Wonggoys signed up for ICO Music too

Did I mention that Wonggoys are awesome?  I think I did.

So I was in Starbucks, IT Park sitting with the Wong brothers.  We signed the music publishing contract with ICO Music on the 8th of January, 2011.  It wasn't just a signing session though.  It was a meet and greet with the band's manager Mrs. Wong.

Bethany's Quibranza brothers signed up for ICO Music

Times are a-changin' they say.

The old business model of the music industry was that if you are an artist, you get help from a record company.  If you are a songwriter, your supposed best friend in the business should be the music publisher.  If you are both, then I advise you learn how to read and interpret contracts.

But times are a-changin'.



Today, bands can mobilize as their own independent record company.  In the industry lingo, it's called vanity label.

Today, you can build a fan base on your own.  This has been proven with the success of Urbandub.

Bands can run their own publishing machinery.  But then that seriously and I mean seriously entails another scope of work.  And artists in general prefer to skip the nitty gritty stuff especially with the copyright and other legal jargon.

So to seriously think about how your band can accomplish at least for a start certain level of success, it's important to get your music publishing arrangements done first.  That's what I do with ICO.

Last Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011, the Quibranza brothers Luis, Angelo, and Paolo, the songwriters of the band Bethany signed up all their musical compositions with ICO Music Publishing.  My role is to administer the copyrights of their music as well as represent the authors in licensing their music for use.  That's just about it.

The rest... well, if you're a songwriter, let's meet and talk.  I'll explain what else I do.

Think BIG, start small : Cattski and her sound minded friends

The inspiration and the thought of blogging this down just can't stop rushing through my head - so I need to type this entry right after I got out of bed.

First off, I must say, on behalf of Sheila and the Insects, it's a pleasure and a privilege to perform in the recent Cattski album launch. If it hadn't been for Cattski and her super friends, the rocker bugs wouldn't have been inspired enough to do this minute comeback.

Second - I must say that if there was an award ceremony, Cattski would best fit in the Most Innovative Artist Category. Last year, Indieology suggested that independent artists should try bringing laptops to their gig and have people download them for a nominal fee. Cattski became the first Cebuano artist to do this and I'm so happy to know that iCenter is equally very supportive.

Kudos to this! I heart iCenter.

Catts, it was an awesome event despite the long and uncozy in between lull caused by power overload (or so I've heard) and I also bought a copy of the CD. Yes, I finally got hold of the real stuff.

To everyone, this is to say that Sound Minds Speak Volumes isn't just an album, it's a creative documentation of love and lasting friendship. Cattski (Espina) and her band deserve a really loud applause for a job well done. In support of the album, here are a couple links to read:

Philstar interview
Album review

Music licensing at Indiepinoy.com

The sender agreed to have this email published verbatim on the condition that her band, real names of people, and email addresses will not be disclosed. All for the spirit of sharing. Read on.


from: ****** Band <******@gmail.com>
to (**********@gmail.com
date Fri, Mar 13, 2009 at 11:46 PM
subject Win-Win Strategy, does this one work?
mailed-by gmail.com


Maayong gabii, Ian.

Hope this won't take so much of your time. Attached is a copy of the email the manager had sent... Ako untang ipatan-aw if this one is safe as it sounds, and advantageous at the same time. from earning of the downloads, as B**M**** had said, "It's a win-win strategy".

If there is something about the terms [this is not the contract, yet... daw], do please reply at *******@rock.com.

thanks, again. bai


all the best,
*******

*********************

Hello!

I would encourage you to do check out indiepinoy.com. This is a bigger project that will definitely help you promote your music and market them thru the mobile networks. When interested please send email to indiepinoy include the following:

1. A profile that will include your location, music genre and site links
2. Track listing of EPs, albums please indicate if released or unreleased, if distributed under a label or not.

Note: You can include in the list songs you are about to record since we will be asking for the actual audio files after your band has been presented to the telcos and have been approved. I can always tell them that these audio files will follow soon.

3. Contact details (email and phone number).

The purpose of these information is to present your band to the companies involved in the project. Upon approval, then we will be sending to you the guidelines on what to do including details on the deal.. We will be signing up a contract on this project as it involves licenses. We will only be handling mobile rights. You still will have the liberty to get into any major label deal as long as there are no conflicts on mobile rights. Please note that we do not involve in internet downloads. Everything is mobile and legitimate. You will get revenue share from your songs, a monthly report will be in order.

You can submit your songs already even without the contract yet. Technicians at mymusic can process them immediately to avoid the clutter of work when all the bands has been approved by the telcos. Note that we cannot market your songs without a license contract as this is stated by law. That is for your protection too.

Re your question on revenue share:

The specific figures for revenue share is yet to be finalized. The current status of the project now is that indiepinoy has to submit to the telcos (globe and smart) a list of songs involved in the project. These telcos will not be interested if we have only a few songs to market. In my opinion, just like any business they want to make profit from the project. THat is why I will be submitting more than 1,000 list of songs (not the actula audio files) so that we can get a better deal in the revenue share. Commonly each song is sold at P50 / mobile download (for fulltrack). This is for premier songs under major labels. Other category has a slightly different rate. 50% of these goes to the telcos. And from that the other 50% will be shared be mymusic/indiepinoy and the band. If you can compare the profit rate from royalty on a CD under a major label, indiepinoy still has a bigger figure per song.

If your band will be included in the full promotion, we will require you to alot a song that will be pushed free for download (meaning you will not earn from the downloads of that song for a specific period of time). This is so we can promote the band and the project in full. Promotion involves big expenses in various media.

I hope this clarifies your questions.. If you have any more questions, dont fail to email indiepinoy at indiepinoy@gmail.com

Thanks a lot.


My reply

from Ian Zafra <***********@gmail.com>
to ******* Band <*******@gmail.com>
date Sat, Mar 14, 2009 at 12:12 AM
subject Re: Win-Win Strategy, does this one work?
mailed-by gmail.com


Hello *******,

We may have different preferences and ways in assessing what is worth trying and what is not. Indiepinoy sounds promising and from the looks of it, I would like to believe that this project is run by people, probably musicians themselves with a very strong entrepreneurial spirit. I have so much respect for people like that.

From what I understand, Indiepinoy is a mobile phone content provider. There are actually many of them today but this may be worth a try. Yet if you are doubtful, try listing down the concerns that bother you. My guess is that you're probably looking for a sample of their sales report or at least a template of how it's going to look like and whether or not you can access them yourself. Ask them about it. For all you know, Indiepinoy probably need challenging questions like that especially from unsigned bands. From there maybe you can take your foot one step forward until you get closer to a decision.

Take some time to understand how it works inside out. Make haste slowly. Before I decided on TuneCore, I took a great deal of time reading the FAQ section.

At the end of the day, what really matters is your decision as mine would only be recommendatory. I'm not sure if I'm helping ******* in any way yet I must say your best defense is to learn more about IP and its applications. You can start by reading here


P.S. I hope you won't mind if I blog this... do let me know



She replied

from ****** Band <******@gmail.com>
to Ian Zafra <***********@gmail.com>
date Sun, Mar 15, 2009 at 12:46 PM
subject Re: Win-Win Strategy, does this one work?
mailed-by gmail.com


Thanks for replying back.

I will think over the things you've suggested, and I'll be happy to open this topic with the ladies.
Salamat kaayo, bai.


*********


Blogging: If it helps other people, why not? The more encouragement --the better. However, okay ra if [uber] iscreet lang ang name sa *******? Address the general, yes. B-)

Thanks, again [kaayo], Ian Z.

What is Mint?

Q : What is Mint?

A : Mint is any aromatic herb of the genus Mentha, having opposite leaves and small, whorled flowers.

Q : What?

A : Ok let me try again... Mint is a place where coins, money or paper currency, special medals are produced under government authority.

Q : Uh... okay. But I knew this one already.

A : Ok let me try again... Mint means fresh.

Q : As in fresh bands? Newbies? Debut? First time in Midweek Sessions?

A : There you go... perfect! Tumpak! Tagumpay!

Music strips and the poets

Poetry blends with any available template it could love. The most obvious and doable being verbal and print - the mind is your only lid.

Music however, turned out to be its new favorite partner in Midweek Sessions' Stripped last February. This romance was probably expected.

Thank you Bathalad Sugbu for guesting in the show.

Stripped = Music + Poetry + Beat

Rock groups cut in half. Poets on the loose. And the beat is just about non-stop in between. That's the idea. At least from how I imagine it to run. Since it's February next month, I thought Midweek Sessions should be a bit romantic this time and for obvious reasons of course.

I thought of an intimate set up but acoustic sets are just way too simple. Not only that. It's a very abused and overused concept. So I thought... why not reinvent? Add? Subtract? Multiply? Divide? Anything to get that new flavor to it.

Poetry perhaps?

Minimalistic but it could work.

Yes?

Yes.

Nice?

Maybe.

How's it going to work?

I don't know.

Hmmm...

Rock groups cut in half. Instead of the usual 4 piece rock band format, The Ambassadors, Rescue A Hero, and Juress will be stripped off half its lineup for this show.

Poets on the loose. Bathalad is perfect.

The beat shall be about Marc Nadela, Jay Young, and yours truly.

I have but a vague idea of how it's gonna be like. But if anything, I'm more excited than scared.

First Impressions

Peryodiko's Vin Dancel once said, "...always start the show with a good band and end it with a good band."

With bands sprouting like mushrooms in Manila, this conceptual formula for strategic showcase may come relatively easier in that part of the scene.

Not here. Not Cebu.

But surprisingly the recent Midweek Sessions in January 14 pulled it off. Perhaps Vin's formula does work.

And as the saying goes - first impressions last... I personally had a blast.

Special thanks to Outpost for the support, to Archie Uy who took really awesome photos in the set, to Jeremie Lim for the video, and the best bands in town that performed.

Cheers!

'Til next session.


photo courtesy of Archie Uy

The Current Setting (2008)

Many times I've been asked about how much our local music scene has improved. Depending on which platform the question was perceived from, answers vary.

Last Saturday (Oct. 18) I watched a concert featuring Taken By Cars, Pedicab, Gasulina and our very own Powerspoonz at Paseo. With me were Rescue A Hero, Bai Nuñez (The Ambassadors) and Paul Aguilar (The Line Divides) - the latter two being the most active young leaders in our little music community today.

The question was asked again. Paul brought it up and the conversation became more interesting - I gathered my thoughts attempting to opine over tagays of beer.

This was how it went (imagine a whirlpool effect just as how movies do a flashback scene)...

The year was between 1996 and 2000. My observation was that bands were not cool yet about writing and playing originals. The crowd and event organizers didn't appreciate it so much either.

Local radio stations were unmindful of this "little music culture". Some bands dared but my guess was 1 out of 10. I suppose it wasn't worth the time for them to spend an effort on the creative process.

In 2000, Artist Dais supported the idea of a weekly gig held every Wednesday of every month. Local bands were encouraged to play more originals. It was a niche market and Midweek Sessions was born.

In attempting to achieve this goal, a special program outline was set on the last Wednesday of each month aptly called "Uncovered". It emphasizes that only original songs were allowed in this evening.

It became an exclusive engagement for local bands - an opportunity to prove something and to creatively flaunt their musical ideas.

The rule was very simple :

Bands who can play the most number of originals in a set of 6 songs in the previous weeks will get an Uncovered slot.

Meanwhile, NU107 was the hippest radio station in town believed to be the most supportive of local talents for promoting homegrown bands via regular airplay. At the first Uncovered installment (which turned out to be successful), the station's head advised me to minimize the encouragement of original songs.

The rationale, his rationale being that, and I qoute... "People are not ready yet."

Was there anyway to tell?

We succeed when we dare to fail. So I persisted and I refused to budge.

More bands surfaced and original songs, although painfully slow, started getting public acceptance and attention.

A couple of years later, Warren Tan (Squall) produced 2 albums locally distributed at limited copies adapting the title.

New recording studios were established almost every year.

So I said to Paul... "Yes. I think Cebu's music scene has improved so much."

At this point, we turned our heads to the Paseo crowd, dancing to the bands' original music. This is something that was not there before.


Last year's article

Diss A Band Or Kiss A Band?

A good friend suggested that I should write something that makes people react more. Particularly about bands that I don't like. Bands to diss and piss.

The keyword used was "reaction".

Okay.

Well for one thing, I view reaction as a negative word. When a person is sick and takes a medicine, his/her body reacts to the drug in the form of allergies for example.

The positive counterpart is called response. The body heals hence the pill responded, doing what it's supposed to do.

I must admit that I am very often tempted to write about bands that I wish had never existed. But then again I believe it's wiser instead to talk about bands that I look up to or bands that have high potential.

In as much as I want to diss bands, I don't think I have that privilege. And simply because praises and admiration can do better for them.

Dissing bands can only make enemies and in the end puts "dissers" in a bad light.

So I said to my good friend, "If I didn't write about a band, it means I haven't heard of them yet."

I prefer to kiss. It brings positive feedback and responses that could inspire more bands.

He responded... with a laugh.