The US must renew the #MUSICACT

Renew the Music ACT and start supporting US Made Music.

What is the Music ACT

US MUSIC Act.

“Our small, independent music labels are finding it increasingly difficult to sell their goods in the global marketplace,” said Nadler.  “This bill would help promote U. S. exports in an extremely competitive industry whose talents cannot be outsourced.  Helping these businesses access foreign markets is also an important part of President Obama’s goal to double U. S. exports in five years – an effort in which New York, home to many independent music labels and artists, continues to take the lead.”

http://nadler.house.gov/press-release/nadler-seeks-bolster-global-market-american-independent-music

To learn more about the Music ACT please visit MUSICACT.ORG

What we need to do is reauthorize it till 2021 

11 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

12 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Com-

13 merce $1,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2013

14 through 2017 to carry out this section.

So here's the issue.

The majority of the US Population while listening to country, popular artists from the USA don't understand that none of them are exported out of the USA by the Major Distributors (AMPED, BMG, EONE, SONY, UNI, WEA) or their fake indie companies, This will be my next blog and for more on why TheMajorsSuck.com visit that link it's a blog that further explains this issue.   Here is the data and it's taken from official USA data

United States Exports By CategoryThis page displays a table with United States Exports By Category in U.S. dollars, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade.

There is nothing there, CLICK TO SEE about Trade Catagory 334612 or 336614. Yet, last week the majority of the music sold in the USA was physical music and it's a growing industry with mergers and expansions happening weekly in Entertainment.

I'm not going, by the look of it, be able to say this often, however; President Trump has rightly called on all American to #BuyAmericanHireAmerican  and that includes US Made Music.  To do that we need the MUSIC ACT to be renewed till at least 2012.  There can be not American reason to not invest in our own music.   It's an export class 334612 and finding out information about something that used to be our largest export by 2X is now nearly impossible.

#ReNewMusicACT

So let's renew the act for another four years, put the money into a Commerce Department program that artists, bands, and labels making Made in America Music can access it, and use to develop, manufacture and export one of the US's greatest cultural and economic assets US Made Music

Alice Cooper Band MusicBiz2017 @SonofNels

First quarter results are in and like this weeks' sales --digital's only 42%

I've been so busy with bringing an ArtistsOwnedPublic.co to life, that I've not really been able to look too deep into the sales of music as reported via the National Sales report from Nielsen Soundscan. I figured it was a good time to test my gut (that physical was kicking digial ass, dispite all the hoba-abo -blo about streaming), address the  growing grumble about the value of Record Store Day, issues about Independents getting on Pressing Plants to even become competitive with the majors, and how the USA is still floundering with it's cultural and economic policies, and make a prediction for what this means to the overall marketplace and our culture as we export it.

For a lack of better analogy, the USA is Entertaining our Economy to Death.

Let's  start with my growing bewilderment of the Obama Administration inability to move forward any kind of exporting of US Made Music.  The USA each year under this Administration has exported less.  Sure, The independent community was excited when Obama first entered office and everyone was onboard with Rep, Jerry Nadler when he introduce the M.U.S.I.C. Act, which I've blogged about many times however I'm givin the highlights below.

(c) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘United 18 States independent music label company’’ means a cor- 19 poration, partnership, or other association created under 20 the laws of the United States or of any State (including 21 the District of Columbia or any commonwealth, territory, 22 or possession of the United States) 

(1) signs musical recording artists to contracts 24 to assist in the recording, promotion, and sale of the        25 recorded music;  for the immediately preceding fiscal year 2 has— (A) total revenues of less      than $50,000,000; and (B) total recorded music sales of less than one percent of the total    recorded music sales in  the United States; and is not majority owned by a corporation,  partnership, or other association that has total revenues of more than $50,000,000. 

(2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce $1,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2013 14 through 2017 to carry out this section.

Here we are at the door step of this program ending in 2017 and a look athe Seasonally Adjusted U.S. Eports of Good by End Use Cataegory -- shows that the USA is still importing more music than it exports.

That is just crazy (arent the most of the largest recording artists in the world are from the US) since so many often sing about how proud they're of being an American. Aren't we as a nation proud enough to export it? 

This bring me back to part of the issues.  The Majors understand too well if the Indies start to get into this larger pool of fans that are still buying physical ( a majority 58.1 percent is physical) and start to export US Made Music,  the Majors goolden goose is cooked.

However since I've watched this MusicAct pretty much come and go with the situation only getting worse;  I'm not sure what can be done short of the revolution along the lines of  what  is happening in politics. Yet, The US music business is owned by Multi-National-Corporations that don't want "Made In the USA" exported (for any number of reasons with $ being online 1 of them) and surely don't want to have it known that Congress has sat on it's hands every year since the enactment of this measure and done NOTHING.

On a peronally note, I"ve asked my Representive Eleanor Homes Norton in person and on social media more than once, if she'd setup to support DC Made Music by inquiring into how #DCMusic makers can access Music Act funding; And, never gotten a response.   I also know the Music Act wasn't  brought up this year for Grammys on the Hill and that' because the Majors Suck and Congress don't care about local music or don't known that it's important?

 It can't be understanding of it's Economic Impact or Congress would do more to support this Export item (334612) that happens to be our Culture and often the Cornerstone or cultural diplomacy  

Now on to the Occuping of Vinyl plants since Vice  was covered it people are thinking something may be afoot.  And, after last weeks Record Store Day, I'm sure more grumbling will commence.   However I've been on about this for some time infact about a year ago I posted on Reddit about the "Occupying of Vinyl Plants" and got labeled a tinfoil hat fools and this issue of them just clogging up the plants (Capacity Restraint). Now they're rubbish that is being pressed is keeping the fans from getting releases from the Indie bands they truly are going to record stores day-in-and-out to discover and reward recording artists by Buying This and helping a local music release find an audience.

As the whole notion of having a Record Store Day --some where along the line has become this day where top artists release pet projects in very limited, for them, batches and essencially clogging up the whole ecosystem and keeping defacto local music deminutive to the majors.  IMHO It's got to stop and we need to get back to vialable stragegy for Clicks and Bricks Distribution issues.  And,  whomever is the next President can deal with the mess that Obama made of the US Recording business.

Predictions if we don't done anything it's going to get worse, if we just start to take notice of how other countries activally promote their export of this peice of culture and make a half ass attempt at it our econony can only improve.   Infact if we could get this going and the Majors back to exporting their US based artists as US Made Music the US Economy would be humming a different tune.

However until we close the loop hole created by President Clinton and reinstitute the Check Box Rule on Custom forms, asking if the item is IP, who's and pay them and the USA a tax on it', The USA will keep Entertining our Economy to Death and our Culture too as this has allowed one of the few indusries making jobs to become haliburtonized and it's hurting our standing abroad. 

Music sales are down, however is the musicbiz selling it and is Congress helping or hurting?

So the news in Musicbiz for the last couple of day is that compared to last year at this time sales are down. I however look at things another way. Sales are going elsewhere and not until the industry can give consumers something they want the refrain I'm BuyingThis will mean I'm buying something besides music.

So besides the obvious --that not enough good music is in the marketplace, what else is happening?

There is a term in business called capacity restrain* and this is when you have something great however you don't have the fire power to get it out very far if at all. This is where we find ourselves today in the music business. As a distributor I get to sit in on the conversations of many artists bands and labels about project that are coming, in the works, and in the marketplace now.

The number one things they are scrambling for is capitalization.

From the Pressing plants are are now running full time and dealing with the bigger customers first, to the marketing channels that have prices driven up during the 4th quarter economically stopping the independents from even being in the game, our culture is now hi-jacked by Multi-National Entertainment companies that don't export top US artist out of the USA and get us to entertain our own economy to death.

Meanwhile Congress and the Administration do nothing.....From the USMADEMUSIC.org site we can see that there is a bill in Congress that would be a pretty good first step. Well guess what on Oct 14 members of the recording academy will be going to their local Congressional office and demanding a few things and I believe this is another and should be at the top of the list. Supporting US Made Music seems like a no brainer if you are a member of the US Congress. Click to learn more http://usmademusic.org/8-us-music-news/7-lobby-your-local-rep-day-oct-14th

*Factories are getting busier, notably in industries such as auto making and aircraft construction, increasing the incentive to expand operations. Businesses ran at 79.2% of capacity in July, still about a percentage point below the historical average, but at a level that implies some industries are nearing production limits. http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/business/T019-S000-kiplinger-s-economic-outlooks/ PS here the Weekly Music Marketplace sales

The Future of Entertainment Today is Bright in 2014

So here's a year look back at investment in entertainmet stocks as charted by http://www.profitquotes.com/ and if you had invested in entertainment like many of us did it should have shown a health return.   Now sure every project don't make it out of the studio, or the label falls apart or the product wasn't in any stores boo hoo.....

Everyone faces these same odd and yet their record sales and yours' don't and all of these other stocks did well and that is for reason.  People have to be entertained.  END OF STORY.....

(artists --   Not saying it's not a problem I am saying that selling a happy story is more fun to do. So let's focus in 2014 -If the partners, promoters and management you're in business with isn't reaching for the stars by grinding in the streets and Cloud everyday then dust em off and move along, )

So what is the Future of Entertainment Today and going to move the needle in 2014.  Real Bricks and Clicks solution serving a global audience giving them high quality entertainment however they want it when they say I'm Buying This..... make it happen.

There's more than AmandaP out there and we're just a kickstarter campaign away from discovering the next million dollar AltaArtists 

PS here Medical Suppliers and it's clear that entertainment is better than this.

What needs to DIE in 2014

1. To be banished from our world is D I Y.  If you're Doing it yourself you're ALONE. and it takes a Team to make it in entertainment and life. 
2. Only digital for the win.   Since there are currently only four digital distributors the choke point has been reached and the biggest just raised the bar on who gets to come out via their platform. So unless your song can prove it going to do tens of thousand of dollars in sales via proven sales - NO digital for you in 2014.
3. Don't forget the merger of the year ANEC & SDID (IMHO  not enough people are talking about it) we're now seeing the ramification unfolding and the face of physical distribution just changed a great deal. Again, like #2  everyone that thought they had an Indie distro deal needs to get ready for a reality check. 
4. And,  if you're not joining Digital and Physical distribution strategies using a Clicks to Bricks mindset you're not in the game. Repeat this until it sinks in.  Distribution is Everything
5. Yet at the end of the day the one reality is that we are all beholden to is the fans, consumers, enthusiast of entertainment and learning to adjust to them is the Future of Entertainment Today. 

Ave wage of US worker 27k. The average working musicians is way better.

According to berklee.edu nice chart over here we can see that we are not only talking about more than comparable wages ~working with the Music in the equation.

The VALUE doesn't stop here, since presumably these endeavors are producing some kind of output in the biz sometimes music is Magic or not so much;   However! each time it's Intellectual Property and the mere act of is (if you've been reading by blog) just raised the whole GPD of the USA by upwards of 3 percent.


So, as the demand for American music is growing (Ad Hoc - since music is something that everyone on the planet and perhaps others experience. Ergo Hoc  in case you didn't know it there are more customers every day.  Proctor Hoc more people to make more music. DUH [homersimpson voice])

I'm not sure why I would have to pitch USMADEMUSIC to US leadership however I do and under the current Administration we are on track to become a NET Importer of Music into the USA.   Again, let me let this sink in we will have more CD's shipped into the USA then we ship out.

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO HAVE THE BIGGEST RECORDING STARS and we're becoming a net IMPORTER come back for that blog too.  

So while I'm sure all the tech incubator are full on powerpoint and fluff blogs the WORLD revolves around music and thanks to our lack of leadership USMADEMUSIC is only 10 percent of it.   Again let this SINK in.

IMHO more music is needed here and around the world we do nothing to support meeting this demand. And, all of the jobs and educational investment to day has gotten us this.

The "raw" average wage, computed as net compensation divided by the number of wage earners, is $6,529,097,960,690.75 divided by 153,632,290, or $42,498.21. Based on data in the table below, about 67.1 percent of wage earners had net compensation less than or equal to the $42,498.21 raw average wage. By definition, 50 percent of wage earners had net compensation less than or equal to the median wage, which is estimated to be $27,519.10 for 2012.  http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/netcomp.cgi?year=2012

Again, Leaders are pouring money hand over fist into Job training however it doesn't include  STEAM. Proof is in the budget that Washington and your home towns put out and there's very little is for the Arts.  I've blogged about this...see here;  However, I'ma gonna do another one on it because there is more so... come back for that blog too.  

I'd love to hear from someone in the US as to why we're not beating drums and talking about building upon USMADEMUSIC. Since  the average wage is better and it comes with groupies (that go out and spend money.  I know we can do better, we deserve better and frankly the world needs USMADEMUSIC.

THINK about this Amerika it will keep to the politicians out of defining who we are as a nation overseas and that mostly tasseless and valueless Major Record Label music (aka part of a Multinational Corporation ) ya know they've haliburtonized the US Record Biz!

Let's face I'd rater have Doyle Wolf Gang Von FrankenStein then Joe WolfGang Biden reppin me in China. come back for that blog too 

Great to see innovation leading to charting sales from new artists and companies

It's great to see tangible evidence of how the use of technology and help a young artists, a new label and distributor make an impact in one of the most competitive industries in the world the US Entertainment market.    So getting on the Billboard charts is not just a symbolic achievement it's something tied to cold sales numbers. And, Quinn Sullivan's record label SuperStarRecords was able to make this happen because Altavoz their distributor, my company, recognized that offering Soundcan data collection to them on the road playing gigs would enable those sales at shows to start filter into the Digital and Physical retail sales.  The ability of small companies to offer back end services like this are a real part of why the Major Record Label/Distributor is breaking down.

Cities are reconnecting the dots and getting back to supporting music as part of community and technology.

So any readers of this blog know full well that I don't think we're doing enough to support USMadeMusic and the over simplification of it down to only being a service is a disservice to artists, music companies and our economy.  

Now I have to say that I'm please to blog about two cities that are turning their backs on the music is dead myth (hint VC and various leaders Local/State/Fed in Washington think it is)  and embracing what I and many others have been saying: Namely, Music and Technology are birds of a feather and now there's two more conferences with them together.  (sorry couldn't resist)

So who are the cities and what's the conferences?

The 1st one that came across my radar was one happening in San Jose aka Silicon Valley and it's called C2SV here's the Facebook link

And, for the looks of it this conference is going to be a very good mix of music and Tech and certainly an indication to other want-to-be tech capitals that they need to step up their inclusion of music and what it thinks makes up the economy.

C2SV is Silicon Valley’s showcase for technology and music. We're activating #dwntwnSJ for four days in September — more than a dozen venues, 70+ performers and a gathering of some of the smartest people in technology.

The other recent addition to the whole music and tech thingy is Boston and it's Boston TechJam
which is described as:  

"the block party for Boston-area companies, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and students taking place on Thursday, October 3, today announced finalists for its live "Startup Pitch Heard 'Round the World" contest for startups, entrepreneurs, and student teams to test their company pitches and ideas. >>>"The bands picked for the first annual Boston TechJam are tight, diverse and are going to rock the Innovation District like never before. The level of musical talent working within the innovation economy here in Boston is unparalleled and I'm honored to be a part of showcasing it to the greater Boston community. All the bands performing have at least one member working at a local tech company," said Ben Maitland-Lewis, CEO, Presskit.to and Music Director for the Boston TechJam. "Narrowing the selection to just five live acts was extremely difficult based on the amount of submissions we got, but it illustrated how rockin' the Boston tech scene really is and I look forward to many more TechJams to come!"   Click for more info.

So adding San Jose, Boston to Toronto and of course Austin - some of us are old enough to have gone to SXSW when tech was the afterthought instead of music gotta love that wheel of karma, shows me that we are now after almost two decades starting to get a handle on what is the cart and what is the horse when it comes to TechTainment.   Which of course readers of this blog will rightfully concluded that I believe it's the music first and then the shinny new technology.

BTW I love how both of these events are focused on the independent artists (Buy Indie Support Locals ) that are part of the community and it shows that being on a Major Record labels is not the end all be all theres life yet in music.

PS.   An announcement will be forth coming about a mini DCTECHTAIMENT event.

Music increases US GDP and some still debating if it's a viable industry?

Gotta give a huge shout out to Glenn Peoples and  +Billboard for putting out this article about something that I've been saying for years.  Music has value. 

To me music has always been the why not the how.  Something along the lines being the medium.. well without the intent to communicate there is no need for a medium.  And! it now seems that the  U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) agrees with me on this and decided to give the US Gross Domestic Product a 3% boost and a HUGE win for those of us in the music world. 


Or in Glenn's words 

"TAKEAWAY: The music industry has always punched above it's weight in profile, but didn't always have the influence that matters. this GDP shift could help fix that disconnect. 

According to Bloomberg's Peter Coy   this rise of the Intangible economy is for real and a couple of quotes from his article got my attention: 

"The effect of the revision will be immediate. Measured GDP will get a one-time boost of about 2.7 percent when the government starts counting R&D and artistic creation as investments. (New Mexico and Maryland will get the biggest lifts.) The future growth rate will probably be fractionally higher, too. With R&D treated as an investment, measured economic growth from 1959 to 2007 would have been 3.39 percent annually instead of 3.32 percent, the BEA estimates." 

 "If all forms of intangible investment were officially recorded, they would exceed investment in bricks, mortar, and machines, according to estimates by economists Carol Corrado of the Conference Board and Charles Hulten of the University of Maryland."   Link 

The Rise of the Intangible Economy: U.S. GDP Counts R&D, Artistic Creation

It also seems that the Secretary Pritzker, from the Commerce Department is getting in on the act too by touring Music making facility and promoting USMADEMUSIC  on the Sec's blog.  which also points this fact out. 
"In fact, entertainment, literary and artistic originals contributed $74 billion to the U.S. economy last year, according to the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis."








So will these new “intellectual property products.” ( which is a now how cost of new music and other artistic endeavors are to be categorized) bring in the investors that are seeking sustainable returns like the double digits one I' recently blogged about as well as those that want to be part of something more. IMHO music has always been more than most of us can put a handle on and this new way of our economist looking at it helps others start to see the more too.

Terrance and I Capital Hill~ Grammy On the Hill 2013

  

Canada declares a Musician Trade War.

So image my surprise as I skimming my Facebook Timeline and noticed this posting from the Independent Music Awards.

So it seems that Canada wants to put up economic hurdles for non Canadian musicians  here's the revenant information from @Calgaryherald

The regulations require that any venue with a primary business other than music but which also books bands or performers must now pay an application fee of $275 per musician and those travelling with the band (tour manager, sound person, guitar tech, etc.) when it applies for a Labour Market Opinion, or LMO, to allow those outside workers to perform and work in their establishment. That’s also in addition to an extra $150 for each approved musician and crew member’s work permit.

Prior to the changes, the fee was simply $150 per band member, maxing out at $450, and that was a one-time fee for them to simply enter the country, which allowed venue owners across Canada to share the nominal cost or book them separately at no extra charge 

exemptions, which, on a musical level, includes “musicians in a band performing several tour dates in Canada” and “musicians and buskers coming to Canada to perform in festivals,” with the one major caveat being that they “must not perform in bars and restaurants.

Let's be clear this is a direct shot aimed at Touring Musicians' that know playing in bars and clubs in Canada bring in fans and help to sell US MADE MUSIC in Canada.

So what once was a 1 time max expense of $450 bucks for each tour party is now $275/person/tour party so it don't take a math wiz to see that this is going to hurt particularly US based musicians since they share a border with Canada.

I hope the US Trade Ambassador  Michael Froman and those that represent US based musicians let alone members of Congress ( https://smallbusiness.house.gov/openmic/default.aspx ) take a look into this matter.  We as a nation are being bushwhacked, hallibutonized and out maneuvered in the area of music and I have to say from the President on down US MADE MUSIC is not a priority. And I look forward to be proven wrong since it seems that the US is not even showing up at the knife fight let alone bringing a knife -- if you know what I mean.

End part 1. 

Music capitalist to the rescue with blogs.

So I have to ask what does it means to local, national and world cultures and economies to be so naive about the nature and scope of Music on one hand! And, on the other be so totally immersed in it that music is beyond our imagination to live without.  Try thinking about not having music in your life without coming up with a Soundtrack 12 I dare ya.

Yet! here we are today and it's this state we are in that has lead to the blog, domain and personal moniker.  Music Capitalist.    I'll talk about my journey over the last 25 years and well into the future of the New Music Business and why it's important to all of us.

I'd like to start with something I was recently part of called Grammys on the Hill. At the start we where treated to a speech by the Librarian of Congress, Dr. James H. Billington about the impact of music and I'm going to do my best to get a copy of it and post it here.  Trust me it was inspirational.

This was followed up by the Recording Academy's launching of a campaigned called  "American Music: Creation is Innovation" to help educate lawmakers on the impact that music has on our economy and what can be done in the us to help us revive our economy, culture and moxie. I quote from the announcement to then shine a light on the state of tech and that of entertainment.

"Innovation" is a popular Word in Washington these days. Everyone from Congress to the White House is eager to embrace innovation as the key to our nation's economic growth and prosperity, and every industry trade association is ready to claim that they have cornered the market on it. But We know that real innovation springs from creativity, and American music is our finest expression of that creativity. So sure we're  staring to see the tide slowing on the abandonment of US Made Music just take this quote from a Commerce Site.

Future industry growth is likely to be among companies outside the soon to be big three worldwide record companies – Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group as the U.S. has a robust indie sector.  The indies struggle to export and prevent illegal file sharing and often rely on partnerships with the largest labels in global markets. US Commerce Department 

I  love however how it states the opportunity and impediments of promoting #USMADEMUSIC. Namely the lack of exporting.   This is something that I've been following for decades and have watched the US go from producing 80 percent of the World Music to now being on track to be a net importer of music and only supplying 12 percent to the rest of the growing world market.

So while the UK see's increase in music buying as does Germany too and I have to ask is this really a surprise and if we don't invest in US Made Music and work to export it how can the world consume it. 

Considering the recent bid for Universal Music Group and the Spurring of the offer to Sony to spin off it's entertainment division shows everyone that there is still a lot of life left in entertainment -- particularly music.

Recently I was very pleased to see  Ed Christman pointing out in Billboard article called "A New Day for Indie Distribution"  about the role of non Major distributors in which companies like ours Altavoz (mentioned in the article) are poised to make a difference in the music business.

BTW I have a couple of statements that I use and I would love to be able to put them to bed before sunsetting this blog.  The first is... We're entertaining our Economy to Death and Stopping the Haliburtonization of the US Entertainment Industry both of which we'll discuss here on Music Capitalist blog.

Also as a student of music and the business of it I'll be talking about where what and how things came about from the secret letter that changed the Rap game to how Mega Multi-Nationals are laughing all the way to the off shore banks and how come OWS never got bigger hopefully these subject and of course how to make money in music which is what I do is something that others can asprise to do as well.

PS Heck out this picture it's how we role Indie on the Hill with Big Heff and Bella Nae

For your ears ~ No Tears, video by Bella Nae https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67TziksmoUU