Mega Music Talent

Posts Tagged ‘Making’

Article by C Churchill

Making, performing and releasing music may sometimes feel like labour of love – why sometimes we are even expected to pay to play gigs. Yet so much cost can be involved: equipment, instruments, recordings, studying, coaching/music lessons..not forgetting the hours we put in for composition, practice, marketing and promotion. And we can’t expect the world to owe us something (or a lot) for what we choose or need to do. It’s survival of the fittest, right? The strongest music gets the income.

Well the strongest and/or most popular music may get most of the income and the big bucks. But they are not necessarily the only ones making money with music. OK I may not be talking millions or new cars or houses here. But small amounts of revenue can be accrued by the most lightly active musicians. If you perform gigs at live music venues, release or sell your own music or get play on less mainstream radio shows you can still make some money with music.

Of course there is a few things you need to do first to make sure the world is aware of you music. I will cover the UK here as this is what I know of living and publishing independent music here. You need to join the bodies PRS For Music and the PPL (Phonographic Performance Ltd). You then register any recordings and releases (if you do not have a label to do this for you) with the PPL and acquire ISRC’s for each track. An ISRC is a unique code for each released recording and needs to be included in the metadata during the mastering process. Ask the mastering engineer to include them or research this further if you are mastering your own material.

If you are playing live shows at your local pub, even at an open mic event you can still be making a bit of money with your music and claiming music royalties. By joining the PRS in the UK you can claim for each performance in a venue that is registered with a PRS music license. There is a PRS license sticker in the window of these places and ask the manager if they are licensed. Most of the time they have to be ? even sandwich shops and hairdressers have to have licenses to play music in public. Which has it’s pros and cons I know, but as a musician you can take a share of the moneys allocated by registering your tracks/setlist even if it was a small gig with very few audience members.

If you do send your music to radio stations and shows that are likely to like and play your music. Then you may very well get a some airplay and this can also accumulate. I have enjoyed some nice payments from the PPL here in the UK. They are free to join and take a small percentage from music royalties they claim for you. And they hunt them down internationally. Research radio stations that may specialise in your music ? I make quite unique or weird creative music and still find enough outlets to play and support my independent music. For example, my most recent independent album Til You’re No Longer Blinkered received repeated airplay on a BBC Radio Lancashire programme called On the Wire and John Peel inspired internet station Dandelion Radio (who repeat programs so perhaps multiply the PRS/PPL income?).

Third party companies such as Sentric Music can make this process a lot easier as they are free to join and claim music royalties for you. As payment they take a small percentage from music royalties they claim for you, and their registering system is a lot more straightforward and accessible than I have found by going directly to PRS site. You just let them know when your music is played on any radio show you know about and tell them of any live shows with set list. They also send out regular requests for music for adverts for TV etc. Now that is can be artist’s dream that can come true music royalties wise.

Finally selling your independent music yourself has surely never been easier. Sites like CD Baby and Bandcamp mean you can offer your independent albums and singles at whatever price you like. And you receive most of the income. Through CD Baby you can also get your music onto the likes of iTunes and Spotify which can mean more listens, sales and royalties. On Bandcamp you can give away your music for free or set a price to pay per download/item purchase. Alternatively, you can set a minimum amount. I tried this out and it worked very well for my latest independent album. I offered the limited edition CD for £8 minimum. A few people offered to pay £20 and one crazy supportive person expressed their appreciation with £25!

So we can’t all be making loads of money from our music but you could be missing out on some moneys you are due. You could actually make quite a bit of money from your music. I have only shared a few avenues of revenue I know of and reap rewards from making my creative music. It can be straightforward and could be a surprising amount. More advice and information can be found at PRS for Music, PPL and Sentric Music websites and a thorough search engine search.

About the Author

caro snatch is a producer and performer of her own brand of creative music, drawing from spoken word, electronica and avant-garde pop influences. Her latest independent album has received international radio play, including BBC Radio 6 and Radio 3.

Video Rating: 0 / 5

Classical music is governed by some known conventions that have its roots in a variety of forms, genres, styles and historical periods. These features together go in defining the term ‘classical music.’ Music rated as classical has always made its thumping presence felt. With the evolution of the popular music forms, the dominance of the classical form has not diminished. In-fact, it further magnified with new forms and codes.

There are several factors that define Classical Music. These can be classified under the following heads:-

Instrumentation – This is one way of classifying the classical genre of music. Different instruments are brought to use for creating the symphony that make it classical. Various string instruments like violin, string, woodwind instruments, brass instruments and other diverse percussion are commonly used to give this form of music a unique style. However, nowadays electronic instruments like electric guitars are occasionally brought to use.

Form and Technical Execution – The classical form generally take the form of a song, symphony, dance music, chamber suite, symphony, concerto, electronic music and more. The composition of this form of music requires expertise as a lot of complexities are involved in arriving at a balance between its emotional content and the music that accompanies it. The Classical Guitar Music is one such example of complex composition.

Complexity – The complexities involved in making of classical works are not just confined to instruments and beats. But a lot of it lies in the development, modulation, musical phrases and even length and variations of tones. A perfect combination of all these features results in the development of a perfect symphony of music. In-fact, the large scale classical works are built from smaller units of musical compositions.

Society – The classical forms of music maintains a repute of being a choice of the upper-level society. The music has never been popular among the working class. However, it is not compulsory as most of the classical musicians fall in the middle class range. The Classical Music CD buyers and concert goers also include the middle class audience.

Timeline – This form of music passed through several stages. It has its roots ingrained in medieval times, even dating back to ancient Greeks. The form has evolved a lot in the present age. It still has major time divisions like the Medieval (476 – 1400) and Renaissance (1400 – 1600). Then there is the common practice period that includes Baroque (1600 – 1750), Classical (1730 – 1820) and Romantic Periods (1895 – 1910). The modern contemporary period includes 20th Century Classical (1900 – 2000) and contemporary classical (1975 to current).

The form of music which is preserved as classical is primarily a written musical tradition. These written works are then given expression in the form of recordings, oral transformations and musical notes. Music plays an effective role in transmitting classical notations. The written instructions, however, do not have explicit instructions. But, music does help to build the mood of a classical masterpiece. It helps in better understanding of the masterpieces.

A great influence of the classical form of music lies in its cultural durability. It is interesting to note its evolution from past to the present form. The form has taken materials from popular music and folk music. Yet it retained its originality and showed up as updated versions of the classical masterpieces.

The commercialism of classical music has popularised it among the people. Now, DVDs of the latest versions of classical music are available in retail stores. The prices of the DVDs are kept low and so all income group people can buy the DVDs from the Classical Music Stores. People now need not go to a theatre to watch a performance. In-fact, theatre comes to home in the form of the DVDs.The classical music CDs have made it very simple for people to get acquainted to classical forms of music. Most of the current masterpieces are compiled in CDs and sold in the market. This has made it possible for people to have a library of the classical form of music at their homes.

Review

“The author does an admirable job of combining all aspects of traditional and new media in each chapter. The accompanying CD-ROM offers visual and audio examples of production design and is itself a good example of nonlinear programming in covering the concepts of storyboarding and releases, visual aesthetics, light quality, brightness and contrast, color mixing, color temperature, sound mixing, camera movements, sequencing of still images, and examples of persistence of m (more…)