Industry Fun Facts - Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)

Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)

The RIAA® Gold® and Platinum® Awards program was launched in 1958 in an effort to create a standard by which to measure sales of a sound recording.

In the beginning, there was only a Gold® album award for the sale of 500,000 copies. As the industry grew, other awards were developed. The Platinum® award (1,000,000 sold) was created in 1976 and with the advent of the compact disc and the subsequent increase in sales, the Multi-Platinum™ award was created in 1984.

On March 16, 1999, the RIAA® launched the Diamond® Awards, honoring sales of 10 million copies or more of an album or single.

http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php

 

Cleanliness And Organization

  We have a spare bedroom in our apt we converted into a music studio.  All that we need is at our finger tips and we don’t need to go outside of our front door.  However, over the past several months, the studio has become a storage room for items not related to studio use.  Yesterday we were thinking about how we can continue to make our business thrive and succeed.  One small and very simple answer to that challenge is to clean out the studio of junk not related to the actual business.  This allows me, as the producer, to have fewer distractions in the environment where my focus and creativity is the key to our success.  Within an hour our studio became an actual studio once more.  It was a simple task but feels quite liberating.  Having a clean and organized place of business is not only important to our personal comfort, but projects a higher degree of professionalism to business associates and others visiting.  Our business is only as serious as we take it.  I believe others will follow that viewpoint as well.

Enjoy your Tuesday! 

BSMG Staff  

Best Practices - Legal Docs

  We are currently looking into the best way to accomplish a business transaction between BSMG and an artist.  As we mentioned previously, we are working with a hip-hop artist out of Cleveland.  We sent him a sample track that he is really excited about.  At this point, his interest is in recording lyrics over the track and ours is ensuring that he and BSMG comes out of this with far and equal profit.  Everything we have read states over and over again that a business is a business, "get it in writing."

We plan on sending him the legal agreement that is being drafted this very moment.  The record industry has a long history of squeezing an artist dry for every nickel and dime it can.  With BSMG, our intent is to have a legacy of great business practices where the artist is equally and fairly rewarded for their efforts.  Integrity is invaluable..... 

Stay tuned for more to come


BSMG Staff

Entertainment Lawyer

 

 

  We contacted an Entertainment (Ent) Lawyer in Washington D.C. yesterday afternoon.  Everything we have read about the industry reiterates the importance of having a lawyer review any and all documents relating to business relationships and transactions.  We mentioned previously that we are looking to move forward with an artist in Cleveland in the near future.  I provided him with a track and his feedback was extremely positive.  Our intention was to meet with an Ent Lawyer for legal advice and guidance through the negotiating process of the use of our track by an artist.  We were shocked to hear that this particular lawyer requires $600 per hour with a retainer of $2500.  Long story short, if you plan to use a lawyer be ready for sticker shock.  We have found another method of legal assistance which we will put out on here soon.  Keep reading! 

 

BSMG Staff

Music Industry Quotes

"Modern music is people who can't think signing artists who can't write songs to make records for people who can't hear." Frank Zappa

"Just because it happened to you, doesn't mean it's interesting" Dennis Hopper (Search and Destroy)

"Just because you can record, doesn't mean you should." Christopher Knab, FourFront Media and Music

"Independent labels take nothing and make something out of it. Major labels buy that something, and try to make more out of it." Tom Silverman, Tommy Boy Records CEO

"When you hear my records today...you hear a vanilla sounding artist with no black inflection, although I was trying to imitate what I heard." Pat Boone

"You go through stages where you wonder whether you are Christ, or just looking for him." David Bowie

"You've gotta be business savvy really, or elso you get the piss taken out of you." Melanie B, Spice Girls

"Actually I don't know if honesty is a strength or some kind of weakness." Ani DeFranco

"That's not easy to find in a corporate world, somebody who cares about music." Michael Penn, musician

"It's magazines like HITS that have to label things." Nina Gordon, Veruca Salt

Mentorship

 

  We have a neighbor in our complex that apparently has vast experience and knowledge in the music and radio industry.  We have met a couple of times to discuss our label and exchange ideas on our music and its direction.  From everything we have read it is exceptionally rare to find a business and industry mentor so early on in a start up label.  A while back I put up a post discussing the value of networking.  Networking is a direct result of the business relationship and friendship I am developing with our neighbor.  As we’ve all heard, “Knowledge is power.”  We would like to add to that; “Experience with your knowledge kicks ass!”

 

 

BSMG Staff

 

 

Entertainment Lawyer - Round 1

  We started calling around the DC area looking for Entertainment Lawyers.  An entertainment lawyer is someone who specializes in entertainment legal jargon; specifically in the music industry for our inquiry. 

 

We reached out to two separate law firms this afternoon and we’re awaiting a call back.  We will be paying the lawyer a substantial amount of money for legal council, so punctuality on returning phone calls is a part of the selection process for us.  Don’t be afraid to ask the lawyer directly: “Why should I solicit your services verses another lawyer?” and “Can you provide me with references of previous clients.”  If a lawyer shy’s away from either of those questions, that is a definite red flag.  Red flags are a No-Go and should encourage you to look elsewhere. 

 

We’ll keep you posted as things progress….

 

BSMG Staff

 

 

Grammy365 - Associate Member

Can anyone tell us more about Grammy365.com?  Apparently you can become a member for as little as $100 per year.  There are three types of members with the top one being a Voting Member.  This type of member has the ability to cast votes during the Grammy's.  That in it self is pretty amazing.  Any insight would be appreciated. 

Collaboration?

  We have been focusing more on production for artist these days.  We have informally started looking into collaborations with artists.  We are talking with a hip-hop artist out of Cleveland.  We sent him a sample of a track titled "Chop It Up."  It's a really simple hip-hop track with a hard hitting drum and some old school beat-boxing.  If things work out I will be sure to post more on this potential business relationship.

Studio Time - Hands On

 

  If you have a contact in the DC area who is willing to let me shadow an Audio Engineer in a professional studio, please pass them along.  We are interested in getting more hands-on in a professional mixing studio enviorenment.

 

BSMG Staff

Power - Kanye West

"Power" - Amazing track - Musically, its like nothing out right now!

New Song - Say Goodbye

Im working on a new hip-hop track.  It's called "Say Goodbye"  We like it and are looking forward to posting it on the website..  Check it out soon...

Stay tuned...

BSMG Staff

Check Out Updates to Our Website

Check out the latest updates to our website.  As you may have noticed, the blog has been updated as well.  Enjoy!