Of the many tasks determined by the artist as necessary to fulfill the goals of sustainability within the chosen career of music, the most vital to the revenue stream is the possession, ownership, registration and administration of song, lyric and recording rights. In this newly developing era of the digital age, accessibility of production resources and the explosive increase in online content streaming has leveled and widened a playing field that has formerly been rigidly restrictive of independent business models and creative innovations. 

The opportunities that are presented by tremendous change ongoing in the music industry are countered by obstacles. As an independent music producer has the available outlets for extending their reach/product to a wide and diverse global audience, the required resources of time and monetary liberty can present limitations of access and continuity, in regards to campaigns constructed to support the production, recording, promotion, booking, packaging, album sales and overall support of a particular artist. 

As the obstacles weigh against the benefits in the venture of independently pursuing a career in the art of Music, viability of the Art itself must be considered and accounted as a prime factor. Artful expression is a vital component of culture and civilization, forever holding a place in time, although as has been noted in observation of works of the Greats, not always recognized in the lifetime of the Artist herself. This reality must be contemplated in the process of creating worthy works of art, it’s substance and the lasting nature of the truth of the substance. When lasting art is created, the artist becomes protected in the value of her contribution and this determined, is the framework for pursuing the return that reflects this value. This suggestion lends itself to further discussion of artistic viability and it’s basis for securing the method that establishes financial viability within the marketplace.

As well as the challenge and opportunity granted the Artist in this time of change, listeners, lovers and connoisseurs  of real music have expanded access to a vast expanse of music from peoples of the world, as opposed to mere skimps of selections scheduled for release by mammoth corporations who hog the airwaves and mainstream media with heavily advertised mediocrity. 

Music, the style and sound, as as well as the method in which it is made available and received, is changing in a way that bounds into the future and is fully yet to be seen. 

The music that I wish to share with the world has an obligation to be parented by the proper registration that seals it’s legacy and returns it, from a voice within a wayward wilderness, to a padded home.

On the Strength

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RISE AND FALL

Click the link above to hear music from the live recording project.

The contemporary artist, writer, musician and performer, in order to facilitate career sustainability, must necessarily become informed and proactive in the execution of product exploitation. Exploitation has the ring of manipulation or unfair game but to paraphrase from choice lyrics from the rapper Sugar Free, “Pimp or get Pimped”. Exploitation of publishing rights is the lifeblood of the music business. The artist, as well as observing and being knowledgeable of the operational methods established in the course of the trade industry’s development, is obligated to be aware and protective of these interests. To protect these interests, alternately referred to as rights, is to prepare the product for varying degrees of marketability. The look, imaging and packaging of our music is bells and whistles compared to the engine of a songs pedigree. A good song will touch people in a personal way and appropriately delivered will become a reflection or addition to a listeners own personal experience. In that way the artist is a medium or conduit of universal connectivity. The value of a song will always be variable and yet along with consideration to compositional weight and relativity in reaching others, set rates of monetary allotment have been established by businesses serving as institutions of the trade and every contribution associated with and active in modes of the trade are entitled to compensation associated with invocation of rights/interests possessed with song ownership.

The modern artist executive must seize this time of disruption of business as usual. With the fall of record sales, major label down sizing and the multitude of limitations associated with seeking the mythical “record deal” being successfully challenged by well known artists, the taste for great music intensifies and mediums of obtaining selections of substance have widened. The credibility of the the digital format has solidified and usefully makes offerings of any one global destination accessible in another.

The craft of establishing, reserving and exploiting song rights is a phase one maneuver for an Artist Executive. This method of securing coding and administrating in the digital format appears to be a way to compete in a time when no one entity has cornered or saturated the market. This is primarily because the market, it’s rates, standards and operations are being developed, and has yet to reach its unknown peak of cultivation.

Creativity and Sustainability combined are an ambition supported by new resources when these resources are used effectively.

The Artist Executive has a responsibility to maintain the assets within the artistic holdings and on this frontier of the digital audio revolution, the Independent Artist is poised to benefit more than if represented by a loss generating business model.