Consistency and Music Business Management Lectures

 

You should strive for consistency. This advice I got when I was studying in the law school. Now, almost 30 years from that, I still find a meanings to this very consistency. I decided to upgrade my ’consistency points’ before the next autumn’s lectures. How to facilitate a foundation at which the students are able to embrace everything needed – also the important details. You need a frame against which everything can be reflected. Especially in the music business where situations develop with pace – new business and promotion opportunities lurking behind every corner. Before I deep dive into that, I decided to write this overview – to myself. This is the moment, to decide the route selection. Such a starting point is also enables this consistency.

The music business contains many different themes and subject areas, some of which are more important than others. The most important business condition is, of course, copyright. Without it, this wouldn’t be a business we know. The autumn’s first lecture is dealing precisely with this very topic. For this reason, this article is good to reflect against that background.

Being patient is something you need here. Not only because the amount of information you must master, but also for your own adoption and adoption style. Copyright is a fundamental thing and therefore reason to learn it with care. Due to derivative of this business, every agreement has to, in one way or another, take a position on the copyright. This, in turn, requires that you have equal knowledge about related contracts – at least indirectly. Consequently, when you study copyright, you also study contracts. Two birds with one stone.

This is the point where consistency is needed, as well as the patience. You don’t have to learn everything at once. Think about a long distance runner who starts the competition too fast. It is likely that he or she gets tired before the finish line. You begin to gain experience yes, but can’t enjoy the run. Save the best for last, when you are ready for it.

More important than it is to succeed in the exam is to adopt this information for the life. Then the topic is no longer needed to return again. The fundamentals are in hand and you already know when you need repetition.

It is nice to ride on the wave and be involved everything that’s trendy. Currently, NFT (non-fungible token) is the thing that attracts. Without a doubt, it has opportunities – and a lot. However, before you start offering your own digital products or some other features it enable there, you should find out what it means to your copyright. And for the artists – to their story.

Copyright is not just a financial thing. It is also about control. It is not uncommon to have 75 percent’s financial ownership to the work, but forfeit the control to the one who owns the rest 25 percent. You do not necessarily have the final decision to use or decide the exploitation of the work. It depends entirely on the contract and in this case on the conditions of issuance.

There are a lot of articles, books and other material on the copyright. This can make it difficult to establish and maintain the required consistency – especially when dealing with how you understand these things. For this purpose books and lectures are needed to systematically present the underlying legalities. They tend to remain the same. All the new has only a little value if one doesn’t understand its significance in the overall picture.

I actually use the books I have written on the lectures. This is to ensure the lessons to advance consistently. I replenish them with Songtrust’s material that is diligently updated. This is also because I am regularly dealing with them and thus aware of their content and practices. This makes it easier to maintain the overall picture. In studying copyright, there’s no reason to carry coals to Newcastle. If you are looking for material too far, there’s a risk that the systematic begins to suffer. Always teach what you control, this was a note to myself :).

Anyway, when you know how something is born, it’s easier to understand this day and the future. Mechanical royalties, for example, are an ever-seasonal term. Who knows that their origin is related to the piano rolls used back in the days. Afterwards, the term is adopted to the digital environment. However, the basic idea is still the same – to ’store’ music into some listenable format and get paid for it.

And so it happened again. When you just start writing, without an effort – you may come up with an idea. Now I know how I am going to structure these lectures. Thank you for sharing this moment with me.