The Unstarving Musician

This episode dives into the complex world of music composition, master recording ownership, royalties, and income opportunities for independent musicians.

• Discover the benefits of owning your compositions and the importance of master recording ownership in protecting your creative work.
• Learn essential tips for navigating the music industry, from Performing Rights Organizations (PROs) to mechanical royalties and synchronization fees.
• Understand how songwriters earn income from public performances, reproductions, and visual mediums.

The discussion covers the primary income sources for master recordings and emphasizes the importance of signing up with organizations like SoundExchange and a PRO to collect your well-deserved royalties. Further, I cover mechanical royalties for master recordings, components of the collection process, synchronization licensing for both composition and master recording owners, and the role of PROs in paying royalties to songwriters and publishers.

Join me as I unravel the music composition and master recording ownership, and royalties, empowering independent musicians to protect their creative works and maximize their income potential.

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This episode was powered by Music Marketing Method, a program for independent musicians looking to grow their music career.

Music Marketing Method was created by my good friend Lynz Crichton. I’m in the program and I’m learning tons! I’m growing my fan base and learning about many ways that I’ll be earning money in the new year. It’s also helping me grow this podcast. How cool is that?

To lean more and find out if Music Marketing Method can help your music career, visit UnstarvingMusician.com/MusicMarketing.

This episode of the was powered by Liner Notes.

Learn from the hundreds of musicians and industry pros I’ve spoken with for the Unstarving Musician on topics such as marketing, songwriting, touring, sync licensing and much more. Sign up for Liner Notes.

Liner Notes is an email newsletter from yours truly, in which I share some of the best knowledge gems garnered from the many conversations featured on the Unstarving Musician. You’ll also be privy to the latest podcast episodes and Liner Notes subscriber exclusives.

Sign up at UnstarvingMusician.com. It’s free and you can unsubscribe at anytime.

Mentions and Related Episodes

Episode 278 Kayana – Drip Release Strategy, Self Forgiveness, Dating, a Short Film Commission, and a Creative Retreat that Gave Her the Theme and Outline for Her Forthcoming Album

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Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Unstarving Musician Mug

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SoundExchange

BMI

ASCAP

SESAC

Resources

The Unstarving Musician’s Guide to Getting Paid Gigs, by Robonzo

Music Marketing Method – The program that helps musicians find fans, grow an audience and make...

In 2011 Sommer Sharon started a Facebook page and Twitter account for a music promotions project. It was a project born of sheer interest, but things started to get interesting when Joe Satriani followed her Twitter account. Satriani was her fourth follower. Her interest suddenly became a business.

Musicians and music industry pros started to take notice of her work. This lead to the development of a great music network that included bands and solo artists from around the globe, publicists, magazine owners, radio hosts, and promoters.

Among those who took notice was Screamer Magazine, which lead to a writing gig, and new acquaintances in music. Before she knew it, Sommer was booking a weekly concert series, festivals, shows all over the midwest, and entertainment for Harley Davidson events.

Sommer has since become host/creator of the Rock Talk Podcast. The podcast has become a platform where she's leveraging her digital marketing expertise and music journalism experience to champion women in the music industry and arts. Our conversation also digs into the state of Rock Talk the podcast, Sommer's interest and work in music, technology, and women's advocacy.

"The industry is about money, not talent.”

I believe it was Sommer who recently said to me, "The industry is about money, not talent.” Although she wouldn’t be the first to make this observation, we got a kick out of discussing it. It’s a sentiment that we tend to agree with on many levels.

When I asked her to talk about the beginnings of her music interest, she shares a childhood story involving a 3rd grade girl with crazy hair, a Care Bears radio, and an Iron Maiden cassette. It's a story that provided inspiration for the intro of her Rock Talk Podcast. Hear the full story in this episode.

SHOW NOTES Tom Tom Magazine Margo Z, Cover Artist of Van Halen’s 1984 Jay Vigon, Artist Designer @chickenfootjoe Joe Satriani on Twitter Screamer Magazine Bullet Boys Performer Magazine Revolver Magazine Royal Bliss The Brassy Broadcast with Jen Edds Greg Marra Iconoclast Music Podcast Mira Goto Susan Rogers Lori Lee Love Your Story Lisa Leuschner Andersen Kid Andersen Sleigh Consulting Libsyn podcast hosting Rock Talk Podcast Facebook Page Rock Talk Podcast on Instagram Rock Talk on Apple Podcasts RESOURCES FOR MUSICIANS

The Unstarving Musician’s Guide to Getting Paid Gigs ConvertKit – Awesome email marketing solution, something every musician needs! DreamHost – Been using this web hosting service forever. Love them, trust them! More resources – Deals on musician resources.

Welcome to the Unstarving Musician

This podcast was created to help independent musicians better understand the marketing, business and creative processes that empower them to make music and make a living doing it. It's a podcast for musicians seeking insights and advice from their peers and music industry professionals.

Episodes feature insights from a wide array of guest interviews, covering topics such as songwriting, recording, release strategy, building an audience, music licensing and much more.

Thanks for tuning in! Sign up for our email newsletter Liner Notes!

Liner Notes is an email newsletter from yours truly, in which I share some of the best knowledge gems garnered from the many conversations featured on the Unstarving Musician. You’ll also be privy to the latest podcast episodes and Liner Notes subscriber exclusives.

Sign up at UnstarvingMusician.com/LinerNotes. It’s free and you can unsubscribe at anytime.

Stay in touch!

@RobonzoDrummer on Twitter and Instagram

@UnstarvingMusician on Facebook and YouTube

Mark Wenner and his band The Nighthawks have been performing and recording for over 40 years. He did this with and along side an impressive list of blues and R & B note-worthies. Mark came up as a young man when rock & roll was perceived by older adults as the devil’s music. It was a time, he notes, when when Elvis was in army, Jerry Lewis was banned, Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran were dead, Little Richard was immersed in church, Ray Charles was in jail, and Gene Vincent was crippled. It was at this time that Mark sensed a conspiracy of sorts, as radio began to market the likes of Fabian and Frankie Avalon. Older people hated rock & roll, and teachers would yell about its ills for an entire periods, Mark recalls. His response? He'd venture without the permission of his parents to DC's Howard Theater. Here he'd see The Motown Review, Otis Redding, James Brown and Marvin Gaye mentor Billy Stewart. It's no wonder that he fell in love with music, learned to play harp, and formed The Nighthawks in 1972.

Known as the hardest working band in America, the Nighthawks have performed with the Vaughn brothers, Greg Allman, George Thorogood, Warren Haynes, Muddy Waters, BB King and others. Everyone seemed to love the band. Greg Allman even talked about joining the band. In some cases, The Nighthawks helped propel their peers to fame. Big time fame unfortunately eluded The Nighthawks. They can at least take solace in the fact that documentary film maker Michael Streissguth took interest in them, and created the film Nighthawks on the Blue Highway.

As you can imagine, Mark has a lot of stories to tell. During our conversation he shares a few good ones for sure. He also breaks down how he consistently got his band into new venues in the early days. His strategy was all about relationships and asking for help. It’s a strategy that still applies today.

The Nighthawks have been labeled an American blues roots music band. I suppose that’s not too off the mark, but also imagine that Mark would say they’re simply a blues band. He’d be right.

This episode of the was powered by Liner Notes.

Learn from the hundreds of musicians and industry pros I’ve spoken with for the Unstarving Musician on topics such as marketing, songwriting, touring, sync licensing and much more. Sign up for Liner Notes.

Liner Notes is an email newsletter from yours truly, in which I share some of the best knowledge gems garnered from the many conversations featured on the Unstarving Musician. You’ll also be privy to the latest podcast episodes and Liner Notes subscriber exclusives.

Sign up at UnstarvingMusician.com. It’s free and you can unsubscribe at anytime.

Mentioned in this Episode

Nighthawks music on CD Baby Nighthawks music on iTunes Nighthawks.com Michael Streissguth Nighthawks on the Blue Highway documentary website Nighthawks on the Blue Highway DVD The Howard Theater

Stay in touch!

@RobonzoDrummer on Twitter and Instagram

@UnstarvingMusician on Facebook and YouTube

Michelle Lockey is a performing singer songwriter, composer for film & TV, and creator of Licensing Songs Academy, a community of songwriters & composers that are learning how to write & license music for Film & TV. She's also a three-time Washington Area Music Award Nominee and Grand Prize Winner in the folk category of the 2013 John Lennon Song Contest. My interest in connecting with Michelle was to learn more about her as a music licensing and music business educator. As usual for the podcast, we also get into her music influences, education and musicianship.

Michelle devotes much of her craft to writing for film and TV, and the rest to recording, performing, writing and teaching music. All of this, and she claims she didn’t have much formal education. That depends on your definition of formal. In reality, she's taken a number college courses and private instruction lessons. When I asked how she got into educating others on the business of music licensing, she took me back to a time when she created a customer education platform to help deal with recurring questions for the biotech industry. As she gained knowledge and expertise in licensing, she started getting questions and meeting requests from musicians curious to learn what she could share with them. This lead to an idea for a workshop, which eventually lead to online courses where she's applied much of what she learned in setting up education systems during her stint in biotech.

Her work for film and TV requires a broad stylistic range, which for Michelle means going from acoustic folk-indie to electric alt rock, from sad and dark to happy. As we discussed her early music influences, she talks about music on TV. I wondered if she's made the connection between those early years of interest and where she’s now focusing her career. She also shares that the biggest factor in her music career path was nurtured by a community called Taxi Music, where she took workshops, learned about the artist side of the music business, and ultimately about writing for film and TV. She’s establishing herself within the educator community as a leader and mentor to others, partnering with the likes of Bree Noble, who was featured in episode 17 of this podcast.

If music licensing is a topic of interest for you, you'll enjoy this episode.

Licensing Songs Academy John Lennon Song Contest Taxi Music Episode 17 with Bree Noble