Tag: music

“Seduction” Business Model of the Arts

by Gary Powell

Gary Powell, artistIf you finally get the call for the job or the opportunity you’ve worked for, it might be a good time to realize that healthy business relationships are born of mutual understanding, mutually earned respect, mutual reliability and mutually earned loyalty. Notice the omission of the word trust. These new business relationships are never born from a bilateral adoration of you, the artist. If you really believe it is all about you, then prepare to stand in a very long cue while enjoying a very short career on the latest thrill ride called SEDUCTION. Next, order any one of these books written on the topic of “One Hit Wonders” before your story ends as a chapter in the latest edition of one of them.

Most of our early opportunities in the performing and creative arts come to us by way of the often used seduction business model. Perceiving how you are being seduced now in business should help you identify the dangerous patterns within your future business offers. Recognize the pattern and be conscious of how new business proposals couch illimitable opportunities. Keep in mind that seduction is nothing more than the act of using influence to excite hopes and desires without regard to fair and equitable returns for your participation. Any business relationship that honors your contribution should offer you a financial participation bearing some resemblance to how your work has effected their bottom line. Of course, this is also after you acknowledge and place a value on the risk and expense that your employer is taking. But then, and maybe after briefly enjoying the flattery, take the deal or don’t take it, but always try to understand who is doing what to you, why they are doing it, and for how long they intend to keep doing it. It is your job to understand these strategies and it is your job to take care of yourself. Be armed with the knowledge of these common practices in order to make prudent decisions that will yield you uncommon wealth and happiness.

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by Gary Powell

Gary Powell, artistIf you finally get the call for the job or the opportunity you’ve worked for, it might be a good time to realize that healthy business relationships are born of mutual understanding, mutually earned respect, mutual reliability and mutually earned loyalty. Notice the omission of the word trust. These new business relationships are never born from a bilateral adoration of you, the artist. If you really believe it is all about you, then prepare to stand in a very long cue while enjoying a very short career on the latest thrill ride called SEDUCTION. Next, order any one of these books written on the topic of “One Hit Wonders” before your story ends as a chapter in the latest edition of one of them.

Most of our early opportunities in the performing and creative arts come to us by way of the often used seduction business model. Perceiving how you are being seduced now in business should help you identify the dangerous patterns within your future business offers. Recognize the pattern and be conscious of how new business proposals couch illimitable opportunities. Keep in mind that seduction is nothing more than the act of using influence to excite hopes and desires without regard to fair and equitable returns for your participation. Any business relationship that honors your contribution should offer you a financial participation bearing some resemblance to how your work has effected their bottom line. Of course, this is also after you acknowledge and place a value on the risk and expense that your employer is taking. But then, and maybe after briefly enjoying the flattery, take the deal or don’t take it, but always try to understand who is doing what to you, why they are doing it, and for how long they intend to keep doing it. It is your job to understand these strategies and it is your job to take care of yourself. Be armed with the knowledge of these common practices in order to make prudent decisions that will yield you uncommon wealth and happiness.

Helpful or Interesting? Then Copy, Paste and Tweet It:
Gary Powell writes “Seduction as a Business Model in the Arts”
http://tinyurl.com/adyl4y

All Content of Gary Powell’s Site is Licensed Under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License

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Copyright Law for Songwriters

by Gary Powell

Beethoven Score
Copyright law regarding songwriting is written in a way which upsets the balance of musicianship and credentials. You, as a songwriter can be easily compromised by the law lending support for all kinds of pretenders to lay claim to the intellectual property they had little or nothing to do with. For example, a song has three major components: the melody, the lyrics, and the chords under the melody. Chord structure is musically understood as the harmonization of the melody. For every one melody note, there are two handfuls of notes giving the melody its meaning and place. Thus, a melody and lyric can be masterfully harmonized any number of ways to broadly effect their color and tone. In that regard, harmonization plays a compositional role that melody and lyrics cannot alone achieve. Yet, the United States Copyright Office only recognizes melody and lyrics as official parts of a song. Really? That’s right! All those years spent in the study of music theory can be cast off just that easily with one bad law. And whom does this oversight favor? Thanks to the copyright office having been taken hostage, just humming a little ditty with a lyric like “Happy birthday to you” is all it takes to lay legal claim to being a songwriter or even a composer. This favors anyone who has ever hummed a tune, which for the good and the bad of it, is all of us. Professionally, however, composers disaffectionately call these people hummers.

“…one of the criticisms of the current system is that it benefits publishers more than it does creators.” – History of Copyright Law, Wikipedia

In the meantime, answer this question before you start hijacking the credit you don’t deserve: If left alone with only a piano and staff paper, would you be able to deliver a musical composition ready to be played by an orchestra waiting for their parts in the rehearsal hall next door? If not, then you’ll need a team of lost-voices or some very cleverly designed music-making software – of which there is plenty to choose from. But remember, if you can hum or even be in the room when someone else is humming, the the law is on your side. So, what happened to the music itself after the adoption of these copyright laws? Turn on the television or radio and listen, and you’ll immediately know.

Next I’ll be writing about how we are unwittingly supporting a system which progressively lowers the bar for the arts and ultimately in society.

Helpful? Then Copy, Paste and Tweet It:
How Copyright Law Effects Creativity for Songwriters. http://tinyurl.com/7pn5qq

To Learn More, Please Consider These Reference Links:

The Mechanical Elements of a Song
Library of Congress: History’s Wordsmiths

All Content of Gary Powell’s Site is Licensed Under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License

.

by Gary Powell

Beethoven Score
Copyright law regarding songwriting is written in a way which upsets the balance of musicianship and credentials. You, as a songwriter can be easily compromised by the law lending support for all kinds of pretenders to lay claim to the intellectual property they had little or nothing to do with. For example, a song has three major components: the melody, the lyrics, and the chords under the melody. Chord structure is musically understood as the harmonization of the melody. For every one melody note, there are two handfuls of notes giving the melody its meaning and place. Thus, a melody and lyric can be masterfully harmonized any number of ways to broadly effect their color and tone. In that regard, harmonization plays a compositional role that melody and lyrics cannot alone achieve. Yet, the United States Copyright Office only recognizes melody and lyrics as official parts of a song. Really? That’s right! All those years spent in the study of music theory can be cast off just that easily with one bad law. And whom does this oversight favor? Thanks to the copyright office having been taken hostage, just humming a little ditty with a lyric like “Happy birthday to you” is all it takes to lay legal claim to being a songwriter or even a composer. This favors anyone who has ever hummed a tune, which for the good and the bad of it, is all of us. Professionally, however, composers disaffectionately call these people hummers.

“…one of the criticisms of the current system is that it benefits publishers more than it does creators.” – History of Copyright Law, Wikipedia

In the meantime, answer this question before you start hijacking the credit you don’t deserve: If left alone with only a piano and staff paper, would you be able to deliver a musical composition ready to be played by an orchestra waiting for their parts in the rehearsal hall next door? If not, then you’ll need a team of lost-voices or some very cleverly designed music-making software – of which there is plenty to choose from. But remember, if you can hum or even be in the room when someone else is humming, the the law is on your side. So, what happened to the music itself after the adoption of these copyright laws? Turn on the television or radio and listen, and you’ll immediately know.

Next I’ll be writing about how we are unwittingly supporting a system which progressively lowers the bar for the arts and ultimately in society.

Helpful? Then Copy, Paste and Tweet It:
How Copyright Law Effects Creativity for Songwriters. http://tinyurl.com/7pn5qq

To Learn More, Please Consider These Reference Links:

The Mechanical Elements of a Song
Library of Congress: History’s Wordsmiths

All Content of Gary Powell’s Site is Licensed Under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License

.

Phil Ramone (1934-2013)

The Producer of Many Influences

by Gary Powell

It was March 6, 2008 when this story wrote itself. At this time of Phil Ramone’s passing, it seems appropriate to remember his influence on me and the music I compose and produce.

Phil Ramone Gary PowellGlenn Richter, a longtime ally of mine and professor of music at the University of Texas, called this morning and invited me to have lunch with Phil Ramone. There are two producers in this world that would make me get dressed this fast. One is Sir George Martin, whom I have already met and briefly worked with. Phil Ramone is the other. Also present at the lunch were Executive Director of the NARAS – Texas Chapter, Theresa Jenkins and Project Director Jennifer Vocelka along with Ed Evans, Director of Technical Operations for Villa Muse and UT Recording Technology professor Mark Sarisky.

As a producer and composer, I am conscious about who my musical and production influences have been. I have many of these producers’ albums hanging on my “wall of influences” in the cutting room of my studio. Igor Stravinsky is hanging there right beside George Gershwin, Aaron Copeland and Leonard Bernstein. But wait, also present are Simon and Garfunkel, Peter, Paul and Mary, Chicago and James Taylor. It is seldom the artist themselves that attracted my attention.

So, what was it about these particular artists that make me listen more closely and why are they on my wall of influences? It was Phil Ramone!

phil ramone book cover

Following lunch, Mark Sarisky facilitated an interview with Mr. Ramone in the UT Music School’s Recital Studio for students, faculty and NARAS members. My sense was that these college students had little appreciation or knowledge of Phil Ramone’s contribution to the American musical lexicon. Culturally, we tend to buy into the myths sold to us about the capabilities of our recording artists. This was a brief moment for us all to look around the curtain and now would be a good time for us all to contemplate Phil Ramone’s Discography!

Thank you, Phil, for mentoring my ears ever since introducing Lesley Gore in 1963 and for now writing your book, Making Records – The Scenes Behind the Music. My best wishes for your continued success and for making our popular music more nuanced, more powerful, more meaningful and simply better than it would have been without you.