Glass Randy - All You Need to Know About the Music Business

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To my precious Shana, and our growing family:

Danny, David, Rona, Josh, Lindsey, Jordan, Dorianne, Benjamin, Talia, and Billy

Most record deals dont require the record company even to make a record, much less to release it?

You dont have to register in Washington to get a copyright?

If we write a song together, and you write only the lyrics and I write only the music, each of us owns a piece of the music and each of us owns a piece of the lyrics? And that neither of us can use just the music, or just the lyrics, without paying the other?

Prior to 1972, the United States had no copyright law prohibiting the unauthorized reproduction of records?

Some film music composers cant even write music, much less create the arrangements for each instrument of an orchestra?

A brain surgeon and a rock star have something in common?

PLEASE READ MY THANK-YOUS. I KNOW ITS A BUNCH OF PEOPLE YOUVE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD OF, BUT THINK HOW MUCH YOUD WANT OTHER PEOPLE TO READ IT IF YOUR NAME WAS HERE.

No creative work is ever the product of one person alone (no matter how tempting it is to believe our own hype), and I want to acknowledge and thank all the following people for their inspiration and help:

Payson Wolff and Bruce Ramer, my mentors and spiritual brothers.

Bea Shaw, my mommy, who helped edit the first edition, and who paid for my first soft-drink stand.

Snuff Garrett, for believing in me early on.

Mike Gorfaine and R. Diane McKain, for their invaluable advice on film and TV music.

Gene Salomon, for his input, and for always making me look good.

Ethan Schiffres, for going over this entire edition in detail.

Rob Light, for help with the touring section.

Ed Ritvo, for the confidence to do all sorts of things.

Steve Bigger and Larry Apolzon, for help with protecting the rights in group names.

Chris Castle, for help with the classical music chapter.

Dave Dunton (in the beginning) and Jofie Ferrari-Adler, for getting this book into the hands of readers.

Alan Garner, for his extraordinary communication skills and advice on conversation, books, and salesmanship.

Kim Mitchell, my incredibly indispensable assistant.

Jules Levine and Corky, for having bulldogs.

In addition, the following people (in alphabetical order) generously gave the benefit of their expertise: David Altschul, Jill Berliner, Don Biederman, Kevin Breen, Nancy Chapman, David Cohen, Gary Cohen, Glenn Delgado, Bruce Eisenberg, Steven Fabrizio, Gary Ford, Russell Frackman, Dell Furano, Steve Gawley, Neil Gillis, Mark Goldstein, Lauren Gordon, Trudy Green, Jeff Hill, Zach Horowitz, Cathy Jacobson, Howard Kaufman, Larry Kenswil, Steve Lyon, Jay Morgenstern, Jay Murray, Michael Ostroff, Ed Pierson, Peter Reichardt, Bruce Resnikoff, Jack Rosner, Tom Ross, Joe Salvo, Rose Schwartz, Joel Sill, Patricia Smith, Lon Sobel, Sandy Tanaka, Lance Tendler, Ray Tisdale, Tracie Verlinde, Wayne Volat, Lenny Waronker, and Ron Wilcox.

FOR THIS NINTH EDITION, special thanks to (alphabetically): Christos Badavas, Lenny Beer, Tom Cavanaugh, Patti Coleman, Matthew Cox, Richard Feldstein, Darryl Friedman, Marc Geiger, Susan Genco, Lee Goforth, Phil Graham, J. Grannis, Randy Grimmett, Susan Hilderly, Liz Kennedy Holman, David Israelite, Justin Kalifowitz, David Kokakis, Peter Lubin, Tom MacDougall, Alli Macgregor, Brian Meath, Irwin Nachimson, Chad Peterson, Diarmuid Quinn, Bruce Resnikoff, David Ring, Paul Robinson, Stu Rosen, Bobby Rosenbloum, Andrew Ross, Steve Schnur, Cary Sherman, Alison Smith, Helen Stotler, Ann Sweeney, Lisa Thomas, DA Wallach, Emily White, Ron Wilcox, and Pat Woods.

But most especially, thanks to all the garage bands out thereyoure the lifeblood of our business.

Well, kiddies, weve certainly seen a lot of changes since we last we got together.

The good news is that streaming is growing at a wonderful pace. And thats about it for the good news.

CD sales are under 25% of the business and dropping. Downloads have fallen 15% per year for the last few years. Piracy is alive and well, hiding under cyber-rocks, and YouTube delivers more audio-only music than all the other sites put together (including the pirate sites), for which the creators are paid very little (well talk more about that later). All in all, the industry earnings are almost half of what they were in 2003. Also, were going through a major upheaval in the songwriter world that could radically change the industry.

Otherwise, its a lovely afternoon.

On the brighter front, were seeing huge growth in vinyl (to younger people, its a new technology; go figure) thats only held back because every vinyl plant on the planet is at full capacity. The bad news is that its less than 2% of the business. But in the current state of affairs, well take what we can get.

Now if youre reading this and trying to decide whether the music business will disappear and if youd be better off putting the price of this book into your stamp collection, there actually is a beautiful weather forecast. As well discuss, streaming has the potential to make the music business bigger than its ever been in history. People who never would have gone into a record store are listening to streams, and the numbers are growing fast. So stick around (and buy the book).

As these new ways to exploit music take hold, you might wonder how artists get paid. Well, my friend, youve come to the right place. The book in your hands has the latest scoop on all these newfangled gizmos. And at no extra charge (if you act RIGHT NOW), theres an update of whats happening with traditional music business dealsrecording, songwriting, merchandising, touring, and so forth.

So step right up. All these secrets and more are revealed just inside the tent.

P.S. Congrats if you read this. It means youre a real Go-Getter, since most folks skip the introductions to books.

The materials in this book represent the opinions of the author and may not be applicable to all situations. Many circumstances appear similar, but differ in respects that may be legally significant. In addition, laws and customs change over time, and by necessity of the lapse in time between the writing and printing of this book, some aspects may be out of date even upon first publication. Accordingly, the author and publisher assume no responsibility for actions taken by readers based upon the advice offered in this book. Each reader should use caution in applying any material contained in this book to his or her specific circumstance, and should seek the advice of an appropriate professional. (Authors note: Use your common sense and be careful!)

For many years I taught a class on the music business at the University of Southern California Law Schools Advanced Professional Program. The class was for lawyers, accountants, record and film company executives, managers, agents, and bartenders who want to manage groups. Anyway, at the beginning of one of these courses a friend of mine came up to me. She was an executive at a film studio and was taking the class to understand the music industry as it relates to films. She said, Im here to open up the top of my head and have you pour in the music business. I loved that mental picture (because there are many subjects Id love to absorb that way), and it spurred me to develop a painless way of infusing you with the extensive materials in this book. So if youll sit back, relax, and open up your mind, Ill pour in all you need to know about the music business (and a bit more for good measure).