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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Hannah Boothby, Soundreef<\/i><\/p>\n
Tim Trudeau is CEO of Syntax Creative. He has experience in all
\nareas of the music industry \u2013 he started out as an artist, and soon progressed
\nto artist management, promoting other musicians and brand building. In the late
\n\u201890s, a revolutionary distribution deal he made meant that his band Sackcloth
\nFashion could reach a national audience while still retaining all the rights to
\ntheir music. By the time he was 25, Trudeau was the president of a record label
\nthat he co-founded. Many of the artists he helped launch are still touring full
\ntime and successful to this day. <\/i><\/p>\n
In part 1 of our interview, he discusses Soundreef, how to
\nsell music online, how the music business works and how to promote your music.<\/i><\/p>\n
Timothy originally heard about Soundreef through Davide \u2018We\u2019ve only been working with Soundreef for a short time \u2013 I Syntax Creative works with over 100 record labels, but most \u2018The majority of what we\u2019re working with is commercially While touring is a main source of income for both \u2018We do have a lot of instrumentals of the music that is Getting music used in a soundtrack can be a very efficient \u2018I think it was around the year 2000 when we got our first \u2018So from the year 2000 on, we started a publishing company, Tim has been in the music business a long time. Has he \u2018Again, it\u2019s really tough to speak about artists in general He thinks that this misunderstanding is to do with the way music \u2018A lot of people that consume music are the next batch of What does he think the biggest changes have been for artists?<\/p>\n \u2018The barrier of entry has definitely been lowered and that\u2019s Things were different in the \u201890s, when Trudeau was starting \u2018You needed a huge partner \u2013 it\u2019s like when you buy a house, You also needed backing and distribution, but this has \u2018I don\u2019t think it\u2019s required any more \u2013 it still helps, but The other big factor in an artist\u2019s success is airplay. \u2018Essentially, you have these giant corporations that are Trudeau suggests that the music we listen to has become so \u2018You might put on a country station, a hip hop station, or Even in the digital age, with new artists more easily \u2018Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if you turn on the radio that\u2019s But users now have more freedom to control the program. <\/p>\n \u2018People can be their own disc jockey while they drive. Just put How have things changed for record labels, distributors and \u2018The basic model of what we do is very similar to the way \u2018So we haven\u2019t really changed what we do \u2013 what has been The ethos was very different then, with songs selected by
\nD\u2019Atri\u2019s first startup, Beatpick<\/a>, which led him to Soundreef. His company, Syntax Creative, is registered with Soundreef, and he\u2019s pleased with
\nthe results so far. <\/p>\n
\ndon\u2019t think you have a full catalogue yet. I was impressed with how well it
\nperformed with just the little bit of catalogue we did use so far.\u2019<\/p>\n
\nof their catalogue isn\u2019t specifically for background use. <\/p>\n
\nreleased music. These are touring artists that travel the nation and maybe even
\nabroad, performing their music for audiences on radio and television.\u2019 <\/p>\n
\nindependent and major label bands, there are other ways artists can earn from
\ntheir music.<\/p>\n
\nperformed \u2013 take the vocals out and pass the instrumental versions around. That
\nopens up your ability to make money on that song in ways that you haven\u2019t
\nbefore and we\u2019ve been doing that for a long time, before we were a distributor
\nfor other people\u2019s music.\u2019<\/p>\n
\nway to make music. <\/p>\n
\nhuge placement \u2013 it was a Michael Douglas movie. We were making music already,
\nbut when we got a song placed in a major film, that\u2019s when the lightbulb turned
\non! We can work all year long, working our butts off, and make a little bit of
\nmoney, or you get one song licensed, one time, in one film, and that can change
\neverything \u2013 that can crush all other work you\u2019ve done!\u2019 <\/p>\n
\nand we weren\u2019t only exploiting our own work, but were looking for other writers
\nand people we could work with. So companies like Soundreef and others we
\npartnered with around the world have been excellent revenue streams for us, in
\nways that most artists never even imagine, because they think music business is,
\n\u201cmake music and sell it to fans\u201d. That\u2019s the toughest way to make money on
\nmusic! But again, that\u2019s what most people focus on.\u2019<\/p>\n
\nnoticed artists getting more savvy about music rights and music publishing?<\/p>\n
\nbecause you\u2019re always going to find someone out there who is the exception, but
\nI would say there seems to be a misunderstanding of how it all works.\u2019<\/p>\n
\nis conveyed to the consumer. <\/p>\n
\nartists, so what they\u2019re hearing on record, what they\u2019re seeing in music
\nvideos, is \u201ceducating\u201d them how it works. The way they show business, the way
\nthey talk about it or the way they portray it in music videos is completely off!
\nYou have a brand new artist that is driving around a $250,000 vehicle that was
\nrented just for the music video, and then after the music video is done, he has
\nto turn it back in and go back to driving a regular car like the rest of us.
\nAnd so you have a lot of that that\u2019s feeding into the ignorance of not only
\nestablished artists, but artists that are coming up.\u2019<\/p>\n
\nnot just iTunes, but iTunes is a part of that. So, for example, artists can now
\nwalk into Guitar Center<\/a> and spend $300 on recording equipment, run back home, get it set up in 30
\nminutes, record a song, upload it to digital retail through a distributor and
\nthen it\u2019s up within a week or so\u2026 then they start selling it, then\u2026 Honestly,
\nit\u2019s not as easy as I\u2019m making it sound, but still!\u2019<\/p>\n
\nout. Getting an artist off the ground was expensive, time consuming and
\ncomplicated. <\/p>\n
\nyou need a bank that\u2019s going to supply the upfront mortgage.\u2019<\/p>\n
\nchanged. <\/p>\n
\nit\u2019s not required any more so you have a lot of independent artists who just
\nhappen to be crafty with social networks and other things, and they\u2019re able to
\ncreate a small platform that allows them to pay their bills. And that\u2019s great because
\nit levels the playing field for everyone.\u2019<\/p>\n
\nTrudeau points out that radio channels control the music that people hear, and
\ntherefore what music they like. <\/p>\n
\ncontrolling the fads of the decades. So everyone feels like they have free will
\nto walk around and do whatever they want, but there are just a few people who
\nare behind it all, that are controlling what your childhood feels like, tastes
\nlike, smells like.\u2019<\/p>\n
\nhomogeonised that genres have become indistinguishable from one another. <\/p>\n
\nadult contemporary, and it\u2019s so weird that they actually all sound the same and
\nI don\u2019t even understand why they do separate it. Why are you calling that
\ncountry? It sounds the same as what I just heard on this rap station.\u2019<\/p>\n
\naccessible to the public? Are the means of music distribution and production
\nstill controlled by relatively few people? <\/p>\n
\nstill what\u2019s happening, but the difference now is there\u2019s more options. So, for
\nexample, when I get into my car, I can listen to AM radio or FM radio, but I
\ncan also listen to Satellite radio as well \u2013 they\u2019re a little more open to
\nplaying independent stuff.\u2019 <\/p>\n
\nyour mp3 player or your phone and it\u2019s going to shuffle between the songs that you
\npicked, so the idea of programming is essentially moving away because everyone
\nhas become their own programme director or curator.\u2019<\/p>\n
\nmusic publishers? Trudeau believes that, although the process is pretty similar
\nto what it used to be \u2013 just much more efficient.<\/p>\n
\nit\u2019s been for a long time, as far as how we prepare a record that we\u2019re going
\nto release. The technology has made it easier to assemble the content that\u2019s
\nneeded and easier to collaborate on that with people across the country and the
\nworld. You don\u2019t have to be in the same boardroom any more, so there\u2019s a lot of
\nbenefits to the technology, but the basically what is happening is very
\nidentical to the nineties, when they were working with large, physical
\ndistributors.\u2019 <\/p>\n
\ncool is there seems to be a trend in the digital space that is turning it back
\nto being song driven, where it\u2019s more about the song and less about the album.
\nIs the song good? And if it\u2019s good we\u2019re going to play it. That is kind of
\nreminiscent of the fifties or the sixties.\u2019 <\/p>\n
\ntastemakers rather than by a boardroom.<\/p>\n