World Music

The Internet revolutionized the music industry with Napster, and continues to drive major changes within the music industry. It’s time to harness that power to monetize your music in new ways. Here are 5 great places to start.  5. Use social media to build a fan database. If you’re an artist, you need to realize that you’re also a brand which needs to be marketed. But who do you market to? Use every opportunity to get e-mail addresses of friends, family, people you met at other artist concerts, and of course EVERYONE who shows up when you play. Most important of all, get this info into a database of e-mail addresses. Then you can send out e-mail blasts and connect via Facebook friends, Twitter followers, etc. It's up to you to connect with your fans and create loyal followers who will pay money to hear your music. 4. Sell your music to popular YouTube channels. Now that YouTube pays royalties just like any other broadcast network, getting your music on a popular YouTube channel pr...

Q & A with TMC President Donna Ross-Jones Q: How does YouTube fit into the changing music industry? A: The key word here is convergence . Soon there will be no difference between broadcast television, YouTube, and other internet sites. The only thing that will be measured will be eyeballs; it won’t matter the platform. Performance revenue follows the money. The internet will get more monetized and will be measured the same way other platforms are measured: number of advertising dollars.

Donna Ross-Jones TuneSat recently reported that 80% of music played commercially is unreported or misreported. The Performance Rights Organizations (PROs) and major record labels (Universal-BMI, Sony, Warner Brothers), the "majors," have the technological capability to be accurate and transparent about performances and payments, but they choose not to.Why do they refuse to be transparent? They have no incentive to be. That’s the story on the record radio performance side of the industry and it’s the same story when it comes to royalties for music in film and television. As it stands now, the three PROs--ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC--report what music was performed, how much to collect from broadcasters, and the royalty paid to writers/composers. If you're keeping track, there are only three PROs and three major record labels that control approximately 80% of music rights globally. The majors overwhelmingly dominate the market, making the majors the PROs’ biggest clients. So, ...

"Q & A with TMC's President" is a new feature on this blog where we ask questions to Donna Ross-Jones, TMC's founder and president, about current topics swirling around the digital music industry. Jones is an expert in publishing and the management of music IP, from repurposing to administration to monetization. She has a history of developing and implementing solutions in the ever-changing world of music in entertainment and technology.   Q:  A recent CNET article on a new music startup called Fuzz begins , "The entrepreneur taking a crack at a digital music startup must either be super determined, completely crazy, or a both. The chances of legal run-ins with the labels are high. And even when you play by the rules, the rights payments are so steep that making a profitable business is all but impossible."  How has Transition Music Corporation, a successful music startup, managed to thrive in the business for so long when so many others have failed?  A:...

"Q & A with TMC's President" is a new feature on this blog where we ask questions to Donna Ross-Jones, TMC's founder and president, about current topics swirling around the digital music industry. Jones is an expert in publishing and the management of music IP from repurposing to administration, to monetization. She has a history of developing and implementing solutions in the ever-changing world of music in entertainment and technology.   Q: What does the merger of Universal and EMI mean for the industry?  Donna Ross-Jones: I respond to this question from the perspective of being an independent, and to me it screams opportunity! Our industry history confirms that as the major’s get bigger, their role in the industry changes. Their sheer size makes it impossible for them to move swiftly in response to trends or to focus attention to all the songwriters and artists who have not reached “mega status.” This opens the door for independents to sign and develop ta...