What’s up y’all, Harkos here,
Off top, I love Freddie Gibbs' music. I listen often, but the other day at the gym, his song “Narcos” came on. One of the main parts of that song is, “Dope Game hard, rap game, rap game easy as a motha fucka”.
Then it hit me, he has it backward.
I get where he could say that the dope game is hard, because it's illegal and you have to try not to get arrested or killed. That's something you don't have to worry about in the music industry as much. However, having the legal system on your side is a huge benefit in the music industry.
Imagine creating a song and it's one of the best ones that you have ever created. You create a bunch of content for it and you start pushing it on social media and to your fans. They're eating it up. It's the first track you've ever had go viral.
Then one day you get an email from your distributor saying that your song is getting taken down for copyright infringement. Now you're yelling, “Copyright Infringement? How the hell can I get copyright infringement on a song that I made?”
You start digging into it, and you realize that a major artist is claiming your song as their own. Immediately you know that you're going to sue them. So you go grab the first lawyer you can find and start working on that big Payday.
However, when your lawyer starts asking you about your copyright and music registration information, you realize you don't even know what that is. You've heard people talk about it all the time, but you thought that you would be good because you created it first and you can prove that on your distribution or social media.
But now you find out that that’s not enough. That major artist has million-dollar lawyers working for them and your local attorney tells you that you have no ground to stand on in a lawsuit.
Now you're getting sued for the music you created, instead of profiting off of it.
But this all could have been avoided if you would have just simply registered your music.
To fully register your music, there are 6 places that you need to go. Yes, I said 6, but trust me, it’s easy.
The 6 places are SoundExchange, Songtrust, Soundscan, MLC (mechanical licensing collective), Harry Fox Agency, and a P.R.O. (performing rights organization) such as BMI or ASCAP. And if you choose, Soundscan will take care of MLC and Harry Fox at the same time.
Even though it’s tedious to go to these different places and register your music, it’s extremely crucial. You never know when you will be in a situation and these can save your ass from losing it all!
If you haven’t already, make sure that you take the time and register your music properly. If you ever get scouted by a major label or want to take your independent music career to the next level, registration is a must-have.
After that, keep working on building a strong name for yourself online. Last week I sent an email talking more about how to do this. If you missed that email, head to the blog page of Apex Music System’s website HERE to check it out.
Have a good one
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