The Basic Roles of a Music Publisher free essay sample

The role of the music publisher has evolved over the years, for many music companies, it has become nothing more than a banking operation, and for some, this is at the cost of innovation and passion. But what is the role of a music publisher today? We shall discover†¦ What is the music publisher’s role? In Ann Harrison’s Music: The Business, she explains that a music publisher’s role can be split into three simple steps: 1. To issue licenses to people who want to use music. 2. To actively look for ways to use music (i. e. putting it in an advert/film soundtrack). 3. To collect the income from those licenses and uses. Before elaborating on these three steps, we must first acquaint ourselves with the basic terminology that comes with dealing with a music publisher: The first thing everyone in the circle must understand is the meaning of copyright: * COPYRIGHT is a protection that covers published and unpublished works. We will write a custom essay sample on The Basic Roles of a Music Publisher or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It exists at the point of creation, arising automatically. The copyright work, however, must exist in material form, for example, that of a recording or sheet music. * Helen Gammons, The Art of Music Publishing. Copyright subsists throughout original music, artistic, literary and dramatic works; it also subsists in sound recordings, cable programs, broadcasts, film and typographical arrangements of published editions. A copyright in a musical or literary work lasts for 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the author/writer dies. If it is a co-written work, then the copyright is in effect until the previous terms are met by the last surviving copyright owner. In a publishing deal/contract, there are six main commercial terms to look out for. They are as follows: * TERRITORY focuses on what countries the deal covers (although most deals are worldwide). * TERM refers to the duration of the deal. If it is an exclusive deal (see below), then all compositions created during the term are within the conditions of the deal. * MINIMUM COMMITMENT underlines the amount of work/songs written, for the writer to meet the deal’s minimum requirements. An example would be (for a non-artist songwriter) – â€Å"five 100% controlled songs (or an ultimate percentage equivalent) released on an approved UK label in each contract period†. This means that a writer could co-write, having 50% ownership of the song, but if this is the case, the writer would have to accumulate the lost 50% on another song. * ADVANCES are the pre-payment of your share of gross income from your songs. This is not a loan, and will not need to be repaid if you leave the deal. The size of the advance will depend on previous earnings/success, the potential earnings, competition, and how much control you have over the album. ROYALTIES are the earnings of the exploitations of your songs from which your advance will be deducted. A typical split in an exclusive deal would be 25% publisher, 75% songwriter. A typical split from a record deal can be around 15%/85% to 20%/80% (record company/songwriter). * RETENTION PERIOD is the length of time after which the writer deal (term) has expired, that the copyrights now spend with the music publisher for them to recoup their advance and make money for the writer. This period can be as short as three years, t o as long as ‘life of copyright’. Step 1 is normally done in conjunction with the collection societies, which is a non-profit organization that represent the interests of publishers, record companies, authors and performers, but the one for music publishers and songwriters (UK) is called the PRS (Performing Right Society). This collection society is specifically for composers, songwriters and music publishers and bears the responsibility of administering the public performance and broadcasting rights of music and lyrics. The PRS is a UK company, and it represents over a million foreign music copyright owners via its affiliation with other collection societies overseas. When you join with the PRS, there is a small joining fee (of which, is constantly changing) and you basically assign your performing rights to the PRS. There is a small criteria to fulfill in order to join the PRS and that is that you have your music either being broadcast on the radio/TV, or it is being performed live. The music publisher will be esponsible for registering your (and now, their) material with the PRS (and collection societies all around the world – this may just require the songwriter to fill in a form and file it with the society, and sometimes it requires a recording and a written copy of the music and lyrics aka. ‘lead sheet’). Step 2 involves the publisher finding uses for the songwriter’s music. The most typical way (if the writer is not an artist) is to find an artist to perform, record and release the song, this works significantly well if a high rolling artist expresses an interest – it could be life-changing. Another brilliant method of getting your music heard is through music synchronisaton or ‘syncing’ – this is when a piece of music is laid over a piece of video to enhance the viewing experience. When songs are ‘synced’, it is a win-win – the video production company benefit from having a professional composition on their video, and the writer and publisher benefit from their music being heard. For example: if you write a contemporary ballad, it might be their prerogative to look into music synchronization in a television drama (e. g. he close of a Grey’s Anatomy episode), or an easy listening acoustic folk song for an advert aimed at the younger audience. Syncing can span across all different kinds of media such as film, radio and video-gaming too. Step 3 of the publisher’s role is to claim his and the writer’s earnings from aforementioned endeavors from the collection societies (briefly touched upon in step 1). If the musi c publisher is on a grander scale, then it is likely that he/she will have companies in many major countries internationally, along with only a few independent music publishers (such as PeerMusic) with a similar system. Smaller music publishers will not have adequate resources to fund such an elaborate scheme, so they appoint local publishers to represent their interests there (sub-publishing; see below). There are four basic types of publishing deals, these are listed below: * ADMINISTRATION DEAL – If you are a songwriter with a vast collection of songs that could potentially earn a viable amount of money, but you don’t have the time or the wherewithal to self-publish by registering with collection societies and managing the role of royalty tracking yourself. Under this agreement, the publisher possesses the right/license to administer said composition/s, but this is not the same as copyright. They can permit/license the use of said songs within different realms of media such as recordings, tapes/CD’s, television (series/adverts), film/DVD etc. , and collect royalties from all music users. This is usually for a specified period of time (term), more often than not around the span of three to five years, and in return for this service, the publisher will negotiate an ‘administration fee’ ranging (usually) between 10% 15% of the gross income earned during the negotiated ‘term’. Certain advantages of this deal are more control over songs, no pressure to deliver a specific amount of material, you keep your copyrights (unless there is good reason for you not to), you can request to be consulted on any controversial use of your material, whether it be associated with violence or simply inappropriate. Disadvantages of this deal would be no advances. * SUB-PUBLISHING DEAL – The sub-publishing deal is for the artist that does not wish to assign all copyright, but does wish the publisher to find new ways of making an income off of their material (songs). This deal consists of transferring ownership of copyright, but there is no general statistic, deals/decisions are made on a case-by-case basis. An advance isn’t out of the question, but it would be contingent on how much of the rights are being handed over to the publisher; that being said, any advance would be small as the reduced assignment of rights means the publisher will not be earning as much compared to an exclusive deal, for example. A sub-publishing deal is an appealing choice for smaller publishers who wish to operate abroad, and they can do this without having to set up a company overseas; instead, they use an overseas company to execute the right to use some or all of the rights in the specified country. * SINGLE SONG ASSIGNMENT – This deal is restricted to a single song, with which the publisher will be assigned the rights of the song and find as many uses for the song as possible. Because it’s a small deal, it is easier to estimate and exploit it’s earning potential, and depending on that, a small advance will be distributed and all the usual accounting and licensing will be carried out. The term of rights can be negotiated; you can either assign the rights for life, or you can arrange a ‘rights period’. Your control over the song’s exploitation may be small – to prevent the publisher being hindered in making money from the song – but you will have an acceptable level of control in terms of lyric changes and commercial usage. EXCLUSIVE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT – This is probably the most important deal, as for every songwriter, this stage in their career is a definitive one. As Ann Harrison explains in Music: The Business, getting an established publisher behind them in this circumstance means that they have arrived, that someone else has faith in their work and is prepared to put money and commitment behind t hat conviction. Under this agreement, the songwriter agrees to assign the rights of all compositions (songs) written during a certain time-frame (aka. Term agreed upon with the publisher). An example of a usual term is two years from a specified date or one year (with four conditional options). You are guaranteed a percentage share of the income earned on songs during, and usually a proviso for weekly or monthly payments (contingent on the scale of which your agreement is drafted). The weekly/monthly payments made to the writer are treated as ‘advances’ , which will ultimately, be recouped from the songwriter’s future royalties. These royalties will be made from record sales, downloads, sheet music, music synchronization, television, film, video-gaming etc. he advantages of this sort of deal is that of stability – the writer is guaranteed a more reliable and steady income as opposed to some previous deals, as the advances help financially while the royalties (which take six months to one year to reach the writer after they have been transacted) are processing. In addition to these deals, newly-founded ‘music companies’ have scour ed the planes looking for other innovative ways to grasp the sources of revenue made by their recording artists. Such deals like the ‘360-degree’ deal or the ‘multiple rights’ agreements, are such methods labels have taken to using, to recover from the losses in the record industry. * THE 360 ° CONCEPT – In The Music Management Bible, Nicola Riches explains that the record company’s rights would traditionally be restricted to the artist’s recordings and (in order to facilitate the exploitation of those recordings) the ancillary rights described above. In recent years, record companies have shown a predatory interest in other areas of their artists’ activities. This trend has been driven by the concern with breaking in new artists; when traditionally, upon signing a new artist, the record company will bear the financial brunt of the investment that is required. Obviously, this works well for the record company if there is an acceptable level of return from record sales, but in this day and age, record says are declining in favour of digital downloads and the invasion of music piracy. This means that the record companies need to recuperate this loss via other means, as the investment is no longer justified when considering the anticipated return. This means that if the record companies are to make a similar investment in artists, they must find some way to increase the return in compensation of this shortcoming. Due to this shift, many artists doubt that they can ever expect to recoup/make enough/much money from record sales, but they need the drive and exposure of the machine that is an established record company to effectively promote their record, concert tickets and/or merchandise. In response to this, record companies have presented the idea that if they are to invest in a record, then it wants a ‘cut’ out of the income of the artist’s related activites. â€Å"In it’s ‘pure’ form the 360 ° concept involves the record company gaining an entitlement to all of the artist’s services in the music business; this would extend to live performance, songwriting, merchandising, sponsorship and so on. † – Nicola Riches, The Music Management Bible Just as with recording deals, music publishing is too suffering changes in the way it is viewed/perceived by smaller operators. Many managers and smaller record labels have expressed an interest in handling publishing rights due to the current changes in the way artists are utilizing music, and the way people are experiencing music. Since the emergence of the ‘digital era’, many shifts in the music industry seemed necessary, one specific change would be the economic repositioning of record labels and music publishers; when before, record labels would develop and promote artists through financing the creations and distributing artists’ recordings, while the music publishers’ roles were to exploit the rights in and to musical compositions. When something as revolutionary as the digital market changes the way the consumer experiences music, it also changes the way the industry’s cogs tick. This is where the seas part between the label and the publisher, because unlike labels, music publishers are not so tightly beholden to the sale of prerecorded music and they are more prepared to adapt to the changing ways in which consumers can obtain and listen to music. Many of the sources from which publishers can collect revenue are: * Public performance Synchronisation of songs (in connection with audiovisual works) * So-called ‘print rights’ (sheet music copyright) * Mechanical reproduction of songs on CD’s/digital downloads When a typical income stream for music publishers is mechanical royalties, and when those mechanical royalties are declining due to the piracy movement, publishers find themselves too, looking for other innovative ways to make this loss back somehow, alongside becoming more effici ent at collecting these royalties and running their companies. Music publishers have begun to take on some of the roles originally only executed by record companies, such as providing studio time for their budding artists to record demos, and some even go as far as to provide financial support to artists when out on tour, or even for basic promotion or press coverage. The reason for this is to give the artist a boost northwards and to help in ways that might be shortcoming of a record label these days. A new method of copyright was issued in recent years when EMI (Electric and Musical Industries) were one of the first publishers to implement song lyrics onto merchandise such as T-shirts, key-rings, mugs, etc. the importance of licensing songs in video has increased too, with many publishers improving/strengthening their synchronization departments. With the existence of independent publishing companies like Kobalt, which have revolutionized the way publishers operate, publishers are striving to become more efficient, and to handle things such as royalties more effectively and systemically.

strenuous life essays

strenuous life essays In the late 1800s, Theodore Roosevelt became well known for delivering popular speeches. One of the main topics that Roosevelt preached was the strenuous life. His philosophy of the strenuous life was that one should earn things from working for them. Roosevelt taught that the highest form of success comes from those who work the hardest and demonstrate the most efforts. Having the satisfaction of knowing that you worked laboriously for something, and in return have a rewarding result, that is the strenuous life. But, is Roosevelt's philosophy of the strenuous life still applicable today? August 13, 1999 marked an important day in my life. On the 13th, I turned 17 and passed my driving test. After having spent lots of time thinking about it, I decided that since I had this new responsibility, I should use it to my advantage. Now that I could commute and commit myself, I decided to start to search for my first job. The first place that I had applied to, Allure Hair Designers, hired me as their receptionist. I knew that things in my life were about to change. At the end of my first week of work, I received my first paycheck. I went home from work that day, and sat in bedroom all night thinking of what I should do with this money. Before this, the thought of budgeting money had never really occurred to me because I knew that I was always able to depend on my parents for financial support. However, I decided that things would be different now. I use my first paycheck to take my parents out for a nice dinner at their favorite restaurant. This restaurant is not personally one of my favorites, but for all that they have done for me, it was the least I could do. When the bill came, I paid for it, without hesitating. As I waited for the waiter to bring me my change, I realized that this was the best meal that I had ever had. The reason for this was not because the food was prepared especially well, but rather ...

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 8

Marketing - Essay Example Concept of Marketing The marketing concept can be described as the achievement of corporate goals through meeting and exceeding customer needs and expectations better than the competition or competitors. This can be done by three steps: 1. Customer orientation – the company’s main focus should be on its target market i.e. customer satisfaction rather than solely improving costs and methods for the company itself 2. Integrated effort – fulfilling customer satisfaction is not a one-man job, it requires a management team and workforce with the common motive to achieve this task through production, finance, research and development 3. Goal achievement – for integrated work to run smoothly and successfully, the management must have strong belief in the fact that corporate goals can be achieved through consumer satisfaction. Marketing Mix A marketing mix is a company strategy that helps boost a company customers, profits and innovations with the help of four ste ps (known as the 4 P’s) i.e. product, price, promotion, and place. These 4 Ps are the key decision elements that marketers must follow in order to achieve the wants and needs of their clientele above their competitors. This marketing mix however has been extended to 7 Ps with the three additions of people, progress and physical evidence due to the rapid growth of the service industries. The emphasis of every individual element varies depending on the commodities the organization offers. Product. The product decision includes choosing which goods and services the company is willing and able to produce and supply to its target customers. This includes product creation as well as integration and development where by the products supplied and new and improved with the advancements in technology and taste. This phase also includes the branding image of the company i.e. its name, packaging and promotions and offers. It seems that Britvic seems to rely on the porter’s model o f differentiation to keep its products relevant to the UK’s beverages market. Hence there is more focus on offering the customers a good variety and availability of product, importantly, along with a focus on development of the products to keep the customers interested rather than offer the highest standards of quality (taste) or uniqueness of product and taste. This might be because a large part of Britvic’s business activity consists of distributing drinks of established brands such as PepsiCo and hence the company can choose to rely on provision of quality service to other businesses to maintain relevance to the consumer market rather than on maintenance of quality. Placement. Placement deals with decision making regarding distribution channels. Key management decisions stress upon locations of its outlets, transportation facilities, and inventory levels of stock and stock needing to be reordered. The main goal is to ensure products and services are available in the desired and sufficient quantities, at the desired time durations and venue. These distribution channels consist of organizations such as retailers and wholesalers who act as an intermediary through which commodities pass on their way to customers. Producers need to manage their relationships with these organizations in order for them to provide cost-effective access to that specific firm and the market they belong to. They also need to be familiar with new methods of

ARM Holdings s response to changes in the microenvironment Essay

ARM Holdings s response to changes in the microenvironment - Essay Example The firm that is analyzed in the paper is ARM, the producer of most microprocessors used in mobile devices like mobile phones, smart phones, servers and embedded devices. Intel dominates the manufacture of microprocessors for laptops, desktops, tablets and other computer devices. Though they share a related field in different industries, both firms are different, and each dominates a section of the market that its competitor did not want to venture, until recently. Recent events in the information technology industry have caused a shift towards the mobile industry, and both firms have enough interest to invest in research that will enable them to produce microprocessors for use in the domain of its competitor. ARM intends to shift into building processor architectures for the PC, tablet, and laptop industry while Intel wants to shift to producing processors for the mobile industry. However, this shift is faced with limitations since the two companies are pushing their strengths that had resulted in their domination of their current market. ARM does not build its processors; rather it sells the architecture to firms like NVidia, QUALCOMM, Apple and Texas Instruments that have the necessary infrastructure to build the designs. It charges these companies for up to 2 % of the revenue from the processors for each processor that is incorporated into a device. The ARM processors are characterised by low energy consumption that makes them ideal for mobile devices, and the firm also designs some processor architecture that are incorporated into servers. ... ry has more potential for growth than the PC industry, and that is why Intel has shifted attention towards developing microprocessors for mobile devices. Intel aims at doing this by improving the energy consumption of its processors since their processing power is the best in the world. On the other hand, ARM has already developed processors for use in personal computers, tablets and other devices that use operating systems that are primarily built for computer systems. This will pose a threat to companies like AMD since ARM has the capacity to improve on its technologies since it does not build the processors (BDTi, 2011). Environmental Analysis Industry Cycle The microprocessor industry has reached its maturity stage as it has existed for a long time and firms have already established their niche markets. However, since this is a research, innovation and development-intensive market, the industry has retained the characteristic of an emerging market. In addition, due to the versati lity of information technologies, it is likely to remain so as firms come up with new architectures, forms, and configurations of processors. Therefore, in its strategy, ARM should not only look at current developments, but also anticipate future changes in order to have a competitive edge against leading market players like Intel, and avoid being overtaken by emerging firms (Porter, 2008: 89). Porter’s Forces There are five main environmental forces that ARM has to deal with in its quest to venture into the PC market and retain its competitive edge in the mobile market, three of which are macroeconomic and two microeconomic. The porter forces give an over view of the steps the firm should take in order to achieve its objectives; these changes include: The entry of Intel and other firms

Language and memory Essay Example for Free

Language and memory Essay Limitations with the study included the sample range being too small. This means that it is difficult to make generalisations because 20 undergraduate students cannot possibly be representative of the sample population. In order to improve the experiment, a wider sample range could be used, including people from different age groups and ethnic backgrounds. Another limitation was gender bias. The driver in the vignette was male which could have meant that male participants may have been more sympathetic to him when giving an estimation. If a female character had been used, the results may have been different. This could be improved by using two sample groups, both with female characters, but again with either the smashed into condition or bumped into condition. The results of this and previous studies have a number of implications in todays society. Loftus and Palmers work (1974), showed how changing a verb in a sentence, can alter eyewitness recall of a car accident. These findings have major implications for the Legal Justice Systems. In a study by Rattner (1988), a review of 205 cases of wrongful arrest showed that 52% of the cases were associated with mistaken eyewitness testimonies. These results highlighted the unreliability of eyewitness testimony. Other studies have demonstrated that witnesses sometimes cannot attribute memory to its appropriate sources, or that they make source attribution errors. When witnesses get information from other witnesses and from the police, then their own recollection is likely to be contaminated (Fisher, 1995). This is yet further evidence suggesting that there should be less dependence on eyewitness testimony, and with the arrival of advanced gene technology, it is now possible to use alternative sources of evidence. References Carlson, N. R., Buskist, W., Martin, G. N. (2000). Psychology The Science of Behaviour, 266-267 Loftus, E. F. and Palmer, J. E. (1974). Reconstruction of automobile destruction: an example of the interaction between language and memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 13, 585-589. Fisher, R. P., (1995). Interviewing victims and witnesses of crime. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 1(4), 732-764.  Nisha Ghei Eyewitness Practical

Ideology in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Minister’s Black Veil Essay

Ideology in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Minister’s Black Veil Bennett and Royle in their textbook, Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory, define ideology as representing â€Å"†¦ ‘the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence’† (161). The ideology of self, of personal identity, is represented by a person’s perception of what is acceptable in their society. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, The Minister’s Black Veil, the minister appears before his community with a black veil covering his face. He gives no explanation for this apparel and the community becomes agitated that their minister refuses to remove it. The readers challenge is to discover why the minister wears the veil and why he won’t take it off. Hawthorne challenges the readers ideology of self with his choice of words, by showing how ideology is redefined by each subject, and by using as his form the technique of the parable. The parishioners expectations are shattered by the appearance of their beloved minister wearing a black veil over his face. Children, with bright faces, tripped merrily beside their parents, or mimicked in graver gait, in the conscious dignity of their Sunday clothes. Spruce bachelors looked sidelong at the pretty maidens, and fancied that the Sabbath sunshine made them prettier than on weekdays (Hawthorne 1) These expectations are portrayed by the way the story begins. Hawthorne uses words that suggest happiness; â€Å"bright† â€Å"merrily† â€Å"pretty† â€Å"fancied† and â€Å"sunshine†. But this ‘happiness’ vanishes with the appearance of the minister. The expectations of what is socially acceptable are challenged by the appearance of the black veil. â€Å"But what has good Parson Hooper got upon his face?† c... ...o understand the parable. A parable is used to explain something that is unexplainable and cannot be explained if the reader does not understand it. The reader is in constant danger throughout the reading of having his ideology of self shattered by the very real possibility that he won’t ‘get it’. The entire story is as obscure and shaky as ideology itself. Hawthorne’s choice of words throughout the story set up the reader for a continual bombardment of his/her ideology of self and societal expectations. Works Cited Bennett, Andrew and Nicholas Royle. Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory. 2nd Edition. New York: Prentice Hall, 1999. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. â€Å"The Minister’s Black Veil†. Crown College. Accessed 27 Aug 2003. http://www.crown.edu/humanities/ratledgw/ENG%20132/stories/ veilhawt.htm> Miriam Webster Dictionary. Accessed 27 Aug 2003.

Internet and Modern Technology Essay

There are many forms of modern technology that have played important roles throughout my life, and the computer has affected my life the most. There are both positive and negatives aspects on how the computer has helped me. There are also advantages and disadvantages to this form of modern technology, called the computer. The first and foremost advantage of the computer is how it has helped me with my school work. With having Google, Dictionary, and Ask, these are sources on the computer that are very helpful with getting information. It is a lot faster and more convenient. Another thing I love about it, is the communication you can have with friends and family. With Facebook, email, and Skype, it’s a lot faster and easier way to communicate with your loved ones. I feel that one of the most important is that these communication avenues are free. Even though I use a lot of these technologies almost daily they can also cause distractions. On the down side, some of the negatives aspects of technology with computers are that it can be an expensive form of access to information. Also not only do you have to pay for the computer but you also have to pay for the internet access to get to some of these information sites. Another down fall is the networks do shut down. So if you are doing homework or talking with friends it can sometimes aimlessly stop working. Another negative to having a computer is it can affect people’s work ethic, by looking at Facebook, or playing online games. So they aren’t getting their job done. Knowing there are still disadvantages to computers there are still advantages in using it correctly. As a conclusion to technology and the ever ways it has changed and will change in the future. Hopefully some of the changes will be headed for advantages for the future, in a form of no charge for internet access, and not having to worry about towers going down. Also for the younger generations to know how to still look information without taking advantages of everything being at their fingertips. Unfortunately we cannot see into the future to see what advantages and disadvantages are in store for us, but hopefully they are for the better and I am very thankful for the modern technology that is available and the advantages it has for me.