Now-a-days among the population of indie artists trying to "get on", unfortunately for most of them the answer to this question is a big fat NO! But it's understandable. As an artist, I'm sure you'd love to only have to focus on your music but unless you have the budget to hire the right professionals to handle your business, you have to handle it yourself. With that said, here's 6 things you have to take care of before you're even adequately prepared for radio play and commercial distribution:
1. ISRC
At Patchwerk, I swear, we get at least a handful of calls every day with artists that don't even know what an ISRC is, much less have one for their single. Why is this a problem....? Well particularly because you can ONLY encode an ISRC at the mastering stage of the recording/production process. That means you should technically have one to assign BEFORE you get your song mastered. So what's an ISRC? It stands for International Standard Recording Code. Every commercially released recording has one assigned to it for identification and tracking purposes. So if you don't have one, you won't be able to track your recordings. Get it? Now if you're fortunate enough to attract the interest of a radio DJ and they play your record on the radio, they will assign an ISRC for you but the problem is that it won't be associated with your name/company.
You can apply for an ISRC code at usisrc.org, but of course, they cost money. And because you will need multiple ISRCs (for each song you release) you may want to apply for a company account however that can be even more expensive. Lucky for you... a few companies, such as Patchwerk, offer to generate your ISRC codes for you. At #thepatch we only charge $15 to generate your own unique code and since we have your masters we go ahead and encode it during the mastering phase free of charge! Now, how's that for service?! :-)
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Ok so to recap, we told you about getting your ISRC codes in PT.1 so now you should be ready (with your masters in hand) to get out there and promote/sell your music. But before you do, here's the other 5 things you need to take care of:
2. UPC
Yes, another code! It's called a Universal Product Code and it's a lot more popular so you should have heard of it. Everything that is sold (music included) has a Universal Product Code assigned to it to differentiate it from everything else. We typically call it a "barcode". From personal experience I can tell you that it's a BAD IDEA not to have your music on sale before you get radio play. Back when I used to manage artists, I made this mistake and who knows how many lost sales it costed us! Don't be like me... get your upc well before you're even presented with the opportunity to get your song on the radio! The company that creates and distributes these codes is called GS1. Or, again, you can purchase one from us at Patchwerk for $25. One important note is that in terms of music, each individual release needs its own barcode. So if you release a single, then you release your album (including that single), you'll need two separate barcodes for each release.
3. COPYRIGHT
Of course you all know this one! It's pretty straight forward... protect your intellectual property from 'copy' cats by registering it with the US Copyright office. I don't think I need to go into detail on this one... if you don't know what a copyright is by now... well... let's just say you have some serious homewerk to do!
4. REGISTER WITH BDS & SOUNDSCAN
You've probably heard of these but do you really know what they are and why they're important? Well very simply put, in the U.S. and Canada BDS tracks and reports airplay spins, and Soundscan tracks and reports commercial sales (using your UPC codes). Labels, managers, and other organizations use this information to make a plethora of important marketing/distribution decisions. Furthermore, both of these information systems are the primary sources for Billboard's music charts. You can register for both through Nielsen.
5. REGISTER WITH MEDIABASE
Mediabase is also a mass-airplay tracking and reporting company... owned by the media giant Clear Channel Communications, they just do their tracking a little differently and track what music industry professionals like to call "specialty spins". Here nor there, you should register with both BDS and Mediabase to be on the safe side (they cover about 80% of the total U.S. radio market).
6. REGISTER WITH SOUND EXCHANGE
Sound Exchange collects your royalties from Satellite-radio spins. Simple as that.
So, yeah, you should have all of these things in place before you go and try to take over the world with your music... because when opportunity knocks... you better be ready! If not, you'll be spending valuable time playing catch up or worst yet... miss your opportunity all together! At Patchwerk, have a package that includes us doing all this FOR YOU plus Recording, mixing, and mastering your song, ANNND (wait there's more!) we also give you 200 CD duplications with your ISRC encoded for you to sell or give away. It's called the "Single Deal + Paperwerk" Ask about it next time you call or book.
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Patchwerk is teaming up with iStandard yet again! And guess who one of the judges will be?! That's right Patchwerk owner and COO, Curtis Daniel III... Check the flyer! Did I mention the winner of the iStandard Producers Showcase will WIN 3 HOURS of STUDIO TIME at Patchwerk?! Yea... really! Sign up here!
Visit istandardproducers.com for more details.
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Patchwerk's Chief Mastering Engineer, Kenny Mixx, recently posed this question to his facebook followers and got a range of commens. After all the feedback, he offered his take:
I still think there are a lot of great composers out there; I still master great music every day. What I mean by "convenience" is the lack of a solid foundation of knowledge of a craft, whether it's composing, mixing, mastering, or even tracking. It's easy to say "I mix," and just throw on some presets and not fully understand them. It's easy to say "I master," and just throw an L2 on the master track. It's easy to say "I track," and not understand the acoustics behind a properly treated vocal booth or proper microphone/preamp combinations/selections. It's easy to say "I compose tracks," and not understand phase relationships between kicks, 808s, and bass-lines. This is because it's more convenient to just *do* these things rather than understand *why* we do these things. Doing things right the first time with an experienced engineer is outweighed by doing things wrong multiple times the "convenient" way. Composing, mixing, and mastering are all different fields that require different expertise. When you begin to mix these together, you lose quality and replace it with convenience. Music should not be done in a "one-stop shop" where the mixing, mastering, and tracking are all done by the same person in the same room (or even worse, all in the same day). There is no Wal-Mart for audio. Can we get an intern to clean up the music on aisle 5 please, intern on aisle 5. Thank you.
-Kenny Mixx
Click HERE to check out his original post on Facebook
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Artist: Karmella f/ B.O.B
Mix Engineer: Leslie Brathwaite
Mastering Engineer: Kenny Mix
Thanks to Amadi Jae @ Examiner.com for the link
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iPods have opened up a whole new world for elderly and infirmed. What professional caregivers have learned, is that when tailored to the listener, the benefits of music can be highly therapeutic!
For more information about how Music and Memory can help elderly patients, or to volunteer or donate an iPod (new or used), visit http://www.MusicandMemory.org.
Check out @fabkp instagram-ing with her official IdOMusic® tee!
Order on http://www.patchwerkstore.com/
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Get yours today... http://www.patchwerkstore.com/
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The Atlanta Factor is a showcase competition starting June 6th through July 11th brought to you by Black Polo, Red Clay, and Patchwerk Recording Studios. Every Wednesday in June, selected artist will perform in front of our showcase judges to win weekly prizes and a chance at the Grand Prize "SINGLE DEAL" Package which includes a record produced by Zaytoven, recorded, mixed, and mastered at Patchwerk, and their release party at Justin's, ATL.
SUBMIT NOW! WWW.THEATLANTAFACTOR.COM
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