The place where music professionals meet, Grammy365.com

The place where music professionals meet, Grammy365.com. The 55th annual Grammy Awards are nearing and many might wonder how they too can become apart of such an elite group of professionals. There are many professional associations and organization one can join to stay connected, network and build on the professional music careers but in my opinion none like this. The greatest award in music provides an even great opportunity for up and coming industry professionals.

Grammy365 is the members site like Facebook, Twitter and Myspace used to stay informed and connected to where music is and where it's going. They've provided 12 chapters across the United States allowing members access education, advocacy and dental care through it's Music Cares affiliation. Members not just have access to Grammy events but discounts to other organizations events such as SXSW among a host of others. Membership also includes an invite to music's biggest night, the invitation only Grammy Awards.

They are three types of membership one can take advantage of: 

Student Member: primarily between ages 17 to 25, who are currently enrolled in a college, university or trade school with a desire to work in the recording industry upon graduation. Student members do not need to be majoring in music or in a music program to qualify for Student Membership. This allows students to join and take advantage of the industries top resources through volunteering, internships and networking.  

Associate Member: is for individuals who are creative and technical professionals with fewer than the required credits for Voting membership and other recording industry professionals such as executive producers, writers, publishers, attorneys, record label staff, music merchants, music educators, and artist managers who are directly involved, on a professional basis, in the music business.

Voting Member: This classification is for creative and technical professionals who qualify in at least one of the categories of eligibility. All recordings must be commercially released in the U.S. either through traditional distribution channels or recognized online retail settings. 

This information along with annual fee's and required documentation can be found under the Grammys membership section.

I have been a student member of the Grammys for the last two years and looking to become an associate member by 2014. During my two years of membership I have traveled to many different networking events from Chicago to Atlanta and New York. I've met the next big stars to the current ones like Brian Michael Cox and Mama Jane of Jane Smith Studio's just to name a few. While I'm not typically one to request pictures with stars, I'm learning the importance of doing to as my careers grows. You not only make good contacts at these events but learn a host of information that you may not have learned in the classroom or on your musical journey.

How to live before dying by Steve Jobs

On any given day we can find ourselves with our spirits down and looking for some motivation to press on ahead. Motivation is all around us but greatly depends on ones perception of the information they're receiving. Ted.com is an interesting site with a host of amazing speakers sharing their life stories, wisdom and knowledge that can be used for encouragement and growth. What I have found most encouraging about the site is that the speakers come from all walks of life (careers, race and regions) but have found ways to make the best of the cards they were dealt. 

How to live before dying by Steve Jobs was a speech he had given at the 2005 Stanford University commencement and named as a Best of the Web video by TED. Have you seen it or heard any excerpts from it in the media? If yes, what did you take from it and how are you applying it to life today? Steve Jobs an already great speaker and presenter had delivered possibly his best speech ever. His speech had three key topics about what he's learned from living his life: about connecting the dots, love and loss and death. 

In connecting the dots, he spoke of his parents giving him up for adoption but only to someone who would make sure he went to college. While his biological parents couldn't give him the life they wanted for him they assured he got it but first spewing and demanding it over his life. He went on to college but would drop out after just 6 months of attending. Steve would still continue to drop in classes but just the ones that interested him most. 

When Steve spoke of love and loss, he spoke of building up his business Macintosh only to be fired 10 years later. How could he be fired from his own company you ask, well so did he. He felt like running away as a failure but realized he still loved what he did and decided to start over. He fall from the top allowed him to rebuild himself and without even knowing it the Macintosh brand. The start of Next, Pixar and finding his wife were all apart of rebuilding himself as Macintosh purchased Next he would again become the head man of the company.

The last subject he would cover was about death and how he was diagnosed with cancer. At 17 he read a quote, If you live each day like it's your last, one day you'll most certainly be right. Steve would gone on with that quote in mind for 33 years asking himself, "if my life were to die to day would I want to do what I'm about to do today". His message was about doing what you love and if you haven't found it keep searching until you do. The heart will know when it finds what is right for you.

What I take from his life and this speech is that no matter how high one goes they can fall but no matter how far you fall you can rise again. The only thing certain about life is death and as he said it's our only shared destination. Knowing that he was able to build what is now known as Apple out of his parents garage is encouraging itself. But him losing his seat at the top and having to start over only to regain his position is absolutely amazing. In parting he said, stay hungry, stay foolish. My perception of those words are never lose you desire for more.

Labels spend $1 million dollars to break a new artist

The music industry’s revenue has continued to decline over the last decade. So why is that the major labels are still spending as much as 16 percent of revenue on artist and repertoire while cutting spending in other areas? That’s about to $2.7 billion of global recorded revenues. That’s said to be more than any other industry is spending in this gloomy economy. 

Marketing tactics have changed such as digital and social media while they’re still reaching the same audiences. Revenue has become heavily dependent on merchandising, licensing of music for TV, film and gaming. Artist and repertoire spending has dropped only 3.6 percent since 2008 even though the industry’s value had fallen16 percent says Kristen Schweizer ofBloomberg.com.

The survey below shows that more than 70 percent of unsigned artist still want a record deal. Marketing and promotional support appears to be the leading reason artist want to be signed. That's understandably so with the cost of break your average artist as high as $1.4 million. Independent artist can't afford to spend a fraction of that on marketing their projects. So its up to their management team to creatively get their projects to the next level using minimal resources. 

IFPI: Two new surveys, conducted in the UK and Germany in 2012, show more than 70 per cent of unsigned acts want a record deal, with marketing leading the perceived benefits of record company support.

The Unsigned Guide survey (UK)

	Yes	No
Is your aim to be signed by a record company?	71%	29%
Do you think having a record deal is an important step in developing a successful career as an artist?	75%	25%
What do you see as the benefits of having the support of a record label?
Getting upfront financial support in the form of an advance	35%
Marketing and promotional support	76%
Getting advice from teams of experienced professionals	24%
Creative input and guidance	5%
Support for touring and live performances	46%
Professional video production	3%
Help in partnering with potential brand partners	6%
International expertise and the ability to get to a global audience	31%
Making contacts with producers, songwriters and other potential partners	13%
Handling the business and admin, leaving you to the creative work	26%
Contacts with TV and radio stations	20%
Other reasons	3%

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BVMI study (Germany)

	Yes	No
Is your aim to be signed by a record company?	80%	20%
Do you think having a record deal is an important step in developing a successful career as an artist?	65%	35%
What do you see as the benefits of having the support of a record label?	Very important / quite important	Very important
Support with marketing and promotion	95%	71%
TV and radio contacts	90%	58%
The opportunity to focus on the creative process	82%	50%
Support with tour planning and live concerts	81%	46%
Financial support through payment of an advance	80%	45%

Business, Plans & Budgets

It never seems to fail that when talking to artist and their managers I hear the lack of a business, plan or budget. The music industry is a business which needs a plan and musicians should have a budget. I'm not sure if it's because they don't know or they're just plan lazy but I find few artist and managers who have some type of business plan on paper. When I ask what's the plan they say things like, I'm going to make a hit record and get signed". I think that's a great idea but how are you supposed to get that accomplished. While no two answers will be the same, it is the managers duty to develop a plan and see that it is executed.

The U.S. Small Business Administration along with a host of other sites can provide you with templates and step by step instructions to develop at least a basic plan: 

• Create Your Business Plan
• Choose Your Business Structure
• Choose & Register Your Business
• Obtain Licenses & Permits
• Finance Your Business
• Loans, Grants & Funding
• Filing & Paying Taxes

These are just a few of the steps they will walk you through to assist you in getting you business from a to z. Your local, state and federal government can provide you with a host of information as well to get you on the right path. There are many free resources available on and offline to help your music career be a success. Just remember to get and keep your business in order because without it nothing else really even matters.

Common Myths of Artist Managers/Management

Lets look further into the roles that managers play:
• Craft winning game plans
• See the big picture
• Be strong advocates for artist
• Encourage artist through rough times
• Help out with workloads
• Act as filters/buffers to protect artist
• Help bring credibility to artist in negotiations

Now that we have recapped the duties of the artist manager lets take a look at common myths about managers:
• No one will ever take you seriously without a manager
• Only a well connected manager can do a good job for you
• Your manager should tell you what to do
• You don’t have to run things by your manager

 We’ve all heard the sayings about the industry not taking artist/bands serious when they do not have a manager. A manager is important because they free you up to focus on the creative side of business, says Heather McDonald. This however is not true especially in the early stages of a artist/bands career. Having a friend play the role of a manager may work for local gigs but if they aren’t taking your career serious and good with negotiating you will have to eventually get a real manager. I remember when I started out trying to manage artist I was told only well connected managers could get artist to the next level. I later figured out this was not true when I began to educate myself on the business. By attending networking events and building your network you can become connected while you build your artist/bands career.

Managers should be great leaders and great leaders are great networkers, great networkers become greatly connected. In most careers your manager tells you what to do, however in the entertainment industry your manager act more as a consultant. The artist and manager work together in the entertainment industry to grow both parties careers. Without the proper teamwork both parties will fail. Once you have a manger that doesn’t mean you can’t continue to look for opportunities, however you should run all of them by your manager. Communication is the key to success in this business. If you score even just a small gig run it past your manager so that they can secure the best possible outcome for you both.

What is an Artist Manager and their duties?

Artist management is inspiring your artist, educating them on what’s out there and creating opportunities for them to walk into and/or walk away from, says Terry McBride of Artist House Music. A common question or misunderstanding is what are their duties and how much should they be paid? The primary duties of the manager/management team are to promote, book and oversee day-to-day business for the talent. Artist Managers should be great leaders and know how to work with others for the best interest of the talent they represent. With a good manager in place the artist or band can focus on their creative talents and not stress about the business side of the industry. Managers are generally paid 10-15% of the talents income and in addition to that percentage should not have to cover any expenses out of their own pockets, says Heather McDonald. Managers usually get paid for the deals they’re able to secure for the talent, for example concerts and commercials but unusually not the talents royalties. The most important thing is to negotiate a contract and sign it before any work begins. The contract will have terms and conditions, which should be revisited as time progresses.