Why professional musicians have to be business-savvy

I have never been able to completely hide my disdain for the great majority of the music industry that finds ways to fleece musicians without providing any service of value. I am referring to the majority of publishers, producers, distributors, labels, etc.

Granted, there are some good ones out there. But if you are a musician, you had better be wary because the vast majority of them are lazy and have very little to offer you. You had better learn how to do those things yourself.

I am in a mood to blow the whistle on those guys today because I am dealing with licensing issues. Licensing is a primary way that musician writers get paid for their work, and by the way, writers should get paid for their work.

Because I am taping to DVD and for TV in August, I need sync licenses for several songs. Synchronization licenses are licenses paid to owners of songs for the right to record their songs in a visual way (such as TV or DVD). These licenses are different than mechanical licenses which are paid for each copy of a CD produced.

Mechanical licenses have a set rate: 9.1 cents per CD produced or download sold. Sync licenses have no set rate. They are negotiated on an individual basis and are much more complicated.

About six months ago, I started trying to obtain sync licenses for the songs I needed.  Two of them were easy because the owners are friends of mine.  Others are owned by larger companies. One was through Hal Leonard and they are easy to work with. Another is through EMI and they are easy to work with too though they are a little slow.

You would think that when you contact a company and ask to buy a license for thousands of dollars, they would be responsive. You would think that but you would be wrong. I have had to bother a few companies like crazy just to get a quote. Now, I am not trying to clear songs for American Idol. My licensing is cheap when compared to what NBC would have to pay to clear songs for the Olympics. But it is still money.

When I do get in touch with some of them, they are rude, unhelpful and lazy. One in particular that I will not name yet (but may later on) is especially pathetic. The rep I am working with wants to argue and pick at silly stuff instead of trying to sell me something.  When I ask for clarification, she sends me reams of legalese. When I ask for something additional, she complains that I did not have it on the original form. And her quotes are beyond ridiculous; there is no way anyone in their right mind would agree to her terms.

Now, I couldn’t care less if that company wants to shoot themselves in the foot, but here is the problem: they are supposed to be selling stuff for their clients who are musician writers. The writers pay them to administer licensing. And because these companies do such a pathetic job, the writers don’t get the licensing revenue they could get.

So today, after exchanging 20 progressively more stupid emails with that rep, I picked up the phone and called the writer himself.  I told him what kind of problems I am having and suggested that he needed a new licensing company because this one is not representing him well.

He knew that already as it turns out and he is not happy either. After all, if I record his song, it is going to generate revenue and exposure for him.  It is in his best interest for his licensing organization to work a deal with me.

He doesn’t need me of course. He has written many very popular songs and he does much bigger deals than mine. But he still wanted to know what I had to say and he is going to call the company to try to get them in line. He wants people to record his music and he doesn’t want his licensing people messing up those deals through sheer laziness and incompetence.

If you are a musician, you had better think long and hard before you turn over the marketing and revenue generation of your music to any company or individual. I hate to say it, but this kind of experience I am describing is more the rule than the exception. Many companies only want to work on huge deals and they ignore the little ones.

Almost any musician will probably do a better job handling the business side of things themselves. So if you are musician, learn to wear that hat too.