Music Technology Policy

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I have a class in the SXSW.edu track titled “TEACHING ARTIST ROYALTIES TO CREATORS AND STARTUPS.”  It follows my philosophy that we need smart artists and smart startups to work together if we all are to succeed.

The class has three purposes:

–A building block approach to teaching artists and songwriters about the principal royalty streams that sustain them.  This is targeted financial literacy which is as critical to artists and songwriters as balancing your checkbook.

–A licensing roadmap overlay for entrepreneurship studies.  It’s far too frequent that entrepreneurs spend more time developing their product roadmap and critical path than they do developing their licensing roadmap side by side with the product.  That way when a startup gets to launch there is less likelihood they will go into the terminal holding pattern or worse–launch without licenses.

–the importance of clean and stable metadata to both artists and startups (and mature companies) and how to accomplish this goal starting with the digital audio workstation.

The class description:

Royalty rates, royalty reporting and earnings are some of the least understood–yet most important–parts of a creator’s career or a startups nightmare. Understanding royalties is as important as understanding how to balance your checkbook. Starting with metadata and simple revenue streams, leading to complex calculations and government run compulsory licenses and sometimes impenetrable royalty statements, the workshop gives educators tools and building blocks to teach the subject.

I’d really appreciate your vote for the class in the SXSW Panel Picker here. To vote, you just need to sign in to PanelPicker or create a free SXSW account with your email only.