Last week I received an email from Isaku Kageyama a taiko (Traditional Japanese Drummer) located in Tokyo who is a regular reader of Makin’ It Magazine. “I read your magazine to get insight and tips about how to promote my music.” He reached out to me because he had written an article entitled the What is the he Value of Music? and he wanted me to review it. After reading the article I thought it was important that I share it with you guys so here it is.

“What is the value of music?  It’s hard to put a price tag on music, and one of the reasons is because it’s so intangible and subjective.  Music might make you feel a certain way, provide a doorway into another world, bring back memories, or allow you to see something in a new light.  It’s really hard to put a price tag on something like that.

The value of music is often determined by the amount of commercial power it has.  For example, how much additional revenue can a company generate by using  certain musicians and their music in an advertising campaign?  Or, how many CDs and downloads does the music sell?

The value of a live performance is often determined by the number of people a musician brings through the door.  If 100 people are willing to pay $20 to see a performance, that means the promoters have a budget of $2000 out of which to pay the musician.

From the musicians’ perspective, it’s hard to demand a lot of money if you’re not a big-name artist who can generate large amounts of interest in a project.  In order to demand a lot of money, musicians need to provide a missing piece of the commercial puzzle.  Otherwise, they can just be replaced with cheaper musicians.

What can musicians do about this?  One of the things I’ve been doing is getting involved in the early stages of a project.  Sometimes I might even come up with the idea for a project myself.  By getting involved early on, I can provide more pieces of the puzzle, and therefore demand a larger share of the budget.

Peter Drucker talks about working with knowledge as opposed to skill.  Skills change very slowly, whereas knowledge makes itself obsolete very rapidly.  In the music world, this means musicians need to know what their clients want, and how to provide it.

A good place to start is by analyzing your audience.  When you find that your music is appealing to a certain market, you can talk to companies that sell products to the same market about doing an event.  If your event will help the company sell their products, you might get a deal.

It will help your case if you know which venues to use, how to design the event to make it more appealing, promotional channels such as the media, and how to negotiate a deal so that there is minimal risk for both you and the client.

For example, if you know a venue that will do an event for a percentage of ticket sales as opposed to a set rental fee, that reduces the amount of risk for both you and the client.

It’s important to gain knowledge so that you can use it to further your career.  Just don’t forget to practice!” – Isaku Kageyama

Hope you guys enjoyed the article. A big shout out to Isaku! Thanks for sharing.
If you would like to get more information or contact Isaku please visit http://isakukageyama.jugem.jp

Makin’ It Magazine is currently taking applications for additional Market Reps in all states. If you work in the urban entertainment industry and are interested in being part of our movement, read over the following information and apply online.

Market Representative

Overview:
Makin’ It Magazine is an Atlanta based publication for people in the urban entertainment industry. We are currently accepting applications for Market Representatives throughout the US.  Selected candidate will serve as brand ambassador for Makin’ It Magazine in the selected market and will be responsible for building relationships with key figures and companies in the local independent music scene in addition to the following tasks.

Responsibilities:

• Distribution and sales of magazines
• Distribution of flyers & promotional materials
• Promotion of subscription Sales
• Promotion of Ad Sales
• Attending Open Mics & various industry events
• Taking photos at various events
• Maintaining a local calendar of events
• Occasionally contributing articles about local music scene
• Collecting email addresses and building market database

Requirements:

• Strong Passion for the entertainment industry
• Good People Skills
• Self Motivated
• Strong Work Ethic
• Good time management and organizational skills
• Reliable Transportation
• Cell Phone
• Basic Computer Skills (Web, Email, Word Processing)
• Reliable internet Access
• Detailed oriented

Benefits:
This position offers an excellent opportunity for anyone seriously pursuing a career in the entertainment industry.  Candidate will have the opportunity to network and build relationships on both a local and regional level while being part of a national team. The market representative position is the

• Receive 100% Commission on magazine sales
• Receive 10% commission on referred ad sales

The Music Producer J Beats

-= Click 2 Hear Sample =-

www.thecompany-ent.com

www.myspace.com/TheMusicProducerJBeats

www.twitter.com/i_am_jbeats

-= Click 2 Hear Sample =-

www.CoopMusic.com
www.YouTube.com/CoopMusic94
www.PMPworldwide.com/Coop
www.Twitter.com/CoopMusicBeats

At the age of 8, Coop (Cooper McGill) wrote his first song called “While You Were Gone”. At the age of 10, he recorded the song at The High School for Recording Arts in Minneapolis. The song was produced by a Minnesota rap artist known as “Kasper”.

Coop works on creating tracks and producing songs in his studio, located in Atlanta’s Artist Factory. The studio is equipped with a Mac Pro computer, featuring a 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display and loaded with music software programs like Logic, ProTools, Reason and Recycle. Coop’s studio also hosts a sound recording booth and a Novation Remote SL 61 keyboard, plus a pair of Yamaha Hs80m speakers, along with a KRK RP-10S Rokit subwoofer. .

His goal is to be a Grammy Award winning Music Producer.  “I always remind myself that American Idol was turned down by every single major television network and it reminds me how wrong industry executives can be,” says Coop. “So I just stay focused, work hard and do what feels real. As for the success part, I’m trusting in the universe to decide if that’s meant to be for me.”

Cooper skipped Grade 8 and is doing Grade 9 and 10 combined, through the Independent Learning Centre (ilc.org). “Being home-schooled allows me to get through my work faster, so I can spend more time making music in my studio,” says Cooper. His goal is to graduate high school by the time he’s sixteen, so he can pursue his dream.

The following is a comment made by Chris Clancy from Interscope Records, in response to reading the lyrics to Cooper’s “While You Were Gone”. The song won the Hip-Hop category for the West Coast Song Writing Competition and made it to the semi-finals in the International Songwriting Competition.

“Pretty impressive to express a topic like this at his age. Much like Eminem, lyrics like these strike a chord that kids can relate to, as opposed to the standard girls, diamonds, and pool party stuff. I think it’s a great start and he should keep heading in that direction.”

~ Chris Clancy, Marketing Director – Interscope Records