Starting One's Own Label: The Journey

[roxhythe]

John suggeste I do this. I am taking the plunge into becoming my own record label, with all that entails, because I've gotten tired of waiting for somebody else to do it. I have (as I mentioned earlier) not the faintest idea what I'm doing, and will learn as I go along. John suggested the experiences might be useful for others, and encouraged me to write 'em down and post 'em.

This will accordingly be a sort of stream-of-consciousness thread, like www.musesk.com allowed me to do with a couple of songs-in-progress. I'll add to it as I have more stuff. *You* all feel free to chime in, correct me (I will no doubt need correction on a regular basis), ask questions, and share y'all's own experiences. To paraphrase Ben Stein, we might all learn something.

First installment follows. Thanks.

Joe

PUBLISHING COMPANY 101.

So. Wants to get played on the radio, does we? And the radio station manager says she can't play anything that isn't registered with one of the performing-rights organizations, so they can pay royalties. Fair enough. This writer wants airplay, but this writer also agrees that writers ought to get paid.

This writer has a CD out, professionally recorded and mastered, and has been selling copies at gigs. This writer can do that, because all of the songs are original (lyrics and music by said writer), and said writer performed them, too. The Radio Station Thing is a new wrinkle. Sounds like writer needs... a PUBLISHER.

Publishers, however, are not easily obtainable. One doesn't just go down to the local Publisher Store and pick one off a shelf. A publisher has to be interested in representing YOU; the publisher is going to be putting out a lot of effort and money marketing your music to record companies, movie and TV producers, and "artists" looking (theoretically) for new material, and won't make any money until and unless something sells. It's very much the same dilemma a real estate agent faces–and the real estate agent isn't interested in having something in the "catalog" that's not going to sell, either.

Rather than trying to get the attention of a publisher (which a lot of other people are trying to do, too), it's always possible to become ONE'S OWN publisher. Doing that does mean you become responsible for your own marketing; then again, if no one else seems to be interested, why not? It is (theoretically) always possible to "assign" (that's what it's called) the "publishing rights" (that's what they're called) to somebody else later. In the meantime, you've got a publisher (even if it is yourself), and you can now deal with the performing rights organization–and the radio station.

So how to go about it? There are plenty of resources on line (that even agree about a lot of things). There are also people on line who are happy to sell books on the subject, and colleges that will sell you courses on it. We'll stick–right now–to the free stuff.

FIRST STEP in becoming a publisher is to register as a publisher with one of the performing rights organizations (PROs). There are 3 in the U.S.–ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. BMI is a corporation owned by radio stations (I think) and is free. ASCAP is a membership organization and dues are (or were) ten bucks. Don't know much about SESAC, except they're the only one that sent me a letter asking me to join (that's not necessarily a good reason to do so). I'll pick ASCAP, because they reportedly monitor live performances, which is where the majority of my stuff gets played. (BMI only monitors radio stations.)

It's also necessary to join the SAME PRO as a WRITER. If this sounds redundant, remember it wouldn't be if we had a real publisher. Publishers that represent a lot of writers will want to belong to both ASCAP and BMI; we only have to worry about the one our "writer self" belongs to. Rule is that a publisher has to belong to the same PRO as the writer he or she represents. We're both going to join ASCAP–writer and publisher.

When you register with the PRO, they want you to suggest three possible names for your publishing company. They'll pick one. The reason for this is there are a lot of publishers, and you can't have a name somebody else has already claimed. Shouldn't be hard for a creative person to deal with.

SECOND STEP is making sure your paperwork is in order with local, state and Federal regulatory authorities. You need an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS; you need to file incorporation, partnership, or "doing business as" papers with the state (here in Oregon, that's the Secretary of State's Corporations Division, and we'll do the "doing business as" because we'll be a sole proprietorship); if the town requires business licenses (mine does), you need one of those, too. Note you can't apply for any of those until you have the business name–which is assigned by the PRO.

THIRD STEP. If the songs in the "catalog" aren't copyrighted yet, copyright them in the name of the publisher. If they're already copyrighted by you-the-writer, it's necessary to do an assignment of copyright to the publisher. This is the document (I think) that ensures the publisher is going to get paid. At very least, do this for the songs that are on the existing CD; you'll need to do it later for anything that's going to be on a CD.

FOURTH STEP is for the publisher to register with the Harry Fox Agency. HFA is an outfit that collects "mechanical" royalties whenever somebody cuts a record with your song on it. (I think that includes you cutting your own record, too.) HFA isn't the only outfit that does this, but they are apparently the biggest. Money is paid by a record company to HFA based on how many CDs are MANUFACTURED, not how many are sold, and HFA pays the publisher.

There. Publishing Company 101.

I haven't done any of this yet. These, I understand, are the initial hoops I have to jnump through. Anybody?

[john]

Hey Joe

Good post. I'm pretty short of time today to post anything substantial, but I thought I'd just say nice one. Hopefully I will get a bit more time tomorrow.

Cheers

John

[Steve]

Great post Joe! I'm impressed with the amount of work you've put in so far. Are you gonna go for it?

[roxhythe]

Great post Joe! I'm impressed with the amount of work you've put in so far. Are you gonna go for it?

Oh, yes. It's an idea whose time has come, I think.

I'll probably take it a couple steps further while I'm at it. One song I wanted to put on the next album was co-written with a lady in Nashville I met at the Pineyfest songwriters' conference two years ago. (I'm planning on going again this year.) We'll get the thing professionally recorded in Nashville with a bunch of studio musicians that Bobbie (the co-writer) and bassist Mike Dunbar are assembling for the conference. But that means I'll have to figure out all the ins and outs of publishing somebody else's stuff, as well as publishing co-written stuff (which a lot of country music is, anyway).

The other thing I'll get to do at Pineyfest is record four other songs where I wrote the music to somebody else's lyrics (something I do in my spare time to keep busy when I'm not writing songs myself); we'll split the cost of the demos--but then I'll get to ask them whether they want me to just give 'em the masters, or whether they'd like to have me put it on a record. I have enough of these "Joe plays with others" songs to fill more than half an album, and might get the rest this year. To the extent the answer is "yes" (and it might be, because these writers haven't had any luck pushing their own stuff--and they're lyricists to boot), there's a new field of clients for the Placeholder publishing company. And we get into a whole 'nother realm of paperwork, too--the paperwork by which publishers tie up writers' work for period of time for marketing purposes (much, I think, like real estate agents tie up property in "listing agreements").

Like Lao-Tse said, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. We're going to take that step. Right now, we're trying to figure out if we should take a potty break before leaving...

Joe

[john]

Hey Lazz, Finn, any advice you can offer?

[john]

Like Lao-Tse said, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. We're going to take that step. Right now, we're trying to figure out if we should take a potty break before leaving...

[Lazz]

Hey Lazz, Finn, any advice you can offer?

None that would be of any immediate benefit.

Knowing too much is a severe disadvantage.

It would make you give up right at the start

Joe has to hoe his own row.

[Malcious123]

John suggeste I do this. I am taking the plunge into becoming my own record label, with all that entails, because I've gotten tired of waiting for somebody else to do it. I have (as I mentioned earlier) not the faintest idea what I'm doing, and will learn as I go along. John suggested the experiences might be useful for others, and encouraged me to write 'em down and post 'em.

This will accordingly be a sort of stream-of-consciousness thread, like www.musesk.com allowed me to do with a couple of songs-in-progress. I'll add to it as I have more stuff. *You* all feel free to chime in, correct me (I will no doubt need correction on a regular basis), ask questions, and share y'all's own experiences. To paraphrase Ben Stein, we might all learn something.

First installment follows. Thanks.

Joe

PUBLISHING COMPANY 101.

So. Wants to get played on the radio, does we? And the radio station manager says she can't play anything that isn't registered with one of the performing-rights organizations, so they can pay royalties. Fair enough. This writer wants airplay, but this writer also agrees that writers ought to get paid.

This writer has a CD out, professionally recorded and mastered, and has been selling copies at gigs. This writer can do that, because all of the songs are original (lyrics and music by said writer), and said writer performed them, too. The Radio Station Thing is a new wrinkle. Sounds like writer needs... a PUBLISHER.

Publishers, however, are not easily obtainable. One doesn't just go down to the local Publisher Store and pick one off a shelf. A publisher has to be interested in representing YOU; the publisher is going to be putting out a lot of effort and money marketing your music to record companies, movie and TV producers, and "artists" looking (theoretically) for new material, and won't make any money until and unless something sells. It's very much the same dilemma a real estate agent faces–and the real estate agent isn't interested in having something in the "catalog" that's not going to sell, either.

Rather than trying to get the attention of a publisher (which a lot of other people are trying to do, too), it's always possible to become ONE'S OWN publisher. Doing that does mean you become responsible for your own marketing; then again, if no one else seems to be interested, why not? It is (theoretically) always possible to "assign" (that's what it's called) the "publishing rights" (that's what they're called) to somebody else later. In the meantime, you've got a publisher (even if it is yourself), and you can now deal with the performing rights organization–and the radio station.

So how to go about it? There are plenty of resources on line (that even agree about a lot of things). There are also people on line who are happy to sell books on the subject, and colleges that will sell you courses on it. We'll stick–right now–to the free stuff.

FIRST STEP in becoming a publisher is to register as a publisher with one of the performing rights organizations (PROs). There are 3 in the U.S.–ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. BMI is a corporation owned by radio stations (I think) and is free. ASCAP is a membership organization and dues are (or were) ten bucks. Don't know much about SESAC, except they're the only one that sent me a letter asking me to join (that's not necessarily a good reason to do so). I'll pick ASCAP, because they reportedly monitor live performances, which is where the majority of my stuff gets played. (BMI only monitors radio stations.)

It's also necessary to join the SAME PRO as a WRITER. If this sounds redundant, remember it wouldn't be if we had a real publisher. Publishers that represent a lot of writers will want to belong to both ASCAP and BMI; we only have to worry about the one our "writer self" belongs to. Rule is that a publisher has to belong to the same PRO as the writer he or she represents. We're both going to join ASCAP–writer and publisher.

When you register with the PRO, they want you to suggest three possible names for your publishing company. They'll pick one. The reason for this is there are a lot of publishers, and you can't have a name somebody else has already claimed. Shouldn't be hard for a creative person to deal with.

SECOND STEP is making sure your paperwork is in order with local, state and Federal regulatory authorities. You need an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS; you need to file incorporation, partnership, or "doing business as" papers with the state (here in Oregon, that's the Secretary of State's Corporations Division, and we'll do the "doing business as" because we'll be a sole proprietorship); if the town requires business licenses (mine does), you need one of those, too. Note you can't apply for any of those until you have the business name–which is assigned by the PRO.

THIRD STEP. If the songs in the "catalog" aren't copyrighted yet, copyright them in the name of the publisher. If they're already copyrighted by you-the-writer, it's necessary to do an assignment of copyright to the publisher. This is the document (I think) that ensures the publisher is going to get paid. At very least, do this for the songs that are on the existing CD; you'll need to do it later for anything that's going to be on a CD.

FOURTH STEP is for the publisher to register with the Harry Fox Agency. HFA is an outfit that collects "mechanical" royalties whenever somebody cuts a record with your song on it. (I think that includes you cutting your own record, too.) HFA isn't the only outfit that does this, but they are apparently the biggest. Money is paid by a record company to HFA based on how many CDs are MANUFACTURED, not how many are sold, and HFA pays the publisher.

There. Publishing Company 101.

I haven't done any of this yet. These, I understand, are the initial hoops I have to jnump through. Anybody?

From my experience, we started out with a publisher and copyrighting BEFORE putting anything up or out. In otherwords, BMI invited us.*which was good, since they heard some of our songs almost a year ago, hence* I wouldn't go directly with Harry Fox, I've heard not too many good things about them...and supposedly they're kinda slow with

the payments. Alot of people will advise you to either join BMI,ASCAP, orSESAC, but alot of times, your work has to be up-to-par, with alot of caliber artists and songwriters.

Some people will just tell you to self-publish* in my opinion, do whatever feels right* Trademarking is relatively easy, you can do it two ways, *actually alot more*, The most important thing is registering your name,second which is called the "poor man's trademark", is simply getting your name enough recognition, in as many places as you can, **ie, myspace, gigs, the internet** Trust me, there are craploads of hoops to go through,but don't let it discourage you. I'm doing fine and you will as well.

Good Luck.

[arifah]

Hello Joe,

That sounds like a very exciting step you're taking, I wish you lots of luck. I don't know much about the music industry, but I do know about taking it on and going it alone, and you stand to find out a whole lot more than the workings of the music business. Taking it on like that is a bit like a journey of self discovery, or a spiritual journey in that you not only meet the obstacles that are out there that are keeping you from your dreams, you also meet the ones in yourself and by meeting them you're then in a position to overcome them. You don't always get where you think you're going, sometimes you get somewhere a whole lot better than you ever imagined. It will be interesting to hear all about your discoveries and the highs and lows that you experience discovering them.

I listened to some of your songs, you have a lovely voice, friendly with a lot of character. I particularly like "the frog next door", both the lyrics and the rendition, oh and the title. I hope you don't let your audience change that one because it's an intriguing title, it catches your eye and makes you want to find out what about the frog next door. They might change it to "The Froggy song" which wouldn't quite have the same appeal.

Wishing you all the best, I hope to see you on the next Country Music Award show winning the top award.

Arifah

[john]

Hey Joe

Just wondered how you were getting on? Any progress?

Cheers

John