[BC] ASCAP and BMI and Rights

[David Lawrence]

On 2/1/06 12:10 PM, one Larry Fuss <lfuss2 at cox.net> wrote:

 > There are plenty of stations that do.  But that's STILL not the point.  None
 > of today's popular artists would be where they are without radio airplay.
 > It
 > is our airplay that helps them sell CDs and makes them all rich.  They
 > should be
 > paying us, not the other way around.

Ah. Now I understand.

And I would point you to the myriad artists in the electronica space, the
trance space, the death and goth rock space, and mainstream but independent
artists that are not associated with a label, any niche space that radio
tends to ignore, and I think you'd be amazed at how much money they make
that has nothing to do with radio airplay.

Here's an example: Cindy Alexander (http://cindyalexander.com) is a really
talented artist. She sings with a backup band, she sings solo, she opens for
the Bacon Brothers (Kevin Bacon's band), she plays house concerts.

When she feels like it.

She works at her dad's law firm during the day, and plays music all over the
world.

And she makes most of her money selling her CD's directly off her web site.

Go visit her website. Listen to her stuff. Very mainstream - one of her cuts
was used as the title track to a Reese Witherspoon movie. How much money do
you think she made last year?

Nope...more.

$156,000. One CD at a time. With no help from radio. OK...I played her cut
Smash two years ago on the Net Music Countdown, once when she was the Net
Unknown of the week, and once when we named her Net Unknown of the Year, but
despite having been played on a hundred radio stations twice, she's still
fairly unknown, And...no label to have to share it with. All for her.

The secret is not radio airplay - that only happens for 200 artists or so
every year - it's practice, practice, practice and connecting with an
audience.

David
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