Jazz Business
In this section we look at the concept of copyright in the UK as related to musical works, the royalty system and how it works, what a publisher does. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS AS THE WRITER OF A MUSICAL WORK The writer of a musical work is the creator (and the original owner) of a piece of copyright material. It does not matter whether that musical work is a song with a lyric and melody or simply a rhythmic instrumental piece without words or tune. Provided that work is in some way a musical composition the writer of it is the owner of its copyright. There are three basic qualifying criteria: Originality – the work must be new and unique Set down in a permanent form – recorded on magnetic tape, saved on a computer disc, written, drawn or painted
In this section we’ll look at contracts: The 3 main types of contract between musicians, managers, record companies and publishers Other common types of contracts All musicians during the course of their careers with have to enter into music industry contracts at one time or another. Indeed managers, performers, promoters, record companies and publishers also enter into contractual arrangements. The law governing music contracts is the same as the law governing all other contracts. All that is required from a music industry point of view is an understanding of what is needed in such contracts, how they work and the affect on the contracting parties careers. There are three main contracts in an artist's career, namely: Management contract Record contract Publishing contract There are also a number of subsidiary contracts, namely: Merchandising contracts Sponsorship agreements Agency agreements Band agreements
It’s important to set yourself up with a good financial record keeping system that you keep up to date. I always recommend that musicians have 2 bank accounts one for their personal income and expenditure and one for their business expenses and income. This way it keeps things clear and also helps you to see that you are a business, regardless of how small or large that income is. This is particularly important if you are getting into recording and selling a CD or receiving gig fees and paying out musicians as you need to be able to run a separate budget for these activities. What are financial records? Annual accounts Income and expenditure records Receipts and invoices Annual Self assessment tax form Bank records Credit card records VAT Self employed or employed? You can be employed in one job and self employed in another. Inland Revenue Leaflet IR56 employed or self employed? You can register as self employed by calling the Helpline for the Newly Self-Employed on 08459 15 45 15. www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/startingup When you are self-employed, you’re responsible for paying your own tax and National Insurance contributions. Keeping full and accurate records from the start will make it easier to work these out. Broadly speaking, after your first year in business, the tax you have to pay will be based on your profits for the previous tax year. National Insurance contributions Most self-employed people pay two classes of National Insurance contributions Class 2, paid at a weekly flat rate…
Promotion There is loads of stuff out there on marketing and publicity. In this section we are looking at promotion in the context of being jazz musician. There are promotional tools that are important to have in your armoury but also it’s important to remember that your key area of promotion is when you are on stage. Are you and your musicians rehearsed, do you have an agreed set list and all know what you are playing, do you arrive on stage on time or do you keep the audience waiting, do you speak to the audience, do you have records for sale and invite people to join your mailing list, do you announce yourself so that people who arrive during the set know who you are. All of these things are promotion and give out messages as to who you are and where you sit in the jazz universe and on your own trajectory. This section looks at developing your promotional pack and EPK (electronic press kit), developing your website with download potential and running a digital marketing campaign. Developing a promotion pack Look at the tools that you need and how best to develop them. Like everything in life you can have the Rolls Royce of promotion packs or you can have a more modest model that does the same job and have the same components but maybe isn’t quite as all singing and all dancing as another model. In this section we will outline the key components of different…
Jazz Services commissioned Debbie Dickinson of City University to develop this definitive guide to managing your career. With help from Noel Dennis of Teeside University Business School and Mykaell Riley of Westminster University and financial support from the Arts Council England's lottery funding, the Online Music Business Resource (OMBR) has been able to draw on a wide breadth of professional insight and experience, in order to generate a wealth of information and materials relevant to the current climate. The OMBR contains detailed information and advice on Finance, Law, Marketing & PR, Copyright and much more, but before you get bogged down in the detail, it's worth spending some time considering where you are now and what you already have in place: Â Where Are You Now? What Do You Have In Place? What Do You Need? How Do You Take The Next Step? Â Further information can be found in our free PDF Guides...