Songwriting, Artist and Composer Tips

TV Music Licensing pays songwriters and composers differently than Film Music Licensing does. Most songwriters don't know that, and they ask me the question pretty frequently! The short answer is "yes, it pays differently," in the U.S. In the United States, composers of scores, background music and featured songs do NOT get paid when the music is played in a movie theater. In other words, there's no back end, no performance royalty for music played in theaters. But there IS a performance royalty for theater play in many, if not most other countries. So, while you won't get an ASCAP,...

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Thursday, November 5th 5:30pm - 'til close: Rally Registration - Hotel Lobby - next to Grand Ballroom - Must have your Photo ID to get your Road Rally badge! 6:00pm - 'til close: One-to-One Mentor Registration - Grand Ballroom Foyer - next to the Rally Registration desk. Refer to the Mentor Bios sheet to make your selection. Members only, please. One Mentor per member. First-come, first-served basis. Must already be registered and have your Rally badge with you to sign up. 6:00pm - 8:30pm: Dinner 8:30pm - 11:30pm: Open Mic - Grand Ballroom - Names are drawn at random to...

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How to Choose the Right Music Licensing Companies It seems like so many songwriters and artists have given up on the dream of getting a record deal with major record label. Flying around on private jets and trashing hotel rooms is a dream now long forgotten. Film and TV placements are the new "record deal." Most musicians don't know how to choose the right music licensing company or companies, because they haven't done their homework yet. They haven't learned how to know which company has the best chance of getting them a film or TV placement period, and they often...

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Film and TV Music Licensing Opportunities For Independent Musicians Running opportunities for Film and TV placements in our Music Industry Listings back in 1992 made me the laughing stock of the music business. It was unheard of for Indie artists and songwriters to get their songs placed in network TV shows or better yet, feature films put out by major Hollywood studios back then. Nobody seemed to know much about Production Music Libraries (which are Film & TV music publishers) - what they did, how they worked, or what kind of music they needed to license to TV or Film...

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My staff and I often get asked if there are Film and TV licensing opportunities for songwriters and artists who make Christian music. The answer is "yes," though maybe not as frequently as secular music. But fear not! Because the overall market is smaller, the number of people producing Christian Music is also smaller. It's proportionate. You could end up being a bigger fish in a smaller pond! But there's an often overlooked aspect to all this. Most artists and songwriters also do mixes without vocals as a matter of course these days. If your Christian lyrics and vocals are...

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Giving Your Tracks the Right Title Can Get Your Music in More Films and TV Shows You might think that writing great songs and instrumentals is the best way to license more of your music. You could be right, but here's a really simple tip that I'll bet you never thought of -- give your songs and tracks better titles that make them easier to find. Imagine that you're a music supervisor searching for music to license for a Television Show or Movie. As you type in your database query, "uptempo, male, country, instrumental," trying to find the perfect track...

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I recently had a member of TAXI's forum ask what the difference was between a production music library and a music publisher. Great question! Here's the answer I posted: Production Music Libraries and Publishers are both publishers, and it's my observation that the best music libraries get most of their best placements by doing hand to hand combat -- meaning that they develop relationships and actively pitch. Another observation is that Film and TV music supervisors really don't like to search databases for music. They'd rather email or call a human, have them cull a few tracks they think would...

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I just wanted to let you know that Mega-Hit Country Songwriter Jeffrey Steele will be our honoree this year and our keynote interview at TAXI's annual convention, the Road Rally. [caption id="attachment_356" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Jeffrey Steele at TAXI's 2003 Road Rally"][/caption] Here's a list of his professional accomplishments: 2007 BMI Songwriter Of The Year 2007 BMI Song Of The Year, “What Hurts The Most” 2006 NSAI Writer Of The Year 2005 NSAI Writer Of The Year 2003 BMI Writer Of The Year 2003 BMI Writer Of The Year 29 Top 10 Songs 24 Top Five Songs 8 No. 2 Songs...

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Dear Passengers, How much effort is enough? How do you know when you've given the music business your best shot and it simply wasn't enough? I saw this very issue debated on our forum. Somebody was ready to give up on songwriting because he felt that he had given it all he had, and the wall was too high for him to get over. I had three reactions to what he had written. 1) He was frustrated and wanted his friends on the forum to talk him out of quitting. 2) How badly did he really want to be in...

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Dear Passengers, It is said that, "a man's wealth can be measured by his friends." Assuming that's true, I am fabulously wealthy, indeed. I never imagined how many of my old friends would come out of the woodwork when I started TAXI seventeen years ago. Several of them showed up at the Country Songwriting seminar I did in Nashville last week, and it was great to see them all. One of them has been a friend since the '70s! One of the "responsibilities" — if you can call it that — of having so many friends that are also TAXI...

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