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Urban Music Industry News March 2017

Jay Z's Roc Nation Announces New Startup Platform ARRIVE
Jay Z and his umbrella company Roc Nation have announced a new platform, ARRIVE, that will partner with early stage start-ups, providing brand services, business development, advice and capital. A venture fund is also being planned.
No details of funding or a launch date for either the startup platform or the new fund were provided.
Partners in ARRIVE include Primary Venture Partners and GlassBridge Asset Management. Primary will serve as a venture advisor, and GlassBridge will provide institutional and operational support.
"ARRIVE was created to leverage our experience and resources in building brands, developing consumer facing businesses, managing artists and representing athletes. We've opened that diversified, global range of expertise to a new vertical: entrepreneurs and their early stage businesses" said Neil Sirni, Head of New Ventures at Roc Nation.
Primary Venture Partners co-founder and General Partner, Ben Sun, said, "What Roc Nation has built so far is a true testament to their vision, capabilities and willingness to dig in and take their companies to the next level. We are thrilled to partner with the amazing team at ARRIVE and to leverage these unique resources to build the next generation of powerful brands."
  • Songwriters 'Poor Man’s Copyright': Separating Truth From Fiction
The "poor man's copyright" wherein artists mail or email themselves some form of their song fixed in a tangible medium, is often thrown around in creative music circles as a substitute for an official copyright via the US Copyright Office, but just how effective of a substitute it really is often debated. Here we look at the truth of how effective a PMC actually is.
Guest Post by Clay Mills on DIY Musician
For years I have heard the phrase “Poor Man’s Copyright” thrown around in songwriting circles. The term is often brought up as a cheap alternative to an official $35 or $55 copyright from the US Copyright Office.
Mailing a song to yourself…
Statements are thrown out like: “Don’t bother to pay the money for the real deal when all you have to do is make a simple recording, seal it in a self addressed envelope, and mail it to yourself.” Quickly, someone else jumps in and says, “Don’t bother with all that, just email the song recording to yourself or a friend. That gives you proof that you wrote it.”
I think much of the misconceptions around this arise from the fact that Copyright legislation, which took effect on Jan. 1, 1978, dictates that all works are automatically copyrighted from the time they are created and “fixed” in some recognizable way. Meaning: you own the copyright the moment you create your song. BUT……
The real truth about a poor man’s copyright…
The federal copyright office explains on its website, “The practice of sending a copy of your own work to yourself is sometimes called a ‘poor man’s copyright.’ There is no provision in the copyright law regarding any such type of protection, and it is not a substitute for registration.”
Copyright1The real truth is that even though you have copyrighted your song just by writing it, you do NEED to register your work so you can be eligible to take advantage of the statutory damages rule that allows courts to fine people who violate your copyright.
What’s the point of claiming you own the copyright if you can’t be compensated as much as possible if someone steals your work and profits from your song? Bottom line is—for full protection—you’ll need to officially register your song at the US Copyright Office.
I know some people who wait until they have a small group of songs to copyright them as a collection, rather than pay to file each song individually. This does save them quite a bit of money! But… it has a few disadvantages, so best to do your research before applying this method.
As a long-time professional songwriter, I can tell you that it is very rare for someone to steal a song. Most artists and writers want the world to hear their own ideas. But, occasionally someone does stoop low and borrows melody and/or lyrics from someone else’s song. To fully protect yourself, you’ll need more than a poor man’s version of copyright. Get the real-deal.
Chance The Rapper Pledges $1 Million For Chicago Public Schools
Chance the Rapper announced on Monday that he plans to cut a $1 million check to Chicago Public Schools to support arts programming in the financially challenged school district. His donation is a "call to action," asking for similar measures of support from Chicago's business community.

He also used the opportunity to lob criticism at Illinois Republican governor Bruce Rauner after the two met last week. Chance described the meeting as "unsuccessful," the Chicago Tribune reports.

"Gov. Rauner can use his executive power to help get Chicago's children the resources they need to fulfill their God-given right to learn," Chance said per the Tribune. "Gov. Rauner still won't commit to give Chicago's kids a chance without caveats or ultimatums."

"Gov. Rauner, do your job," he added.

According to the Tribune, Rauner did not respond to the criticism directly but noted that he and his wife have long supported the city's public schools and have donated more than $7 million either personally, or via their Rauner Family Foundation in the last few decades.

"While the Rauners are passionate donors to our schools, individual contributions will never be enough to address the financial challenges facing CPS," said Rauner spokeswoman Eleni Demertzis. "It would be helpful if CPS officials came to Springfield and joined in serious good faith discussions about the long-term stability of all of our schools."

Chance, the stage name of Chancellor Johnathan Bennett, is a native of Chicago, hailing from the city's West Chatham neighborhood.

7 Best Practices For Building A Music Community On Instagram

When it comes to developing your presence on social media, instagram has become one of the best for marketing your music, if you have an audience there. Here we go over some of the best practices for developing and growing an Instagram community.
Instagram can be one of the best social media marketing tools available to an artist or band, providing that your audience is there. Here are a 7 best practices to follow in order to build an Instagram community.

1. First of all, your profile picture and description are important. Make sure to include a profile picture that reflects your band or brand (a logo would be nice), and include a link to your website.

2. Shorten the Links With A URL Shortener. Instagram’s bio description has a limit of 150 characters, so it’s important to save as many characters as you can.

3. Leave Relevant Comments. Comments are much appreciated by the poster because they’re few and far between. For instance, every second on Instagram produces 575 “Likes” but only 81 comments. It’s a lot easier to just click the like button, but comments get you followed back.

4. Use the filters. Believe it or not, filters actually make a difference in engagement. For instance, a study of 6 million posts across 10,000 brands found that posts using Hefe, Lo-Fi, Nashville, Brannan, and Kelvin filters generated 4.5% to 5.6% more engagement than the average Instagram post!

5. Post at the correct times. Mondays and Thursdays tend to drive the most engagement, while between 3 and4 p.m. typically drives lower engagement during a workday.

6. Like with other social networks, the number of times you post per day on Instagram is important. It’s been found that the ideal number is only one to two times per day. You can get away with more on special occasions like an event, but be sure to space out the posts so you don’t overflow your followers feeds.

7. Use hashtags. Hashtags are an essential part of Instagram marketing and promotion, so it’s important that you’re familiar with how they work on the platform. Contrary to all other networks, on Instagram the more hashtags you use, the better. That’s because hashtags are the primary way you build a community on the platform. Believe it or not, between 7 and 11 hashtags get the most engagement, according to most studies.

Creating and maintaining a flourishing Instagram community takes some time and effort, but it can be much easier than you think by following these best practices.



This post first appeared on X URBAN MUSIC MAG, please read the originial post: here

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Urban Music Industry News March 2017

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