If there is a particular workshop or event you’d like to see happen, that furthers the future of the music industry in NZ, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

May 7 – What Every Musician Should Know

Vital issues every band and musician should make sure they are on top of.

Petrina George – APRA
Mark Roach – PPNZ, General Manager
David Ridler – NZ On Air, Assistant NZ Music Manager.

May 14 – Developing the Business of Your Music

A discussion of the kinds of issues you should start to consider when you are ready to get more organised and professional in what you do with your music and how you run your career in the music industry.

Mark Kneebone – Isaac Promotions, Tardus Music and Chairman IMNZ
Teresa Patterson – Chairperson MMF and Manager of Scribe and Elemeno P
Ashley Page – Page One Management and previously head of A&R Warner Music NZ

May 21 – Key Music Industry Contracts

An explanation of the key issues to be aware of in the most common agreements encountered in the music industry including, Recording Agreements, Publishing Agreements, Live Performance Agreements and Management Agreements.

David McLaughlin – Music Lawyer

May 28 – Licensing and Publishing Explained

A discussion of what exactly the publishing and licensing of music involves in today’s music industry as well as the benefits involved and issues to be aware of.

Savina Kim – Native Tongue Music Publishing NZ
Paul McLaney – Recording Artist and A&R Scout / Licensing Manager Mushroom Music Publishing

If you wish to attend any of the seminars please email seminar@cpc.org.nz to register.

All seminars will be held upstairs at the Masonic Tavern, 29 King Edward Parade, Devonport, from 1-4 pm and there will be a $5 cover charge payable on the day for attendance at each seminar.

With more music now available online than ever and 85% of the music available not actually selling 1 copy it seems that one of the biggest struggles for independent artists is to actually gain some exposure for their music. The rise of “free” promotional tools gives bands the opportunity to really build and interact with their own fan base but it is some of the more traditional promotional channels which still seem illusive to a large number of New Zealand artists. If you want to get consistent radio play and be interviewed in all the music magazines then you may want to consider bringing in some extra help.

There are several companies in NZ who specialise in music promotion and publicity including Isaac promotions, Lauren Clough at MaidenNZ, Funktion music and Integrity Creative. If your planning a release or tour and need some help with planning and implementing a promotional campaign then it would be worth speaking to one of these companies to get an idea of the process involved and of course the budget.

I asked Huia at Integrity Creative a few questions about how they work with artists and just how important promotion is in New Zealand.

What services does Integrity Creative offer to artists?
“We provide affordable services to establish you as an artist. We provide feedback on your music, radio servicing, interview set up with radio stations, media exposure and advice on ways to provide income for yourself as an artist.”

Which artists have you worked with?
“Chong-Nee, Baitercell, 4Dg, Crossbreed, Maisey Rika, Ariana Tikao, The Mamaku Project, Dubwize, Tyna and JB, Pieter T, Maitreyah, Ruia, Module, Kolab, Jermaine as well as a host of others on compilation project such as Pitch Black, Jakob, Katchafire, Herbs, Shapeshifter and Ladi 6.”

Where do you start when your working with an artist, for example someone like Maisey Rika?
“We like to service a single first to get an idea of how the music is received. A music video for the song really helps as it gives a good cross section of visual and audio. I would then set up interviews with radio stations and relevant magazines. The aim is to create a public awareness for the artist and points of contact for the media/public to hear the artist music. It’s a solid platform that the artists can leave with and develop their own career if they choose.”

How important is promotion for independent artists in New Zealand ?
“It is vital!! Its like a circular flow for a new fan – they hear you, read about you then see you (gig or music video) so it helps them to create a persona around you as an artist or band. This can be done very cheaply if you are willing to work.Its your career after all. Your career is a like a big rock! Its heavy and large and if you stop rolling it, it stops! Apart from your mum, no one else is going to push it.”

What advice do you have for artists who are trying to develop their music careers?
“Be honest, don’t rip people off, pay for your sessions and give credit where credit is due. Try not to burn bridges but it does happen.

Do your homework and utilise the help of people in the industry as it is constantly in a state of change. Publicists are a quicker way of getting your music out there but you can do it alone, it will take time to set these relationships up.

Don’t let your ego tell you that you are the best because the world owes you nothing. Its all about the movements you make so be thinking ; whats my next step?”

I’ll be publishing a list of music promotion / publicists in New Zealand over the next few weeks so please let me know of any other companies who are out there helping artists to build their fanbase. You can also listen to a recording of the promotions seminar we hosted last year for some great free advice from Rebecca Caughey, Lauren Clough and Matt Turner.

Newmusicstrategies – New music strategies is written by ex-pat Kiwi Andrew Dubber and is a must read for any artists with an interest in how to make the most of the online environment. If you haven’t visited the site before make sure you download the E-book and  take a look through the sites archive for some of the more practical posts.

Musician Wages.com – MusicianWages.com is a website all about musicians. Not how to be a musician, but how to make a living as a musician. There are plenty of resources about the music business, but this website is about musicians in  business–the actual people who create the music.

Make It In Music.com – Some great articles on the state of the music industry and practical advice on how to make the most of this changing environment.

Musicmarketing – ‘How to Sell More Records, Get More People to Your Shows, and Make More Money in the Music Business…’.

Knowthemusicbiz – ‘… an online community for emerging artists, musicians and music executives.  KTMB members can find, exchange and contribute valuable information about the business of music plus get advice and insight from industry thought leaders’. A great site which has a wide range of articles sourced from all over the web.

Indielab – ‘Indielab is all about connecting people and generating new and innovative promotional opportunities for independent music. We love introducing fans to new music and introducing artists to people in the industry who can help them make/sell/promote their new releases.’ UK based website with some great advice for independent artists.

Musicthinktank – ‘Where the music industry thinks out loud…’ Contributors include Anthony Volodkin from Hype Machine, Andrew Dubber, Bruce Warila from Unsprung Media plus other music heavyweights. You can also contribute your own posts to the new MTT Open section which contains some great articles which tend to have more of a practical focus.

Digitalaudioinsider – ‘Digital Audio Insider is a blog about the economics of online music distribution, from the perspective of a self-released, indie musician.’

Coolfer - Coolfer is a New York-based blog that covers music and the music industry. Started in August of 2003 as a way to expose the fledgling blogosphere to the insights of a person within the music industry, Coolfer.com has grown to become a respected and widely read source of news and opinion.

This recording is taken from the recent seminar presented by the CPC – “The business of music – the insiders guide to funding” and features Emily Upston from NZ On Air. NZ On Air offers artists four funding scheme’s including New Recording Artist funding, Music video funding, Album funding and Radio Hit Rebate funding. Emily spoke about all of NZ On Air’s funding options and answered some great questions from the artists who attended the seminar.

If your interested in NZ On Air funding you should download and listen to Emily’s presentation to get some detailed information and tips on how to apply and details of the decision process. You can also check out the NZ On Air website which has all the information on funding criteria, application forms and the deadline dates for funding applications.

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I’d like to thank Emily and the team at NZ On Air for coming along and talking us through the funding decision process and answering some of the questions I regularly get asked when working with bands. I’ll be posting more about the tips offered by Emily in the future and would like to here your thoughts on Emily’s presentation, just leave us a comment below.

Gretchen’s presentation focused primarily on how musicians and bands can apply for the new funding so I thought I’d outline some of the helpful tips and advice Gretchen offered on the day.

Creative Communities Scheme

“The Creative Communities Scheme (CCS) aims to increase participation in the arts at a local level and increase the range and diversity of arts available to communities. CCS funding is available for community-based arts activities from your local city or district council. You can get application forms and more information from the administrator of the CCS of the city or district council where your activity will take place.” CNZ website

CCS funding grants are usually for amounts up to $1000 and are seen as more of an enabling fund. Gretchen outlined some music focused examples of funding applications including video funding; compilation albums; music workshops or seminars and multi band gigs. When applying for these you grants you need to think about some of the following factors and take them in to consideration when completing your funding application:

• as this is an enabling fund you also need to have other sources of contribution towards the project, this can be “in kind” as well as dollar contributions.
• the activity must be seen to be developing your professional career.
• you must be contributing to the local arts scene. If applying for video funding you could focus on using a local production company, local actors and a local venue all of which would be contributing to your local arts community.

If you would like more information on the CCS scheme you can speak to your local council about application deadlines and specific funding criteria.

National Contestable funding – Quick response grants and Arts grants

I won’t go through all the specifics of these funding pathways as they are available in the CNZ funding guide, so what I thought I would do is just outline a few of the points Gretchen mentioned on the day.

• QRG are for grants of up to $7,500 and have a turnaround time of 6 weeks.
• Arts grants are for applications up to $65,000 and have a turnaround time of 12 weeks.
• CNZ does not fund singles and only really focuses on larger bodies of work like albums. They may look at EP’s but only if it is a considerable body of work and not just 2 or 3 radio friendly singles.
• CNZ do not tend to fund artists who’s music will be played by the commercial radio stations, this is the focus of NZ On Air.
• if applying for tour funding you need to supply a confirmed itinerary, you need to have a good marketing and promotion plan and you must have an album to promote as part of the tour.
• for international tours CNZ only fund the costs of transport and freight, you must fund all other aspects of the tour. For example CNZ funded the airfare for Flip Grater’s international tour.
• CNZ do not do retrospective funding.
• always make sure that you are applying for something which is realistic for your current stage of career eg. don’t apply for a world tour if you haven’t had several national tours.
• innovation is always encouraged and should be addressed in your application.
• the support material is a vital part of your application particularly the letters of support from industry figures. When you release an album or do a national tour make sure you collect as many reviews and letters of support as you can. Building a good network of industry supporters can really pay off when applying for CNZ funding.
• CNZ usually fund one third of applications and always encourage those who didn’t get funding to call their office to get feedback. Always try and get feedback on your funding application as this will help if you decide to apply again at a later date.
• Don’t pad your budget when applying for funding. An over inflated budget always calls in to question your project planning.
• CNZ have a funding cap of $25,000 for albums and strongly recommend that you do not apply for the full amount. If you are applying for your first album make sure you don’t put the whole budget in to the recording process and spread the budget between manufacturing, artwork and promotional costs.

One of the most interesting aspects of CNZ’s funding pathways for me is the focus on alternate genres and on artists who may not traditionally find a market in New Zealand. CNZ are recognising that for many artists their key market will be overseas and are really trying to help these artists find and reach these international markets. A very different approach to that of NZ On Air who’s primary focus lies with the more commercial local market. I think both agencies do an amazing and complementary job of supporting local artists and strongly encourage you to look at their different funding options and really think about where you may fit. If your applying for CNZ funding make sure you contact your local office to discuss your application and leave us a comment below with any thoughts on their new funding pathways.

The afternoon turned out to be a great source of information for the artists attending and I’d like to thank Mark and Chris for their insight in to the workings of record labels, production studios and their pragmatic and realistic approach to the session. Here’s the full list of topics discussed during the session.

• Funding your first release
• Identifying your skills as a professional musician
• ‘Musicians are the second lowest paid workers in the creative industries’
• Cut Off Your Hands
• What type of label deals are available in NZ
• How to work with your label
• Minuit
• Working with ‘contractors’
• Questions to ask a prospective label
• Shihad
• A music career takes a lifetime
• Building a team around you
• Lydia Cole
• ‘Fans will buy in to your passion’
• What makes a good record label
• How will I get signed in NZ?
• How to spend your album budget wisely
• ‘Marketing should be the last thing you do’

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How is digital technology changing the music industry and how soon can we expect these changes to impact the way we can make money from a career in music?

• The digital revolution – more opportunities / more competition
• How the digital revolution is a fundamental shift in the music business
• What is digital content and do I have the content I need to promote my music online effectively?
• What is the best way to sell my music online?
• What’s the big deal about social networking and Web 2.0?
• Promotion is content
• Creating revenue online
• How can I use my website to build a career?
• How and when are we going to get money from the internet?

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You can also download Matt’s notes from the seminar below.

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It was amazing to have Matt come along and talk about some of the history of the “digital revolution” and outline some strategies for artists to make the most out of the opportunities now available for online promotions. Matt talks at length about his early work with Myspace promotions strategies and stresses the importance of having your own website and engaging with your fans. You can also download Matt’s notes from the session in PDF format which contains an outline of the topics and links to some great websites mentioned in the presentation. I would highly recommend you check out Matt’s blog for some great content covering digital promotion strategies and online business advice.

“Over my 8 years at EMI I worked in sales, plugged songs to radio and videos to TV, was artist relations manager which basically means being the day-to-day contact for local and international touring bands, publicist, project manager and most recently as Label Manager for Capitol Records.  During my time there I worked as part of the team with 100’s of artist including international artists like Coldplay, Norah Jones, Lily Allen, Ben Harper, The Chemical Brothers, Robbie Williams as well as local acts like Goldenhorse, Blindspott, Opshop, Breaks Co-Op, Finns, The Black Seeds, Steriogram and many more.

In March last year I set up Maiden New Zealand which is a music marketing & promotion company mainly working with independent artists to promote their music through radio & video play, marketing, publicity, album releases and touring.  Artists I am currently working with include The Black Seeds, Sola Rosa, Iva Lamkum, Cornerstone Roots, Tahuna Breaks, The Midnights, Andy Lovegrove & Flip Grater.  I also do publicity for the occasional music festival, the NZ Music Awards, APRA Silver Scrolls and with the NZ Music Commission for NZ Music Month.”

It was amazing to have Lauren come along and talk about just how important planning for an album launch is and  go into detail on promoting your album release and basically how to get as many people to buy it as possible. Lauren outlined what kind of activities a promotion plan should contain including:

• Planning objectives
• Strategy
• Target audience
• Sales targets
• Release details
• Tools
• Publicity
• Long Lead press
• Short lead press
• Radio
• TV
• Web
• Digital
• Mobile
• Other
• Marketing/Advertising
• Retail
• Touring
• Planning timeline

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Lauren gave out some great advice for bands who are launching a new album and one of the most important things I got out of the day was to always give yourself enough time to promote the album properly, and don’t just rush into releasing something without getting your plan together. It’s easy to finish the album and release it straight away through a digital store or your own website, but Lauren stressed that if you’ve spent a year putting your life in to an album then you won’t be doing it justice by rushing the release. If you’re planning on manufacturing CD’s and trying to sell them in New Zealand then Lauren’s advice is invaluable in getting the right plan together.

• Tour Promotion
• Album Promotion
• Digital Promotion

We asked three key industry figures to come along and speak about their experience in each of these areas. This  first podcast features Rebecca Caughey, who covers the topic of tour promotion and marketing. Rebecca is the Managing Director of Funktion Music Media and currently manages Shapeshifter and Ladi6. Rebecca is also a tour publicist for artists such as Bic Runga and Brooke Fraser. Rebecca held a very interactive and informative session answering some great questions from the artists in attendance and covering a wide range of topics including:

• The changing role of the artist
• How to put together a press kit
• What should be in your bio
• What type of promo material to send out
• How to book tours in New Zealand
• Step by step tour promotion guide
• Information on booking overseas tours
• How to approach sponsors
• How to get press coverage for your tour
• Contact details for radio stations and magazines in New Zealand

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Rebecca gave out some great information and, like Lauren who spoke about album promotion, stressed the importance of planning and the timing of all your promotional activities. Rebecca also touched on the fact that as an artist you need to identify and develop every possible income stream due to the fall in music sales, and having a good plan for every area of your career is becoming even more important.