SONGWRITING RESOURCES - A Department of Songwriters Notes

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Thursday, January 10, 2013

Dr Fansler Speaks at DSA Meeting about Music career Opportunities


by Busck Morgan on Jan 9.

File last night's under the prized category One of the Best. 

Dr. Terry Fansler is charming, knowledgeable, insightful, optimistic, informative, educated, experienced, thoughtful, engaging, organized, prepared....

With Q&A, he took almost an hour. Would have gladly given him 2.

Terry believes good times lie ahead for the hard-working, talented songwriter. You know, the one who makes the effort.
He said, in the past, most of us thought we needed to sign with a major label that would take care of everything. Things were never as they appeared. Labels signed new acts and supported them until they had recouped their investments, then withdrew support and invested in newer acts.

Artists today make money from performances. Major artists today take all of ticket sales, letting venues survive on concessions. The two major concert promoters, LiveNation and AEG Live, are also the major venue owners.

Commercial radio will soon go the way of major record labels, giving way to Pandora, Spotify and other online music players.

American Idol, The Voice and other TV talent shows are bad career partners.

We have moved away from owning music. Some of us still buy CDs. Others download. Soon, there will be no need to download, no need to own music. Portals like Pandora, etc., make it all available.

Emerging artists today, in the non-label world, will own all the rights to their songs.

Four suggestions:
1) Get songs published. 
2) Get songs on digital radio
3) Submit songs to TV and Film music supervisors.
4) License songs to music supervisors


I've barely touched the surface. I don't mean to nag, but I love songwriters and I love the DSA. Just as songwriters have great potential, so does the DSA. We're doing well, but we can do much better, and you will make us better. Support the DSA. Get involved. Challenge yourself. It will be worth the effort. It always is.

Dr. Fansler is Director of Studies in Music Business at DBU

A career in the Music Business at Dallas Baptist University
It's the stuff of which dreams are made
And now, because of some major restructuring, the Music Industry, which has been tightly controlled by record and radio conglomerates, is now opening to new, independent artists and businesses. Today, there is more opportunity for more people to enjoy a successful career in the Music Business than ever before. 
But, the road to success is not any easier. To work in the Music Industry today, you will need to be better than ever. To prepare, begin with a quality education - one in which you study the liberal arts. This type ef education teaches you how to think, analyze and plan - skills that allow you to build not only a quality career, but also a quality life. Then, the best education for you ought to also include specific instruction in your career choice. All of this is exactly what we offer.