Rocking Your Music Business Run Your Music Business at Home and on the Road

by Cann, Simon

• ISBN13: 9781598634662
• ISBN10: 1598634666
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-11-21
• Publisher: Artistpro

Summary

"You've got the musicians together, you've written the songs, you've rehearsed, you've spent weeks in the studio, you can gig, and you have produced an album. So what's next? The business. If you don't deal with the business, you won't generate any income and you won't have a career. "Rocking Your Music Business" introduces the business of music and tells you what you need to do to set up and run your business. As part of this, the book also looks at how you can use your existing tools, such as a desktop computer, a laptop, or a Smartphone/iPhone, to carry your office in your pocket. Musicians make their money from many sources - CD/DVD and digital music sales, live performances and personal appearances, licensing for film and television, and merchandise. You need to get a grip on all of these sources of income to ensure that you receive the money you have earned. Beyond that, you need to keep the rights that are yours (so you can keep generating income). But the music business is more than just money; it's about people too, including fellow musicians, booking agents, managers, and studio owners. When dealing with any other person, you need to have a clear understanding of the expectations of each party. For instance, does a session musician have any songwriting rights? Without getting issues like this agreed to up-front and in writing, you may be leaving yourself open to years of litigation and needlessly giving away money. You don't need a major record label to have a career, especially with all the changes that the industry has been undergoing in the last few years, but you do need a successful business to make sure you earn a living making music. That successful career begins with "Rocking Your Music Business," the book that needs to be on every musician's bookshelf."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

Simon Cann is a writer based in London. He is the author of a number of music-related and business-related books

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. x
Your Music Business	p. 1
Music Business History	p. 3
Reality Check: This Is How You Earn Money Today	p. 4
What Is Your Business?	p. 8
So What Is Your Business?	p. 12
But Why Do I Care about All of This Business? I Just Want to Make Music!	p. 13
The Principles of Business	p. 15
Business and Money	p. 17
Breakeven Point	p. 17
Cost and Value	p. 19
Increasing Your Income	p. 20
Increasing Your Top Line	p. 21
Decreasing Your Middle Line	p. 23
Infrastructure and Implementation	p. 23
Infrastructure: Stuff You Need	p. 24
Implementation: Making It Happen	p. 24
How to Set Up a Business	p. 26
Sole Trader (Sometimes Called Sole Proprietor)	p. 27
Partnership	p. 27
Limited Liability Partnership	p. 28
Corporation (with Limited Liability)	p. 28
Doing Business As	p. 29
Other Liability Issues	p. 29
Location, Location, Location	p. 30
Setting Up Your (Virtual) Office	p. 33
When Physical Location Is Important	p. 34
Choosing the Right Tools-But First	p. 36
Basics	p. 37
Physical Storage	p. 38
Electronic Storage	p. 40
The Written Word	p. 42
Sums	p. 45
Coordination	p. 46
Choosing the Right Tools	p. 47
Hardware: What Tool Will You Use to Do Your Work?	p. 48
Desktop	p. 48
Laptop	p. 49
Ultra Portable	p. 50
PDA/Cell Phone	p. 52
Internet Cafe	p. 53
Cloud Computing: What Is It and Why Does It Matter?	p. 53
Cloud Computing: What Is It?	p. 53
Why Is This Different? Why Is This a Step Forward?	p. 55
To Synchronize or Not to Synchronize	p. 57
Email and the Cloud	p. 59
Calendars and the Cloud	p. 64
VoIP: Cloud Computing for Phones?	p. 70
Who Offers These Sorts of Cloud Services?	p. 71
Hardware Costs	p. 80
Why Hasn't Everyone Else Done This Already?	p. 80
Desktop Computing	p. 81
What's Good about Desktop Computing?	p. 82
What's Bad about Desktop Computing?	p. 82
Making the Choice between the Cloud and the Desktop	p. 83
File Format	p. 84
Which File Formats Should I Use?	p. 85
Which File Formats Should I Avoid?	p. 87
So How Do I Get Set Up?	p. 87
Making the Choice between Cloud Providers	p. 88
Setting Up the Cloud Office: How's It Done?	p. 90
First Steps: Sign Up	p. 91
Setting Up Easy URLs	p. 92
Setting Up Email	p. 96
Setting Up New Users	p. 96
What's Next?	p. 101
Working with Other People	p. 103
Band Partnership Agreement: Considerations	p. 105
When Do You Need a Band Agreement?	p. 105
When Don't You Need an Agreement?	p. 107
The Band Partnership Agreement in Detail	p. 108
Band Partnership Agreement: Example Wording	p. 114
Gigs	p. 120
Example Gig Contract	p. 120
Working with Other Musicians	p. 121
Live Performances	p. 122
Recordings	p. 122
Manager	p. 123
Money	p. 123
Obligations and Duties	p. 124
Term of the Contract	p. 125
Post-Term Payments	p. 126
Staff	p. 127
Remote Workers	p. 127
Hiring Individuals in Person	p. 128
Running Your Business Online	p. 133
Website	p. 135
Selling	p. 136
Mailing List	p. 140
Embedded Calendar	p. 154
Syndicated Feeds	p. 155
Forums	p. 161
Contact	p. 161
Setting Up Your Website	p. 162
Getting a URL	p. 163
Finding the Right Host	p. 164
Dedicated IP Address	p. 168
Creating Content	p. 171
Bad Habits	p. 174
Getting onto Google	p. 175
Social Networking Sites	p. 177
Advertising	p. 178
Local Advertising/Specifically Targeted Advertising	p. 178
Online Advertising	p. 180
Wider/National Advertising	p. 180
Search Engine Advertising	p. 181
Google AdWords	p. 183
Go Do It Now	p. 190
A Warning about Advertising	p. 191
Accounts, Records, and All Those Pieces of Paper You Need to Keep	p. 193
Why Do We Care about Accounts and Records?	p. 193
Paper Trail, Audits, and Records	p. 195
Paper Trail and Records	p. 195
Audits	p. 198
Drawing Up Accounts	p. 199
Elements in Accounts	p. 199
Cash Flow	p. 201
Balance Sheet	p. 202
Valuing Assets	p. 203
Accounting Tools	p. 204
Government and Officialdom: You Ain't Gonna Fight the Law	p. 205
Tax	p. 205
Personal Taxes	p. 206
Social Charges (Including National Insurance Contributions)	p. 206
Corporate Taxes	p. 207
Capital Taxes	p. 208
Sales Tax	p. 209
Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion	p. 210
Vehicle Tax	p. 210
Insurance and Public Liability	p. 210
Data Protection	p. 211
Criminal Records Bureau	p. 212
Age, Gender, Disability, and Race Discrimination	p. 212
U.S. Copyright	p. 212
Performing Rights/Mechanical Rights Organizations	p. 213
BMI	p. 214
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers	p. 214
Sesac	p. 214
Harry Fox Agency	p. 214
MCPS-PRS Alliance	p. 214
Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada	p. 214
Index	p. 227
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.