First published by Velocity Press in 2021

velocitypress.uk thelabelmachine.com

Copyright © Nick Sadler, 2021

Typesetting Paul Baillie-Lane pblpublishing.co.uk

Nick Sadler has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission from the publisher ISBN: 9781913231101 Preface 1 Introduction 3 How To Use This Book 5 PART ONE: THE INDUSTRY Overview 9 The Artist 11 The Music 12 A&R 13 Music Managers 15 Record Labels 17 Distributors 20 Aggregators 21 Management Companies 24 Performance Rights Organisations 28 DJs 30 Fans 32 Marketing 34 PR 42 Live Shows and Touring 46 Booking Agents 48 Lawyers and Accountants 52 Success 54 Part Two: Music Copyright Overview 59 How Copyright Works 61 Composition vs Sound Recording 63 UK vs US Copyright 70 Royalties 73 Sound Recording Royalties from Music Sales 75 Sound Recording Royalties from Public Performance of Songs 77 Composition Royalties from Music Sales 80 Composition Royalties from Public Performance of Songs 83 Synchronisations 86 Licensing Deals 92 YouTube Monetisation 95 Cover Songs 97 Samples 102 Music Royalty Flow 104 Collecting Royalties and Registering with PROs 113 Part Three: The Process Overview 123 The Set-Up 125 Mindset 126 Goals and Missions 136 Focused Work 140 Choosing a Record Label Name 144 Record Label Backbone 147 Business Plan 150 Label Branding 160 Design Tools and Assets 168 Logo 175 Website 178 Social Media Handles 181 Distribution 183 Distributor Companies 188 Budgets 199 Emails and Email Marketing 211 Registering as a Company 223 Creating a Record Release 228 Record Label Contracts 256 Upload to Distribution 287 Register Songs with PROs 289 Marketing: Promoting the Release and the Artist 291 Music Marketing 292 Marketing and PR Schedule 297 Marketing Assets 301 Extra Marketing Content 307 Press Release 312 The EPK (Electronic Press Kit) 317 DJ Promo 319 Getting on Blogs and Publications 321 Secure Music Premieres 329 Submit Hub 332 Pre-Saves 333 Facebook and Instagram Ads 336 Spotify Playlists 348 Release Day 357 Post-Release Activities 363 Part Four: Becoming Established Overview 369 Accounting 371 Merchandise and Physical Distribution 376 Sample Libraries 383 Music Compilations 385 Labels and In-House Publishing 390 Artist Management 393 Live Shows 405 Conclusion 409 Acknowledgements 412 Index 415 Dedicated to my son, Jago OVERVIEW

Part One of the book aims to give you an overview of the music industry to see where the running of a record label fits in with the other aspects of the industry. It will introduce other industry professionals such as artist managers, booking agents, distributors and publishers, and how everyone works together to create successful artist careers. The following diagram summarises the different relationships in the music industry. This is by no means perfect, and there are lots of indirect relationships across the industry, but this is a good starting point from a record label’s point of view. Let’s look at each of these roles and activities in more detail, starting with where everything begins, the artist and music. THE ARTIST

In the context of this book, we define the artist as the musician, producer, or collectively the band or producer outfit that creates the music that will be released as a single, EP or album. But let’s dive a little deeper and look at musicians and artists. Is an artist a musician? Is a musician an artist? Or are they the same thing? A musician is someone who plays music on an instrument that they may or may not have written. An artist creates art. In the context of music, they make the music either by playing and recording musical instruments and/or producing and composing music on a studio computer. From a traditional point of view, record labels and publishers often use the term ‘recording artists’ to describe musicians that play and record the music. And the term ‘songwriters’ is used to describe artists that write the music and lyrics but don’t necessarily play or record the music. We go into more detail about these differences in Part Two – Music Copyright. From a label’s point of view, when I talk about artists in this book, I’m referring to all the people who collectively make up the band or producer outfit, or the individual that creates the music masters released as a single, EP or album. You would expect to see the artist live if you went to a gig to see them play as a band or as a DJ playing their own music. THE MUSIC “All the good music has already been written by people with wigs and stuff.” Frank Zappa It all starts with the music. You need to have great music if you really want to have a successful record label and career in the music industry. While there are mediocre music artists that do well with a great marketing and PR plan behind them, ultimately, if you want a long and successful career, you’ve got to get the music right. Music connects the artist to the fans. The music is what we hear on Spotify, a vinyl record, or a live show. It is the one constant that connects all the other parts of the industry together. This book will mostly refer to recorded music, which is the final recording of a single song, EP, or album. This may have been recorded in a music studio, with a producer and mix engineer, or someone producing beats in a home studio, or a mixture of both. It might be music you have made yourself, or it may be another artist’s music you want to release on your label. ARTIST AND REPERTOIRE (A&R)

A&R is traditionally the person responsible for selecting and signing the music for a record label, and is often someone that is or was previously a successful artist. If you’re looking to get signed to a label, this is the person you need to impress. A good A&R will help shape your music, give you mix pointers, sometimes even sit in the studio and show you little tricks to improve the sound of your music. If you are an artist running your own label with your team, you are essentially already the head of A&R. You need to trust your ears to review the music, and provide constructive feedback to other artists you intend to sign and release. We will go into more detail on reviewing music and mastering music for distribution in Part Three. GREAT MUSIC CHECK How do you know if you have great music? There is one thing I’ve found to be a good indicator of great music. It’s a technique taken from a book called ‘Mixing With Your Mind’ and the author Michael Paul Stavrou explains that the best way to see if a song is GREAT is to simply pick up a very heavy object, such as a large book, and try moving it up and down in rhythm while you listen to the music. The easier it is to move the book up and down with the music, the better the music. It’s the same principle in action when your head naturally nods along easily to a great song. We assume you know how to recognise great music in your style of music, and as an artist and label owner, you will do your best to make sure you only release great music that you will be proud to put out into the big wide world. MUSIC MANAGERS

“A manager’s job is long, hard, often thankless, but very rewarding.” NS

Typically, a music manager guides the artist’s career, which is essential at the beginning of their career. They often have contacts and experience to help the artist get their first break in the industry. I also like to say that the music industry is the only industry where the term ‘manager’ doesn’t mean you’re the boss. In music, the artist is ultimately the boss, and I believe a manager’s job is to help them realise their dreams and aspirations. In indie music, the manager wears many hats. A manager is expected to be a bit of everything and, most importantly, create opportunities for the artist’s career. Once a manager knows the artist’s dreams and aspirations, it’s their job to create a strategy and to execute that strategy. It’s about connecting artists to the right people to develop an overall plan that the artist can easily follow. It’s about building a team around them, finding a record deal or setting up their own record label, finding a publishing deal, finding a relevant PR team, and getting them signed to a good booking agency. It’s also the manager’s job to make tough decisions and give the bad news that the artist sometimes doesn’t want to hear. Managers come in all shapes and sizes. Some managers are well connected and will often just introduce an artist to the right people to get the right deals. More hands-on or administrative type managers ensure the day-to-day running of the artist’s career is done effectively. With bigger artists, there is often a business manager whose sole job is to manage the finances of an artist. For indie artists, the manager usually performs all these roles at once, including playing the role of an agent to book live shows when an artist is starting out. So what about the deal? What’s in it for the manager? Managers usually take a percentage of the artist’s income. This typically ranges from 10 to 20% and is usually 15% for indie artists, in my experience. A manager can often sign an initial six-month honeymoon contract to see if things are working out. If things work out, the manager will sign a full management agreement that will typically cover up to three years, after which it moves to a one-year rolling basis. This simply means that if no party cancels to contact in writing, the same terms apply for another year. I will detail management contracts and cover sunset clauses and percentage breakdowns in Part Four. Beware that there are many people that claim to be managers with zero experience and understanding of how the industry works. Check credentials and speak to other artists they have worked with. And once you master the music copyright section of this book, ask a potential manager a few copyright questions. Any manager worth their salt should be able to explain to you how the different royalty streams work. RECORD LABELS

In a nutshell, record labels manage the business side of artist’s recorded music by taking care of the distribution, marketing, PR, and collecting royalties for a release. And these business elements are essential to both the music and the artist’s success. This is why you either need to sign to a record label, have your own record label or, at a minimum, run your career within a record label framework. MAJOR LABELS In the last 30 years of the music industry, there have been various mergers, acquisitions, and rebranding between the major record labels, and today there are ‘The Big Three’: Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group. If you aim to be a pop star and are under the age of 21, signing to a major record label is still your best bet. If it doesn’t work out, you can go indie, but if it goes right, you’ll be a superstar riding round in limos and private jets, and headlining Coachella Festival. INDIE LABELS Any labels not under the control of ‘The Big Three’ are considered independent record labels, even if they are large multinational music companies. Indie record labels tend to be more artist-friendly, often originally founded by music artists, and usually release non-mainstream music focused around a particular genre or music scene. They often also nurture, develop and steer the creative side of projects, which can be pivotal to an artist’s development and marketing campaigns. There are too many indie labels to list here; however, notable examples are XL Recordings, Warp, Domino, 4AD, Dischord Records, and Mushroom. ARTIST LABELS Artist labels are record labels set up and run by artists and their teams. The significant difference between the more established indie labels mentioned earlier is that artist labels are typically newer and have less output. It’s worth bearing in mind that the artist/owner will invariably be the priority releasing artist in this structure. There are thousands of these labels, and if they become established enough, they will eventually become regarded as an indie label. UPSTREAM DEALS Some artist and indie labels will have upstream deals with major record labels. They still operate independently, but they have an agreement in place with a major label that if an artist they sign looks to cross over into the pop scene, they upstream the music to the major who then invests in a mainstream campaign to push the music and artist into the top 40. An example of this is an artist called Wilkinson in the UK. Wilkinson was signed to indie label RAM Records and got an upstream deal to Virgin Records, owned by Universal. This gave them more options to invest in bigger budget music videos and national radio campaigns, helping propel singles into the top 40 mainstream charts. You could think of an artist’s recorded music output path as follows: first releasing on an artist label, then signing to an indie record label, and eventually signing or upstreaming to a major record label. But whatever stage of an artist’s career you or someone you manage might be at, you need to ensure you have the business side of your music career organised efficiently. The administration, the distribution, the marketing and sales. Essentially, this is the role of a record label. This is why starting your own label or, at a minimum, understanding, thinking and acting like a record label, is vital to your success in the music industry. From my experience, successful artists don’t wait to get a manager or wait to be signed but simply get on with it. They create the music, start their own label, distribution and marketing, and grow a fanbase quickly to drive their own success. By doing this, they attract good managers, agents and, eventually, offers from larger labels or music companies to help them grow further and succeed. DISTRIBUTORS

WHAT IS A DISTRIBUTOR? Digital music distribution is taking your final mastered song and artwork files and ingesting them into a system that distributes them to all the music stores: Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Google, Deezer, etc. Distributors then collect the music royalties from these stores, create sales reports and send these to you every month. There is an approximate delay of about three months between an actual sale or stream of music and when you receive the sales reports and royalty money. As each store requires slightly different content delivery formats and various software for reporting sales, distributors have often developed software systems to automate the process. It’s important to note that a distributor is not a record label and does not own your music or copyright. They may offer ‘label services’, but that does not mean it’s a record label deal. They provide a service and take a fee or percentage from your revenue for providing services.

HOW DO THEY MAKE MONEY? Every record label has a distributor of some sort they work with, as you can’t simply upload your music directly to Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music, and Beatport. Some distributors offer deals where they manufacture physical products and distribute these to the physical music stores (that still exist!). Triple V in the Netherlands is a good example of this. If they believe a track has enough of a buzz, they will press up physical copies of vinyl and distribute them to music stores worldwide. The margins are so low that the manufacturing cost pretty much covers the profits on smaller runs, but you may make a profit if you have a vinyl hit. Plus, it is nice to have your music pressed on vinyl – and it looks cool hanging on your wall. But let’s concentrate on digital distribution, as that’s where 99% of your sales will come from. Once established, you can always look at working with someone to manufacture and distribute your vinyl, or you can do it yourself – more on that in Part Four. Let’s look at the different types of distribution companies available. AGGREGATORS An aggregator amasses hundreds of digital platforms under one roof and takes catalogue music and distributes it. The Orchard is a good example of an aggregator company. They often have direct links to the major online music stores databases and back-end systems like Apple Music, Amazon and Spotify, and provide quality control. Smaller distributors will often plug into these bigger aggregators and use them for their back-end to handle the digital distribution of their content. As an independent artist or record label, you probably won’t have a big enough catalogue to work with these types of distributors, but it’s good to know they exist. SERVICED DISTRIBUTORS These distributors can offer what they call ‘label services’ or ‘label management’ where, for a higher commission, they can do all the heavy lifting involved in label administration for you. They provide email services for promotion, built-in accounting, and the good ones will have an account manager available to answer your questions when you’re confused, or if there is an issue with a release in a store. Examples of these are Believe Digital, Ingrooves, and AWAL. They all have worldwide offices in the UK and the US, and marketing teams inside the company that can help promote your bigger releases or albums. They often work with very established and older artists that previously had major record deals and now want to release their own music with a team around them. These distributors also have an application process, so you will need a business plan when speaking to a label management company. When you apply, you will give them your business plan and your first three releases, the label’s long-term goals, and how you will run your promotion and marketing. After you have achieved some success as a self- distributed label, these companies will often reach out to you, as they will recognise the value in your music catalogue. Suppose you are going to be predominantly an electronic record label. In that case, there are specialist distribution companies that focus on electronic music that also have a good relationship with Beatport and can help you get a label account there. The major players to consider are FUGA, Label Engine, Label-Worx, and Symphonic.

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