It is true the band is playing off one of their songs in their beer name and not their overall band name, “Hanson,” but the lesson to be learned here is that no one can predict where ones career or business ventures turns 5, 10, or 15 years down the road. A band, act, or artist’s branding, i.e. their name, is arguably the most important business decision an artist will make and this comes at the front end of an artist’s career. Careful thought must be put into how creative, unique, and protectable ones name is before starting to invest time, effort, and most importantly money into developing the brand. While an Artist may not care about future sales of merchandise or goods (or services!) now, the smart artist will have the foresight to plan for the future regardless and come up with a highly protectable name to ensure themselves the option of being able to expand the brand in the future.

Before using a name, be sure to check the United States Patent and Trademark Office to see if there are any hits, and also simply google the name and see if anybody else is using the name out in cyberspace. This small time commitment to determine the protectability of a name up front could pay big dividends down the road.

People send me e-mails all the time wanting to know how to be successful in the music business, how to get ahead in the game, how to find a job, how to get noticed, how to get a record deal, etc and so on. Networking (who you know) is important, but how can you be successful working with others if you’re personal skills aren’t in order? Doing what you say you’re going to do, prioritizing, being honest with other people, not making excuses and being proactive-these principles are the core of success.

Start with your goals, then compare them to your priorities. Eliminate things in your life that aren’t in line with what you’re trying to do. Maybe it’s as simple as deciding not to go out every night of the week? Instead, put that time into your craft: practice, research, networking, etc. It might take some time, but you’ll find that by putting more time into the areas that matter most yield a more positive result in your life.

I once had an intern tell me “Sorry I’m late man, I overslept-I just can’t get up before noon.” He didn’t call to let me know he was running late and didn’t seem to understand why I would have a problem with this. Guess what? He was fired. To this day he has been unsuccessful in finding a job in the music business. I just had a friend/studio owner tell me about an employee that just stopped showing up for work. Didn’t call, didn’t e-mail, didn’t return calls. Apparently it was discovered after the fact that there were some things that she just “didn’t enjoy doing” at the studio. (and no, she wasn’t cleaning the bathrooms) So, instead of talking with her boss and working it out, she just decided to not show up anymore. Do you think she can now use that one year (at a pretty big studio) as a reference on her resume?

A lot of this can be summed up in one word: communication. People aren’t jerks. If you have a problem, an issue-or whatever it is-bring it up, talk about it and move on. More importantly: Be honest! It’s a small world and people talk. If you make a deal with someone-stick to it. Also-be careful what you say about others. A lot of times you might not have the whole story and it just makes you look bad.

None of this is rocket science nor do you have to go to school to learn it. Treat other people how you would like to be treated and set higher standards for yourself than anyone else. It will take you a lot further than you think.

1. Term. It may sound simple, but how long the Manager will be in charge of the Entertainer’s career is a very important question. The Entertainer wants the shortest period and the Manager wants the longest. Usually there is an initial period with options for the Manager to ask for more terms. Terms of one to two years are not unusual and thus a total of three to five years is common. An artist will want to ask for a “performance clause” to require the Manager to achieve a defined goal in order to exercise additional options, i.e. if the Entertainer is a musical act, the Entertainer will have to be signed to a major record label or sell X number of units for the options to be available to Manager.

2. Managers Authority. A manager will want a power of attorney over Artist to sign legal documents, collect income and operate bank accounts, and be able to make certain expenditures (travel, etc.) without authorization. It is important for both sides to well define what a manager can and cannot do because without express written authority by an Entertainer, the Manager might have to much or to little control to sufficiently manage the Entertainer’s career.

3. Managers Compensation during Term. Typically, a personal manager will make 15-20% GROSS of all commissionable income. The range could be higher for an unknown act and can be lower if an Entertainer has already reached some level of success. An Entertainer typically carves out certain activities, such as preexisting relationships with clients, ‘side man’ gigs, and normal expenses from commissionable income, thus lowering the pool of money a Manager can draw their commission from. As well an artist will want to define certain non commissionable items which can include compensation for opening acts, light and sound, vocal coach, etc.

4. Managers Compensation Post Term. This is often know as a ‘Sunset Clause,’ most managers will want a percentage of Artist’s income after their term of Management. The theory behind this ancillary compensation is, since Manager helped “break” the artist, Manager is entitled to some of the revenue generated years down the road. A well negotiated sunset clause diminishes the manager’s commission in the years after the term ends. The sunset period is usually in the 3 to 5 year range and sometimes the commission reaches zero.

5. Key Man Provision. Many Entertainer’s sign with Management Companies, who may be free to hire and fire employees, including an Entertainer’s Manager. The problem with this for an Entertainer is, they may have signed with the Management Company only to work with Mr. X, and if Mr. X no longer works there, Entertainer might get stuck with someone they do not trust running their career. That’s why an Entertainer should demand a “Key Man” clause which basically will say, if Mr. X no longer works there (or becomes disabled or dies), the agreement may be terminated by the Entertainer. This is a very standard provision, but one a novice to the industry could overlook.There are a variety of other issues also important to Management Agreements, but the ones outlined here are the big bold main points to consider when thinking about bringing a Manager on board.

Networking is and always will be an important thing. If you’re not out there shaking hands and kissing babies, how do you ever expect to move ahead in your career? However, since the advent of social media, there has been an assumption that if you have a lot of friends, fans or contacts on your favorite networking site, then you’re “networking”. I hate to break it to you, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Hold that thought…

Okay, forget the Internet for a minute and look around you. Who do you already know? I know some of you are thinking: “I don’t know anybody that can really help my career.” Okay-you have goals right? Is there a studio you want to record at but don’t have the money? Is there a club you want to play at that won’t give you the time of day? Then my question is: What have you done for them lately? If you’re in a working band (and by working I mean working the scene, playing out, etc.) then chances are good you know a lot of musicians. Ever think about cutting a deal with the local studio or club that if you bring them “XYZ” in business then they will give you some of their time and/or facilities? If you’re going to build relationships, put the best foot forward and help someone else with their goals or needs. I guarantee you’ll see results. Now, those results could be a mutually beneficial relationship or they could be that you realize you really don’t want to work with that person or company. But it’s all results and you’re moving forward.

Now back to social networking. The movie Jerry Maguire likes to focus on quality over quantity, which is not a bad thing. If you have several thousand friends in your online social network, how many of them do you actually know? How many of them are you taking the time to get to know? Just having them as a “friend” means nothing. Reach out, connect, strike up a conversation, find out what they have going on. Sure it takes time! But guess what, if you can’t commit to doing at least a little bit of this on a regular basis, they might as well not even be there.

In comparison, the most famous denial of a sound mark (technically not a denial, but after 6 years in court the application was withdrawn) happened against Harley Davidson who attempted to trademark the sound of their motorcycle engine “chug.” Harley Davidson faced severe opposition from rival motorcycle companies who argued Harley Davidson’s sounds were not unique, and other motorcycle brands across the industry used similar motors which produced similar sounds.

First of all, what is it exactly that you’re trying to do? Make money? Get noticed? Get a record deal? Have fun? Believe it or not there are tons of artists and bands out there that have never taken the time to sit down and establish this. Whether your a solo artist with a group of creative professionals or a traditional band where everybody has a vote, you need to sit down, get out a piece of paper and write down your objectives. This might sound mundane at first, but I guarantee you that by going through this simple exercise you will discover some things you didn’t know about each other’s vision for what you’re doing and might even come up some new ideas that no one individually would have thought of on their own.

The next step is to identify the critical success factors. I know what you’re thinking: What the heck does that mean? Well…once you establish an agreed upon goal or list of goals, you need to figure out what it’s going to take to achieve those goals. For example, let’s say one of you goals is to record an album but there isn’t any capital available to do so. The obvious question, or sub-goal rather, is to come up with the money, right? At this point the sky is the limit depending on who you are, what your other talents are or who you know. Maybe the drummer has a rich uncle that will loan you the money? Maybe you can set up a string of house parties and play covers for pay in order to fund the project? Perhaps you can have a bake sale at the local Wal-Mart? You laugh-but I have seen it been done. (Do you know how much money those girl scouts make selling cookies?) All kidding aside, everyone has skills and connections. Think outside the box and use them!

Lastly, you need to prioritize. If you are currently in a heavy writing phase, it’s not the time to raise money to record an album. You need to concentrate on the writing! Don’t put the cart before the horse. Write twenty songs, play them live for your fans, get some feedback, go back to the drawing board, tweak the songs, go back out and play them live again, start eliminating the weaker ones, etc. Then, once you have started honing in and on the “gems”, (you know-the ones everyone is starting to remember the words to) then you can start planning your recording project or whatever your next goal may be.

Planning, prioritizing, etc. can be a frustrating process. The plan can keep evolving-and that’s fine! Just keep tweaking it and repeating the process. Always remember: If you don’t know where you’re going, how do you know it when you get there?

Think of your musical career income as a whole pizza. All the money you make (or want to make) in music is represented by a slice. These pieces have names such as “tour money,” “merchandise,” “publishing,” “record sales” and “everything else.” Some pieces are bigger than others and historically, the record companies only wanted the biggest slice of the pie. This was the “record sales” slice and represented your cost of entering into the business. Presently, most music is downloaded illegally, or purchased as single songs on iTunes, Amazon, or elsewhere, so that “record sales” slice isn’t very big anymore and the record companies aren’t getting their fill. They are hungry, and now, they want more of that “pizza.” Welcome to the 360 deal. The record companies now want to take a bite of every slice you have. They want a percentage of your touring, your merchandise, your record sales, and (some think) first born child.

But let’s back up for a second so we can fully appreciate why the music industry has moved towards 360 deals. In times past, the record companies made their money on record sales. Back before the Internet, record sales were a very lucrative revenue stream for an Artist, because a huge percentage of the overall income of the Artist came from the physical sales of their album. The record companies controlled everything involved with making an album, from manufacturing, distribution, marketing, to selecting the studio and producers, and some of them even had subsidiary publishing companies. Between all of these sectors, the record companies did well for themselves. After a while, the record companies began to want to take a piece of the Artist’s merchandising, but very very rarely did a record label seek tour proceeds or other sources of the income from the Artist.

But then Al Gore invented the Internet (ok… not really) and the record companies were collectively caught with their pants down. Burning and ripping software coincided with the Internet, and in the early 1990s, you started seeing CDs replace cassette tapes and MP3 collections grow on larger and larger hard drives. At first, this activity was relatively harmless to the industry as it was mostly for personal use. Instead of giving a mix tape to a friend, they got a CD. It was like recording a television program on a VCR. However, as Internet connection speeds increased from dial up to high speed connections, it became easier to transfer files from computer to computer. This technology impacted the music industry more than any other industry, due to the small sizes into which songs could be compressed and the fast speeds these files could be transferred. Napster was the first, Kazaa was the second, and now Bit Torrent servers are all over the world from Sweden to Indonesia containing nearly every musical work ever recorded. This worldwide distribution system of music impacted mainly one thing, record sales, and the record companies were failing fast.

Now, physical sales are nearly dead. iTunes is the top volume seller of music in the United States, and now you can even get the Beatles catalogue through Apple. Most of the major record companies of years past have consolidated into a few super labels that can be counted on one hand. Traditional recording deals have evaporated, and many artists choose to not even be associated with a record label and release music by themselves or through a small independent label. The end result of all of this is that the revenue stream the record companies relied on for the previous half-century has literally crawled to a stop. But like every business, the record companies were not going to go out without a fight. The music industry was failing, but it wasn’t because people stopped liking music, it was because the business model changed and the record machine was running out of gas (i.e. money). That, my friends, brought us the 360 deal and why they want more bites of your “Musical Pizza.”

EchoXS is proud to announce that Leticia Wolf’s “It’s Fine” (from her 2010 album “The Fire & The Flood”) will be included on a new Barnes & Noble exclusive release:  ”Beauty 2 Music that Touches the Soul”.  In cooperation with Neurodisc Records, Beauty 2 is an exclusive playlist of today’s finest independent singers, songwriters and artists. Classical and electronic meets folk and alternative.  In traffic, at home relaxing on the couch, or as a soundtrack for an evening with friends, Beauty 2 will wrap itself around you and touch your soul.

Beauty 2 follows up the successfull “Beauty” compilation released in 2006 through Neurodisc Records. Other artists included on the compilation include: Sleepthief, Coury Palermo, Blue Stone, Kristy Thirsk, Balligomingo, White Sea and Michael J. Battle-just to name a few.

“Beauty 2 Music that Touches the Soul” is scheduled for nationwide release on October 25.

EchoXS Entertainment will release Leticia Wolf’s first full-length album early next month. “The Fire and the Flood” is a follow-up to Nashville artist’s acclaimed self-titled EP.

“For me, its a coming of age record,” states Wolf.  “It follows me through the last couple of years as I made new discoveries about money, love and cold.  There are songs about letting go of the impossible and songs that revisit the painful.  It’s got classic whiskey and cheating tunes, but I tried to make it more than that.  It’s about learning how to dream the right dreams … and hold on to them.”

“Leticia is truly a breath of fresh air in a musical world gone stale,” says EchoXS co-founder John F. Bradley. “She is unafraid of putting her feelings on paper and bearing her soul for the world to see.  She provides real insight into a person who has lived a life and paid dues.  Some may say dark while others find the hope that lies within.”

“I’m amazed by the new album … even the unmastered tracks.  I think back to the time I played a small show at Liquid Smoke in Murfreesboro (Tennessee) where I caught the attention of producer and EchoXS co-founder Mark Hornsby.  I’m so glad I played that show.  Our meeting that night started me on a journey that has changed my life and my musical direction profoundly,” says Wolf.

“The Fire and The Flood” will be available everywhere on February 8th .