Music business jargon got you down? Trying to make a name for yourself in the music industry but just not sure what the heck everyone is talking about? Don’t know your tech specs from your elbow? Fear not! Stop trying to bluff your way through and start learning your music biz vocab – you’ll be impressing your friends in no time!

Talking the Industry Talk

If you’re trying to get started in the music business, it can sound like everyone is speaking a different language, with all of their demos, promos, one sheets and whozits and whatzits. Don’t know the lingo? Don’t sweat it! These basic music industry terms will give you all of the vocab you need to talk like an old hat music biz pro.

Agent – Someone who liaises with promoters and venues to book gigs for bands. (Sometimes people use the term “agent” when they really mean “manager” – careful!)

Big Four Record Labels – Major record labels.

Demo – A sample recording of a band’s music. Often rough recordings or early versions of “songs in progress.”

Digital Distribution – Distribution of music online, i.e., downloads.

Digipack – A type of CD case that looks like a book instead of a plastic case.

The outside is made of paper and the CD sits in a tray inside that is attached to the paper.

Door Split – A type of payment deal for a live performance, in which the band and promoter agree to split the proceeds for the show, after the promoter has recouped their costs.

Gatefold Sleeve – Vinyl album sleeve that folds out in three sections. Usually used for double LPs or for special artwork. Sometimes the gatefold format is used in smaller format for digipack CD cases.

Indie Labels – Self funded labels not tied to any major label/Big Four label.

Jewel Case – Traditional plastic CD case, also sometimes called a jewel box.

Longbox – The cardboard boxes that manufacturers and distributors send out CDs in – 25 to each longbox.

Manager – Essentially the business manager of a band. Duties vary wildly depending on the level of the band, but generally managers try to seek out new opportunities for the band while being the contact person for all other people (agents, promoters, labels, etc) dealing with the band.

Mechanical Royalties – Royalties paid to the songwriter per album pressed (or sold, depending on the deal). Also sometimes called “mechanicals.”

One Sheet – The info sheet for a release – can contain info about the band, the recording or anything else significant about the release. Also gives the release date. One sheets are used by labels and distributors to sell a new release. They get their name from the fact that they are (or at least they should be) one page long.

P.D.s – Also PDs. Short for “per diems,” which means “per days.” This refers to the stipend paid daily to band members and crew on a tour (or sometimes when out of town for recording) for their personal expenses, such as food and drinks.

PR – Technically means “press relations” but is also used in a slang way to refer to a person who works in press relations. PR is also known as “publicity.” PR companies/PR people are usually hired to work on a campaign basis to promote a new album, single or tour. Some PR people only promote to print media, some only to websites, some only to TV and some to a combination of mediums. Some PR people also work in radio plugging, but often radio is treated as a separate entity.

Performing Rights Royalties – Royalties paid to a songwriter when a song they have written is performed.

Playlist – The list of songs played by a radio station. For some radio stations, the playlist is up to the DJ. Other radio stations have set playlists of songs that have to be played. Often these radio stations have tiered playlists, such as A list, B list and so on, that dictate how many times a day a song has to be played.

Promo – A promotional copy of a recording, different from a demo in that it is usually a finished version of the recording. Promos can be complete copies of an album complete with artwork or they can be CDs in cardboard or plastic sleeves.

Promo Package – A package used to promote music, including a promo CD and any appropriate press releases, one sheets, photos and other information. Also known as press kit or press pack.

Promoter – Someone who promotes live performances for bands. (Sometimes people refer to PR companies and publicists as promoters – careful!)

Publishing – Essentially another level of copyright control for songs, publishing deals simply put a person in charge of making sure the appropriate amount of royalties are collected for a song, in exchange for a portion of those royalties and some rights to the song. Most publishers go further than that and actively try to place songs in revenue generating positions, like advertisements or with other artists for cover version, etc.

Radio Plugger – Also sometimes simply known as a plugger, radio pluggers promote releases to radio. Pluggers usually work with specific singles and go around to radio station playlist meetings, playing the singles they are representing and trying to get them placed on a playlist. In some cases, pluggers may work with full albums, letting the stations themselves decide what the single is.

Session Musician – A musician who contributes to a recording or a live performance but is not actually a full time member of the band.

Sound Engineer – Generally, the person in charge of making the sound for a show work. There can be many different specific roles for a sound engineer.

Tech Spec – Short for “technical specifications.” A venue or promoter usually asks for a tech spec so they can set up the stage properly for a band and ensure all of the bands technical needs can be met.

Tour Manager – Tour managers take charge of the details of a tour. They travel with the band and do all of the jobs like checking into hotels, liaising with promoters, and generally trying to make things go as smoothly as possible. Also sometimes called a road manager.

Tour Support – Money paid out to cover the costs of a tour, usually by a record label.

Tray – The plastic part of a jewel case or digipack that the CD sits in – the part with the teeth.

Tray Card – The part of the album artwork that sits behind the tray and is seen when you look at the back of the CD case.

Article Source: http://musicians.about.com, Written by Heather McDonald

For more education on careers in the music industry, check out: www.Music-Career-Guide.com

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It’s been another tumultuous year in the music industry, a business that’s seeing significant challenges to virtually every aspect of its business model, and that needs the pressure of such change as much as a polar bear needs a heat lamp. With peer-to-peer downloading of music that seems unstoppable no matter how many companies get shut down, bad press generated by poorly conceived punitive lawsuits against said file sharers, declining CD sales, increasing failure among traditional music retail stores, and well-known artists like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails striking out on their own and offering new releases online for free; it seems these days the music industry can’t catch a break.

But with all of this doom and gloom, the one positive for the industry in 2007 has been a relatively strong live concert market. Nostalgia has been the order of the day, with classic rock acts continuing to hit the road, their numbers bolstered by reuniting 80’s acts who’ve either got the itch as part of a midlife crisis, or who want to pad out their retirement income. Just look at the acts currently (week of November 20, 2007) holding the top fifteen spots on Pollstar’s Top 50 list of concert tours:

1. Bon Jovi
2. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
3. Van Halen
4. Celine Dion
5. Foo Fighters
6. Neil Young
7. Ozzy Osbourne
8. Tool
9. Billy Joel
10. The Police
11. John Mellencamp
12. Elton John
13. Stevie Wonder
14. The Spice Girls
15. Rage Against The Machine

I count four reunions (five if you include Springsteen touring with the E Street Band), one lounge act trying to escape Las Vegas, and a couple of relatively current bands. The rest will definitely fit nicely under the “nostalgia” umbrella – not that Billy Joel or Elton John aren’t good or relevant, it’s just that their music isn’t what you’d typically expect a twenty year old to be rocking out to, as their first choice.

The numbers aren’t all in yet, but the grosses are looking pretty good. While their tour actually began in 2005, The Rolling Stones’ A Bigger Bang Tour wrapped up in the autumn of 2007 and made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the highest-grossing concert tour in history. Just how big is that, you ask? They raked in $560,000,000 (US dollars) for the 144 dates they played. That’s right, over half a billion dollars; almost four million dollars per night. Not bad pocket money.

Before we get all star-eyed about the dough that’s being made hand over fist on touring though, there are a few reality checks to consider.

First of all, the record labels themselves seldom see any money from touring, so it’s not like the concert revenue is helping to make up for declining CD sales. The artists themselves can find touring a very lucrative business, although even they don’t typically see the bulk of the cash that’s collected at the gates. According to industry averages, an artist can expect to net as much as thirty-five percent of ticket prices and fifty percent of merchandise sales for a show. The bulk of the take goes to paying promoters, road crews, venues, ticket sellers, and anyone else who has any involvement in the planning, marketing, running, setting up or cleaning up after a show.

Complicating the equation is the fact that ticket sales themselves have actually been relatively flat; as a matter of fact, they have shown a slight decline in some recent years. But, ticket prices have continued to increase significantly, especially among bands whose audience demographic skews toward the older, wealthier listener. According to Rolling Stone, the average concert ticket cost under £18 in 1999, and in 2003 that had increased to over £24. An LA Times investigation determined that the average price had climbed to £30 for 2006, so clearly there is something more than simple inflationary pressure at work.

This key issue becomes the critical factor behind the ranking of top-grossing touring acts. Promoters charge what the market will bear, and a group with a history (like the Rolling Stones) or a significant pent-up demand due to a break-up (The Police) or tendency to have somewhat older fans (both The Rolling Stones and The Police) will allow the promoters to charge considerably higher ticket prices. So it’s no surprise that the mega acts like The Stones, U2 and The Police can manage to tour, consistently pulling off premium ticket prices at multiple dates and ending up topping the concert charts, even though they may not have released a new CD in over twenty years.

Looking at numbers supplied by Pollstar (note: these have been rounded), you can easily see that relationship. In the 2005 concert year, the top concert gross list displayed what has become a familiar pattern: domination by nostalgia and classic rock acts, with the top five spots being held by The Rolling Stones, U2, Celine Dion, Paul McCartney, and The Eagles. Okay, Celine Dion is an odd one, but you can attribute that to gamblers in Las Vegas with more money than they know what to do with and a healthy bar tab.

The Rolling Stones captured the top spot by earning £80 million with an average ticket price of £65. U2 came in second, grossing £68 million with an average ticket price of £49. Look for a contemporary act on the top twenty list and you can find Coldplay in seventeenth spot, grossing £11 million with an average ticket price of a much more modest £19; Green Day hit number 12 with £17 million on £18 tickets. See the pattern? Even if Green Day or their promoters tried for the big payday at this point, would there be enough “kids” willing to shell out £49 for tickets? Would they attract enough baby boomers to make up for the shortfall? I doubt it.

The relatively lower grosses don’t mean other acts aren’t doing well touring, it simply means they aren’t playing as many gigs to as many fans, or they’re not charging nearly as much for tickets. They can do quite well, just not well enough to make the big early retirement pay cheque.

So now we’ve established that 2007 has been a pretty good year to be a touring rock band and gotten the financial nonsense out of the way, which shows have actually been getting the buzz?

The Police rank up there pretty highly. At first people watched with morbid curiosity, half expecting the old tensions to resurface and end with Sting and Stewart Copeland beating the hell out of each other on stage – come on, admit it, you were hoping it would all go down at the show you saw. Despite a slightly rough start, showing the band was clearly out of practice after all these years; they quickly found their groove and played to sold out shows and excellent reviews. The critics were happy, and the fans couldn’t buy tickets fast enough.

Rage Against The Machine was another of the most anticipated reunion acts, especially among the younger alternative rock set. The comic soap opera that has been Van Halen and David Lee Roth settled down enough to actually hit the road in 2007. Genesis reformed – at least the Phil Collins-led version of Genesis. Canadian progressive rockers Rush toured in support of their Snakes & Arrows CD. The Rock the Mic tour brought Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes and Missy Elliott together for a series of over 30 shows. According to Forbes magazine, the Dixie Chicks took less than a week to sell over £22 million in ticket sales for 57 shows.

For the pre-teen and (possibly early teen) set, Disney’s Hannah Montana has been “rocking” sold out venues everywhere. Another reunion of sorts, The Smashing Pumpkins, were also back in 2007, along with veterans Gordon Lightfoot, Van Morrison, John Fogerty, Rod Stewart, Roger Waters, Bob Dylan and Neil Young who all toured. Even occasionally befuddled rocker Ozzy Osborne has started out with Rob Zombie. Bon Jovi is selling tickets in a big way with favorable reviews, and old new wavers (is that a contradiction in terms?) Duran Duran and The Cure were on the road. Justin Timberlake got his groove on and Dane Cook proved that stand-up comics could sell out arenas too. Not to be left out in the cold by classic rockers and reunion acts, Incubus, Tool, Foo Fighters, Avril Lavigne, Mr. Avril Lavigne’s band (Sum 41), Korn, Modest Mouse, Jimmy Eat World, Fallout Boy, Cake, Avenged Sevenfold, Band of Horses and Arcade Fire, all made representations for the alternative rock crowd.

So how is 2008 shaping up in terms of concerts? Obviously we can’t predict too much at this stage, but I will be willing to throw this one out: tickets are going to continue to rise in price at a rate greater than inflation and the biggest grossing acts will once again be aging rockers, with the ultimate combination of rocker and reunion topping the list. If the chemistry was right for their reunion concert in December, and if Robert Plant and Jimmy Page don’t end up in fisticuffs, it just might be that Led Zeppelin may commit to a tour, and if that happens look for them to be at the top of the list by this time next year. But coming back full circle to the problem record labels are having with declining CD sales, mega group and thorn-in-the-labels-side, artists’ rights champions Radiohead are also planning a 2008 world tour. Don’t count them out either.

It’s bound to be an interesting year.

This article was written by Brad Moon for Viagogo.co.uk, a leading European ticket hub. Viagogo connects buyers and sellers of tickets, concert tickets, theatre tickets and more. Viagogo also guarantees all the transactions, so if you are looking for tickets online, Viagogo is the place to go!

Article Source: http://musamov.blogspot.com

For more education on careers in the music industry, check out: www.Music-Career-Guide.com

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