Collectively, these articles integrate important principles and open the door to understanding important legal and business concepts. Regrettably, even some professionals only learn these realities mid-way in their career and discover that sometimes the easiest concepts offer the costliest lessons. Not unlike golf, tennis or any discipline ...bad habits are best "unlearned" at the beginning, because otherwise they will follow through the years uncorrected. To survive in the music business, whatever the then current trend, you must learn:
Lesson Number One...the song is fundamental to everything.
Those of you who resist this truism will find out sooner or later when you try to make a living in this profession.
The material we provide here is not intended to provide or be a substitute for legal counseling. Rather, our intention is to familiarize you about certain "concepts" you need to understand to connect the business of music with the creative elements of musical talent. The purpose of this web site, to my mind, is to make connection with as many of you as possible through our articles and your own follow up.
Recording artists need great songs. It does not matter where the song comes from, or who wrote it, as long as the song is right. For aspiring writers, you cannot aim too high. If you are writing popular music, listen to everything, and learn how to do it. This is an art. If you aim too low, and you don't have a frame of reference in repertoire that goes long and deep, you may be working against your own success, and certainly will not be serving the purposes of the art form or your audience. Music and art should elevate, not take us down roads where decent people really don't want to be. And for those of you players who rely on the music of others, and you truly recognize a great writer when you see one, you can look forward to playing the songs of tomorrow's Goffin-Kings, Lennon-McCartney' s, Jagger-Richards, and Holland-Dozier-Holland's, and so many more success models. These heroes all did their homework. So should you. Then you may be among our favorite clients!
Thanks for taking the time to visit. If you like this column,
please share it with a friend. Feel free to write with your questions
and comments for future articles to:
Robert Rosenblatt
301 West 53rd Street
New York 10019
Telephone (212) 262-2112
or email to legal@soloperformer.com.
© Copyright 1997 Robert Rosenblatt
