Road Rally Notes

[ragani]

GOING PRO: ACHIEVING CAREER SUCCESS AS A PROFESSIONALKENNY KERNER (discovered & produced KISS, TAXI screener for 14+ years, among so much more...)Good enough is not good enough. Better is not best. Unless you are doing the best, it's not good enough. MUST be the BEST ALWAYS, in EVERYTHING YOU DO.TAXI is the most honest and good company he's ever worked with. They go out of their way to help people. Good thinking always makes a difference. Plan, research, etc. before you act. Good thinking is just this-- think things through before you do them.Focus on your set goals, the things you want to do today. What needs my attention today. Keep a diary. Or a list board. Erase things as they are done-- gives you more space in your brain. Be good at erasing things! KNOW WHO YOU ARE, what you want to be, and what you do best.As you become successful in one area of music, the other areas of music will open up for you. Focus on what you are good at! You can do all things, but do ONE at a time with success and it will open other doors for you. Know your limitations and how to reduce them. Get collaborators to write songs with you.Think and act like a professional. Amateurs think negatively-- can't do this, it's hard, who will do that..?? Professionals think-- how can I reach the next level, how can I adjust things so they'll go to the next level?Why not seek advice and help of professionals? ASK FOR HELP-- ask manager, people at TAXI, on internet, get advice. Ask professionals-- i.e. TAXI critiques-- and put on your thinking cap when you get the critique back. Even then--- "no.. no... not relevant... ah, yes! That's the 3rd person who had given me that feedback. Let me consider the song with that kind of FB in mind..."Be original. Think original. What could we do that nobody else has done. What's a great topic for a song that one one is writing about? What twists could we do? For example, "Unbreak My Heart" song...Work hard, play hard. Do it all 100% Do it all 150%! Must do strategic thinking-- break down thinking into very manageable pieces in order to take action. What is your plan of attack?Have a career plan-- break things down into the following categories: DOCTOR:Direction: What to do? Why to do it? What is likely to happen when I do these things? What will come back (like chess)? Will I be prepared for what comes back?MOST PEOPLE FAIL BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT PREPARED FOR SUCCESS. [I'll interject what he said at mentor lunch here because it fits: If you're a winner and go to Vegas with dimes and pennies, you'll end up with dimes and pennies in winnings. You must get a couple hundred $$, know how to play the gam, study the game, prepare and go in. Then you can WIN, really win the game you came to play. You were prepared. Most businesses fail because the owner's were not prepared for success.]Organization: Missing pieces that I need to take advantage ofCash: Budget- dosen't take $$ for success most of the time.Tracking: Are we on target, are we meeting our goals? Go back and measure success. Stop and reassess progress and success or not along the way. Overall Evaluation: Are we standing still? Are we moving forward?Refinement: Tweaking-- what changes need to be made to make things better.

[ragani]

TV/FILM SONG PLACEMENTS VIA MUSIC LIBRARIESTed Lowe (President of Choicetracks, Inc., among other achievements)Build a career, create a story and then it builds interest. Group DNC- song licensed 14+ times-- grabs you quick. It HAS TO with film and TV. Go through music library that has relationship with TV, etc. They'll take calls from people they have relationships with.Library music-- not a lot of up front money-- TV and repeats is where $$ is.His advice: Get a lot of music and find a library to work with.In Choicetracks: Instrumentals: deals on an exclusive contract basis-- 2 minute tracks with sharp, hard button endings. Songs (vocals): on a non-exclusive basis. Not necessarily 2 minute hard end for vocalsProduction music-- 1min 55sec average full length. Short intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, out. And that's it. ENDINGS of songs-- likes interesting endings. Like a low note after the end of the last note on a beat, for example [played sample]Key: Have an interesting intro! Have an interesting ending-- those of the two parts they punch to when reviewing. This will greatly increase the sales and interest in your music and usability. 29.5 seconds for commercial time. Be smart, watch TV and see what they'll want. WATCH TV!! If you submit stuff to him, "YES" is a phone call from him, "NO" is you won't hear back from them at all. Same thing happens with forwards to TV shows-- they'll call you right away if they want it because they'll need paperwork. They won't call if they don't want to use it. Don't wait around for call!Instrumentals are used LOTS more than vocals in TV/Film.Experiment with libraries-- see if they pick up your stuff. Bulk deals-- for example, in Choicetracks, they only license 25 songs in bunch at a time. Not singles. Key-- send demos to music library and then if they like it, send them to a webpge to find you with 30 second edited samples. Best way and it's appreciated!With music supervisors, don't burn these bridges. They have many people to please. ** From his perspective-- they higher the tempo, the more uptempo your beat, the more likely you'll be able to get used. Upbeat MOVES the story line along. 156 bpm and higher and people eat it up! Make it unique! Use good intros, bubble up quick notes, then get into beat. Instrumental music is biggest seller-- the crazy stuff they love.He doesn't do much with ads-- but ads pay very well. When you forward to TAXI, forward vocal version and put an asterisks next to it that says *Instrumental also available. Very professional.For exclusive contracts, get a reversion clause that says if we don't do such-and-such by this time, you will get the rights back. Research libraries to see how recent they've had placements and to whom. You MUST see if they are doing good business!!!For record companies, can contract to license your records to them for 3 or 5 years, then have it come back to you. DO NOT SAMPLE for TV/Film-- NEVER-- must own 100% rights-- never borrow lyrics or words. Royalty free is okay-- but you need to check-- royalty free may be free and clear for all but TV/film -- be sure to read the fine print!! May exclude movie trailers.They must xerox samples' book for Choicetracks if they want to use your stuff-- so Choicetracks can see for themselves. Bottom line-- don't borrow or sample-- it will ruin your career forever.Be professional and accommodating.Best placements: uptempo, singer/songwriter, rock, hard rock, alternative, etc. Uptempo definitely gets strongest placements. If you make a direct deal with a TV show or something, be sure to have something in the deal that says you'll get a cue sheet from them for its usage. Keep for your references.ASCAP reports-- double check. If you get performing rights but no licensing money, why not?? Double check all your payments.

[tedsingingfox]

VERY nice set of notes, there, Raags. Thank you.

[ragani]

Glad you enjoyed them, Ted. I think I'm all out of decent notes now. Except for the publishers workshop by Jason Blume, but that one was way to complex for me to even THINK about typing the notes here. What a lot of great stuff we got from that Rally, eh?! Raags

[stick]

Quote:Doing work on spec means: do the work and spec nothing.Good one. I did a lot of this early on in my career. No more. It NEVER panned out. EVER. Not once. People think that if a producer is working on spec they'll be more committed to the project. In fact, the opposite is true... I CAN'T be committed if I'm not getting paid. This isn't a hobby. I've got to bump that project for ANYTHING else that comes along with a budget so I can feed my kiddos. If you want someone with experience and expertise that does this for real, it's not going to come free. Hmmm... then again, doing library music is sorta like working on spec... HA HA!

[jrad100]

THANKS NOMI AND RAAGS FOR YOUR NOTES!