There And Back (Part IV)

The year was 1987. Eight years after the demise of Disco, the recording industry had more than rebounded. Several artists from the seventies had survived to become superstars in the eighties. And, Rap, Disco's replacement had morphed into Hip Hop. In that same year, a rumor spread through the industry about an independent Rapper who had grossed $750,000 in one year, by selling homemade tapes from the trunk of his car. The music industry would never be the same again.

The lure of big money in exchange for street tunes was just too much for the industry bigwigs to pass up. The sound of Rap soon became harder as artist such as LL Cool J, Big Daddy Kane, Public Enemy, and NWA came to the forefront. Their success created a sudden influx of even newer Rap artists, many of whom were fresh from the streets. R&B radio began to air whole blocks of air time dedicated specifically to Rap. A visit to any brick and mortar store at that time revealed whole sections devoted entirely to Rap, with offerings from artists whose names were totally unfamiliar. Sales for Rap music began to climb through the roof.

The next year, in 1988, MTV jumped on the bandwagon with a daily show called, Yo MTV Raps. The show gave Rap music and Rap artists an even higher profile. And, though bands like Def Leppard, Gun And Roses, and Poison, were big names in rock, the industry began to place more and more emphasis on the recruitment of Rap acts.

While it is only conjecture on my part, there's always the possibility that increasing Rap sales prompted the recording industry to encourage the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to bestow upon Rap, it's highest honor. And, that is exactly what happened in 1989, when the first ever Rap Grammy went to DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince. In my opinion, this served to legitimized Rap as a true art form, and sent millions of record buyers, many of whom, no doubt wanting to appear hip, to the record stores to get in on the trend.

1990 saw the cutting edge of music begin to dull, as artists such as Earth Wind and Fire and others began to add Rap as a means of keeping their music current.

Unlike Disco, the industry was was leery of trying to pre-fab a Rap or Hip Hop act. While Rap artist Vanilla Ice was accused of falsifying his bio, no label mischief was ever suggested. Instead, the industry decided to stick with authenticity. But, authentic Rap from the street was becoming more vulgar, sexual, and increasingly violent.

The PMRC ( Parents Music Resources Center) had already done battle with the recording industry in 1985, but only managed to to get the industry to place explicit language stickers on product that contained obscene language or profanity. But, having given Rap a Grammy only served to increase its already popular appeal.

Going into the 90s, Rap and Hip Hop were everywhere. Times were becoming tougher economically, and a career in Rap seemed like the surest way to escape a ghetto or economically depressed area. Though the youth of all races were embracing the music, it appeared to have a certain special appeal for young Black youths. Many of them felt, that for the first time, they had something that they could call their own. However, the sound was not able to crack the Black adult market. Around this time, a lot of black adults, feeling that the music industry had abandon them, began to reach for their oldies, as more and more radio stations began to play more Rap and Hip Hop. Thus began the rise of R&B oldies stations.

With the increasing association of Rap and violence, whether real or imagined, came an interesting and somewhat distressing phenomenon. This phenomenon arrived in the guise of a first ever generation gap within the Black community. And, the rise of Gangsta Rap would only served to deepen the division.

Again And Again

Do you have a favorite song? Or, several favorite songs? Have you ever wondered why that song is your favorite? Could it be the words, the music, or is it something else? Do you find that your favorite song makes you feel a certain way?

I've got my own opinion, of course. I think that what makes a song unique is that one time only portion of the song know as the bridge. I know that the hook, which is usually found in the chorus and repeats several times throughout the song, is most likely what most remember.

Making a case for the bridge isn't an easy thing to do. A lot of today's music being classified as "hits," don't even make use of a bridge. What is a bridge any way? The bridge is a departure from the rest of the song. It's about four or eight musical bars long which is about two to four lines of words, and usually leads back to the chorus.

A strong example of a memorable bridge is from the song, "Just Once," written by Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann and performed by James Ingram. It goes like this:

Just once I want understand
Why it always comes back to good-bye
Why can't we get ourselves in hand
And admit to one another, we're no good without each other
Take the best and make it better
Find a way to stay together

While this example is from a hit song that is now considered to be a classic, it may or may not represent everyone's taste. However, if you know the song at all, then you also know that the music from this part of the song goes off briefly in another direction before it returns to the "Just Once," chorus.

Another example would be from the Beatles song, "Yesterday." While not considered to have an actual bridge, the following section does work very well as one:

Why she had to go
I don't know, she wouldn't say
I said something wrong
Now I long for yesterday

Of course, Yesterday is also a classic and if you know the song, you know that here again, the music moves briefly away from the main part of the song before returning to Yesterday.

I realize that I haven't given any examples from today's top 40. And, while I may have listed only two classics, each of these songs continue to stand up to repeated listening. There must be something to be said about the power of adding a bridge to a song. Something that makes you want to listen to that song, again and again.

Your Name Here

Today's independent and DIY artists now have multiple ways of making income from their music. One such way is through music publishing. If you write your own songs as well as perform them, you could take it a step further and pitch your tunes to other artists who might record them.

Traditional music publishers like EMI Music or Warner/Chappell Music basically take the songs of songwriters or songwriter/artists, and gets them before labels, producers, music supervisors, and other recording artists who are looking for songs with hit potential. Signing a contract with a publisher usually means a 50/50 or 75/25 split of the publishing royalties while the writer receiving 100% of the writers royalties, unless otherwise designated, if the song becomes a hit.

Publishing your own music would first entail that you join a performing rights organization such as ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC. Which ever you choose, you may want to sign as both an artist and as a publisher. When you sign as a publisher you should try to pick a name that best fits your music, or at best one that goes well as a, "doing business as," name, which in most cases would just be your name followed by the word, music. Then, since you are the publishing company, you have to find ways of getting your songs out there.

If you're an artist and you record your music, you could if you wanted to, try pitching your songs to artists, producers and labels. However, a large number of of artists, producers, and labels don't except unsolicited material. You could sign up with TAXI, which is an A&R service that allows you to submit your songs to be evaluated, for a small fee. If your songs make the cut, they are then passed on to record companies, publishers, and music supervisors that call TAXI directly, looking for new artists or material.

Of course, what you could do is set up your own website and post samples of your songs there. Both Myspace and Facebook offer you a chance to post an artist page that can include a certain amount of your music along with video clips, a bio, and contact information. There are also other music sites such as Soundclick, Reverbnation, and Bandcamp, that allow artist to set up a profile with music clips and the ability to sell your music.

Now that so much music is being sold online, you may need to sign up with Soundexchange. Soundexchange is an independent, non profit performing rights organization that collects royalties from satellite radio and internet streaming of an artist's music. It's free to join and royalties can be posted directly to you bank account.

My publishing company is called Crowheart, and I was surprised how easy it was to establish. In fact the hard part is getting your music played on radio. Of course, there are lots of other possibilities, like film and television, which are excellent ways of getting your music out to the public, which is what publishing is really all about.

....Cause It's Where The Money Is

With the rise of the internet and all of the "emerging technology," one would have to wonder why so many new artists are still choosing to go with a major record label. I think, and this is just my opinion, that it's like what the notorious bank robber, "Willie Sutton," once said about robbing banks, that it's because "it's where the money is."

Granted, the DIY movement can offer a greater amount of artistic freedom. And, you get to keep a larger share of what you earn. Still, if you want wider distribution and/or greater notoriety, a major is still the way to go.

But, what a major actually does for an artist is loan them the money that they need to make a finished master. This money is called an advance. The amount of an advance is determined through negotiations between you, your lawyer or manager, and the record label. Other "deal points," such as number of albums to be delivered by the artist and royalty rate may be decided either before or at contract signing.

If you were fortune enough to get $150,000 advance from your label to record your first album, that money has to repaid. This is called recoupment. The money from your advance gets paid from your artist royalties. You the artist will bare the cost of manufacturing and packaging of your CDs which comes out of your royalties. And, your producer will have to be paid from your royalties along with other deductions, as well. Artist don't get paid any money from the sale of their CDs until the advance is paid back in full.

In the meantime, a lot of artist turn to touring as a way to make money while their album is climbing the charts. If their album isn't selling well, an artist or band may have to stay out on the road for an indefinite period of time. Artists generally get to keep most of, if not all of the money that they make from touring, but if an increased public presence doesn't help with album sales, the label could drop them from it's roster.

In most cases, a certain amount of promotion is usually negotiated along with the distribution. The major label is global, so your distribution can be world wide. But, some of your earnings from touring in the states may have to be spent touring overseas. In effect, you the artist will have to put your name further and further out there to get your album to sell, while the the label is getting it's money back from the advance that they gave you to make your album.

While some artists have been smart and invested their advance in a project studio to assemble their tracks before going into a major studio, others have fallen into the trap of lavish spending, living it up like a "star." Some push their personas, developing wild and outlandish routines in order to gain more public attention or publicity.

Even though the DIY movement can offer an artist a chance to keep more of what they earn, and the freedom to record what they want to write. Even with all that could go wrong with a major label deal, as long as the majors offer the possibility of achieving stardom as a result of global exposure, it seems that there will always be artists who would trade just about anything for that chance. And, let's not for get, it's like "Willie Sutton," once said, that it's because "it's where the money is."