The Art of Music Publishing : an entrepreneurial guide to publishing and copyright for the music, film and media industries

233 Pages·2011·3.19 MB·English

by  Helen Gammons

The Art of Music
Publishing
FROM THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN
GIVEN THE MOST,
MUCH IS EXPECTED.
The Art of Music
Publishing
An entrepreneurial guide
to publishing and copyright
for the music, film and
media industries
Helen Gammons
AMSTERDAM BOSTON HEIDELBERG LONDON NEW YORK OXFORD
PARIS SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SYDNEY TOKYO
Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier
Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier
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First published 2011
Copyright Ó 2011 Helen Gammons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Number: 2010939822
ISBN: 978-0-240-52235-7
For information on all Focal Press publications
visit our website at www.focalpress.com
Printed and bound in the UK
10 11 12 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Introduction...............................................................................................................ix
Preface .....................................................................................................................xv
Acknowledgements................................................................................................xxv
The Art of Music Publishing.............................................................................. xxvii
CHAPTER 1 Turning music into a business ................................ 1
What is music publishing? ............................................................3
The A&R process ..........................................................................8
Income streams ..............................................................................9
Summary ........................................................................................9
CHAPTER 2 Understanding copyright .......................................13
What is copyright?.......................................................................13
How long does copyright last? ....................................................13
Masters and re-recording restrictions ..........................................14
Ownership of the master recording .............................................21
Lyric writing e a lost art.............................................................23
SWOT analysis.............................................................................25
Example .......................................................................................27
Working with media companies ..................................................28
Moral rights..................................................................................29
US copyright issues .....................................................................31
Summary ......................................................................................31
CHAPTER 3 Managing rights e international framework
and issues ...........................................................33
Collection societies ......................................................................34
UK performing and mechanical rights societies.........................38
The Berne Convention.................................................................41
Copyright issues leading European discussion ...........................42
Implementation of EU Directive e UK Copyright Act..............43
WIPO ...........................................................................................43
ISP news.......................................................................................44
Central licensing ..........................................................................46
Internet licensing e growth of legitimate online licensing ........47
CHAPTER 4 The role of the music publisher .............................51
How does this help, exactly?.......................................................55
How a great song survives...........................................................56
What does a music publisher do?................................................57
v
vi Contents
CHAPTER 5 Income streams..................................................63
Performance income..................................................................64
How is income generated? ........................................................69
Deductions.................................................................................70
PRS for Music e mechanical income stream flow ..................71
Accounting practices .................................................................72
Synchronization.........................................................................72
Sheet music ...............................................................................74
CHAPTER 6 Introduction to contracts .....................................77
Contractual language.................................................................79
Types of contract .......................................................................85
Summary..................................................................................101
CHAPTER 7 Synchronization................................................ 103
Exploits in film and television ................................................105
The role of the music supervisor ............................................108
Some key movie terms............................................................108
Independent film sales networks.............................................112
Great movie composers...........................................................112
Cue sheets................................................................................112
Useful film bodies ...................................................................113
The top UK and US advertising agencies ..............................113
Summary..................................................................................114
CHAPTER 8 Getting a publishing deal .................................. 115
The undiscovered country .......................................................116
Product and presentation e songwriters.................................117
Summary..................................................................................118
CHAPTER 9 UK and international trade shows ...................... 121
Benefits of local and international trade shows......................121
Examples of trade shows ........................................................121
Summary..................................................................................124
CHAPTER 10 Networking e building a sustainable network .... 125
What is networking? ...............................................................125
Some useful networking tips...................................................126
Summary .................................................................................126
CHAPTER 11 The producer and the song................................ 127
Sampling, loops and samplers ................................................132
Contents vii
CHAPTER 12 Change in the digital space............................... 139
PRS for Music e financial results snapshot of 2009 .............139
Guardian report by Victor Keegan .........................................139
A snapshot of the IFPI report e music industry 2010...........141
Recorded music sales 2009.....................................................141
Digital market developments ..................................................141
Gerd Leonhard e futurist, fatalist, fantasist or guru? ............148
CHAPTER 13 Purchasing a catalogue .................................... 151
Why is the catalogue being sold or bought? ..........................154
Managing risk..........................................................................154
Background information .........................................................155
Questions .................................................................................156
Retention period ......................................................................157
Reasons for buying a catalogue ..............................................157
Postcompletion plan ................................................................158
Summary .................................................................................158
CHAPTER 14 Business and strategic planning ........................ 159
SWOT e strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats ......159
PEST e political, economic, social and technological ..........160
Aims and objectives ................................................................160
The marketing mix e the four Ps of marketing.....................161
Scenario planning....................................................................163
Summary .................................................................................164
CHAPTER 15 Corporate social responsibility in the twenty-first
century e making the case for business
responsibility in the creative industries ............. 165
Definitions ...............................................................................165
Introduction .............................................................................165
Why does CSR matter to you? ...............................................167
Technology and the sustainability of the creative industries .169
Environmental impact .............................................................170
Investigating the current state of the CSR debate ..................171
Conclusion...............................................................................175
Conclusion .............................................................................................................179
Biographies ............................................................................................................181
Glossary .................................................................................................................189
Index ......................................................................................................................195
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Introduction e How it all began
This book is dedicated to two wonderful friends and business mentors; two people
with hearts and spirits that truly inspired me. They made life fun and definitely
amusing.
To Chris Brough, who worked with artists such as Cat Stevens, Shakin’ Stevens,
Samantha Fox, Showaddywaddy and Jaki Graham, to name but a few. Having
substantial UK and international success, Chris was a producer, music publisher,
manager and visionary, who lived life to the full. His success helped him to build an
incredible network, which he generously shared over the many years that we knew
each other.
And to Mike Collier, ex-MD of Carlin/Intersong Music, who was an inspirational
mentor and friend. He signed such acts as DuranDuran, and the disco hit ‘Blame It On
The Boogie’, made famous by the legendaryMichael Jacksonwith a top 3 and top 8 in
the US and UK charts, respectively, and several million record sales and millions of
radio performance plays later. Hits continued with Phyllis Nelson’s song ‘Move
Closer’ becoming a worldwide hit having been covered by countless artists since.
Mike’s personal perseverance (despite ill-health in later years) never stopped his
strong belief in the value of songs and music. Mike was a ‘can do’ man and I hope
this characteristic and unstoppable optimism radiates from me too. In his later years,
Mike worked as catalogue activator and compilation guru alongside Freddie Faber,
and they were infamous in London for knowing the established major publishers’
catalogues like the backs of their hands. At this time, mergers and acquisitions were
rife, and as a consequence staff churn was high and this left a void where staff didn’t
know what they had in the catalogue. Individuals like Mike and Freddie knew where
the gold was buried, and were retained by many of the major publishing houses to
assist them in activating their back catalogue. This knowledge has largely been lost
to younger publishing A&R personnel. It’s still a problem today with all the mergers
and acquisitions that have occurred (perhaps there is an even bigger need now than
ever before where intellectual property management is the key to unlocking new
revenue flows).
Mike was affectionately known as ‘Grandpa disco’ because of his knack for
finding great pop tunes and turning classics into contemporary versions in those days.
Later he became known as ‘Grandpa line dance’ when he single-handedly brokered
many new deals for the use of masters and songs for line dancing videos and
programs.Mike’s breadth of legal expertise and his love and passion formusic, and all
things publishing, provided me with the essential training ground that has helped all
aspects of my career ever since. He was the epitome of creative publishing.
I also dedicate this book to Mike’s lovely wife Joyce and dearest friend Jack
Robinson, whose catalogue Robin Song Music was administered by Mike for many
years.
The night I met Mike is indelibly imprinted on my memory. Arriving at a dinner
with my writer and producer husband Rod Gammons, we were met by our host, the
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