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We will send the script to your PayPal email within few hours,Please add FullContentRSS@gmail.com to your email contact.If you don't photograph your sneakers and post them online, it's like you never wore them. At least in 2017. With the explosion of Instagram in 2012, every casual sneaker addict has turned themselves into a semi-skilled photographer, with people rushing out to purchase DSLR cameras to capture their latest pickup (and gain a few followers in the process). Some skilled and opportunistic folks have seen this budding subculture as a chance to get paid. They've gone from taking sneaker photos for their personal enjoyment to working with brands and retailers and are doing it as their full-time jobs now. But going from Instagram darling to paid photographer takes a lot of work, connections, and practice.
"The main reason I got into photography was to take pictures of my sneakers," says 24-year-old Thomas Lindie, who lives in Aberdeen, Scotland, and works as a full-time photographer for sneaker retailer Hanon and does commission work for New Balance Football. "I'd go to Crepe City events and take photos. One of my friends was into photography, and I'd practice taking pictures in my garden and watched tutorials on YouTube to learn more."
Lindie purchased a DSLR camera and practiced until he was able to slowly grow his social media following (he currently has 13,000 Instagram followers) and get a job at Hanon, his local boutique in Aberdeen, where he takes lifestyle photos of every new sneaker that comes into the shop. It wasn't just luck that landed Lindie his gig at the boutique, but, rather, it was his persistence of being at every sneaker release at Hanon and getting to know the employees. Immersing himself within the local scene, as well as his work New Balance Gallery, a blog and Instagram account for New Balance collectors, is what got him to where he is now, as well as his photography skills.
Thomas Lindie's photos for Hanon for the shop's collaboration with ASICS. Image via Hanon What sets Lindie's work apart from others is that he's been able to find his own distinctive style, which he translates to his personal photos and those he takes for work. Being in Aberdeen, he's constantly surrounded by the grim north of Scotland, and it carries over to the atmosphere in all of his flicks. It also helps Hanon gain a stronger identity on social media through all of its postings. "Location plays a big part in my work," Lindie says. "My sneaker photos are distinctive, because they need to be shot in Aberdeen or Scotland if it's for one of the shop's collabs, because a lot of our projects are based around landmarks."
When it comes to finances, Lindie says that his photography gigs are enough to pay the bills, but wouldn't disclose specifics.
While Lindie has chosen to pursue a career centered in sneaker photography, there are other photogs who have been offered opportunities from brands and have turned them down. Nick Glackin, who goes by Glackster on Instagram, is known for his innovative, animated photos and says he's been offered gigs by brands in the past, but says he'd rather focus on his full-time day job and family.
"I've said no to more jobs than I've said yes to," says Glackin, who currently has 35,000 followers on his Instagram account. "If I didn't have a wife and kids, maybe it would be different and I'd pursue photography full-time. But I've also stopped posting as much on my Instagram account. I think I set my standards too high for myself, and I don't want to do the same thing that everyone else is doing."
While Lindie is still establishing himself in the photography world and Glackin treats it as a hobby, others have been able to branch themselves out and find consistent brand work and make a solid living for themselves.
Michael Suschek, who goes by the name Runner Wally, is one of Germany's most in-demand sneaker photographers at the moment. The 34-year-old started shooting photos on Instagram and running his own blog and was able to turn it into a position at Overkill, which is one of Berlin's premier sneaker retailers. He was hired in early 2016 to take the shop's on-foot photography to another level, and he's been able to do just that. Overkill's photos routinely get posted around the sneaker blog scene, and he's now started to work for the retailer less and focus more on doing campaigns with brands.
Suschek says he's been able to work with brands such as Nike, Puma, Karhu, and is shooting back-to-school work for Foot Locker Europe.
"If you work with a retailer, it might be easier to make connections with brands, because they'll start to see your work," he says. "But I was lucky enough to make my connections through running my own blog."
Runner Wally for Karhu's Fall/Winter 2016 collection. Image via Runner Wally He currently has over 71,000 followers on Instagram and has been able to branch off beyond shooting sneakers to photograph lookbooks and become a "complete" photographer, he says.
"Equipment is important," he says. "Some people shoot photos with their phones, but if you're doing stuff with brands, they'll want high-resolution photos that they can use for print."
When it comes to style, Suschek echoes a similar sentiment to Lindie. "A lot of photography looks like the same nowadays, it's dark and moody," he says. "But if you have a recognizable style that separates you from everyone else, you're bound to get noticed by more people and brands."
Suschek also says that payment on his work differs from what type of work he's doing, whether it's simple photos for social media or something that's going to live as signage in a store. But he says the money is good, and he's starting to work his day job less and less at Overkill.
But one of the most important things that sneaker photographers need to worry about -- one of the most hotly debated topics on Sneaker Twitter that can make or break a photo -- are the pants. For Lindie, it's pretty simple: "I like to wear the same jeans and grey socks when I'm shooting a lot of photos. Some people make wild choices when it comes to their pants and socks, and it can pay off, but if it goes wrong, it can go really wrong," he says.
The long and short of it all is you're going to need a good camera, be passionate about what you're doing, and make the right connects. Then you can take it from there. You might get paid, some free sneakers may get tossed your way, but you need to be in it for the right reasons. If it doesn't work out, you can always post on your Instagram account.
I'm continuing my series "Reviving Your Old Blog Posts." In this edition, we'll be talking about how to monetize your content. Links to the previous steps are at the end of this post.
Now we get to the fun part. Before we worry about prettying things up, let's make sure this refreshed content will make us money. Ideally, each post and page on your website should serve a purpose. It could be that you're growing a list, building a relationship with your readers, just plain entertaining them or selling them something.
For the purpose of discussion, let's assume you want to make a living from your blog. In that case, you need your readers to either sign up for your list so you can market to them via email, or make them an offer directly in the blog post.
Pixabay
If you chose to rework this particular blog post because you have the perfect product in mind to promote, this part will be easy. If not, take a few minutes and think about what the purpose of this particular post is.
Take a few minutes to think about that and make a decision. Once you know what you want to promote or how you want to monetize your post, you can either write a call to action toward the end of your post or work your recommendation directly into the content.
If growing your list is your goal, try adding a call to action and a signup form at the end of your post. Thissign up form can be different from the one you have in your blog sidebar. In fact, it should be so you can track where your sign ups are coming from. I find it helpful to craft a call to action that's directly related to the content of the post.
Pixabay
Let me give you an example. Let's say I have a blog about virtual assistants for business and this particular post was about how a virtual assistant can save you time and money. My call to action at the end of this particular post would be something along the lines of:
"I hope this was helpful and I'd love to stay in touch. Of course, hiring a virtual assistant is about more than "just" knowing you need one. Ready for more about how to hire the perfect virtual assistant (or virtual team) for you? Enter your email below to sign up to the weekly Outsourcing 411 newsletter. I'll also send you my ten best tips for finding and hiring your virtual team."
Notice how the call to action flows from the content of the article to what the weekly newsletter and opt-in freebie are about?
Another option, of course, is to promote a product in your post. There are a few different ways to do this. By far the easiest method is to grab a graphic from the affiliate center (or a picture of your own product) and stick it right in the middle of your content. That's also, by far, the least effective way to monetize your post. Another way you could monetize the post is by adding some code in there to display Google AdSense ads. Again, probably not your most effective way of monetizing your content – but it's better than nothing.
Even better is to do something similar to what we did with the call to action to sign up for our list. Toward the end of your blog post, transition to a recommended product and let them know why you think it's a good fit, or why you think they should buy it.
The best way is to make your recommendations right in the content itself. Once you do that, it starts to make sense to also incorporate product pictures. This is particularly easy to do if you are writing a blog post where you're reviewing a product. As far as monetizing old content goes, it can still make sense to work product recommendations directly into the content itself.
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For example, your blog post is about how to fill your coaching program with high paying clients. As you go through the various steps to do this, mention that now would be the perfect time to enroll in Mark Mawhinny's program, "Your First Five Clients." Then tell them what they will learn in Marks program.
I hope you've gotten some good ideas about monetizing your blog posts. Before I go any further here are some common mistakes people make when monetizing their blog:
Overall, the key is to be focused and make sure your audience knows exactly what you want them to do. And, of course…ALWAYS follow-up!
Have another look through the post you're updating and figure out what you want to promote and how you want to monetize it.
If your primary goal is to grow your list, grab the code for a new opt-in form and write a strong call to action that invites readers to sign up.
If your main goal is to promote a related product, be it your own or something you're an affiliate for, think about how you want to incorporate it into your content. Grab your link and product images as needed and work them in.
Now that the old blog post is better monetized, my next post will move on to step five.
Author: Karen Repoli Karen Repoli, is a successful entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in office management, internet marketing, and business systems. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of NC, Greensboro and is VACertified. Karen launched her company, HIT Virtual Assistants in 2007. As a professional team including… View full profile ›
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Want to know a fun fact?
If you Google "make money blogging," you get 78,000,000 results.
That's no surprise.
There has been an online business boom over the past few years. The web is plastered with stories of average Joes making millions from their blogs.
If you made the same Google search for social media, guess how many results you'd get?
Not half as many. Not even close.
There are plenty of people in our industry who will tell you that social media isn't monetizable.
You'll hear comments like these:
"You need your own website."
"It's too risky."
I've got news for you.
I'm not one of those people.
Sure, it's risky.
What business doesn't come with a risk?
You may even decide to get your own website to scale your business further.
That's fine.
But right now? You can absolutely monetize your business idea on social media.
There are many people actively making money from their social media accounts. The rise of YouTube business moguls and Instagram influencers bear testament to that.
By the end of this article, you'll have a viable business idea that you can monetize using your social media channels.
Let's get started.
1. Decide what you wantBefore we even get into business ideas and monetization strategies, I just have to ask:
What do you want from all of this?
What is your purpose?
It could be money. It could be freedom. You decide.
Come up with a very visceral response to these questions and put it down on paper.
When business gets tough (and it will), you can go back to your purpose for an extra dose of motivation.
After you've come up with a concrete "why," you need to decide what you want the result to be.
That's where you need to get specific.
Here are some examples:
Why do this?
You can't attain something that is not concrete and measurable.
More importantly, you can't reverse-engineer a plan if you don't begin with the end result in mind.
Now that you know what you're working toward and why you're doing it, let's get into the action steps.
My guess is that you have a few general ideas already.
However, you don't want to be painting in broad strokes.
That's not a business model that works.
Instead, you want to narrow down your idea to a particular niche.
Here's how.
Decide who you want to do business with. Don't worry about alienating people or confining your idea to a box.
While it sounds counterintuitive, if you focus on one audience, you will have more impact.
You can always revisit this. Your niche is not set in stone.
For example, you can decide that you'll be targeting young female entrepreneurs between the ages of 21 and 30.
What service or product will you be providing to your target audience? This is a matter of reducing your idea to suit your target audience.
Again, this needs to be very specific.
Let's say that your general idea is in the marketing field. Perhaps you want to provide marketing services and use your social media channels to get clients.
If you were to narrow "marketing" down, here's what it would look like:
Do you see how many layers you can peel off your general idea?
3. Validate your business ideaMost people skip this step and go full throttle with their business ideas.
Now is the time to take a step back.
You have a concrete idea, but you're missing some crucial insights.
That's where validating your idea comes into play.
Here's how you can do it.
Step #1: Go to Google Trends to get an overview of your niche market.
Plug in your niche keyword in the search bar and press enter.
You'll get a graph showing the interest for your keyword over a particular period.
If the graph is steady or on the rise, these are good signs.
If there's a decline, you may want to reconsider your niche or do some further research.
You can also scroll to the bottom of the page to find "related queries" and "related topics."
These will also give you ideas for narrowing down your niche. You can click on the individual queries to see the overall trend for them, as well.
Step #2: Find competing products on online marketplaces.
In fact, it tells you that there's a market for your business.
It doesn't matter what you're trying to sell, be it a service or a product. You only want to know if there's demand for your topic.
Here's how you can do that.
Search for your niche topic on Amazon. Browse through the books and evaluate the overall demand.
Books with lots of reviews, good or bad, are a good sign.
Go to Udemy to check out the online courses in your niche. Again, you're looking for proof of demand.
Lots of courses with ratings are a positive indication.
Go to YouTube to see if there are popular videos on your topic. If people are viewing video content on your topic, there's definitely demand.
Search for your niche hashtag on Instagram. I plugged "content marketing" in the Instagram search bar and saw that the hashtag had over 600,000 posts. That's a great sign.
After you validate your idea, it's time to start thinking about how you can monetize it.
4. Come up with a monetization strategy.This is perhaps the most-asked question.
How do you monetize your idea?
The choice is yours.
Deciding how you'll monetize your business idea is the easy part.
Doing the work is a whole other ball game.
Before you decide on a strategy, you need to know what is involved and what resources you'll need.
Here are the common monetization methods.
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is massive in the blogging world.
This is where you promote other people's products. You get to earn a commission on every sale that you bring for the company.
It's an excellent strategy, but you need a decent-sized following to make a reliable revenue stream.
Here are some popular affiliate networks that you can sign up for.
Note that these networks will have their criteria that you have to meet to join.
Sponsored posts/advertising
This is another method of promoting other people's products. It's very common on blogs and networks like Instagram.
Typically, you'll earn a flat fee for publishing a post about a particular product.
Brands that pay for sponsored posts usually want to maximize their reach. It means you'll need a sizeable following.
How do you land these posts?
You can reach out to brands directly if you have enough leverage. Alternatively, you can use a network that connects brands with social media influencers.
IZEA is an attractive option.
Informational products
Information products have an enormous market right now.
Brian Harris reported that his blog made more than $220k in online course sales. He did it in 10 days!
What are some examples of info products?
Don't you need a website to host these digital products?
Not necessarily.
You can set up sales funnels without a website. All you need are landing pages and an email management system.
There are also platforms that host your online courses for you. Thinkific, Teachable, and Udemy are excellent options.
Offer a service
Do you have a skill that you do exceptionally well?
I've got news for you.
There's someone out there willing to pay you for it.
Create a few service packages based on your skill and market it on your social media networks.
Want some ideas?
This is perhaps one of the most important decisions that you'll make.
You can't spread your time and resources across several channels. Instead, decide on one social media platform.
While you can diversify as your business grows, I don't recommend starting with more than one channel.
How do you know which is the right one?
It depends.
Here's what you should consider.
Whatever you decide, you're not short of options.
Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest can all be monetized.
Let's say that your niche is photography.
You'd want to choose a platform with a strong visual focus. In that case, Pinterest and Instagram would be excellent picks.
If you produce more video content, YouTube might be a better bet.
That's not to say that you can't use the other platforms. But you need to select your home base.
6. Get your social media profiles ready to win businessAfter you decide which platform is best, it's time to optimize your profile to attract and convert clients.
While you've already validated your idea, a sales conversion is the real deal.
It's the truest form of validation.
Let's get your profile ready.
While it depends on the social media network that you choose, here are some general best practices.
Ensure that you have a professional headshot as your profile photo. Be sure to name your photo with your niche keyword before you upload it.
For example, if you're a wedding photographer located in Seattle, you can name your photo "Best wedding photographer in Seattle."
This will ensure that your image is optimized for Google image search.
Note: If you use multiple platforms, use the same profile photo. This way, your brand will be immediately recognizable.
Complete your social media profile. A full profile is good for the optics. And what's good for the optics is good for business.
A complete profile is also more likely to surface in a search compared to one that isn't. That organic traffic is important.
Include a message that resonates with your target customer. Your profile is the first thing that a prospective customer will see.
It's your digital billboard.
Here's what you should include.
The bottom line?
All of the steps up to this point will be irrelevant if you don't have a marketing strategy.
Content marketing is by far the superior option.
It's likely why 76% of marketers are increasing their content marketing spend.
You can't survive on social media without producing exceptional content for your audience.
The good news is, you already have your business objectives.
You simply have to create content that will drive you toward these goals.
The social media platform that you select has a lot to do with the type of content that you'll distribute.
This makes it fairly simple.
If you choose YouTube, video is the only way to go.
If you choose Facebook, you have far more diverse options.
It's a good idea to consider a platform that will allow you to distribute a variety of content.
So how do you create the type of content that drives engagement?
Here's how.
Step #1: Explore the content that's already out there.
The point of this is to analyze what type of content has the most impact in your niche. An easy way to do this is to search through the platform that you selected.
Let's say that you chose Instagram.
Type in your niche hashtag and analyze the top posts.
Don't stop there.
Click on the individual posts and find the profiles with large followings and high engagement levels.
You can then analyze their content to see what's working for them.
Do this for several accounts in your niche, and you'll begin to see a pattern.
Step #2: Find your differentiating factor.
Yes, you want to find high-performing content, and then do it better. That's just good marketing.
But if you want to create a distinct personal brand, you need a differentiating factor.
Figure out what your competitors are doing and take a different route.
This is not about reinventing the wheel. In fact, that may hurt you.
You could simply have consistent brand elements on your content. That would be sufficient to set you apart.
Whatever you decide, make sure it's distinctly yours.
8. Start building an email list immediatelyLet's talk about the one thing that all online entrepreneurs need.
It's the holy grail of online assets
I'm referring to your email list.
A whopping 93% of marketers practice email marketing.
Without it, you're missing a massive opportunity to nurture a lasting relationship with your social media audience.
That relationship can lead to sales, maximize your profits, and fuel your business years down the line.
The best part is, it doesn't take much to set this up.
You can sign up for an email management system and start collecting email addresses right away.
There are plenty of low-cost or free options like MailChimp.
There is one thing to note.
Your audience will not submit their personal information without a valid reason.
This means that you need to incentivize them. You can offer a high-value piece of content in exchange for emails.
Ebooks, cheat sheets, checklists, and mini online courses make great offers.
After you have all this figured out, you can place your email capture forms on your social media profiles for maximum visibility.
Facebook is the best platform for this as it allows integrations with many email management platforms.
For other social media channels, you can leave a link to your form where appropriate.
Simple, right?
ConclusionMaking money has never been this easy.
The opportunity that we have to sit from home and pull a profit is remarkable.
The Internet has made sure of it.
Don't get me wrong: It will take a lot of time and work for your business to come together.
The strategies discussed in this article are just the beginning.
Execute them, and you'll have a clear path forward.
The best part is, you don't need a website.
At least, not in the beginning.
You can completely monetize your idea on your social media channels.
It's inexpensive and easy to set in motion.
The tricky part is remaining committed to scaling your business. Put the steps in action, and you'll have a stable platform for your business to take off.
What strategies do you use to monetize your social media channels?
Buy AutoTrafficRSS script now for $27 only!
We will send the script to your PayPal email within few hours,Please add FullContentRSS@gmail.com to your email contact.With auto blogs forget SEO and trying to please google, you aim should be to try to create something of value to users. For example, say you wanted to target the knitting niche, you can create a blog that pulls in content from every relevant knitting related feed you can find, you tube videos, Facebook posts and videos, knitting related tweets etc. The possibilities are endless. So what you end up with is a website where people who love knitting can find links and read all the latest tweets, see themed Pinterest pins etc . With such a site you are providing value by giving people who like knitting a single source where they can find links to all the latest knitting related content.
The only thing I would suggest is to make the process semi auto rather than full auto.Keep an eye on what gets published and delete unwanted stuff of clean up posts that need to be cleaned up, or add to posts you feel you can increase their value.
For traffic as mentioned by wolfmmiii focus on social media, forums, question and answer websites, if you have some money to play with run a few ad campaigns to get things rolling.
Monetization possibilities are limitless for news type sites, you could use native ads or AdSense, for a tutorial site you could use Amazon affiliates, Clickbank etc.
Autoblogs do work as long as you see it as a tool to help you curate content quickly and easily. To make it successful you still have to put the work in and generate traffic, keep an eye on the content your blog pulls in and find the best way to monetize your blog.
Like all automation tools that people will tell you to stay away from, I usually find out the problem is not with the tool but with the user not using it properly.
Buy AutoTrafficRSS script now for $27 only!
We will send the script to your PayPal email within few hours,Please add FullContentRSS@gmail.com to your email contact.Ever since Donald Trump
Donald John TrumpAssange meets U.S. congressman, vows to prove Russia did not leak him documents A history lesson on the Confederacy for President Trump GOP senator: Trump hasn't 'changed much' since campaign MORE descended from his Fifth Avenue tower to declare his run for president, he has dominated the daily news cycle all-day-every-day. And why not? In the language of the newsroom, the billionaire, real estate tycoon is good copy.
His unconventional antics through the primaries and the general election made it nearly impossible for any of the other candidates to gain attention. It can be argued the media he so enjoys attacking as purveyors of "fake news" actually helped him be elected president when few felt that could actually happen.
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And there he was, the essential Trump again at his campaign rally in Phoenix, devoting a significant portion of his angry speech attacking the media, especially naming the Washington Post, the "failing" New York Times and CNN, setting off a crowd chant, "CNN Sucks." He often gets the crowd so riled up that it provokes threats at the media covering him.That wall-to-wall coverage of the not ready for prime time president still dominates the daily news cycle. Jeff Brooke, a friend and a careful reader of daily newspapers, picked up the Washington Post on Aug. 21 and pointed to a story about the Trump Administration's disbanding of a federal advisory committee on climate change. "Why,' he asked, "is that story buried on page A-15?"
The easy answer is that the words "climate change" are anathema to the Trump administration, but frankly the subject isn't as good copy as the Trump daily sideshow. On that same day, however, the solar eclipse, an oil tanker accident with the loss of ten sailors, and the deaths of comedians Dick Gregory and Jerry Lewis dominated the Post front page. The front page was surprisingly void of Trump. It may have been a first since the election.
What Jeff noticed was that all the Trump antics, fun and easy to cover, was fogging the more significant and important news. Also in the Post that day, was an op-ed column by Jackson Diehl under the headline: "How Trump is enabling famine."
He wrote that relief organizations were unable call attention to "the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II", with 20 million people at risk in four countries. He attributed that partially to the lack of news coverage of this vital story to make room for "the continuing Trump circus."
The media, especially the 24-hour cable news channels, find little interest in famine in third world countries or global warming when the Trump daily antics and tweets are so colorful that readers and viewers are drawn in and the advertising dollars follow.
The irony is that Trump has helped make money for the fake news media he so abhors. The New York Times isn't failing, because Trump's antics are helping their increased circulation.
The media has played into Trump's hands. He is impossible to ignore. It must also be remembered that newspapers and cable television are businesses that like all businesses need to make money, and coverage of this outrageous president and his continuous outrageous behavior makes good copy.
For some time the media has been intimidated by all the years of accusation of the "unfair liberal media" dating back to Vice President Spiro Agnew and his describing the press as the "nattering nabobs of negativity". It was especially obvious on CNN with anchors carefully avoiding pointing out the Trump lies and inaccuracies and struggling to find "on the other side" comments so as not to be accused of anti-Trump bias.
That attempt for balance, often emphasized by upper management forced the media to give more emphasis to Trump's hammering presidential campaign accusations against Hillary Clinton
Hillary Rodham ClintonAssange meets U.S. congressman, vows to prove Russia did not leak him documents High-ranking FBI official leaves Russia probe OPINION | Steve Bannon is Trump's indispensable man — don't sacrifice him to the critics MORE, on Benghazi and the 3,000 missing emails from her private computer. That has changed, and even cautious CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer has been more willing to question Trump's excesses.
Jeff, the media now knows that it inadvertently helped elect Trump. Actually, as Trump showed once again on his rants on Charlottesville and at the campaign speech in Phoenix, he remains good copy, so don't expect to find stories about global warming or famine getting more attention. It isn't going to change. Trump, as frightening as he is, captures the attention of newspaper readers and cable viewers. He is good copy.
Chuck Conconi is a vice chairman at Qorvis MSLGROUP, an international Washington, D.C.-based public relations firm. Conconi has over 40 years of experience in television, radio and print journalism. He also was a civil rights reporter for the Washington Evening Star.
The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.
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KEXP, Upstream Music Fest + Summit, and MoPOP have partnered together to present Mastering The Hustle: a new panel discussion with six annual events, tackling a different topic to help emerging artists make better decisions earlier in their careers. Throughout the series, we'll be discussing everything from how to get airplay, legal and licensing, healthcare for artists, and promoting your brand.
In the third installment of our Mastering The Hustle series, hosted on location at Upstream Music Fest + Summit, we talked with a panel of experts on one of the most pressing questions musicians fact today: Making Money in Today's Music Economy. For anyone who's played music in the past couple decades, you know how much the industry's changed and how hard it can be to generate an income from your music. However, it's not impossible. We assembled a team of experts to help shed light on how to protect your music and collect royalties. In the recorded video below, you'll hear from Chair of Washington Lawyers for the Arts and IP Team Leader at Cairncross & Hempelmann Jeff Nelson, Executive Director at CASH Music Maggie Vail, and Wade Metzler who does Artist and Industry Relations at SoundExchange.
Music Law and Copyright
Law and copyright laws aren't always the most exciting topics for musicians, but they're absolutely necessary for protecting your work. It was fitting that Jeff Nelson would kick-off the workshop walking through the nuts and bolts of legal protections. He was quick to point out early on that no one likes litigation and that the only person who wins are the lawyers. "If you walk away winning, you're still not gonna feel great," he said. That's why he stressed to importance of avoiding litigation. To do that, you must first understand how copyrights work.Copyrights are the legal protection for creative works, whether those are original works (created by the author and not copied from someone else) and work fixed in a tangible medium (physical forms, which also include electronic and digital). There are also two types of copyright:
"Creativity is not a high bar," Nelson joked. As long as it's recorded, he explained, it's fixed in a tangible medium. That can mean it's recorded audio or even just typed on a laptop. Copyright, however, is not attached to a live performance. So if you've played a song live and there's no recording, you don't necessarily have a copyright on that work.
How do you get a copyright? You simply just have to create something. As long as it's fixed to a tangible medium, the work is automatically and immediately vested in the author of an original work. Once you have the copyright you have the exclusive rights to make copies, distribute, perform publicly, display, make derivative works of your music, as well as have the control to allow others to do those things. You can authorize others to use one or more of their rights (aka licensing) and can give away all rights if you wish (aka assignment). It's also important to know who owns the copyright. Beyond the author of the work, it also extends to the person(s) who performed on the recording (The exception here is if you've been hired by another entity to create a music, i.e. a corporation asking you to write a jingle. They will then own the copyright for the work).
"If you asked a buddy to come play drums on your demo and they performed on that sound recording, they are an author," Nelson adds. The general rule would be they own part of that copyright on that recording. That's why Nelson stresses the importance of writing down what you've agreed to. When you're still just starting out and no money's on the table, Nelson says this is the best time to talk about it. It can be awkward and feel unnecessary when you're just jamming in the basement, but should you get that "big break" it'll be best to have something written down that ensures everyone is getting what they're entitled too. Write down who owns the music and the sound recording, who can license it, and who gets paid. You cannot transfer ownership of a song without writing it down. Nelson says that it's best if you can involve a lawyer, but "don't let perfection stand in the way of 'good enough.'"
So, how does this all help you get money? Nelson explains how licensing copyrights is how you get paid. Licensing means that when someone wants to use music they (usually) have to ask the owner's permission. When someone uses music, they (usually) pay for it, be it album sales, streaming, downloads, commercials, films, video games, ring tones, etc.
If you're looking to license your music, Nelson says to make sure that you're easy to find. Register with services like SoundExchange (more on that later) and with a performing rights organization (PRO) like ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC. PROs help you license, monitor, collect, and distribute royalties for public performance. They also make sure you music is available on online searchable databases for free so companies looking to license your music can find you. You can also register your copyright on copyright.gov.
Getting lost trying to figure this all out? Understandable! Nelson suggests asking for help from his organization, Washington Lawyers for the Arts (www.thewla.org). Nelson also stresses that the information from his presentation is not legal advice and that musicians should consult a qualified lawyer as they sort out copyright details. This is all a high-level summary, leaving out some of the more complex details.
CASH Music, Websites, and Owning Relationships
Maggie Vail next took the stage to explain a bit about what her nonprofit does. CASH Music creates open source tools musicians can on their websites. "Website", as she explains, is the key word here.
"If you are serious about being a musician, if you're serious about making music that way, you need to push as many people to you as possible," Vail emphasized. "You need to own those relationships as much as possible."
Vail notes the value of being on other platforms like Facebook and Twitter, but she stressed repeatedly that it's important to constantly be pushing your fans back to you and not some other site. To help make your site easier to use and customize, CASH music provides opensource tools free of charge to musicians, including: physical and digital shopping carts, subscription services, download codes, fan club assets, social feeds (pull in conversations/hashtags), and more.
Part of CASH Music's mission is also to educate artists. It's why they started the publication Watt, which features articles from musicians, industry experts talking about their experiences.
The point, she says is to demystify the music industry and the tech industry surrounding music. CASH Music is all about empowering artists. By creating free and open tools to artists, they're able to empower them to control their careers and directly manage the relationship with their audience. Every tool they've built has been done with the artist.
"Everything we make is part of a real release for an artist," Vail says. "Sometime's that's Bikini Kill, Run The Jewels, or Lenny Kravitz. Sometimes it's an artist at the beginning of their career. We start with questions and build platform features as partners. Open means everybody wins."
This manifests itself in many ways. Sometimes it's providing tools for Run The Jewels to manage their massive email list that lets them stay in direct contact with their fans. Other times it's building a web store for Bikini Kill — a move that Vail says doubled the bands' sales.
"Fans want to support you directly. They want to know that it's a direct relationship," she says.
Vail noted that there's an obsession with scale in the music industry. Once your stream numbers start going up, there's a pressure to start building up and getting wider reception. But Vail cautions artists here.
"Scale's a really shitty measure of impact," she says. "Especially when you're talking about art. Not all art can scale, not all art should scale."
Numbers may be great for the label or the industry, she explains, but not always great for the artist. Instead of worrying about the numbers, focus on the relationship with your fans. They want to support. Find ways to let them support you directly and for you to connect to them without a middleman.
SoundExchange 101
Wade Metzler rounded out the discussion with a deep dive into SoundExchange and what it can do for artists. Here's the high-level summary Metzler used at the top of his presentation:
"SoundExchange is the independent nonprofit performance rights organization designated by the U.S. Copyright Office to collect and distribute digital performance royalties to featured artists and copyright owners for the use of their content.
Digital royalties are fees that service providers such as Pandora, SiriusXM, and webcasters are required by law to pay for streaming musical content. These royalties are paid by the service providers to SoundExchange, and accompanied with playlists of all the recordings played by the service provider. SoundExchange distributes digital royalties for more than 130,000 music creates. They collect from 2,900+ digital radio licensees. They administer through 45 international agreements."
To best understand this, it goes back to the two kind of copyright Nelson mentioned at the beginning of the presentation: musical composition and sound recording. From there you can figure out who administers the performance rights for digital radio. For a composition, it goes from a PRO like BMI/ASCAP/Sesac and then to the songwriter or publisher. For a sound recording, it goes from SoundExchange to the artist/musician or the copyright holder (which is often the label).
SoundExchange royalties come from satellite radio, internet radio, and cable tv radio. SoundExchange also administers statutory licenses for non-interactive transmissions (Pandora, SiriusXM, iHeartRadio, Music Choice). However, a statutory license is NOT available for on-demand or audio-visual transmissions (YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify, SoundCloud). Those are done directly with the label/copyright holder. This will depend on your contract.
Why should you care about this? Well, as Metzler notes, 70% of income in the music industry comes from digital today. 2017 was also the first year streaming overtook digital downloads. Not just that, but 16% of the recorded music industry's revenue comes from SoundExchange. So if you're not using it, you're missing out.
SoundExchange pays artists and rights owners directly. The payments breakdown thusly:
For musicians who own the masters of their music, they keep 95% of the payment. SoundExchange takes out a 4.6% admin fee as well.
SoundExchange's guiding principle is that all music creators deserve fair pay for their music, whenever and where it is played. Period. That's why they advocate for royalty structures that respect the value of music in the courts, the legislature and at the negotiating table. They're constantly fighting for better rates. That's why they've been proponents of the Fair Play Fair Pay Act.
They also administer letters of direction. A SoundExchange Featured Artist Letter of Direction (LOD) is a document in which a Featured Artist directs SoundExchange to pay a portion of their sound recording performance royalties to a participant in the creative process — e.g., producers, engineers, mixers, re-mixers, etc. The producer's cut is typically taken from the artists' portion. In the case of featured performers (i.e. Jay Z featuring Rihanna) SoundExchange considers that a 50/50 split unless album artist specifies something different.
To best monitor your work, there's SoundExchange Direct. This is a portal for SoundExchange payees that offers real-time account management and provides insights into what services are playing what tracks and includes frequency and amount earned.
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''Committee'' is an old-school but effective way of saving money, and is ubiquitous in our society. The access to formal financial services (savings, credit, investment, insurance, etc.) is available to only a small part of the population (roughly 13% adults according to World Bank). Therefore, in the absence of better alternatives, many Pakistanis resort to informal means of saving, like committees.
For an average Pakistani, buying a plot or a home means years of saving money and disciplined spending, which unfortunately isn't everyone's forte. Most of us love to eat out and spend impulsively. This is where these committees come in handy. You can use them to get into the real estate game.
Make a planThe best strategy would be to save enough money for the down payment of a plot. After that, most developers offer a monthly payment plan. Let's say you want to buy a plot in Lahore. Opt for a reliable housing society on the periphery of the city that offers plots on instalments.
Prices now
Right now a 5-marla plot costs around PKR 1,800,000. If you are looking to plan for the next year, you need to take into account the fact that prices will rise.
Prices then
According to the Zameen.com Index, in the last year, prices have gone up only by 1.46%, but that is because there has been a slowdown in the market. In last two years, the increase in prices has been 28.49%, and it would be better if you take the average yearly increase – 14.25%.
So at the end of next year, the price of a 5-marla plot in an affordable society is going to be around PKR 2,056,436. The 25% down payment for this plot will be PKR 514,109.
And that means you need to save roughly PKR 42,842 a month, for a year.
Monthly instalments
A typical developer usually offers a 3-year payment plan, and the monthly instalments of your plot would be around PKR 42,842.
To sum things up, you need to save around PKR 40,000 a month for four years to be able to own a plot in a decent housing society. This requires discipline, which is something committees can help you with.
Types of committeesThe most popular is the ballot committee, in which members (usually friends or family members) contribute a fixed amount every month to the pool. Then, a draw takes place every month and all monthly savings are received by a lucky member. This goes on for the duration of the committee – usually one or two years, and by the time committee ends, all members get back the money they saved, some earlier and others a little later.
Lucky committee is a variant in which once a member's name is withdrawn, they cease to contribute to the monthly pool. In this arrangement you can win or lose money.
In the third version, the name of the monthly winner is not decided by a draw, but by a bidding process. So let's say 10 members form a committee of PKR 10,000. At the end of the month, the members would bid for the monthly pool of PKR 100,000. If lowest bid is PKR 91,000 it means that that member is letting go of PKR 9,000 for the advantage of getting that capital now. This money can be divided among the nine remaining members as profit.
So, take your pick from the types of committees on offer and start saving money now for your future. If you have any personal experience with committees or strategies to share, make yourself heard in the comments section below.
In 2008, Cherie and Brian Lowe found themselves deep underwater.
Between credit cards, student loans, car payments and a gap loan, the couple had racked up more than $127,000 in debt, but struggled to make a dent in paying it off.
"At that point, we had been married just about nine years and really we just didn't have a plan for our money," Cherie tells CNBC Make It. "We lived paycheck to paycheck, and when a crisis would arise, if we didn't have the cash to pay for it, we would put it on the credit card."
After several failed attempts at taking control, Brian came home one day and pitched a vision to Cherie of what their family's lives could look like without the debt. The couple decided it was time to make a change and they pledged to finally get a handle on their finances. On April 2, 2008, they set out on the first day of a 15-year plan to become debt-free.
Cherie Lowe
"Queen of Free" Cherie Lowe and her husband, Brian.
But just shy of four years later, on March 28, 2012, the Lowes made their final Sallie Mae payment, conquering $127,482.30 in debt and interest, which Cherie documented on her blog, Queen of Free, and in her book, "Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After."
To reach the milestone, the couple worked together to both increase their income and pare down expenses. While many larger factors contributed to their success, including building an emergency fund, rejiggering their tax withholdings, taking on side hustles, giving up restaurant meals and living with less, Cherie's No. 1 money-saving trick is simple.
"Every time you check out at the grocery store, you need to look in your cart and find three to five items that you don't need," she says. "You will save $5 to $10 every time you shop without cutting a single coupon."
The tactic works for two reasons: It puts a barrier between placing an item in your cart and actually paying for them and it shaves down your bills little by little.
"It's the pause before you check out that I think is so effective," Cherie says, noting that the idea holds especially true in grocery stores, where it's easy to nab appealing items without much thought about how they add up. "There some things that sometimes we pick up and maybe we might need them next week — and it's fine to go ahead and buy them next week — but right now you probably don't [need it]. Just pause and only buy what you really need."
Few people religiously stick to their shopping lists, and even those who do can often stand to cut back on a few non-essentials.
Cherie Lowe
Cherie also recommends sticking to cash while grocery shopping, which creates another physical boundary between grabbing an item and bringing it home. "It places a firm fence around how much you're going to spend," Cherie says.
Others who have paid off thousands in debt swear by creating boundaries as well. For Lauren Greutman, a former over-spender who dug herself out of more than $40,000 in credit card debt, that meant ditching the plastic for good. "I absolutely had to stop carrying my cards with me, because I was just too swipe happy," she writes in her book "The Recovering Spender." "I had zero self-control."
Even though going cash-only caused Greutman a few embarrassing moments, including the time she forgot her bills at home and couldn't afford to buy groceries, in the long run it held her accountable for her spending and forced her to stick to her budget. "Those boundaries are there to keep you safe," she writes.
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