Hey everyone

I have moved this blog into Media Music Now.

Please come and visits is there.

www.mediamusicnow.co.uk/blog/

Best Regards

Lee Pritchard

I have been in many discussions about the role of PRS I have been asked the following question numerous times by new composers and bands.

When should I join PRS?

In short I would say it is a judgement call on your part. In my experience, there are certain old school managers / music industry advisers that will have you believe it is the first thing you need to do in order to get paid. This is not strictly true!

PRS collect money from performances and broadcasts of your musical works. However, due to the huge task of monitoring this, PRS use a system of census that actually means that your music can be played yet missed by the census.

I think PRS do a great job for many composers / artists, but I do not think joining up should be the first thing you consider doing. In my opinion, I think it is worthwhile paying the admin fee and joining if you know that your works are being broadcast on major Terrestrial TV channels. If you are just being played on local radio for a few weeks a year, it is extremely unlikely that you will get any revenue. If you do it probably won’t recoup your admin fee.

So, in short, don’t join because somebody that apparently knows the industry tells you to.

Do some research, get the facts and join only when you think you will benefit financially.

Resources

• www.prs.co.uk – Performance royalty collecting society UK

This guy knows what he is talking about and has a detailed article about royalties.

• http://www.bemuso.com/musicbiz/collectionsocieties.html

Also, I have a two part article about copyright and licensing

• http://www.mediamusicnow.co.uk/mediamusicarticles/Copyright-Licensing/

This is cut and paste from the www.prs.co.uk…

Methods of using performance data for royalty distribution

census – full returns of all music played.

Where revenue is sufficient, PRS will distribute it to all the works performed. While it is the Society’s desire for this to be applied to all performances, at present it is only achieved for national terrestrial broadcast performances and certain major concerts.

sample – a subset of returns of all the music played.

In many cases the cost of collecting and processing details of all performances would be more than the revenue available. In these cases PRS collects information about some of the performances and uses that to represent all of them. These samples might be certain days in a broadcasters schedule, or certain concert events and are selected at random to reflect their overall value.

projection – returns of music from one source used to distribute another source

There are many uses of music, such as CDs and tapes for background music in shops and restaurants, where the actual value of each performance is probably only a few pence. In these cases it is too costly to create an effective sample. Instead PRS creates a statistical calculation of other music data based on a small survey of actual performances.

Media Music Now is planning to launch its own podcast and we need your help.

In order to make the Podcast useful to you, we need to hear about your experiences with music and media.

• What do you want to know about?
• Who do you want us to interview?
• What would be useful for you?
• Do you want to hear new music?
• Do you want us to interview composers?

Please let us know and we will do our best.

This is my take on it… any other opinions / knowledge on this subject are welcome.

An aggregator acts a bit like an agent, putting bands music into other people’s libraries on behalf of the artist. The aggregator takes a percentage on sales but often does not even sell from his own site.

This can be useful for an unsigned band because it means that the aggregator takes care of getting their content into all the relevant online retailers.

An aggregator has the contacts and knowledge of how to get bands / labels music into the right online retailers and can generate a revenue without having to develop and promote an eCommerce site of their own.

Aggregators tend to put a band’s / label’s music anywhere it has a chance of being sold, whether a big download store such as itunes and Tunetribe or in any of the numerous independent websites. Aggregators have been known to provide catalogue to ringtone sellers and other media industries.

IVR is short for Interactive Voice Response, an automated system that uses a touch response telephone to direct your call. You will have one of these if you have multiple departments with lots of incoming calls.

60% of callers put on a silent on-hold hang up within 40 seconds and callers put on-hold with information and music will stay about 3 minutes longer.

55% of communication is lost over the phone (body language), leaving us with 38% through tone of voice and just 7% through words.

As you can see from the statistics, giving the wrong message in the wrong tone could actually damage your sales and your reputation.

Many companies spend time and money on their visual branding (logo and leaflets) but neglect their telephone audio. “Your sonic branding is as important as your visual branding!”

This article looks at some of the common mistakes made with IVR and on-hold marketing. It also outlines some good techniques to use.

You rang !

It is best to have just a few options on your telephone system. People lose interest quickly so listing every department is not always a good idea. Think about it from the customers’ point of view, what will they be calling your company for? To buy products? Information? To make a complaint?

It is recommended that you keep it to 3 or 4 salient options max if you can. If you think that you need 7 or 8 options, be ruthless; cut it down to the 3 or 4 relevant points. You can always have the 4^th option to cover all other enquires.

Remember, the purpose of telephone options is to get the potential client through to the most relevant operator as quickly as possible. Failing that, you need to get them to remain on hold until you are able to deal with their call.

“Thank you for calling ABC, for sales please press 1 – for product information press 2 – for all other enquiries press 3.”

Make it simple and friendly and always use a professional voice-over. People relate to it better and psychologically, it is more accepted and expected by the caller. Your company will sound established and efficient and will instantly inspire confidence. You can always tell when a member of the office records the IVR options, you know, the one with the best telephone voice!

Think about the type of voice-over you want to use… What image do you want your company to portray in the mind of the listener? What is your target market?

Using a voice-over style that will connect with your caller is important. You don’t want a mature corporate voice if your company is aimed at 18-25 year olds, and likewise, you don’t want a young radio type voice if your are a firm of lawyers.

On-hold Now

Being on hold can be annoying, however, you can entertain and use this time to educate your caller. A silent on-hold is extremely cold and callers hang up much sooner than when they have something to occupy them.

Music

Music can alleviate boredom, however, make sure your music is properly licensed for use on a telephone system otherwise you could face a copyright infringement charge.

Also, do select the music carefully. Not everybody has your taste in music…for example, a banging hip-hop track may alienate some of your callers. It is usually best to go for music that is easy on the ear or relaxing. Original music is a good choice for telephone use as the caller has no preconceptions about the piece – they just accept it as music.

As with the voice, it is also advisable to pick music that is relevant to the company image you want to portray. It is acceptable for a nightclub to use a pumping dance track, but clearly this would be wrong for an accountant’s office.

It is good practice to thank the caller for holding, but do not do it every 5 seconds! Many on hold systems work on a continuous loop. I suggest having your ‘thank you’ message at the beginning and in the middle of the loop. Intervals of 20-30 seconds don’t disrupt the music too much but remind your caller that you care.

Entertain, educate and sell!

Don’t waste the opportunity you have when a caller is on hold. You have a captive audience. You have a great opportunity to keep them occupied and educate them about your services.

It is best not to blatantly advertise, or to cram as many ads in as possible. A more subtle approach is far less intrusive and more appreciated by the caller. On-hold marketing should use voice and music combined. They are both important elements so let any adverts breath; make sure there is music on either side of them to break things up.

When it comes to writing a telephone advert, make it short and to the point. I am not and advertising expert, however, making it engaging and entertaining can really count.

Simple stuff can work best i.e.

“Thank you for holding, did you know ABC limited sells more widgets in the UK than any other company, and can price match any quote.”

“This Autumn we have great savings on widgets, ask your operator for details”.

You get the idea, short sentences, no hard sell and let people hear the music before and after the voice, this is when they will take in and process the information.

I have written this article based on my experience of putting telephone audio packages together for clients and have much experience in this area. I have a limited knowledge about hardware but I advise that you always test any newly installed audio.

Phone your company as a client to check that it all works. Is the volume right? Is it clear? Are there anomalies in the system that causes delays or the first split second to be cut off? There is nothing worst than hearing your perfectly produced audio file being butchered by incorrectly configured hardware. Your callers will notice it but say nothing about it. Not to you anyway!

I hope this article has given you food for thought!

About The Author

Lee Pritchard is a composer and sound engineer who has had a life long passion for music; composing it, playing it, producing it and being around others who are involved in it.

Lee is the founder of www.mediamusicnow.com , a website providing 100% Royalty Free music, custom music services, audio editing, sound design , music consultancy , a telephone voice-over and music service and Podcast Production.

Lee can be contacted through his blog www.leepritchard.co.uk

The Question…

Hello Mr. Pritchard,
I read your article on Music Licensing in the latest issue of the Galaris newsletter. My concern is, I am a songwriter/publisher member with BMI. I’ve had several of my mp3 music tracks performed or featured on various podcast productions but I haven’t seen any royalty payments from those performances. All of the songs featured or performed are registered with BMI. I appreciate the exposure but should BMI send me a royalty check for those performance of my music? What am I’m doing wrong? I look forward to your reply.

Thanks

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Lee Pritchard’s Answer…
Hi Gregory

Thank you for your question.

The BMI Internet Music license covers usage of any BMI music in podcasts. Once the podcaster has a license BMI request music usage reports identifying all of the music works used. As I understand it, it is not clear how royalties are calculated and paid out to BMI songwriter / publisher members.

Traditionally, royalty-collecting societies do not pay out on every single song used but compile statistics based on samples of play lists. A known example of this is local radio and public venue licensing. They claim that it is impractical for them to monitor and payout on every song used. This is obviously not ideal and it is inevitable that some will benefit more than others. Almost always, it is the major record labels and mainstream artists that benefit the most. As an independent, there is a chance of not being paid at all based on their statistics.

The question is, how are they paying out on podcast usage and are you a casualty of BMI’s statistics?

Again, it is not clear. The following is taken from BMI’s online Royalty Information booklet regarding Internet Music and Mobile Entertainment.
“As these are very new mediums for licensing and distribution, policies still are being established as to how performances are to be tabulated and royalties are to be distributed.”
I would suggest that as a member of BMI, you should call them and ask them how they are currently tabulating royalties for podcast use of your music. In theory they should be able to locate your tracks in their music usage reports. Surely this is the least they should do for a member, especially as you know your music is being used in podcasts and that you have not received royalties.

The other reason, albeit slightly depressing, is that the podcasters may have used your music without acquiring a license. If you know who they are you could report them to BMI, and I believe they would have an obligation to do something about it for you.

I hope this is helpful, and I would be really interested to know how you get on with this issue.

Regards
Lee Pritchard

Media Media Music

100% Royalty Free Music, Affordable One-Time Payment, Hand-Picked Professional Music for Podcasts, Multimedia, Websites, Flash, Cororate Video, Viral Marketing and more >>>

Using music in your multimedia, website or business project has legal implications and requires a music licensing agreement. Do you know what is covered? Do you know what entitlement you have to use the music?

The link takes you to a two-part article that explains the basics and looks at your possible options.

Music Licensing – The Basics – Part 1

Music Licensing – The Basics – Part 2

Please feel free to comment or ask additional questions.

Through my experience I have become knowledgeable on a number of issues
surrounding music. Feel free to ask any questions about licensing,
copyright, royalty or any other concerns over music use. I can also help
you with a number of production questions regarding music qualities etc.
I will do my best to answer your questions and if I can’t, I will point
you in the right direction.

Just email me your question through the on-line form link at the bottom
of this page.

I will post your question and answer on the blog and email you directly
with an answer.

I am happy to include your company details and web address too, it is
good for your search engine ranking and also helps me. If you prefer to
remain anonymous please let me know in your message.

Give me a try!

Ask Your Question

By Lee Pritchard

This article explains why I created Media Music Now and why I took the decision to sell directly rather than through royalty-collecting societies.

As a composer, I have been approached many times by SME’s (small to medium enterprises) to provide music for media purposes.

In my personal experience, the client usually wants and prefers a complete buyout on music they wish to use. It is fair to say that most companies don’t really have a great understanding of copyright laws or royalty collecting societies and what they do, so composers usually end up doing a deal that involves a one-time payment directly, just like most regular business transactions.

With Media Music Now, I have taken the concept to a wider audience and have made our music library accessible to all SME’s on this basis. Effectively, I specialise in being the middleman for the music maker, offering a revenue stream where conventional methods often miss out.

Most up-and-coming composers aspire to live from the proceeds of life-long royalty cheques for music they wrote years ago. Unfortunately, the reality is that this probably won’t happen unless they are established soundtrack composers or have music in the top 40, so most of their income has to be from direct sales.

Royalty Collecting Societies…good or bad?

I don’t have anything against collecting societies. On the whole, I think they provide a great service to their members. Avoiding the use of royalty collecting societies is a decision I made based on my target market and my business methodology.

For composers, collecting societies tend to be most effective when their music is used by major broadcasters or included in a mass duplication product, such as a feature film released on DVD.

The drawback is that many non-mainstream music uses are paid for in the form of a blanket license. This means that the composer gets paid on a pro-rata basis, calculated on a sample of playlists rather than for every use of their music. In this instance, big mainstream artists/composers almost always get paid something because they have a greater presence in the world, whereas the lesser-known composer gets paid if they’re lucky!

The problem for an SME or individual who wants to use music on their website, viral marketing campaign or on- hold system etc., is that the conventional royalty fees are often cost-prohibitive and they end up not using music at all.

Conclusion

Music royalty collection is an age-old problem that does not seem to be getting any better with technology – it just seems to become more convoluted in my opinion.

I think my fresh pragmatic approach to this problem works extremely well for the independent composer/artist and offers SME’s an affordable, safe solution.

Welcome to my blog. Feel free to join in!

This blog is mostly about original music for media uses including licensing and legal issues, composition and production.

If you have any opinions, comments or topics for discussion I will be more that happy to see you bloging. Also, if you have any questions I am either myself or someone on here can help.