the AMP Issue 36

"Some people tell me that the worried blues ain't bad. Worst old feelin' I most ever had."
— Robert Johnson

In This Issue... 10 pages [less than 15 minutes to read] You'll Get...

• RECOMMENDS— the IFPI Global Industry Report 2023

• the BIZ—  Private Equity's [Negative] Impact on the Music Industry from Mark Hogan's NYTimes essay

• BACKSTAGE PASS— Release Me from Rick Barker

• the 100 GREATEST SINGER SONGWRITERS of All Time— Robert Johnson

• MONDEGREEN— Piano Man by Billy Joel

• PS from PS— Please Release Me... One At a Time

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Here’s the playlist

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• RECOMMENDS—  the IFPI Global Industry Report 2023 free to download

IFPI stands for International Federation of the Phonographic Industry” Phonographic…? Well hell… they’re British. Just so you know: “IFPI is the voice of the recording industry worldwide, representing over 8,000 record company members across the globe. They work to promote the value of recorded music, campaign for the rights of record producers, and expand the commercial uses of recorded music around the world.

As evidence of their mission— Promoting the value of recorded music— they've published their Global Music Market Report 2023 (State Of the Industry). Here's the introduction from IFPI's Chief Executive, Francis Moore...

THIS REPORT RELAYS THE STORY OF TODAY’S CONSTANTLY GROWING AND EVOLVING MUSIC WORLD. 

Today we have an incredible, kaleidoscopic array of music coming from a diverse group of artists across the globe.

Music continues to grow globally, and artists are increasingly interconnected with fans as a result of the worldwide infrastructure and investment from record companies.

Alongside this, record companies are building and developing local teams around the world who are on the ground, working with current and emerging artists from a growing variety of music scenes. This is driving music’s development whilst enabling fans to seize the expanding opportunities to embrace and celebrate their own local artists and culture.

The core of a record company’s mission remains partnering with artists to help them achieve their greatest creative and commercial potential. 

Today, that partnership has expanded into more areas and more parts of the world as record companies increase their focus on innovation.

This has created new and diverse opportunities for artists to connect with their fans; from harnessing cutting-edge technology— ranging from creating immersive music experiences to enhancing health and fitness activities— to re-imagining opportunities to tell artist stories through films, TV and brand partnerships and much more.

However, as the opportunities for music continue to expand, so too do the areas in which record companies must work to ensure that the value of the music artists are creating is recognized and returned. This challenge is becoming increasingly complex as a greater number of actors seek to benefit from music whilst playing no part in investing in and developing it.

Ultimately, however, the story of this report is one of innovation and growth and, above all else, great artists and their music.

Tap the link to download the 29-page PDF: IFPI Global Music Report 2023. 

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• the BIZ—  Private Equity's [Negative] Impact on the Music Industry

Private equity firms have increasingly targeted the music industry, acquiring rights to iconic songs and exploiting them for profit. This trend, outlined by Mark Hogan in a New York Times essay, raises concerns about the health and diversity of our music ecosystem.

Here are the key points:

• Exploitation of Classic Hits: Private equity firms purchase rights to classic songs, such as Whitney Houston's I Wanna Dance With Somebody, and exploit them through various avenues like movies, fragrances, and NFTs, non-fungible tokens. This strategy prioritizes short-term profits over long-term artistic growth.

• Financialization of Music: With billions of dollars poured into music rights, investors view the industry as a lucrative source of income. This influx of capital has led many artists, including Stevie Nicks and Shakira, to sell their catalogs, affecting the balance between established hits and emerging talent.

• Impact on Creativity: Rather than fostering innovation, private equity's focus on established hits stifles creativity. Instead of taking risks on new talent, record labels and publishers prioritize exploiting existing catalogs, further marginalizing emerging artists.

• Economic Challenges for Musicians: The streaming era has dramatically shifted revenue streams for musicians, requiring millions of streams to match the revenue once generated by album sales. This economic disparity disproportionately benefits megastars while hindering smaller artists' ability to sustain themselves.

• Potential Solutions: Musicians' groups and politicians are advocating for fairer streaming payouts, highlighting the need for systemic change. While private equity's influence on the music industry may be waning, it's crucial to prioritize the value of creating new music and supporting emerging talent.

Private equity's dominance in the music industry poses significant challenges to artistic innovation and fair compensation for musicians. 

Addressing these issues requires systemic changes to re-balance the industry's priorities and support the next generation of artists.

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• BACKSTAGE PASS—  Release Me

Please release me, let me go... (Remember that?)

As Rick Barker— yes, that Rick Barker— recently said... 

"It doesn’t matter how good your music is if no one gets to hear it." 

Then he went on to say...  So, before you release your next piece of music, make sure you have the following things planned out. 

a Pre-Release Plan: What to do before the song is released. 
Share a behind-the-scenes story of the song. Take your audience on a video tour of the studio during the recording process. Get creative and make them feel involved. But be sure you don’t come across as pushy.

a Post-Release Plan: What to do after the song is released. 
Create a lyric video highlighting the hook of the song and a short-form performance piece. Post them to your Reels. Include a call to action to click the link in your bio to hear the full version. Share these to your IG stories and include a link to the full version.

And a Bonus Tip: 
Create multiple pieces of content for various parts of the song, as different hooks could attract different audiences.

Clearly, this isn't an all-encompassing strategy to promote your music.

But if you were to do nothing else... Consistently following the above 3 steps will give you a ton of momentum.
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About Rick Barker

Rick's mission is to help as many artists throughout the world build, grow and monetize a fanbase. Barker's 'Super Power' is the ability to simplify complicated issues and show artists just how easy it is to get their music out into the world using the tools that are readily available to all of them. 

With more than 30 years of experience, Rick has comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of the music industry. Independent artists in more than 22 countries have improved their skills and built their audiences based on Rick's teachings. Over 5,000 independent artists have worked with Rick to get their music out into the world— one of the first was a lady named Taylor Swift. Rick works with artists in all different genres, with a broad and diverse range of music. He is constantly investing his time and money in staying up to date on the changes in the Music Business and the Digital Marketing Space and sharing that with his Management Clients and Podcast Listeners... 

You can learn more and connect with Rick Barker https://rickbarker.com/ by tapping is name link 

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• the 100 GREATEST SINGER SONGWRITERS of All Time—  Robert Johnson

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His playing was to die for— or at the very least, sell your soul to Satan for.

Legend has it that Robert Johnson met the devil at a crossroads and gave him his soul in exchange for mastery of the guitar. Steeped in mystery, killed mysteriously, his legend eclipsed only by his skill, Robert Johnson may be the first-ever rock star.
— Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1986)

Eric Clapton said, "When I first listened to Robert Johnson I was completely overwhelmed by his vulnerability. What struck me more than anything else was how in touch with his feelings he was...  

"There were very few people on record who sounded like they were singing from the heart, or knew who they were or what they felt. Most were just imitating other people or developing something for the stage. Music, for the most part, was very artificial. Even people I loved, like Leroy Carr or Son House, still sounded like entertainers to me. Robert was something else— he sounded like he was naked. 

“I’d never heard anyone do that before. All the music I’d heard up until that time was just pop music made for entertainment. Robert Johnson wasn’t entertainment. When I first heard him I had a very hard time listening to him, because it demanded something of me.”
— Eric Clapton, from an interview by Brad Tolinski, Harold Steinblatt
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Robert Johnson was an American blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generations of musicians. He is now recognized as a master of the blues, particularly the Delta blues style.

As a traveling performer who played mostly on street corners, in juke joints, and at Saturday night dances, Johnson had little commercial success or public recognition in his lifetime. He participated in only two recording sessions, one in San Antonio in 1936, and one in Dallas in 1937, that produced 29 distinct songs (with 13 surviving alternate takes) recorded by famed Country Music Hall of Fame producer Don Law. These songs, recorded at low fidelity in improvised studios, were the totality of his recorded output. Most were released as 10-inch, 78 rpm singles from 1937–1938, with a few released after his death. Other than these recordings, very little was known of him during his life outside of the small musical circuit in the Mississippi Delta where he spent most of his life; much of his story has been reconstructed after his death by researchers. Johnson's poorly documented life and death have given rise to much legend. The one most closely associated with his life is that he sold his soul to the devil at a local crossroads to achieve musical success.

His music had a small, but influential, following during his life and in the two decades after his death. In late 1938 John Hammond sought him out for a concert at Carnegie Hall, From Spirituals to Swing, only to discover that Johnson had died. Brunswick Records, which owned the original recordings, was bought by Columbia Records, where Hammond was employed. Musicologist Alan Lomax went to Mississippi in 1941 to record Johnson, also not knowing of his death. Law, who by then worked for Columbia Records, assembled a collection of Johnson's recordings titled King of the Delta Blues Singers that was released by Columbia in 1961. It is widely credited with finally bringing Johnson's work to a wider audience. The album would become influential, especially on the nascent British blues movement; Eric Clapton has called Johnson "the most important blues singer that ever lived." Musicians such as Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, and Robert Plant have cited both Johnson's lyrics and musicianship as key influences on their own work. Many of Johnson's songs have been covered over the years, becoming hits for other artists, and his guitar licks and lyrics have been borrowed by many later musicians.

Renewed interest in Johnson's work and life led to a burst of scholarship starting in the 1960s. Much of what is known about him was reconstructed by researchers such as Gayle Dean Wardlow and Bruce Conforth, especially in their 2019 award-winning biography of Johnson: Up Jumped the Devil: The Real Life of Robert Johnson (Chicago Review Press). Two films, the 1991 documentary The Search for Robert Johnson by John Hammond Jr., and a 1997 documentary, Can't You Hear the Wind Howl, the Life and Music of Robert Johnson, which included reconstructed scenes with Keb' Mo' as Johnson, were attempts to document his life, and demonstrated the difficulties arising from the scant historical record and conflicting oral accounts. 

Over the years, the significance of Johnson and his music has been recognized by numerous organizations and publications, including the Rock and Roll, Grammy, and Blues Halls of Fame; and the National Recording Preservation Board

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To visit on the MusicThisDay.com website, tap the link: The 100 Greatest Songwriters Of All Time.

in partnership with the Jim Parker Songwriter Series

• MONDEGREEN— Piano Man by Billy Joel

Original
"Sing us a song, you're the piano man"

Mondegreen
"Sing us a song for the yellow man"

Arguably one of the most recognizable songs in the world, Piano Man was Billy Joel's breakthrough single after signing with Columbia Records. In October 2018, the single went three times multi-platinum. Even still... not everyone knows the words.

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• PS from PS— Please Release Me... One At a Time

Speaking with a Singer Songwriter on the phone the other day,  I asked him what one thing would change his career path right now. He replied.

"If I could raise $25,000, I could make my album"

I warned him he would probably not like my next question. Which was... 

"How many actual fans do you have right now?" 

He said, " I think perhaps 500 on my socials"

Knowing he would not like my next question even less than the first, I asked... 

"Why the fu•k do you want to make an album when you don't have fans to sell it to?" 

Okay. I felt bad. So, I gently explained a less costly, alternative, path that would make more sense, because for one thing, it costs lots less than 25K. Release a single— or three (over time) and use that and those to focus on building his audience and growing his fan base.

Once he has that single coming, he can ask everyone on his socials to help him out. All they have to do is share his song with three other people. I suggested he could even create a prize for the fan that shares the most. Just for fun.

If he has 500 fans and he sends them all his new single with the request to share it, ballpark, 20% of them do with three people. That would create 300 new fans. Increasing his fan base by 60%. 

I told him the best strategy for him would be to develop a planned sequence of releases, each time increasing his fan base. This could also be used to sell Merch and invite new fans to shows and increase his core of TrueFans.  

Then each time he released a single his fan base would grow and more importantly the number of TrueFans would grow each time getting him closer to 1,000 TrueFans— the most important goal for every Singer Songwriter.

He seemed to like that more affordable option to grow his audience. He told me he could afford to record a single right now. 

I think the key lesson here is there is always an alternative to the path you think you should take. 

a PS to my PS: 
Just as with this young Singer Songwriter, you can set up a FREE call with me, too. Just select a time that fits with your schedule and mine and lets talk soon,
Tap here: Call Paul 

Until we speak again...

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