Hello Young World,
Dan F. Man back here again to give you
another significant byte of information. Being an independent artist in
this day and age has become easier than ever! Because of the rise of the
Internet, Independent Artists now enjoy a lot more freedom and perks than
signed Major Artist. Such things include; releasing music whenever the
artist desires, lucrative profits from independent music release, and also huge
profits from today's updated Digital Release Platforms (iTunes, Amazon,
Rhapsody etc.). Independent Artist can actually use this money to fund
their current or future projects, or just pocket change
So, how would a regular person turn
his/her self into a wealthy Pop/Rap/HipHop/RnB star in their own town? I
am here to tell you the most important step in the process, and that is cash
flow in the form of Royalties!
Check out the link for a very interesting article from HowStuffWorks.com
on how music industry royalties work.
Now that you know what they are and
how they work, lets go into how you get yours! The first step in this
process is "Research" into the company you feel would
best help you gain royalties from your musical creations that are receiving
airplay.
There are only three companies that
help artist achieve this, and they are: ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and
Publishers), SESAC, and BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.) we will be
discussing BMI in this post.
Now we can get to the good part for
all of you Independent Artist! Since I myself am a registered member of
BMI, I feel a certain wave of loyalty to represent them in this post! As
discussed above, BMI is a organization that collects licensing fees on behalf
of Artist, Composers, and Publishers ( See the BMI about page link here).
The process begins with the Artist
registering with BMI via online registration. Once registration
and sign-up are complete you will officially be signed up for a 2-year contract
with BMI, you can review the contract here. You
may only be registered with one performing right organization (PRO)
at a time so that
is why it is very important to choose your organization carefully, since this
will be the company that will track your license fees.
Next, Artist must register any musical
works that are publicly or privately available. A
time period should be allowed for proper approval by BMI representatives in
case there is a need for resubmission of your material. Once your works
are all registered your "Ready to Go"! BMI will now begin to
track sales, spins, and any fees that your work is due, and pay out royalties
via direct deposit or paper check (click for general royalty information).
Without the Organizations such as BMI it would be
more complicated for artist to recoup licensing fees from contracts. BMI,
SESAC, and ASCAP provide a way for independent artist to receive a
flow of cash, without being signed to Major Recording Contracts. Although
it would be greatly desired for an Artist to be signed to a Major Recording
Label, independent Artist can enjoy lucrative amounts of money from royalty
payments.
So take the time to invest in your future, and
register with a Performing Rights Organization (PRO) TODAY! and get PAID FOR YOUR WORK!
