Industry Blog Post

In the music industry, the most popular type of legal controversy or incident that happens is copyright infringement on songwriting. Of the more recent incidents, the one that hit most of social media would be the Tom Petty and Sam Smith case. Sam Smith wrote a song called Stay With Me, and a few weeks ago there was an article that Tom Petty claimed that Sam Smith’s song sounded too much like his original song, “I Won’t Back Down.” This infringement settled on an agreement where Smith would give Petty songwriting royalties.

            This song was not lyrically the same, but chordally. Many of the incidents I found were songs that sounded the same rather than a conflict of lyrics.

            For example, many, if not everybody remembers the famous copyright incident with Vanilla Ice and Queen. Vanilla Ice made the song “Ice Ice, Baby” which in turn, created a huge controversy because the bass line sounded exactly the same as Queen’s “Under Pressure.” Ultimately, Vanilla Ice got to keep the rights to his song because he claimed that indeed it was similar, but different to where there was one or two notes that made it completely different.

            The last example I found, which I never knew about was an incident with George Harrison. Harrison wrote a song called “My Sweet Lord” and it hit the top of the charts for a while. The incident came when the song was argued to be the same as a song called “He’s So Fine.” The Chiffons recorded this song in 1962. Ultimately, the judge believed Harrison did not intentionally mean to copy the song but he did rule that the two songs sound very similar to which Harrison was found guilty of ‘subconscious plagiarism.”

            These articles really display how one must really protect them and make sure their art is very unique and original in the event a song or product gets publicity. A step I take when I have written a song or created a product is Google different aspects of it. Sometimes people create art and don’t even know that it was created, such as the events of Harrison. The reason to Google the title, a chord progression, is to check to see if it has been done, how many times, and protect the fact that if you decide to sell it, you’re protected.

http://www.fairwagelawyers.com/most-famous-music-copyright-infringment.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/29/us-music-samsmith-tompetty-idUSKBN0L22F620150129

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eV6t8_pOSo

Is "Writer's Block" a fancy term for "Lack of Inspiration"?

Often times, whether you're a writer, musician, artist, or any other profession, we all experience something we like to call "Writer's Block."

What is Writer's Block?

As we work on a project, or an assignment, maybe a new song for an upcoming album, we sometimes get stuck. We're not sure where to go on. We ask, "why can I not all of a sudden complete this?" This can go on for an hour, a day, a week, even a year or more!

This has happened to me recently with an album I'm writing. Why can't we move forward?  

We need new, and fresh inspiration!

I recently watched the entire HBO documentary of the Foo Fighters new album. Basically their album is right songs where each song was recorded at a different city in the United States. Each episode is a different city explaining culture and history each city has to offer. Lead singer and guitarist/drummer, Dave Grohl explains this process as, "finding inspiration through the lives of others." 

Amazing!

As I am watching this amazing series, I get so inspired, I wrote two songs in about an hour. I didn't just write words to write words, I wrote words because they came to me. Instantly! 

Are my songs about the Foo Fighters and their amazing album? No! Of course not! 

Whether you're a Foo Foghters fan or not, ANY musician can appreciate this documentary. It catches every aspect of music, from sad, to happy, to inspirational. It's a true work of art. 

We don't get writers block, we lose inspiration. Sometimes it takes something special to feel like all of a sudden a switch has been hit. I encourage everyone to open their eyes and realize what's around them. Inspiration is not hard to find. 

Successful Negotiation Techniques

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhZ8CqOjS2s - William McCormick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXFpOWDAhvM - Margaret Neale

http://www.lynda.com/Business-Business-Skills-tutorials/six-steps-preparing-successful-negotiation/101504/111528-4.html - Lisa Gates

The three videos that are listed above give great insight to what constitutes a good negotiation. The first video is a Lynda.com course I watched by Lisa Gates called, The Six Steps In Preparing For A Successful Negotiation. Lisa talks about the importance of BATNA, or The Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement. In her vide, she calls this one’s resentment insurance number. In order for a successful negotiation, you must prepare and research your counterpart. Gates describes this as the most important step because she explains to not rely on your whit or creativeness to “get by” in a negotiation.

This will segue into the next video by Margaret Neale in her video, Negotiation: Getting What You Want. She as well, talks about how research is extremely important. She gives an example about when she was asked to teach six classes at her university rather than five. The reason was to create more contact hours as much as credit hours. She did research and realized that the majority of specialty classes that she taught, are classes that not many professors teach. She used this to her advantage and instead got her specialty classes lengthened to match contact hours.  I felt that she use positional bargaining because she was negotiating her job and realized how valuable she was in the majority of the courses she taught. Although her other classes were MBA business classes, many professors teach those types of classes. She used leverage in her position as a special educator.

The final video I watched was an online negotiation class conducted by William McCormick, about what the best negotiators do. He talks about how all people negotiate, but not all people negotiate well. His four points that negotiators do wrong are people concede too much, too fast, they don’t plan effectively, they respond poorly to adversarial tactics, and they don’t understand what win-win really means. This was an interesting session because McCormick explained negotiation somewhat differently than the two videos I previously explained. McCormick talks about being tactful and asking all the right questions.

These were fantastic videos and I was pleased that the three were different I their own way. Combining all of these videos for me could result in myself being a skilled negotiator. I must first and most importantly, prepare well. Then I must be able to prepare myself for my opponent’s tactics in the negotiation process. One of the best quote from all three came from Margaret Neale, who stated, “the goal of a negotiation is not to get a deal, it’s about getting a good deal.”

The Beauty of Online Learning

             As many of you know, I am involved in the online masters program at Full Sail University in Entertainment Business. I chose to go the online route instead of moving to Florida and attending live because having just graduated from Rowan University in music education, I was looking for a job in New Jersey but also established myself in the New Jersey/Philadelphia area where my family and friends are.

Attending Full Sail online is a fantastic experience. I am able to attend live sessions online and complete all my course work on my own schedule.

Online education is becoming popular more and more every year!

As schools provide education for online students, companies are providing many meetings, conventions, as well as education, online.

I wanted to talk about a site I visited a week ago that has me going back to it every week to see new updates. I am talking about CreativeLive.

What is CreativeLive?

CreativeLive is a sight, much like Lynda.com where you can learn about anything you can possibly think of. The difference between Creative and Lynda is the fact that Creative has special guests and professionals to go to their studio, live, and hold sessions to a live classroom as well as online students that cannot attend live. The session is also completely FREE to attend! Just create a username and password and you are part of the CreativeLive community. Where CreativeLive makes their money is you can chose to pay a subscription and those are the students that have a chance to attend these sessions live. You can also buy “On Demand” which is a complete rewind of the session you attended where you can stop, play, and rewind to catch any parts that you may have missed in the live session.

What do they teach?

Teachers at CreativeLive come from all different backgrounds. I recently attended a session on mixing music where I tuned into both sessions on Monday and Tuesday. Monday was a session from 12pm-7pm focusing all on compression. Tuesday’s session was the same time but all about EQ. You can also have Creative cater to your needs. I am in music so I have the setting set to notify me when any music sessions are coming up.

CreavtiveLive is a fantastic site because not only can you tune in virtually, but also you are in the chat room and you can actually ask questions to the presenter or educator and he or she will answer your questions.

I advise everyone to check out CreativeLive because online learning is so popular now and it has gotten to the point where learning online is just as real as being in the classroom.

Copyright Piracy in the Entertainment Industry

There are many people in this world that constantly pirate music. I used to be one of them. Why? Because it’s free! Right?!

Well as a musician and sound engineer, I have grown to appreciate an artist’s work. When I was in high school, iTunes was still young but it still was great for getting music. Many of my friends used Limewire (remember Limewire?!) for pirating music. Let’s face it, when I found out that you can get free music, I jumped on that bandwagon.

I went to school for music and worked extremely hard to practice and master my craft, which is the bass. I composed and wrote a lot of music and I also performed a great deal. There came a point where I joined a band that worked hard to play at different venues and shows, record original music, play on the radio, and promote us for publicity.

What does this have anything to do with music piracy?!

There came a point when I realized that trying to really make it as a band and putting music on iTunes, really was hard work. I didn’t want anyone getting that for free. I wanted to get what I put into the music and if I put the music on iTunes, then I want people to respect my work and buy my music if they liked it.

I recently watched a TED talk by Rob Reid who explains how much money is lost to copyright and pirated music. He describes that $58 billion dollars are lost to copyright theft according to the Motion Picture Association. Copyright piracy has forced many people to lose jobs and since 1991, the advancement of technology has put over 300,000 people out of jobs in the entertainment industry.

I was very shocked by this TED talk because as I know there is a huge problem in our society with online piracy, I do understand that many companies are trying to prevent this as best they can. For example, Waves, the leading manufacturer of audio engineering plugins and software, have created what is called the Waves License Center where you do not register licenses…they do. This helps them keep security within their systems so that licenses cannot be shared between users.

Piracy is a very strong topic in our society as we advance in technology. As a hard working musician and someone who respects other people’s work, it is easy to accept free music or media. I will always be an advocator for the entertainment industry on this topic because I, like all other professional in the industry work very hard and do not want my work to go unrewarded. I urge many of you to respect the entertainment industry, not because it is good for the artists, but because it can open up many jobs in the future and people will get rewarded properly for their hard work just like any other profession.

How I Got Into Mixing

Getting into recording and mixing was not a seamless journey for me. In fact, it was not until a year or two ago that I really knew the type of business I wanted to start.

            Back in high school I had a band that I played bass in and we played a gig almost every weekend. I love to perform and entertain and the stage is one of the most comfortable places for me. I also knew I wanted to go to Rowan University for music education and be a music teacher though, as well.

            I purchased my first recording interface while in high school and I just fell in love with the concept of recording my band or just simply, my practice sessions and track my progress. I never had any formal education in recording; I simply used my ear and had a trial and error type of experience.

           

            If I had to equate how I got to mixing music I would have to connect it to my love for arranging music. All throughout high school and college, I loved to take a certain piece of music and arrange it to fit my style or taste. I do like composing but one of my favorite things to do is take an idea and make it my own with my style. I lived in Sibelius, which is a great notation software for music composers and arrangers.

How does this connect to mixing?

            This connects to mixing because just like arranging, mixing is an art and mixing gives the engineer the opportunity to put his style in the mix. Of course it is the band or artist’s choice how the song sounds but all mix engineers have their style. For example, some mixers might use different techniques on vocals or compression. Maybe they use different plugins to achieve a certain sound they like to advertise. I realized that my love for arranging was not in music notation and composition but in mixing music. Having the background in recording and learning it since high school, I now have honed in on a skill that is extremely needed by any artist or band. I love getting a new mix and then being able to hear the raw recordings but then envision how I want it to sound post-mix.

            I am very fortunate to be involved in almost every aspect of music and I intend to always be connected with everything around music, but for now, I have made mixing a huge part of my life and I want to not only make my music better but help others get the full potential out of their music.

            I would love for you to check out my website to get all the latest info about my studio and myself as well! Also, subscribe to the blog because I will be updating this constantly. I am also going to start putting some tips and trick on here for anyone looking to start in the recording/mixing business or maybe different techniques to maybe help improve your mixing!