In 1986 our band Erotic Exotic put out our first record called “Take Me As I Am”. Within the freestyle market the song did very well, and actually saw the top 10 spot on billboard’s dance chart. Every now & then someone will ask me “what are you singing in the last part of the chorus”? The reason they ask is because that line is very long considering it’s only 1 bar long. The chorus goes like this: (each line is a bar). Read Full Story

Yesterday The Digital Media Association (DiMA) came to an agreement with several associations that represent songwriters, publishers and record labels regarding royalty rates for interactive streaming music and limited downloads. Up until recently there was no royalty base for these online distribution forms, but now all the parties involved have agreed to 10.5% of revenues (after other royalties are calculated). Read Full Story

Back in February I wrote about how Google was in negotiations with major and independent record labels in offering a new search site in China which would allow users to get licensed music for free. Well this week it happened. Google launched “Music OneBox”. Music Onebox will direct users to a Web site called ‘Top100.cn’ which will then enable them to download or stream legally available music content for free. Read Full Story

I get folks now and then who ask me why my blog is primarily geared towards music for film and TV, and why almost all my music is instrumental. Some people think it’s because I can’t write regular vocal oriented pop songs, but the fact is that for over 20 years that was the only type of music I use to write. I’ve always been more comfortable writing melodies than lyrics. However, some of the best pop and country songs I’ve written have been with co-writers who excel in writing lyrics. So... Read Full Story

I use a couple of different tip sheets to help me get leads on music libraries and/or publishers that are looking for music for various projects. The right tip sheet can be very helpful, but only if you know how to read them carefully and pay attention to the details. I’ve been using Taxi as one of my tip sheets for over 10 years now, and I remember when I first started using their service I would simply browse through the listing and submit songs based on just a few lines I would read. For... Read Full Story

Last week I got an email from one of the publishers I work with (Eric) asking if I had already received my royalty payment from BMI for a song I wrote which he got placed on the CW Network. The song had gotten a pretty good amount of airplay so the payment was significant enough for him to make sure everything was in order. Unfortunately it wasn’t. I told Eric that I had not received any payment from BMI for that particular song, but that I would contact them to find out what had happened. I... Read Full Story

As a film & TV songwriter we constantly have to keep in mind exactly what our client wants and try not to veer away from it during the songwriting and production process. I use to have the problem where I would start working on a project for a client and I’ll get just the right rhythm section going, (i.e.; drums, bass, percussion). Then I’ll start playing a riff, melody or even a particular sound that I really liked a lot but it didn’t fit the idea the client was looking for. I use to waste... Read Full Story

So I’ve been debating in my mind the whole lawsuit between Viacom and Google wondering who has the best interest of all involved; ie the public, copyright holders etc. If you read a lot of the online comments and forums surrounding this discussion you’ll find that a majority favors Google and want content to be literally “free” for everyone. In a way I can understand that train of thought because after all we’ve all been taught to believe that “if it’s on the internet, it’s free”. Many people... Read Full Story

Back in late March I was the unexpected recipient of a great April Fool’s joke by Scott Dorsey of Recording Magazine. I was so fooled by the prank that I even posted a blog about it (Louder is not Better). Now, granted that if I had read the article on April 1st I probably would’ve picked up on the gag, but I got the magazine around March 27th. Read Full Story

Recently I had the good fortune to get a lot of airplay from CW Network on one of my dance instrumental songs. My wife was pretty excited about it and later asked me “how much did you make from it?” Don’t get her wrong, she is not materialistic or anything like that, but she was simply asking the same question that so many people ask when their song gets airplay. However my answer was the same as almost every songwriter has to confront with. “I Don’t Know”. At least not yet. Read Full Story