Here’s an article on How to Get Paid for your Music. It deals primarily with writers who are interested in getting their songs into film and television and earning royalties. Topics included are:
Writing great songs
Recording your songs
Signing up with a Performing Rights Organization
Registering songs with your PRO
Registering songs with the Harry Fox Agency
Independent A&R services
Filing cue sheets
Anyone who is interested in making money from his or her music will find this article informative and useful.
Occasionally I post shameless self-promotional stuff. This is one of those times. On the up side, though, I thought it might be helpful to some of you guys doing recording projects that may be in need of session players but maybe didn’t know where to look. Well, look no further, my friends….Butler Productions Recording is here to serve you!
I’m currently taking sessions via the ‘net. Simply email an mp3 guide track, and receive a professionally recorded guitar or voiceover track that you can drop right into your recording project. You can choose to receive your files on a data CD-ROM or DVD-ROM by USPS or via FTP. Depending on the nature of your project and file size, you may be able to receive them via Email in a .zip file.
Contact me with project details and for booking. A 50% deposit is required upon booking the session. After your tracks are recorded, a low-resolution .mp3 “proof” of the performance will be sent to you for approval. To approve the performance, simply pay the balance of the session and your files will be sent to you promptly. Payments are made instantly and securely through PayPal.
We also work with other great session players in virtually any style, so feel free to inquire about other instruments as well. Butler Productions is here to serve you! Check out the complete scoop on www.butlerproductionsmultimedia.com/tracks
Greetings! I’ve just published an article on eHow on How to Boost Band Revenue with a Merchandise Table. After dealing with a couple of bands recently in a management capacity, I thought it was prudent to touch on this topic again. I’ve posted a similar article here on the Butler Productions Blog, but this one digs a little deeper. Here’s a brief overview:
If you write your own music, it’s a wise idea to start your own music publishing company. Although you can utilize another publisher when licensing your music, you can double your profit by acting as your own publisher. It’s easier than you might think.
Step 1. Select a Performer’s Rights Organization (PRO). The three major PRO’s in the US are Broadcast Music International (BMI); American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP); and Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC). These societies collect and distribute royalty payments for public performances of your music. Do a little research on each society’s websites to determine which one is right for you. You can join as a Writer, as a Publisher, or as both. It is wise to enroll as both, as it will double your potential profits from your music. Some have a nominal one-time fee, others do not.
Step 2. Once you have selected a PRO, decide on your publisher name. This should be a clever name which reflects your personality or theme of your music. If you have an existing production company or corporation, you can use this name. Most PRO’s require you to choose three names, from which they will register you with the first available name.
Step 3. After your publisher name has been cleared, check with your local city, county, or state government for any legal requirements if you intend to do business. Most likely, you will be required to procure a business license. This is also the time to determine which type of business you intend to run (sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, etc.). In most cases, a sole proprietorship is sufficient.
Step 4. Open a “Doing Business As” account (D.B.A.) with your local bank, using your publisher name issued by your PRO. This will allow you to receive royalty payments generated by your PRO.
Step 5. Finally, register ALL songs you write or compose with your PRO. If your songs are broadcast or publicly performed, you can receive royalties. However, if your songs aren’t registered, you will likely not receive any royalties, as the PRO won’t associate the songs and performances to you as a writer or publisher.
Worship bands are becoming increasingly popular in today’s churches. While many worship bands truly have a heart for worship music and leading others, often they find themselves struggling when it comes to balance, sound, and overall musical cohesion. Here are some simple steps to help improve the quality of your praise and worship band.
STEP 1. Learn to listen to each other. The job of each musician is to fit appropriately within the context of the band. Doing so requires each member to be acutely aware of what each other member is playing. As you practice and “perform” (I’ll use that term, although we don’t consider worship as a performance), try to maintain an awareness of your musical surroundings by focusing less on simply your part and more on how your part fits in musically with the rest of the group.
STEP 2. Building on the listening aspect, the band should ensure that each instrument is playing in its own octave range. This means, for example, the keyboardist should not be playing in the same octave range of the acoustic guitarist. What this approach does is to give each instrument its own “sonic space”, so that each player is heard equally. Not only does this improve the overall blend of the band by eliminating sonic competition between instruments, it makes your sound tech’s job tremendously easier. Here’s an example: the bass takes the lowest octave range, the keyboard handles the lower midrange, the electric guitar shines in the midrange, and the acoustic guitar’s bright strum sound sparkles nicely in the higher frequency range (achieved with a combination of EQ and using the capo higher on the neck. While this is a very basic example, parts could swap places for difference songs, or even between different sections within the same song.
STEP 3. Pay close attention to the kick-bass relationship. This, again, requires those listening skills from Step 1. The relationship between the kick drum and bass guitar is extremely important. The drummer and bassist should always be listening to each other, playing the same (or complimentary) pattern. Although this sounds obvious, it is indeed surprising the number bands, particularly those with younger musicians, which don’t understand this principle.
STEP 4. Play in the holes. Between each line of the vocal, there’s generally a space that could be occupied with a musical fill. If the vocalist isn’t already doing ad-libs between each line, consider adding these fills with other instruments to lend a more polished sound. If you have both a keyboardist and a lead guitarist, for instance, have the keyboardist fill the holes in the verse, while the lead guitarist fills in the chorus. To hear an example of this step, try listening to any current pop, country, or contemporary Christian song.
STEP 5. Utilize density and dynamics. All instruments shouldn’t be playing full-on all the time. In fact, all instruments shouldn’t play playing all the time. Guide the congregation by manipulating the dynamics (intensity of playing) and the density (the number of instruments playing at a given time). Density can also be achieved in other ways, such as arpeggiating versus strumming chords. The band Hillsong are particularly strong in this regard during their live worship sets. Here are some Hillsong live DVDs.
STEP 6. Finally, don’t reinvent the wheel. Congregates relate to what they are familiar with. So, listen to other bands within the worship genre to find out what works and what doesn’t. Also, don’t be afraid to study other genres of music, such as pop, country, R&B, Gospel, and rock. Doing so will keep you musically current-sounding and relevant to your congregation. Much time, effort, and expense is spent crafting hit songs on current mainstream radio. Studying the mechanics of all these diverse genres of music will invariably give you a wealth of time-tested techniques to incorporate into your worship music.
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