BMI Interview

Megan Wartner works at Broadcast Music, Inc., or more commonly known as BMI, the Performance Rights Organization (PRO) that is home to artists like The Black Keys, Kings of Leon, Cake and others of similar size. It just so happens that she’s also my cousin.  

It’s important to understand every aspect, large and small, of the music business. You really never know when it might come in handy sometime. Some information included in this is licensing of music and the collection of royalties because there is a chance that it might affect you someday. I will put the information that is “need to know” in bold.

“When I left school my first jobs were at recording studios and businesses that feed into that part of the industry. So, my job right before I started with BMI was with a repair company that specialized in restoring analog consoles and studio wiring. Most of these companies folded or couldn’t afford payroll so I started working with a friend as a temp in BMI’s New Media Department (internet/music service licensing). 

When the temp period ended I was offered a job with BMI’s General Licensing Sales Department. This department licenses businesses that perform music publicly (EVERY business - bars/venue/hospital/airlines/funeral homes, you name it). Songwriters have certain rights (mechanical/synchronization ) BMI deals exclusively public performance of works, so any business that plays music, whether it be from a CD/streaming service/band/DJ/Karaoke/video game, has to hold a license (permission from the songwriter) or they’re infringing on songwriter’s copyright. 

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8 months ago  /  0 notes

Interview with Jamie Mandel

Jamie Mandel is the owner and founder of Cincy Ticket which provides ticketing to almost every venue in Cincinnati. He is a veteran of the Cincinnati music scene and is involved in most of what goes on in music in Cincinnati simply by association. He also occasionally promotes shows at places like the Madison Theater and writes music in a project called Kevin and the Octaves.Their music has been featured in TV ads for Knocked Up, Jackass 3D, Chicken Little, We Own The Night, Winning Season, Bachelor Party 2. On the shows 90210, Burn Notice, Huge, Lie To Me, and their music appears in the video games The Bigs 2 and Don King’s Prizefighter. I’ll put the information that could be considered the highlights of the interview in bold.

A lot of the people that I’ve been talking to (Jamie included) share a viewpoint that Cincinnati can become a top music market in the United States. Some are trying to bring a Lollapalooza style festival to Cincinnati and some are making websites they hope will to be a one-stop resource for music lovers and musicians alike. In trying to write this blog, my purpose is to educate musicians and the general public about the music business. We’re going to have to compete with markets like Austin, Memphis and Seattle if this vision for Cincinnati music is to be reached. One way I feel this can be achieved is by being a smarter, more educated scene than others and this is my contribution. I also would like to see it become easier for bands to move between Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus so as to encourage growth in all three cities. I’m working on a small scale to raise awareness to this cause this winter when I’m out of school so keep an eye out for that.

How did you first get into music and the music business? What is your favorite music related memory?

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9 months ago  /  3 notes

Maybe I should clarify my previous post, I do not know the implications that BMI live would have for local songwriters and if you need to be a certain size in order for it to be a tool to add income to your band. I thought previously that I did but, as is always the case in my life, I was making an incorrect assumption. I just thought that it’s a cool way that BMI is approaching the problem of distributing royalties rather than how they used to. I do know someone who works at BMI and that I think can answer this and many other questions, so keep a look out for that interview in the near future.

9 months ago  /  0 notes

raininginkdrops-deactivated2012 asked: What would you say is the most important things for a local band to do to set themselves apart from other bands?

Proper branding, image my not be everything but people will inevitably judge a book by it’s cover. If your merch, website, etc. looks like crap, then by association you can be perceived as crap. A ton of great bands are out there and they are more musically creative and skilled than you, that is just fact the difference is that extra effort in other areas. You can’t just wait around twiddling your thumbs hoping to be discovered, you have to grow your band like a business if you are serious about it and want to make music your life. That’s just the way I see it, I’m sure other people feel differently.

10 months ago  /  0 notes

A name change, it seems more appropriate.

10 months ago  /  1 note