The Importance Of Proper Branding In Music

BELOW IS AN EXCERPT FROM http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-ca-ms-motley-crue-20150809-story.html#page=1   

 “Mötley Crüe’s longtime manager, Allen Kovac, sees Led Zeppelin, which disbanded in 1980 after the death of drummer John Bonham, as the ideal precedent. “No one has left more money on the table than Zeppelin, and yet they have one of the highest-selling catalogs and merchandising lines in the world because they didn’t go out and diminish the brand like so many bands have,” Kovac says. “Mötley Crüe recognized that part of the puzzle.”

 Perhaps Kovac has a point about branding?  Cut to… http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/on-the-charts-led-zeppelins-in-through-the-out-door-back-in-top-10-20150809 

Amplify Your DJ Brand with These 4 Tips

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 10 years, I would be surprised if you didn’t know about social media and what it means for you as a DJ, producer or electronic music artist. For a beginner DJ or as someone who is just starting your DJ career, it allows you to be successful even without a record label or radio support. If you are a more established DJ, it is even more an essential part of your digital being as a DJ in all your personas. Social media by default has become your personal DJ brand online and in fact with a Facebook page a lot of people already have an online DJ brand destination, they just don’t think of it that way as they publish and promote their music to friends, fans and followers. And here’s what they are missing!

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One Book To Rule Them All! The Elusive "It" Factor in the Music Industry

I have always been a creative entrepreneur, and not allowed the world to get the better of me, but instead, let the world fuel me. Throughout 13 years in the music industry I’ve worked with some of the best in the business: Anita Baker, KC Porter, Jim Henson Studios, Never Land, OK GO, George Duke, Lauren Mayhew, Pomplamoose, and as far as I can remember, I’ve heard of “it,” this elusive thing setting apart the extraordinary from the ordinary. These people encapsulate: auras, energy, and empower all that are near; you’re drawn to them.

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What Is Your Creative Brand?

Artists and authors are talking about creative branding. But what exactly is a brand? And do you have to have one?

As a label and publisher, we get a lot of questions about artist branding. After marketing nearly 100 releases, we understand the importance of branding to an artist’s success. The differences between good and bad branding are as important as the differences between good and bad music. And it isn’t just about the packaging.

Your creative brand = who you are + what you do. It is the transmission of your creative identity to an audience. And yes, you need it.

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The Day The Music Dies: What’s Really At Stake When Licensing Music

The Day The Music Dies: What’s Really At Stake When Licensing Music

By Christopher Rucks—Music Dealers

It’s more than just a car to drive. It’s more than just a belt to hold up your pants. It’s more than just a song to go in a web video. It’s a promise of service.

We recently lost a music licensing opportunity. We proposed a fee of 1K for the requested use; web content, worldwide, perpetual use, mid-tier, but phenomenally licensable up-and-coming artist that we have a great relationship with.

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The Brand Review: Big Sean (feat. special guest Jerreau of Fly Union)

The Brand Review is a bi-weekly web-series I’ll be hosting that critiques and analyzes recording artists’ overall brand package, brand partnerships, endorsement deals, lifestyle, and more.

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Zen and the Fine Art of Perpetual Inspiration

The demands on our creative energies is high. The need for our content and ideas has never been greater. We know we need to write more, practice more, paint more, produce more and create more… but for many of us, all we have is a deficit of inspiration.

Where do you come up with all of your ideas? 
Where do you find your inspiration?
How the hell can you be consistently creative?

Embracing the Art of Zen can help.

Zen can be approximately translated as “absorption” or a “meditative state”. 

Once you allow yourself to be in a contemplative and reflective state, you will find inspiration literally everywhere.

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Entertainment Attorney Dina LaPolt Educates Artists and Professionals On How to Navigate Business and Legal Aspects of Music Industry

Dina LaPolt, renowned Los Angeles-based attorney, who is The National Association of Record Industry Professionals’ 2011 Top Music Business Attorney, is once again bringing her expertise and experience to UCLA Extension with her popular “Legal and Practical Aspects of the Music Business” class for its tenth consecutive winter term.  LaPolt’s ability to break down into simple terms the complex legal concepts surrounding the various ways in which rights are exploited and monetized makes this course an essential for all artists, songwriters, managers, lawyers, accountants, executives, producers, publishers and other entertainment industry professionals.

Some of the most important issues covered by the course involve the growth of ancillary revenue streams for artists that are not even related to music but which have become important brand-building tools for music artists, such as sponsorships/endorsements, opportunities in television, book publishing, and creative forms of merchandising.  Licensing music for film, television and video games still create significant opportunities but licensing these rights have become very complicated due to the corporate mergers of the record and publishing companies.  To most, these subjects can be overwhelming but one of the main assets those taking this class will walk away with is a firm grasp of how to navigate one’s way through these minefields in order to have a complete understanding of today’s music business.  LaPolt, her firm’s associates,  and a stable of specific guest lecturers  will also discuss other areas as well such as issues that arise in the recording studio, recording and publishing agreements, as well as fans, brands, social networks, and cultural communities as they affect music, copyrights, and merchandising in a global music market.

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