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Just wanted to make a quick posting today to pass on some incredibly vital information to anyone involved in the songwriting process. It is often a very tricky situation when trying to figure out who gets what percentage of the song ownership when two or more people create a song together and is something that should certainly be addressed early on. I cam across this great article on the Music BC website and though I best pass it along.
Most tax tips get circulated at the beginning of the year when most people are actually doing their taxes. As smart as that is, most people (if you’re like me) are so exhausted by the whole process at that point, that the last thing they want to do is read another article on the subject. That is why I am posting this in the middle of the summer. This late posting is also doe to the fact that I just finished filing my taxes and had such a painful experience that I wish to share my learnings and tricks so that my fellow musicians don’t suffer as I did.
Firstly, one bit of advice I can share is to visit an accountant for a 1 hour personal consultation just to make sure you understand as much of this convoluted process as possible. That will run you $200-300.
Hopefully all you musicians know that as a musician, you are essentially running a small business (see my post on “Your Band is a Busniess…but what kind?“). This means that you can write off all sorts of expenses that effectively reduce your net income and the amount of tax you have to pay. If you have a day job and just claim the amounts on your T4 slip without claiming to be a business, you could be paying way more tax than needed. As a musician, if you live and breathe your career, you can write off almost anything. You should take a listen to this podcast on Accounting (Running Time – 21:03). for Musicians from the CIRAA website. You’ll need to register for a free account to access the audio file.
Keeping all your receipts is a pain in the but. But you must keep them in order to prove that you purchased given items. It is also worthwhile noting that credit card statements do not count as receipts and will not serve to prove your purchase claims. Keeping your receipts so that you can write off your purchases is not all that beneficial in some peoples’ minds, but read this example and decide for yourself:
Let’s say you buy a computer for $1000. At the end of the year, let’s also say that you have earned enough money to be taxed at 18%. If you made $1000 of taxable income that year, you will owe the government $180 (18% of $1000). Tax sucks. Now, if you claim to be a small business, you could use that $1000 you paid for your computer as a write off and reduce your income to $0. Now you owe the government 18% of $0…or nothing!
If that example alone didn’t make you want to run and find all your receipts, try this: What if you made enough money to be taxed at 40% and you had bought a sound system, guitar, amp, and many other items totaling $10,000 in expenses. Claiming those expenses could save you $4000. Worth it now?
Keeping track of receipts can be difficult but you must keep them so that you can prove your expenses in case of an audit. I use a program called iBank for helping me with this process. It is a Mac application and also has an iPhone app. When I purchase something that I can write off, I immediately write on the receipt what category it falls under, then I enter the transaction into my iPhone’s iBank app. Once I get home, I take that receipt and stick it face-up on my receipt spike. Doing this will keep all my receipts in reverse chronological order and in the reverse order as the appear in my financial software. At the end of the year, I will remove each receipt form the spike and stack them face-up, according to category. That will result in me having all my receipts in categorized piles each in chronological order. Then I’ll just have to go down the list in each iBank category to check that all receipts are accounted for, then enter the numbers that iBandk generates for me (by adding up all transactions in each category) into my tax software of choice – currently www.ufile.ca – and I’ll be done! Painless. iBank is simple enough to use once you get going and even comes with report templates specifically for income tax which will easily suite your needs with a little tweaking.
I’m convinced that this system will build value in my life by saving time and effort. If you’re willing to give it a try, please write in and tell everyone how it’s working for you. If you have another solution for easier tax filing, please post also.
Some items you purchase won’t be considered “expenses” and can’t be written off 100% in the first year you own them. These items fall in the category of Capital Cost Allowance. For more info on this category and the various percentages that specific items can be depreciated at per year, visit: http://www.taxtips.ca/smallbusiness/ccarates.htm
Use this guide if you are a self-employed business person or a professional. It will help you calculate the business or professional income you will report on your income tax return.
Business and professional income: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/t4002/README.html
Many intelligent musicians and artists realize that they are running businesses, but there is often a slight discrepancy between how that is defined and how best to present the business to the government for tax purposes. You have probably heard the terms “sole Proprietor” and “Partnership” and “Corporation, but which one you are or should be, can get a little dicey.
I’ll keep this post short as I have found some great resources that sum up these business types better than I could do. This article on How To Start Your Business found on the Small Business BC website, takes you through the steps of determining which business model is right for you, registering your name or trademark, getting a business license and even considering paying into EI so as to be able to receive benefits down the road for maternity, paternity and illnesses. You should also check out this great podcast from the Canadian Independant Recording Artists Association (CIRAA): Accounting (Running Time – 21:03). You have to setup a free account to access the CIRAA podcasts, but it’s totally worth your while. This podcast talks a bit about how best to make the decision to incorporate your business and recommends that you meet with an accountant for a consultation prior to making the move.
If you are a serious musician and consider yourself more than a hobbyist, your music needs to be setup like a business. This could save you thousands of tax dollars down the road. Stay tuned for my next post on tax tips for musicians
Recently, a great friend of mine had the pleasure of speaking with a great Canadian producer regarding how to live life as a musician. One of his most potent tips was to buy real estate.
For most musicians (and even most non-musicians), dealing with money and always making sure you have enough is easier said than done. I hate to generalize, but most musicians I know live from paycheque to paycheque, aren’t planning for retirement (what’s that?), and are fearful of most commitments (money, relationships …). I believe it is possible to make ends meet (and even to make them meet well) in a musical career, but I’m not going to say it will be easy. In terms of one’s finances, many steps are required for safeguarding hard earned cash and making sure there is always a reserve for the future. One of the best ways to build a reserve is to buy real estate.
Buy a house, buy a condo, buy a chunk of land in Nunavut, just buy something. Yes, like any market, real estate prices fluctuate over time, but in the long run, it’s probably the safest type of investment there is. Companies go bankrupt, stocks crash and banks fail, but your chunk of real estate will always be there. If you are like most people, you won’t be able to pay cash for you purchase and will likely need to borrow a very large sum of money (a mortgage) from a bank. Just like when you borrow most things, borrowing money also costs money- ironic, eh? Banks call that interest, and despite common disbelief, interest that your bank will charge you for your mortgage will almost always end up being minuscule in the long run if you compare it to what you would have thrown away if you just rented a dwelling for the same period. Let’s take a look at a comparison between renting and owning:
1. Total rent over 25 years: $655,515
-this is based on a current average rental cost of $1800/month for a 2-3 bedroom home/condo) and takes into account an increase of 1.5% per year as a result of inflation. FYI, if you rent for $1800/mo now, inflation will likely raise your rent payment to $2,612/month 25 years from now.
2. Cost of Owning, using a $400,000 mortgage (with 20% down payment- so a total loan of $320,000) paid off over 25 years at an interest rate of 5%: $241,206 (total interest you will pay). Yup, that’s a lot of interest, but note that this option now leaves you with $400,000 in the form of a home that you could sell at any time and make your $400,000 back. Let’s not forget about inflation though. Your $400,000 investment 25 years from now will likely be worth $580,378! Good enough for me.
So, let’s crunch some numbers:
Renting will leave you $655,515 in the hole with no savings to speak of. But what will a $400,000 house or condo really cost?
$241,206 (mortgage interest over 25 years)
+ $91,044 (strata fees for condos, or maintenance in a home) calculated on an initial $250/monthly payment and taking a 1.5% inflation rate into account.
$332,250 – TOTAL COSTS
$580,378 (Future value of your home in 25 years)
- $332,250 (Total costs)
$248,128 (Total amount that you have truly gained from home ownership)
Put another way, given these two options, which would you choose:
1. Spend $21,600/year for renting your desired house/condo or
2. Live in that house or condo for FREE under one condition: you put away $9,925 per year into a savings account each year and after 25 years, that money is all yours and so is the house!
Well, I think a monkey could figure that one out. A classic example of having your cake and eating it too!
Okay, that’s all well and good. Except that for most musicians, $400,000 is far more money than a bank will consider lending you. All is not lost. Consider purchasing your living space with another friend, family member or significant other. This way, you will not be personally responsible for such a huge lump of money or for all of the ownership costs. When applying for your mortgage, banks will want to see that you are generating a steady flow of income and have been doing so for at least 3 years leading up to the current date. So make sure that you keep good records of the gigs you play (don’t just stash the cash under your bed or blow it on junk), and most importantly, file your taxes every year. Banks will look at your Notices of Assessment to determine your yearly income, so if you haven’t been accurately filing and your income is recorded as being lower than what you know it actually is, you’re out of luck and the banks will not be as generous as they otherwise might have been.
Chances are that the numbers for your particular scenario won’t be exactly what I have been working with here, so I’ve been so kind as to include my spreadsheet calculator for you to punch your own numbers into and have some fun with. Use it to see how much rent you’ll actually pay over given period, or customize your mortgage amount and amortization period to see how much money you can save by owning a home. Watch this quick video to get familiar with the sheet, then have some fun.
It’s important to have a solid understanding of the jargon used in the mortgage world, so I suggest you check out these resources before going any further in your pursuit:
1. Inflation: Inflation typically hovers between 1-3% each year
2. Mortgage interest rates: At this day in age, you can probably do much better than a 5% interest rate. Some banks are as low as 1.5% right now for short term mortgages
3. Make money living in a condo: if you are smart about picking your location and get close enough to public transit so as to not need a car, consider renting your parking space to someone else on a monthly basis and bank some extra income that you could put towards your strata fees.
4. Strata fees: These are fees charged by your building management committee if you own a condo. They take care of all maintenance and upkeep for the building and your condo. Don’t think you can get away from these if you own a house. It’s a smart idea to put away a similar reserve even when owning a home so that you have money for miscellaneous repairs and upkeep. Strata fees can range from $100-500 depending on your location and amenities.
5. Down Payment: Most banks will want a 20% down payment, but some will accept as low as 5%. Be aware though, if your down payment is less that 20%, you may be required to get mortgage insurance (because you are borrowing more money from the bank and are thus a higher risk to them) which will increase your monthly payments and the total cost (interest and insurance) of your mortgage.
I hope this hasn’t been too much information, but you really will need much more if you’re going to seriously consider purchasing a home. Do lot’s of research.
If you are reading this and have noticed that I have missed or overlooked anything, please post a comment. I’m still learning too!
As always, if this post saved you some time and you value this information, please consider donating to this blog. Thanks for reading! Please share this content.
The information in this post was gleaned from the seminar “Your Music in Film & TV,” presented as part of the MusicBC career development series, held on Saturday May 14th at the Vancouver Tom Lee music hall. Panelists for this seminar were:
Janine Kerr- Director Promo Music services, NBC Universal Television Music
Andrea von Foerster- Firestarter Music
Samuel Diaz- Associate Director of Music Supervision, CBS Television
Natasha Duprey- Director of Music Supervision, S.L. Feldman & Associates
Rob Calder- Secret Study/Boompa Productions
Before you consider licensing your music to film and TV, you must know two things:
Who owns the master rights to the song: who owns the recording
Who owns the sync rights: who owns the actual song (or the publishing)
Music supervisors like to hear that you control 100% or your rights. Supervisors like when you are a one stop shop and that you can clear your music in 24 hours. If you are in a band, assign one person to pitch music to supervisors and sign licensing deals on everyone’s behalf. Make a band agreement that makes this official- supervisors might ask to see your band agreement so they can be sure of the legal dealings they are entering into.
Before you first approach a music supervisor, here’s what do you need in your toolbox:
.aiff and/or .wav files of all your songs
mp3s for easy emailing/downloading
instrumental versions of all your songs
Good communications skills- check your email frequently, everyday. Tight timelines could result in lost opportunities for you if you are a non-frequent email user. Be aware that TV has a really tight time line. Ie: a supervisor could get a call at 9am for a cut at 12pm.
Be registered with your country’s PRO (Performing Rights Organization) so that you can collect royalties. This is Socan in Canada, or BMI & ASCAP in the U.S.
Good practices for communicating with music supervisors:
Ask them how they want to receive your audio before you actually send it. ie: snail mail (cd), email (mp3s, links to soundcloud download, etc).
Always put your name, band name and phone number on the actual CD as well as the CD jewel case
Don’t send head shots or photos
Put meta data on all tracks so that when they are ripped into itunes or onto someone’s computer, all your track information shows up as opposed to just “Track 1”
Don’t ask for reviews – that’s not a music supervisor’s job
Have your lyrics ready to send out in a word doc format. Put an asterisk (***) next to any song title if the lyrics are explicit in any way and note “Explicit Lyrics” directly in the song title field next to the song title. The fast paced nature of the music supervisors job can often result in songs being submitted without the supervisors having completely combed over the lyrics. No one wants to risk “Mother F(*&#er” coming out of the speakers in the next Disney movie.
Supervisors don’t have time to negotiate price. They only have a set budget. If you push for more $$, the will move on.
How to approach the network of music supervisors:
Research the shows they are working on and let them know that your music would be a good fit for their current show. You can find out what they are working on by visiting www.imdb.com (Internet Movie Database). On that note, a little flattery goes a long way. Try: “Hey, I saw the episode of ________ that you worked on. I loved the _____ song that you put in. My music sounds like that. Can I send you some?”
Visit www.tvshowmusic.com to see what music has played on which TV shows. You could also subscribe for the Film & TV music guide- a magazine that comes our every 6 months or so, and lists all the music supervisors and their contact info.
Note that there are currently only 5 music supervisors in Canada. All of these people are extremely overworked and are very short on time. Obviously this is a tight circle of colleagues, so it is critically important to remain in the good books, so to speak. Or, you will quickly find all of the doors shutting in your face.
Don’t call them to ask if they’re interested or if they have received your stuff, etc. They will come calling only once they decide to use your music.
Once a month, sending an update email to your supervisor(s) is ok.
Everything you are already doing as an artist is ultimately what you should be doing to get in contact with the music supervisors. If you are building your brand properly, they will just find out about you. They are human too, and they talk amongst themselves. Keep playing shows, building a web presence, recording new songs, building a fan base, etc.
Words of advice:
You can pitch your music yourself – you don’t need a sync agent. But, in many cases, they do have good working relationships with music supervisors and there is certainly something to be said for all the doors that they may knock on on your behalf. If you do find a sync agent (you only want one!), don’t ever pay upfront. All the music supervisors on this panel agreed that you should never pay someone to push your catalogue. They should only make money when you do
Don’t sign away your publishing. Watch out for sync agent companies that will try to re-title your music so that they can claim a large percentage of the publishing once the song gets licensed.
When seeking a sync agent, look at what artists they already represent. In most cases it is advisable to find a more intimate agent (one that represents fewer artistes) so that you aren’t diminished to a small fish in a big pond. Companies representing too many artists may be biting off more than they can chew, resulting in fewer placements for you, however they may also have a large roster simply because they are very successful in licensing 1000’s of songs. Find out which is the case.
On using services like Sonicbids and Taxi for pitching your music: BAD! As previously mentioned: Don’t pay to get your music pitched.
Anecdote from one of the supervisors (who may wish to remain anonymous on record):
This supervisor once approached TAXI looking for some country music. A week later, he received post boxes full of cassettes, CDs, Vinyl, and just about every other music medium you could imagine. It was such a messy jumble that nothing ended up getting licensed. This supervisor won’t be calling TAXI again.
Some reputable music library companies in the eyes of the music supervisors on this panel:
jinglepunks.com
extrememusic.com/
libertymusictrax.com
Send your tracks to multiple supervisors, but always put in the time to find out what they are working on before you do so. ie: don’t send them irrelevant songs to the nature of their work.
If you are considering recording covers: sometimes music supervisors like new interpretations of these, especially for promos. In this case, more mainstream stuff is needed. But, the master rights & sync rights (publishing) for the song must be affordable.
If you use samples in your recordings, make them yourself. Samples are a major headache to deal with when it comes to clearing the publishing rights for a given song. Again, if you cause a headache for your supervisor, they may not ever call again.
Regarding payment:
There is nothing standard. What you get offered for the licensing of your song in any film or TV show depends entirely on the budget and is not often very flexible. That being said, per song budgets can range from $500-$40,000.
Sometimes you may be asked to settle for a rate that is lower than what you had hoped for, but it is important to know that most music supervisors are good honest people and do care about your success. They will remember that you took a hit for them the next time they try to place your music and will always try to go higher for you next time.
And speaking of payment, if you found this post helpful or if this great information saved you some valuable time, please consider donating to this blog. Thanks so much for your support!
OK folks, more seminar notes coming your way. I go to these things so you don’t have to…haha. Not really, you should all go to. But since you probably missed this one, here are some notes I took at the Social Media Marketing seminar hosted by Chris Brandt of Nimbus Recording school. The seminar was held May 7, 2011 at the Vancouver Long and McQuade.
MySpace is your business card
Artists still need MySpace accounts, but mainly for the purpose of the general public being able to find you. Set it and forget it. Despite countless bugs in its new design and the fact that it is virtually dead, the reality is that most of the general public still know MySpace as the place for musicians. Don’t let them miss you.
Facebook has 600 million user profiles…you need to be present there.
On Ebay, people buy most @ 1pm mon-friday with the peak day being Wednesday. Get into the habit of analyzing handy facts like this and using the knowledge to tactfully promote your brand when you’ll get the most exposure.
Lowest amount of traffic is on weekends
Every time something is posted on FB, the statistic is that 140 ppl see it.
Pose questions that encourage comments: 30 comments x 140 ppl viewing per comment= great exposure for your brand
Use FB ads to target your ads- use the sniper approach instead of shotgun. In a PPC (pay per click) scenario: $.50 per click. So if you spend $1 a day, your add will only show until it gets two clicks then it will end. With PPM (pay per impression): just set your budget and you’ll know exactly how many impressions you’ll get. If you’re targeting 6000 and your budget can hit 2000 per day, you’ll hit everyone every 3 days
Here’s an idea for a Facebook ad for your band- Do you like KELLY CLARKSON (or other band/artist similar to yours)?…then you’ll like ________.
Create friend “groups” in Facebook so you can quickly select who to invite to your shows. Ie: local friends only. Do this by selecting “edit friends” in your profile’s “Account” drop-down menu.
Have a weekend debate to engage with your fans
YouTube Tips:
45% of population is visual- so upload all your songs as videos, even if they just display your lyrics or static images of your album cover.
Most artists can’t write a song a day, so try playing a cool version of a cover tune, or even lip sync it and be funny. Just generate some good video content for your fans.
Be sure to include song title, artist name and your name in the title
Foursquare:
A newer social media app that lets people check in to places by choosing them from a list that populates for them based on their geographic whereabouts. Ie: they can check in to your shows.
Twitter:
Is a trajectory for your career, but it’s a two way conversation…you can’t just be on there promoting things
Only use 120 characters when you post so that friends will be able to retweet your posts.
Use Tweeter Karma to get a list of all your twitter friends. See who you are following you and who isn’t following you back. Get rid of unwanted baggage.
Hashtags (#) are used to sort data. Use them to be part of the conversation for that topic. Don’t abuse them! You can follow them like you can a person. Include #YourCity in your tweet to be retweeted by a computer to thousands of followers. ie: #Vancouver.
Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) and Questlove (#questlove) are both great examples of how to use twitter properly
Setup your Facebook posts to send to twitter as well.
Don’t do an auto-responder- annoying and it’s always spam
Having a consistent voice is key
Check your “trending topics” to get into the stories- you can join the conversation or promote there too
General Internet good practices:
Promote stuff way before you’ve got it, not after you get it. (albums etc)
Constantly put up good content
Find your advocates- people that spread your stuff- and share your links with them so they can share them too.
Setup a wikipedia page. Wikipedia has great SEO and comes up at the top of all google searches
Put your song lyrics on MetroLyrics
Some very practical advice:
Sign up for DIY Daily: get a newsletter daily with top 10 music stories (http://tinyletter.com/thornybleeder)
Can’t have dead weight in the band - there is just too much work to do now that the old record model is dead. You can’t just be the guitar player. Everyone has to take a piece of the pie- divide and conquer -everyone needs to tweet.
Concluding comments on the Music Industry
Industry as we know it is dead. We have another 18 months of pain ahead. Soundcloud is the way of the future. This is like a giant iTunes except you can stream everything without needing to buy it. It will be included as a package service from providers of cell phones and internet services, like Bell and Rogers. Currently 95% of music is not monetized (stolen). With soundcloud technology, all (or mostly all) music will be monetized again. Although the price per song will be fractions of what it used to be when CDs sold (fractions of cents likely), everything will be tracked and songwriters will be rewarded. Therefore, now is the time to be a songwriter (not just a player). If you don’t write songs, you had better be a touring artist.
If you found this post helpful, please consider donating to this blog. Thanks for your support!
If you haven’t read Tim Ferris’ book 4-Hour Workweek you have some homework to do. This blog post is largely inspired by that book. The book speaks of many ways to get more time back into your days and covers everything from eliminating unnecessary daily activities (like checking email several times every hour, or taking phone calls while in the middle of other projects), to automating as much as possible and liberating yourself from the constraints of needing to work in a specific geographic spot. All this comes after you define what it is in life that excites you so that you know why it is important to do all of the above.
Assuming you all want to be musicians making a living at your craft, I hope you will find some inspiration in the words that follow; inspiration to quite your day job, or whatever unexciting task you currently engage in for monetary gain that distracts you from your goal of a life that excites you.
Firstly, some background on me. I quit my last day job nearly three years ago to make room for building my career as a musician. At the time, I had two years of post-secondary education left ahead of me, rent to pay every month, groceries to buy and all the other life expenses. Clearly it was not an opportune time to let go of my steady dependable sources of income, but I decided that if I were going to succeed as a musician, I would have to start right away. Not next week, or next month…but right now. In hindsight, I have never regretted this decision and now almost three years later, am seeing more and more evidence that that was the right choice.
For those of you wondering if quitting the day job tomorrow is the right thing to do, here is some food for thought: In Tim Ferris’ book, he mentions “a very curious phenomenon. There are two synergistic approaches for increasing productivity that are inversions of each other:
Limit tasks to the important to shorten work time (80/20).
Shorten work time to limit tasks to the important (Parkinson’s Law).
Tim mentions this when he is talking about building personal task lists and getting things done without wasting time, but this principle applies to to quitting your day job too. Tim also suggests that you “use Parkinson’s Law to accomplish more in less time. Shorten schedules and deadlines to necessitate
focused action instead of deliberation and procrastination.” In other words, if you are thinking that you would like to give yourself a healthy amount of time in which to quit your day job, say 6-12 months, and you plan to use this time to get your music career in order so that you can make a smooth and successful transition from your current lifestyle into your desired career path, consider this: if you give yourself 12 months to make this transition, you will likely find ways to make that transition take up ALL of those 12 months. On the contrary, if you shorten your schedule to a borderline unrealistic time frame, you’re likely to make the same strides in a much more focused amount of time. I think of it this way: if I were to give myself 15 minutes to fold a load of laundry, I would probably be able to use every one of those fifteen minutes to accomplish the task whereas if I set myself a goal of 5 minutes, I could likely still accomplish the task. I might work up a sweat in the process, but sweating never killed anyone and I’d rather spend my time doing what excites me. Wouldn’t you?
I would also like to share with you one of my biggest pet peeves. From a very young age, most of us have had it beaten into our skulls that there is no way one can ever make a living as a musician and that “musician” is not a real career path. You’ll never be a rockstar, or a great performer, and you certainly won’t make any money at it. For some reason, this outcome is only attainable by people that are…what…better than you? More talented? More creative? More crazy? Whatever the case, we as musicians must first shake that way of thinking. You have to tell yourself and believe that you deserve to be a musician. Why not you? You are human, just like Michael Jackson and Beethoven. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t. But boy, will you ever have to work for it. There is no lie there. So yes, quit that day job and get focused.
We have all heard the expression “desperate needs call for desperate measures.” This was another way I thought about making my transition to professional musician. Cut off your cushy income channels throw yourself into the deep end with whatever resources you have. You’ll be surprised at how quickly your resources will multiply when you really need them to…or how slowly the will multiply when you don’t. Bystanders will see that you are really making an effort and as long as you haven’t burned any bridges with them in the past (see my blog post The Don’ts of Networking) they may be willing to lend you a helping hand. You must have faith in your own ability to survive. If you can’t find this faith, can you realistically expect anyone else too? Surely, it won’t be easy, and you’ll never be able to see all the way to the top of the staircase that leads to the rest of your life, but what matters is that you take the first step. Don’t wait for tomorrow.
Learn to ask, “If this is the only thing I accomplish today, will I be satisfied with my day?” -Tim Ferris
I’m not going to attempt to tell you how to manage your finances, living arrangements or career investments in order to make the transition away from your day job and into professional musicianship as I am not a career coach. I hope this blog can inspire you to act on your dreams sooner rather than later. I will write more in future posts with regard to some things I see as great building blocks for successful musicians.
I recently went to a seminar that was presented by Music BC on the “Art of Networking.” If you haven’t been to a Music BC seminar and you consider yourself a musician or composer, you are seriously missing out. For your convenience, I took some notes at the seminar…
Panelists:
Lara Farcasan (Live Nation)
Josh McNorton (Sled Island Music Festival)
Nat Jay (Artist)
HOST: Tamara Stanners (The Peak)
Date: Saturday Arpil 16- 1pm. Vancouver public library.
The Don’ts of Networking:
Don’t ever badmouth anybody: You never know when you might be sitting beside the next hottest record producer or music supervisor. Hold your innermost thoughts to yourself and say nice things- all the time.
Don’t contact the wrong people for your questions: do the research and find out who it is who can best answer your questions. Don’t write to a concert promoter asking how to get your music into film/TV.
Don’t vent to promoters, radio stations etc about not benefiting you- they will always remember you and won’t help you in the future.
Don’t get the wrong people to market/promote you- make sure they are positive people with good networks and products that will always reflect positively on you.
Don’t not send the stuff: Keep content new and interesting and keep the concert promoters, radio people and the rest of your network informed and up to date
Don’t mispell: make sure you comb for typos and especially make sure you get the correct spelling of peoples names. If you don’t, people will think you’re dumb…never a good first impression
Don’t innondate people (that you are trying to get your product in front of) from all angles (Facebook, email, bbm, etc). If email isn’t working, the others probably won’t either. The bottom line is that your product must be good.
Don’t just ask all the time- offer to help them with something. The good ‘ol give ‘n take.
Don’t burn bridges: always leave a positive taste in everyone’s mouth. People never forget how you made them feel.
Don’t bash your head against the wall: if what you are doing isn’t working, re-examine your approach and keep moving forward. After all, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results
Don’t ask things you can figure out on your own (this is a hard one). Use libraries, books and the internet and be as knowledgeable as possible before you approach someone.
Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t! Be committed and do it!
There are always a myriad of things to consider when going to the polls. Besides improving health care, taxes and the environment, please consider the impact that your party will have on arts and culture!
Here is document that the Canadian Alliance for the Arts just published:
2011 Federal Election
Common Electoral Platform Project
“Imagine a world without music, without poetry, without books, without paintings on the walls,
without photographs, without legends, without the movement and the energy of dance, without
theatre, without cinema, without the kind of imagination and creations which would force us to
live only the realities of day to day life, the economy, the politics… Arts and culture are the
fourth dimension we need to be humans: a country without arts and culture would be a country
without a soul and a nation without identity.”
Raymond Legault, President of Union des artistes
Whereas:
1) According to the Conference Board of Canada, the overall economic footprint of the
cultural sector reaches $85 billion per year, which represents 7.4 % of the Canadian
Gross Domestic Product;
2) Artists and cultural workers are an important and dynamic component of the Canadian
creative economy;
3) The cultural sector provides direct employment to over 630,000 Canadians which is more
than double the number of Canadians employed by either the forestry or banking sectors
respectively;
4) According to the Department of Canadian Heritage, 94 % of Canadians agree that “live
theatre companies, musicians, artists, festivals, and other cultural activities in a
community make it a better place to live”;
5) Several studies show that arts and culture play an important part in developing our
children and preparing them for a productive life;
6) Scientific research shows the beneficial impact of arts and culture not only on personal
development but also on communities, noticeably in strengthening the sentiment of
belonging, enhancing social solidarity and improving urban security;
7) Given the international successes that Canadian creators and producers have enjoyed in
the cultural sector, disproportionately to the population of Canada and given that the
Federal Government of Canada has played a significant role in the development of
Canada’s cultural sector,
Consequently, the undersigned ask each of the federal parties to commit to implement the
following measures concerning Canadian arts and culture:
1. Encourage the production of Canadian cultural content in the context of a national
strategy through:
a. Increasing the budget of the Canada Council of the Arts to at least $300M by
2015;
b. Modernizing the Copyright Act to ensure fair compensation for creators and other
rights holders and to facilitate access of cultural works by Canadians without
undermining existing rights;
c. A commitment to increased and long-term funding for the Canada Media Fund,
the Canada Music Fund, the CBC, the National Film Board and Telefilm;
d. Making providers of internet and wireless services contribute financially to the
production of Canadian cultural programs;
e. Adopting tax measures addressing the realities of self-employed artists and
creators;
f. Adopting tax incentives to encourage arts philanthropy and private investments in
arts and cultural industries.
2. Dedicate $40M to increase access to Canadian artists and works by Canadians and the
international community.
3. Reintroduce arts and culture as a component of Canadian foreign policy.
4.
Implement the National Museum Policy agreed to by all parties in 2005 with the injection
of $50M a year.
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