A Job For Free!

          Musicians? Musicians not getting paid to sing for hours? In todays music industry it is becoming increasingly more common for musicians to not get paid after doing a set. And similarly for other professionals in the industry. I'm not talking about One Direction, or Taylor Swift. I'm talking about the old Justin Bieber and Austin Mahone who did gigs at birthday parties or sang outside on the street. There are now organizations that help promote fair wages for musicians, like Musician's Union and Work Not Play. Although not getting paid for DOING YOUR JOB is a major con, there are some pros to doing a free gig: exposure, experience and passion.
           For a starting musician to make it big they need exposure. But, the game is hard when there is a supply and demand for music. Just not the musicians music, yet, anyway. "Capital can come in many shapes, 

and is not exclusively monetary." Keeping that in mind, artist should remember to weigh the potential benefits of a gig.  For example, a free gig at a club might get a musician 300 new fans. Which means 600 albums sold (assuming the audience told AT LEAST one other person).  Taking a free gig is a gamble but it might pay off in the future
              When getting hired, the common question is "have you ever done this before?" By doing a free gig, ARTISTS HAVE DONE IT BEFORE! The free gig is just a way to get the artists foot into the music industry. " The key here is that you actually learn and actually get experience."  LIFE LESSON: If you know more about something non-related to music -- STOP, DROP, AND QUIT! They are using you, not teaching you.
              The passion every artist feels about singing and pleasing people with their beautiful voices should be enough to want to do a free gig. The music industry has the most passionate and driven people. Staying at the studio till 12AM, going to the studio at 6AM,

writing songs EVERYWHERE, singing randomly is all an artist ever does. However, the passion musicians feel can cloud their judgement. Earning minimum wage should be something every artist gets, no matter how well known you are. 
              Starting musicians and professionals in the industry should take the leap of faith and do a free gig. Experiences triumph over everything else. The recognition from playing a set is most beneficial. Maybe in a few years a magazine article will be written about a newly artist and how he started from the bottom and finally made it to the top.

Reeves, D. (2014, December 16). Is it ever OK to work for free in the music industry? - MTT - Music Think Tank. Retrieved December 16, 2014, from http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/is-it-ever-ok-to-work-for-free-in-the-music-industry.html

Kiss and Make-up for SoundCloud and Artists?

            Looks like SoundCloud and some Electronic Dance Music (EDM) artists aren't getting back together. :( Beginning in 2007, SoundCloud has been the underground world for music, especially the EDM genre. However, SoundCould wants to keep artists, record labels AND fans happy… things get sticky when copyright gets in the middle of it. With 40 million registered users SoundCloud is to big to have human employees taking down unlicensed 

songs by the day. Consequently, SoundCloud uses a platform that identifies and automatically removes unlicensed songs called Audible Magic. However, this 'magic' solution started a BIG problem for EDM artists: “unlicensed” mash-ups, mixes, and collaborations are taken down... three times and your out, your account automatically deletes! DJ Kaskade on June 4, publicly attacked the company after Audible Magic took down 70 percent of his music. "On his Tumblr, he called SoundCloud’s practices 'out of touch' and 'irrelevant.' He also referred to Audible Magic as a 'soulless robot program.'" To protest Kaskade uploaded his new album, Atmosphere, on YouTube. Others are up in arms against the company. Producer Lakim told vice, “What is bothering me the most is SoundCloud neglecting the community that put them in the position they’re in and essentially built them into what they are now…" SoundCloud responded back saying: "'As a responsible hosting platform, we work hard to ensure that everyone’s rights are respected. In the case of rights holders, that means having processes in place to ensure that any content posted without authorization is removed quickly 
and efficiently, and in the case of users, that means having separate processes in place to ensure that any content removed in error can be reinstated equally quickly. We cannot comment on specific cases or specific rights holders, but we apply our processes consistently and fairly—if any user believes that content has been removed in error—for example, because they had the necessary permissions from a label and/or any other rights holder—then they are free to dispute the takedown.'"To fix the whole debacle SoundCloud is trying to make a deal with the three major record labels: Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group. This deal will have each company own a portion of the company to upload their artists songs. 
          If and when record labels decide to team up with SoundCloud to share their artists song that is a marketing tool in and of itself. Many teens in todays time download songs illegally through MediaHuman,YouTube Converter and many other different websites. But, by putting music on a free platform artists gain everything while losing nothing. Record labels have more of a gain than lose as well. They own a portion of another company (if they don't already own some) and get revenue from that, gain a new audience for there artists from free promotion, and they can get statics (for example: of who and when the audience is buying their artists songs).

Raymundo, O. (2014, August 4). Can SoundCloud Win Back the Musicians It Pissed Off? Retrieved December 10, 2014, from http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/08/can-soundcloud-win-back-the-musicians-it-pissed-of.html

Lipman Brothers Success

This article talks about the Lipman Brothers job, as Republic Records CEO/chairman (Monte) and COO/president (Avery).

Austin Mahone at a Teen Vogue photoshoot

"In a challenging year for music, current album sales were still up 3.5% year over year across all formats, according to Nielsen SoundScan, to 63.3 million units from 60.2 million."

"Republic outperformed the industry in current album and track-equivalent album sales with a 9.9% market share and 20.9 million in sales, nearly two full points ahead of Interscope."

 
Republic Record's artist have recently been winners from The Voice. Signing the winners from the highly televised show is genius. The public has already seen and heard the new artist by watching the show so Republic Records can calculate the profit from their new album. By taking in an artist who already has a following is the best option. Knowing for a fact that the public will buy a certain signers album or EP is the first step to success. The label has also been creating soundtracks for movies and by signing signers like Florida Georgia Line and Lorde.

Jessie J and Ariana Grande singing J's song
"Bang Bang" with Nicki Manaj (not pictured) 

 
During these next couple months, Republic Records is set to release new music from Ariana Grande, Jessie J, and Austin Mahone. Grande is releasing a follow-up to Yours Truly, while Mahone is releasing his first album.

Monte Lipman & Avery Lipman: The 2014 Billboard Power 100

Hampp, A. (2014, January 14). Monte Lipman & Avery Lipman: The 2014 Billboard Power 100. Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://www.billboard.com/biz/5869786/monte-lipman-avery-lipman-the-2014-billboard-power-100

Dot Records?

 Big Machine Records and Republic Records are joining venture to recreate the 1950-1978 Dot Records.

"The conglomerate encompasses Big Machine Records (founded in 2005), The Valory Music Co. (founded in 2007) and Republic Nashville (a partnership with Universal Republic founded in 2009 with Jimmy Harnen serving as President)."
    



         
 "A division of Universal Music Group, the world's leading music company, Republic is home to an all-star roster of multi-platinum, award-winning legends and superstar artists such as Amy Winehouse, Ariana Grande, Black Sabbath, Colbie Caillat, Enrique Iglesias, Florence + the Machine, Godsmack, Gotye, James Blake, Of Monsters and Men, Owl City, among many others."

The joint venture of Big Machine Records and Republic Records is a brilliant idea. Using such big labels to create a mini label, can only benefit all three labels. By coming together the labels will be able to share musicians when needed as well as get a second opinion. By gaining a "friend" the labels can lean on each other and increase their earnings. The draw back of both contributing to one label is which label does Dot Records go under. Does it go to Republic Records which has been open since 1995 or the newbie Big Machine Records which opened in 2005? The question alone can start a feud between the two major companies. But, since the recreation of Dot Records recently, the two companies have been doing fantastic, increasing their value and artists.

 Big Machine Label Group and Republic Records Revive Legendary Dot Records
Universal Music. (2014, March 31). Retrieved November 26, 2014, from http://www.universalmusic.com/corporate/detail/2735

Republic Records

  Republic Records is the number 1 motion picture soundtrack label. They are trying to make relationships with music companies as well as television companies. Republic Records likes to have a wide range of genre music.

     
    "Whether it's Sonos, Pandora, IHeartRadio, Spotify -- it's the all-you-can-eat world now and that's interesting because you see where it's going: paid subscription services. I think it will change the music business into, ultimately, being the most profitable form of entertainment in the years to come. Then you see partnerships developing at [commercial radio]: they appreciate the fact that we provide content and we appreciate that they actually expose it."
         

     "'It's a fact that we are the No. 1 motion picture soundtrack label -- we're serious about the soundtrack business,' says Walk, who started at Universal in late January."

  Charlie Walk is the executive vice president of Republic Records. He has been in the music industry for 20 plus years. His strategy for becoming the best of the best: cross-media convergence, relationships with different companies and have a wide variety of musicians. The cross-media convergence he's focusing on is television and music. I believe that cross-media convergence of music and television can become very successful. Celebrities like Nicki Minaji, Justin Bieber, and Drake became famous from singing and have been in films or on television. Relationships with different music companies and musicians can make friendships. Those friendships can help connect the dots of future friendships and success. Republic Records is number the number one motion picture soundtrack label because of the variety of musicians. Labels need that mix in genre to expand their audiences.

Q&A: Charlie Walk, Republic's New EVP, on Returning to a Major, Long-Term Strategy

Gallo, P. (2013, February 4). Q&A: Charlie Walk, Republic's New EVP, on Returning to a Major, Long-Term Strategy. Retrieved November 25, 2014, from http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/branding/1537709/qa-charlie-walk-republics-new-evp-on-returning-to-a-major-long