HotIndieMusic.com & HotIndieMusicWorld.com

[Music Analyst Jamille Luney]

HotIndieMusicWorld.com is the online social network for HotIndieMusic.com.

HotIndieMusic.com is where indie artists are officially ranked (the actual Billboard if you will) and HotIndieMusicWorld.com is where music lovers/fans and indie artists can interact with each other and promote their music.

Questions??? I'll answer them.....please excuse delayed response time

[Tess Henley]

Dear Jamille,
Y
ou have been very helpful in the past, so here’s a troubling question I have. For indie artists, I’ve found the money in music is only in live shows (including music sales at shows which typically comprise 70% of all music sales) and licensing original content for TV/Film/Games.

If this is true, what could I hope to gain by traveling to Atlanta to meet with some “well connected” producers (who have worked with T.Pain and other successful acts) who want to see how I do in the studio, writing songs with them over a couple days?

[Music Analyst Jamille Luney]

Hey Tess,
That is true, but it is down the road. Before you can get royalties you must establish your name. Then movie producers, television stations, marketing firms and video game companies will contact you and ask to buy licensing rights...again this is down the road. You must first make yourself visible and in demand, this does not mean you have to have a record deal.

Perfect example is Soulja Boy. He was on a small no name indie label in his home state nobody knew about. They came up with a great marketing scam on the Internet----they mis filed his name on MySpace under the current top selling recording artist on Billboard charts. One week he titled his page as Ludacris, the next week it was whoever else was #1 on Bilboard. People would look for the number one song and find him instead. Everybody loved the song, he became in high demand. People started adding the song on their MySpace and FaceBook profiles---that is key right there, viral marketing. If you're song is good, everybody should be downloading it and adding it to their MySpace, Facebook or whatever. TV networks, marketing firms, movie producers, game designers etc..... have college interns surf the web for hours to tell them whose hot. In addition they get weekly reports from MySpace and the like, but they are beginning to steer away from the reports as there have been reports of fraudulent numbers.

Bottom line if you're hot, they will call you. So the entertainment industry is cutting costs. This is good for indie artists, because movies, television and game designers are looking for hot talent at a reasonable price. Famous celebrities are unreasonable, indie artists are reasonable. Therefore it is a great opportunity to get on some music and especially indie films, many movies are going straight to RedBox and skipping the theater since the economy is so bad. That spells more royalties for indie artists. HOWEVER, for them to pick you people must be demanding you (i.e your song needs to be on as many different people's web pages, MySpace, and FaceBook profiles as possible).

First build your online presences, then royalties come down the road. Every now and then there is a break out case of fame but that is unrealistic. This is the harsh but honest truth of the industry.

Tess Henley said:

Dear Jamille,
Y
ou have been very helpful in the past, so here’s a troubling question I have. For indie artists, I’ve found the money in music is only in live shows (including music sales at shows which typically comprise 70% of all music sales) and licensing original content for TV/Film/Games.

If this is true, what could I hope to gain by traveling to Atlanta to meet with some “well connected” producers (who have worked with T.Pain and other successful acts) who want to see how I do in the studio, writing songs with them over a couple days?

[Music Analyst Jamille Luney]

Oh I forgot about the latter, congrats on the writing session, but be careful. Writing sessions have no legal rules of copyright so anything goes. If you come up with a catchy hook or song, they'll ask you to lay it down (record). Then they copyright and you know the rest. Make sure you get something in writing and you get paid for your work. Make sure you get credit on the CD (meaning they have to list you on the back cover as a writer). If you don't get that in writing you won't be credited. Most people don't realize this and that is how we don't find out about you, happens all the time.

One of my colleagues got in a writing session and he ended up writing the hit song back in 2005 "Slow Down" for Bobby Valentino. He got $2,000 as a work for hire job. He was pissed afterwards and realized he should have held out, but he got caught up in the moment, atmosphere and they talked him into it. Bring someone with you to the studio, go with your gut instinct, listen and watch what people are doing. Also enjoy the opportunity you get to tell your kids about it.



Music Analyst Jamille Luney said:

Hey Tess,
That is true, but it is down the road. Before you can get royalties you must establish your name. Then movie producers, television stations, marketing firms and video game companies will contact you and ask to buy licensing rights...again this is down the road. You must first make yourself visible and in demand, this does not mean you have to have a record deal.

Perfect example is Soulja Boy. He was on a small no name indie label in his home state nobody knew about. They came up with a great marketing scam on the Internet----they mis filed his name on MySpace under the current top selling recording artist on Billboard charts. One week he titled his page as Ludacris, the next week it was whoever else was #1 on Bilboard. People would look for the number one song and find him instead. Everybody loved the song, he became in high demand. People started adding the song on their MySpace and FaceBook profiles---that is key right there, viral marketing. If you're song is good, everybody should be downloading it and adding it to their MySpace, Facebook or whatever. TV networks, marketing firms, movie producers, game designers etc..... have college interns surf the web for hours to tell them whose hot. In addition they get weekly reports from MySpace and the like, but they are beginning to steer away from the reports as there have been reports of fraudulent numbers.

Bottom line if you're hot, they will call you. So the entertainment industry is cutting costs. This is good for indie artists, because movies, television and game designers are looking for hot talent at a reasonable price. Famous celebrities are unreasonable, indie artists are reasonable. Therefore it is a great opportunity to get on some music and especially indie films, many movies are going straight to RedBox and skipping the theater since the economy is so bad. That spells more royalties for indie artists. HOWEVER, for them to pick you people must be demanding you (i.e your song needs to be on as many different people's web pages, MySpace, and FaceBook profiles as possible).

First build your online presences, then royalties come down the road. Every now and then there is a break out case of fame but that is unrealistic. This is the harsh but honest truth of the industry.

Tess Henley said:

Dear Jamille,
Y
ou have been very helpful in the past, so here’s a troubling question I have. For indie artists, I’ve found the money in music is only in live shows (including music sales at shows which typically comprise 70% of all music sales) and licensing original content for TV/Film/Games.

If this is true, what could I hope to gain by traveling to Atlanta to meet with some “well connected” producers (who have worked with T.Pain and other successful acts) who want to see how I do in the studio, writing songs with them over a couple days?