How to value your music correctly and 10x your music business. On this episode, we talk about the value of music in the marketplace outside and inside of your fan base and what to do about it. Also, how to build your fanbase to get the true value of your music.
Composition — lyrics and melody
Sound Recording — Audio Recording
Artwork — Album cover
From these brand assets, I will break down and investigate the potential in the assets value to scope out the many ways we can sell our product.
Thanks to all of the research and development over the years many price points have been discovered to determine the average value of your assets. If you are the artist who owns a recording business–because that’s what you’re truly running–you should understand what the value of your assets are now, vs the potential value. You will be more equipped to make better decisions about how and where you sell your material.
What you are looking at below is what a song (or composition) written down acoustically produces in value by itself without the help of a sound recording.
The Copyright itself — FORM PA — Performing Art (The value of the copyright is based on the popularity of the writer or artist who wrote it. Because you are new and as an artist/writer you have no clout. So, let’s say the value of the song registered with the copyright office is $55.00/x X being the number of songs you registered in your registration 1=$55 and without registration is $1.00)
COMPOSITION VALUE $55.00
Compositions Produce (lyric and melody)
Lyrics
Sheet music
Performance income
Live Performance
Lyrics Produce
Merchandise reprints (only if popular)
Advertisements with the lyrics (only if popular)
As you can see a song alone when written down on paper or doesn’t do much that’s why publishers need the help of a record company to produce and distribute the recordings. Though this method is standard procedure, the big three recording labels (Universal, Sony, and Warner) have combined the record divisions with their publishing divisions because of the unnecessary need of cd’s. Streaming has brought forth the era of the true one stop shop.
Let’s take a look at what happens when we record our composition and put it in a tangible form.
The Copyright itself — FORM SR — Sound Recording (The value of the copyright is based on the popularity of the artist who is now SINGING THE COMPOSITION. For Simplification you are the same artist/writer you still have no clout let’s say the value of the song registered with the copyright office is $55.00/x X being the number of songs you registered in your registration 1=$55 without registration is $1.00 PLUS the cost to produce and record the record so let’s say $1000 all in, because you got the works done on it recording, mixing and mastering)
SOUND RECORDING VALUE $1055.00
Sound Recordings of compositions produce;
Interactive streams
Non Interactive streams
Potential synchronizations
Video Games
Television
Movies
Performance Income
Radio
Retail music
Retail stores
Hotels
Lounges
Business who pay a performance license
Ringtones
Etc
BIG NOTE: If you as an independent artist have written the song and produced a sound recording, then the United States copyright office sound recording copyright submission online will cover both.
Now, this is not to say that the publishing company won’t make any money from the sound recording, they will BUT ONLY IN THE FORM OF A MECHANICAL ROYALTY WHEN IT ITS STREAMED OR SOLD. What I am saying however is our value of the song has now gone up because of the production of a record. Because our value has gone up our potential income streams have gone up as well.
The Copyright itself — FORM VA — Visual Arts
(The value of the copyright is based on the popularity of the artist who is now SINGING THE COMPOSITION. For Simplification you are the same artist/writer you have no clout let’s say the value of the ART registered with the copyright office is $55.00/x X being the number of songs you registered in your registration 1=$55 without registration is $1.00 PLUS the cost to produce the artwork so let’s say $250 all in, from a low budget standpoint)
ARTWORK VALUE 305.00
Artwork produces
Increased value to artist merchandise 3–10x
T SHirts $10 = $45 Hoodies $17 = $65 Stickers $.50 = $1.00 or pack $5.00 Lighters $2 = $7–10 Etc…
As you can see the value of a completely packaged musical product is worth all of its production costs because to put a potential profit price on music varies. So, at least your single is worth $1,415 if you did everything by the book.
Side note this doesn’t include legal fees
The Next Question is how do you build the brand so that the product sells. Remember we aren’t in the music selling business anymore we are in the personality and content selling business now. BOOM!
Let's value your product.
The market value of a product is the price point that is generally accepted by the seller and buyer. While each customer may have a different perception of the worthiness of your product, a primary goal of market research is to assess the ideal price point to balance:
Margin — the place at which your profit will lay and;
Volume — the amount of product needed to be produced and sold to achieve that profit.
Understanding how customers perceive your product is significant to achieving financial and non-financial goals.
The customer today wants to stream your product at an average rate of :
$0.001(YouTube) 1,470,00 to break even
$0.003 (Spotify) 490,000 to break even
$0.005 (Apple music) 294,00 to break even
$0.01 (Pandora) 147,000 to break even
You as a musician want the old CD price days w/o the cd lol
$1.29 1,140 units sold to break even
Now in order to achieve your break-even point you must BUNDLE BUNDLE BUNDLE to hide the fact that you want to sell music but give the people what they truly want from you which is content about your personality and interests in digital form or physical form, through merchandise. That is the only way you will be able to sell your music at a price point that high and not let the public feel it. People who love your song will want to stream it for cheap cheap. People who love you will pay a premium for it.
The problem you must remember though is through all of this you now have brand recognition so you must PROMOTE, PROMOTE, PROMOTE in order to build a following of customers, or fans so to speak, that will continue to buy your product.
Books & Free Guides
The Musicians Self Publishing Guide #1 -
Download Free Music Profit Maximizer Checklist -
Listen On Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/2FIvGFCh
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