we distribute here at Sentric are for live performances and pretty much every single gig you do is worth something (usually a minimum of a fiver). Firstly you have to create a setlist, so I won’t insult your intelligence by telling you to click on the ‘Add Setlist’ button. Oh:

In the pop up select the tracks you usually play during your average gig.

Now click on create. This is when it’s start getting clever.

Here at Sentric we’ve spent a helluva lot of time and effort on our software to make things as easy as possible for you guys to make the most out of your music publishing. One of the snazzier things on the site is our venue database which basically allows you to type in just the venue name and, chances are, it’ll already be in our database so therefore will pop up and all you have to do is click on it and it’ll fill in the rest of the details for you. For example, my hypothetical band The Pursehouses recently did a UK tour of O2 venues starting off in Liverpool, so after typing ‘O2’ a cheeky little list should pop up:

Then all you have to do is select the right venue and put in the date of the performance and el voila – you’re flying:

Within no time at all you’ll have told us about all the gigs you’ve done.

Depending on when you signed up to Sentric Music changes how far back we can claim for the gigs you’ve completed in the past. To ensure the maximum amount of royalties possible are claimed we recommend you input every gig you’ve done in the past year (as in 12 months to the date of signing up, therefore if you sign up on the 1st December 2011 then keep going back to 1st December 2010).

• TV Opportunities

Fancy hearing your music on TV? Course you do. Head over to the TV Opportunities on your Sentric profile and have a read of all the exciting things we’re up to here to get your music in front of TV Folk around the world (further reading ‘6 Things To Improve The Chances Of Getting Your Music Synched’).

To submit your tracks simply click on the little green ‘+’ symbol on the ‘Add/Remove’ column and once it has appeared on the ‘Your Submissions’ list select ‘Submit’.

Once submitted each track will be given a ‘status’; ‘Submitted’ means the track is in line to be listened to by one of our team here where it will either be ‘Approved’ and put on the platform which is used by our TV/Production Company clients or ‘Declined’ due to the track not being suitable for use.

The most common reason for tracks being declined is due to poor production quality. If the recording isn’t to a high enough standard then it simply cannot be used on TV.

• Showing off

We like to know what our artists are up to. Not because we’re voyeuristic or nosey, far from it, because the more we know the more we can do with your music. Take something like Skins for example; Skins is a TV show which prides itself on using the newest, best emerging music the UK has to offer and due to its reputation of breaking acts the whole music industry will line up to take a shot of getting their music onto the Bristolian shenanigans. Here at Sentric we’ve had music on both Skins UK and Skins USA and when we pitch music to the respective supervisors we don’t just send a playlist for them to listen to, we also have to effectively ‘sell’ your music and why they should use that over the thousands of other tracks they’ve been sent for that scene.

To help ‘sell’ your music we need to know anything exciting that might be happening in your career; a festival appearance, a headline tour, a tour support slot for a high profile act, high profile radio airplay etc. By keeping us in the loop with what’s happening with your musical career you can really help us to help you.

Read ‘My Perfect Demo Submission’ and do what it says. We’re always eager to hear from you.

So there you go! If you follow those steps you should be laughing. Metaphorically laughing that is, unless you’re a jovial person who just giggles often then for all that I know you could be laughing right now. And good for you if you are.

What I’m listening to this week: David’s Lyre, Mikkhael Paskalev & Manchester Orchestra.

What I’m reading this week: The Slap by Christos Tsioklas

Stay tuned.

Pursehouse.

Revere
Young Runaways
Labyrinth Ear
I Am Austin
Tom Law
The Dykeenies
These Words
Heart-Ships
Glitchard Nixton
The Voodoo Trombone Quartet

You can also subscribe via iTunes if you’re really modern and all that here: http://senmusi.cc/a0Ljzs

Hello one and all. Forgive me a second whilst I just do this…

*SOUND SUBJECTIVE BLOG KLAXON*

Right now that’s out of the way we can begin.

Arguably there is no ‘perfect’ way to send demos to industry people, but there are definitely wrong ways. So many wrong ways. More wrong ways than a faulty Sat Nav. And each person you send a demo to may very well have their own preference such is the beauty of us all being individuals by our inherent human nature. All this to one side though, the following is how I personally would utterly adore to receive all demos in the future. I’m aware this is a rose tinted ideology that, if were to come true, would no doubt lead to world peace and harmony amongst all colours and creeds, but I felt it needed committing to digital paper, if only to allow me to angrily mumble “didn’t they fecking read the blog?” the next time someone sends me a CD-R with just the artist name scrawled in childlike handwriting on the front.

I’m also going to take a punt and say although others may have a different preference when it comes to receiving demos, they’d probably favour the following to the amount of guff they currently receive. If my fellow bloggerati/industry chums disagree, I’m sure they’ll make their feelings heard.

• Don’t send me a CD. I don’t care for them

I could be all pious here and state my lack of passion for receiving humble demos CDs is due to the weight of the carbon footprint resting on my conscious. In reality though I have to *get up* out of my chair in order to put a CD on. Imagine that. Also, whilst pissing about with a CD I can’t use my computer to do other such important duties such as emailing, researching the latest internet memes and tweeting nonsense.

There are a number of us here in the Sentric office all receiving demos on a daily basis, we all have computers and headphones, but the office has only one CD player. An alarming number of these demos contain astonishingly bad music (the other day I was sent a link by a pub singer which had a live recording of him murdering ‘Many of Horror’ in such a way I actually thought said demo had been sent by a higher power to punish me) which we’d prefer not to share communally. If one of us is sent something which is ‘reet good’ then it’ll get it’s airing on the office stereo for all to judge in due course.

• Allow me to stream first & then download if I want to

A good electronic demo submission should have two links within it for the music; firstly a link where I can go and stream the tracks. My personal preference here is either SoundCloud or BandCamp as they’re brilliantly simple.

The second link should be where I go to download the music once I’ve streamed it and enjoyed it. The two preferences here are Dropbox or WeTransfer.

(I’ve done a post in the past entitled ‘How To Use SoundCloud and Dropbox To Send Music To Industry’ so have a gander there if you need a hand with that).

Both of these are pretty useful for me to have as I’d rather not download tracks onto my computer before I know if they’re any good or not for obvious reasons and if you’ve sent me something that I really like, but not allowed me to download it then further pissing about is needed between the both of us before I can grab a copy and start doing what I do best with it.

• Correct metadata is *essential*

Christ you lot must be bored of me harping on about metadata on this blog so I’m not going to go through it again. Just read ‘7 Steps To Metadata Utopia’ if you haven’t already.

• Tell me something interesting

Press releases are a minefield. They’re very hard to get right so they make you sound interesting, the vast majority I receive just end up making the artist sound like a self-congratulatory tit. I personally much prefer an artist just to tell me what they’re up to in an informal manner. Bullet points are always appreciated for example:

1. Played XXX festival and XXX festival
2. Received plays on [INSERT DECENT PROFILE RADIO DJ HITHER]
3. Releasing new single on XXX via XXX Records
4. Touring the UK throughout [MONTH]
5. Featured on [BLOG + LINK]

Doing the above will take you a hell of a lot less time to come up with compared to a fatigued press release and within a matter of seconds it’ll give me a good overview of where you are as an artist.

• Send me to a well maintained website

If you’ve got a website which you actually update regularly then send me there. If you have one for the sake of having one, but don’t do anything with it and instead just keep your Facebook page updated then send me to your Facebook page instead. Recent activity is pretty much key here and I’d much rather see your social network page that has had some interaction on it within the past 48 hours over a website you haven’t updated in two months.

There you go. Alarmingly straight forward stuff, but following these simple rules will make my life a lot easier and therefore will increase your chances of getting your music heard.

I should probably note that when I say ‘make my life easier’ I’m not being lazy – you have to appreciate the sheer amount of music I receive on a daily basis from artists wanting to get their music heard and pushed for sync usage. If an artist puts up barriers or needless steps which I have to take in order to listen to their music, it’s simply not going to help their cause.

I’m a nice person. Honest.

What I’m listening to this week: Achilles, Emeli Sandé and Cerebral Ballzy

What I’m reading this week: This brilliant article over at DiS about Beethoven

Stay tuned.

The ‘Ask The…’ blog series continues with those mysterious folk who sit in their offices creating problems for the rest of us in the music industry because “clause 3b [iii] is worded inappropriately” and other such nonsense.

I am, of course, being facetious.

Some of the nicest people I know in the music industry (which, as you either know or can imagine, has more than its fair share of ignorami) ply their trade as lawyers and regardless of the stereotypes floating about in a world already fit to burst with hearsay, offer quite simply an essential service.

The ever knowledgeable Chris Cooke from CMU has a mantra well worth committing to memory:

“If you’re in the music business, you’re in the copyright business”.

Never a truer word has been committed to digital ink on this blog and it is of upmost importance you remember this tiny idiom.

It’s these tricky little titbits of intellectual property that will ultimately result in an artist earning a living from his/her craft and therefore any deal they make should be tooth combed by someone trained in the relative judicial law the contract is written in.

Following are crowd sourced questions from various areas of the music industry answered by three lawyers at the top of their game. The contributors are anonymous in order for them to give the most honest answers possible without fear of feeling the wrath from the aforementioned ill-educated.

Enjoy…

What asset is the most important to protect in the current music industry?

A) The traditional view would be the copyright in your songs. These publishing rights sill underpin everything, so it’s really important, that you don’t sign away those rights on unfavourable terms, at an early stage, as it can end up costing you a huge amount in the long-term.

A more contemporary view would be that the artist’s most valuable asset now is their brand. The intellectual property value in your logo and image rights can potentially hold far more value than copyrights in your recordings or compositions. So in multi-rights artist endorsement deals you will often find companies willing to pay only relatively small amounts to publishers and record companies for the use of the songs/recordings in a campaign, whilst the personal appearance or use of star’s image/likeness/logo often carries a much higher price tag.

In reality though (and this isn’t really a lawyer’s answer), I think the artist’s most important asset is their audience. It’s the audience who will buy the CDs, come to shows, buy t-shirts, and ultimately sustain a career. It will be the relative size and engagement of that audience which attracts not only investment from record labels and publishers, but also interest and partnerships with brands and other third parties, who want to gain access to that audience through association with you as an artist.

B) I couldn’t say which is the most important – the various activities an artist can undertake are all potentially equally important. Keep back as much as possible – i.e. don’t give away a share of your non-recording ancillary income (i.e. income from merchandise, live, sponsorship) to a record label without a significant financial investment on the part of the label in your career or in the promotion of an album or an investment in a tour etc.

For any assets given away you should alternatively try to ensure you retain the right to control and approve the way they are exploited/controlled. If a label is willing to pay three figures to acquire these rights then I appreciate this is easier said than done.

C) Personally I think it’s your publishing rights. More and more opportunities for synching are there for bands and it can be a nice little revenue stream. As the band gets bigger I’d say there is a shift to the most important asset being the band name. Call me cynical, but some fans will buy anything as long as it has the band name on it. This goes for merchandising and licensed products as well as bumping up licence fees that you can demand.

How has the role of the lawyer changed over the years, and what responsibilities does the lawyer have to their artists in the current climate?

A) I only started about seven years ago, but even when you speak to people who have been doing this for a lot longer, it seems clear that the last few years have seen an unprecedented rate of change.

Gone are the days of one-size fits all recording or publishing deals. We see an incredible scope and variety of deals and structures and at the moment, no single model seems to be proving the perfect recipe for success.

So more than ever, our role is about presenting all of those different ideas and models to managers and artists’ to help then try to come up with a plan and structure which works for them. I think we have a real responsibility to give our clients this complete picture, so that they know exactly what their options are and can make informed choices about the direction their career will take.

B) I’ve had to learn different models – no two deals are the same any more. For example, this morning I have been dealing with a manager who only wants to take 10% commission, a record label that won’t agree to calculate option advances by reference to a mini-max formula and an artist who has been offered a management deal by a mobile telephone company.

I get three or four new enquiries a week from artists who think that I can bring in a good record deal for them. I always explain I can never do this – in fact I’ve never really understood how a lawyer can do just that. I do know lots of A&R and have friends and many contacts in the music biz – but I don’t expect any of them to offer a deal to an artist put forward by me just because I think they are any good. In fact the rule tends to be that if I like the artist then that’s the kiss of death and nothing will happen.

I am however happy to make intros and put people together (i.e. a label with a distributor or a songwriter with a producer) if I think they will work together. I don’t think I’m making massively important intros here – just you know – helping clients out where I think people might be able to collaborate together.

C) The age old perception of suits, leather arm chairs and gallons of whiskey is dead. Nowadays we are out at gigs, talking to studio owners and producers etc., to make sure we keep up with the scene. For me, it is really important that bands see my love of music and not envisage me sitting behind a big oak desk in a stuffy office. This growing involvement has also lead to a more managerial role for some bands who need proper guidance, but don’t want to sign up a full time manager. Responsibility wise, I think it’s very important to understand a bands ‘wish list’ and then advise them based on their aims for the future. For instance, if they want to go at it full time, will the advance see them through whilst recording? This is very important as record companies are taking fewer risks so less money is being handed out.

Can you hand on heart say that you 100% advise on ‘the right thing’ to do rather than ‘the thing that will earn you the highest fee’?

A) Absolutely unequivocally yes.

B) I always advise the right thing to do. In fact if I didn’t, then I’d be at risk of losing my job. Solicitors are regulated (by the Solicitors Regulation Authority funnily enough) and we have to comply with duties we owe to clients and third parties – if we do not then we run the risk of being struck off.

If the advice on a deal had to be that the artist should not sign, then I would tell them this – irrespective of the fact the label might be offering me a substantial contribution towards my fee if the deal went ahead. Its good karma – what goes around comes around.

C) It would be difficult to remain in a business if the basic emphasis was not on adding value to a client. We use a fixed fee system to cut out the perception that lawyers sit twiddling their thumbs watching the billable hours clock up. The number of honest and fair lawyers far outweighs the bad seeds that are found somewhere in every industry. The music industry, in particular, is often based on word of mouth recommendations and referrals, so if a lawyer wasn’t doing the right thing by their clients, they wouldn’t last long.

When does a band need a lawyer, and how should they go about choosing the right one?

A) As early as possible. Even if there’s no legal work to do at first, it pays to have someone you trust in place, and on hand so that you know any legal work can be carried out seamlessly if and when things do start taking off. In terms of choosing one, speak to other, established artists, and see who they would recommend. Try to speak to or meet a few different lawyers if you can, and try to find someone who combines the right mix of both solid professional experience, and enthusiasm for your music (often there can be plenty of one, but less of the other!).

B) You need a lawyer when you enter into a commercial relationship with a third party. If you are a band working together then I’d recommend that you speak to a lawyer sooner than later to sort out a Band Partnership Agreement to specify how profits and losses should be split, how to admit/fire new and leaving members, and what rights you have to use the band name and so on.

Usually the first time I’ll see an artist is not until they are offered a management deal or a record deal i.e. – when they receive a contract.

I see new artists every week who have no such deals in place but still want to appoint a lawyer – they come see me for these so-called ‘beauty parades’. I try to gel with the artists I see but sometimes that’s easier said than done when it’s 9pm at night and I’ve been at my desk since 6.30am.

C) I think there is a big difference between ‘needing’ a lawyer and simply starting a relationship with one. There are benefits to getting a band agreement in place early on so that if someone leaves, you are not left squabbling about who has the right to use the band name, who owns what bit of equipment or which member is entitled to royalties from any songs you have written. What I would urge bands to do is to give a lawyer a call. Nice lawyers will talk to you at no charge, get to know a bit about your band, understand your aspirations etc. and then give you some food for thought, perhaps in areas you may not have considered. Once you have had this information, you can decide whether ‘now’ is really the time that you ‘need’ a lawyer. At the end of the day it’s different for every band.

What is the standard advice you give to a band who is approached by a small, regional independent label who want to take publishing and master rights for little or no advance?

A) I would ask: Is this your only option at this stage? What exactly is that independent company going to do for you which you couldn’t do yourself? I think a lot of the time nowadays, so many things which those labels could have provided (access to recording equipment, promotion, distribution, marketing etc) can be accessed directly by an artist with a laptop and a bit of savvy and tenacity.

If the label can offer you something you really couldn’t be doing yourself (for example, if that label has a proven track record of nurturing talent and helping it grow), then there may be a case for granting them certain rights for little in return – but relinquishing both master and publishing rights so early on, would really be a last resort.

B) I’d want to know what investment the label are making. It’s fine to give away these rights if the label is making a substantial contribution towards the marketing and promotion of the first album or for a tour etc (with early termination rights as stated above if things don’t work out). If no guaranteed investment is being made and the label were unwilling to renegotiate the offer, then I’d probably tell the band to run a mile.

C) This is a difficult one. Having been in bands myself, it’s very easy to be led by your heart. Before rushing into anything, I’d recommend some pretty basic questions are asked. For one, why do they want both publishing and master rights? It may quickly come clear that the label is going for a ‘grab all’ approach, and actually has no links to music supervisors etc, or a good track record in the publishing world. You also need to think about what it is you really want. Your ultimate aim may be to secure a deal with a major, but a smaller label could act as a stepping stone and give you some valuable exposure. The detail of each deal will be very important so make sure you understand exactly what it is you are signing up to and for how long. Finally, if you’re holding out for an epic advance, a quick word of warning: We have seen advances getting smaller as less risks are being taken. However, you will need to make sure you have enough to get that all important record recorded.

Lawyers are contacting bands extremely early these days, is this legitimate A&R, or is it ‘throwing enough shit until something sticks’?

A) For a lot of the reasons which come out in the questions above, I think it makes sense to be involved early. So many key decisions (for example, choice of manager, and when to say “no” to a deal which isn’t in your best interest) I also think it’s important that we stay very aware of emerging acts, so that we’re on board from day one.

Ultimately, at this firm, we have to be extremely selective about the acts we end up working with. We can only devote a finite amount of time to working with new artists, so it makes sense for us to try to pick those acts who we think have a genuine chance of success. I’m a huge music fan, and a big part of choosing which acts we take on, comes down to whether we love the music – but we’re not A&R, so listen closely to people we trust in the industry, to try to get an idea of what’s hot.

B) I’ve never contacted a band directly. I do go out to see a lot of new live music – probably about two or three nights a week – and now and again I’ve met new artists who’ve asked for my card which is always nice, but I can’t think of an occasion when I have specifically targeted an artist I wanted to represent. Like I explained above, just because I like someone I don’t see why that means everyone else will and that they are going to be a commercial success.

I am aware that there are other junior lawyers out there doing this – offering free initial legal advice. To be honest, most music lawyers will provide some free initial advice anyway no matter how famous or new to the business you are.

C) The most important thing to remember here is that most music lawyers (the ones worth their salt at least) are first and foremost genuine music fans. The second thing is they regularly deal with producers, labels, recording studios, publishers etc. the people who can get your music recorded and released. Those connections early in a band’s career can be just as valuable as being spotted by a traditional A&R. Finally, prevention is always better than cure. It’s much more favourable to protect yourself with good advice from the outset rather than having to go through costly legal proceedings if you find out the deal you’ve signed up to isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Oh, and all record contracts have a clause in them which means an artist should have it reviewed by their own lawyer.

It’s a common acceptance that music lawyers in the USA have more power than they do in the UK – is this true? And if so why?

A) They certainly have bigger offices! Someone remarked to me recently that a visit to one NYC lawyer’s office (who can remain nameless) was uncannily similar to that of Al Pacino’s character in The Devil’s Advocate.

I’d say the more successful acts a lawyer represents, the more powerful that lawyer will be perceived to be. As those lawyers will be deemed to be “in the thick of it” and people in the industry will generally want to maintain a good relationship with them. In the US, this is amplified – because as the relative size and success of the artists is so much greater, so will the perceived power of the lawyers who represent those acts.

B) Not that I’m aware of. I am New York qualified so I speak to attorneys there as well as in Nashville and LA regularly. Some lawyers are of course impressively fierce but that’s really just a cultural/style thing – ultimately they still take instructions from the band or management or the relevant label. I’ve never found a US-based lawyer to behave unreasonably. We all do the same job. I spoke recently to a friend who is a successful music lawyer in New York to ask her whether US attorney’s still take a cut of an advance to sign a an artist and I was told she hardly ever sees this either anymore. I have myself heard of a UK-based music solicitor who did get paid a lot of money by a label to sign a particular artist recently – but that’s another story and I’m not really one to gossip.

C) I think this perception is down to US lawyers traditionally taking a more managerial role in the career of its clients. I’m not sure I would call it power, rather ‘involvement’. Maybe the power perception is because many high profile music law cases are fought in the US (and inevitably the US lawyers get a name check!). Lawyers in the UK are getting in on the management side a bit more nowadays; it really depends on what the band needs/wants. For instance, we do have contacts at labels which, if we feel it is appropriate, we would use to get a band’s music heard. After all, it worked for the Libertines!

So there you go! An insight to the world of the music lawyer – if you enjoyed that be sure to check out the similar posts with A&R, agents and digital distributors.

What I’m listening to this week: Watch The Throne, Bombay Bicycle Club’s new album, Outfit and Young Runaways.

What I’m reading this week: ‘Stuart – A Life Backwards’ by Alexander Masters

Stay tuned.