What do you know about Music Industry Trade Associations?

It’s not enough just to have information about the music industry although it is important to be very knowledgeable. What’s most important about the information and the knowledge that you acquire about the music industry is that it is current as well as accurate. The music industry is constantly evolving from various formats to different standards and from what’s hot to what’s not. It’s important in the music industry to know who the decision makers are as well as the leaders in a particular segment of the industry. Trade and profession associations provide individuals with pertinent information that can prove to be vital to the growth as well as the sustainability of ones organization, business, or career within the music industry.

As someone who operates in the music industry in various capacities the Recording Industry Association of America is a good association to become familiar with. They provide important industry research including data on the industry as well as its consumers. They provide updates and important news reports about the industry. Lastly, they provide information on copyright basics, licensing & royalties, anti-piracy, audio technologies, gold & platinum album status, and current issues. However, because I work more closely to the Christian/Gospel Music genre, I would like to talk briefly about the Christian Music Trade Association, The Gospel Music Association, and The Gospel Industry Round Up Publication.

The Christian Music Trade Association was established in 1993, as a non-profit organization that exists to build community and cooperation among Christian & Gospel music industry leadership in order to address mutual issues and to maximize Christian/Gospel music's impact on culture. Their board of directors is comprised of  high-level executives from major record labels. They provide information about Sound Scan, music piracy, and give valid news up dates. They are also partners to and affiliated with industry leaders and decision makers like EMI (EMI Christian Music Group), Warner Music Group (Word Entertainment), Sony Music (Provident Music Group), and Universal Music Group (Universal Christian) just to name a few.

The Gospel Music Association (GMA) is a non-profit organization , founded in 1964, whose purpose is to educate, encourage, and promote the development of all forms of gospel music. As an umbrella organization, the GMA provides an atmosphere in which artists, industry leaders, retail stores, radio stations, concert promoters and local churches can coordinate and centralize their efforts for the purpose of facilitating their respective needs and interests. The GMA is also the host to the Dove Awards and they provide various conferences throughout the year to bring many of these industry leaders, radio stations, and artists together for networking and educational purposes. I’ve actually had the opportunity to attend one of their conferences and it was a great opportunity to network and gather some great information to help me build my business and career.

Lastly, The Gospel Industry Round Up is a publication that comes out annually and it is considered, “The Bible of The Gospel Music Industry”. Lisa Collins who at the time was the gospel editor for Billboard Magazine started it in 1993.  It was formed to fill the void of there not being any publications that looked at the who’s who and the inner workings of the gospel music industry.

The book includes:

•        The Latest industry statistics and sales
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•        “The Hot 100”, Gospel’s hottest artists
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•       Gospel record labels, radio stations, retail outlets and key churches
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•        Top Producers, songwriters, and choirs
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•        Management and Booking Contacts
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•        Key Events
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•         A look at gospel’s power brokers
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•       Insight from top gospel stars
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•       Tips on breaking in

Hopefully you can see the importance of having access to this type of information through the various trade associations and publications. The great thing is that the majority of the legwork and the gathering of information has already been done for you by the trade association. All you have to do is get connected. Once you are connected, you can use the resources that are available to propel your organization, business or career forward in your particular industry. So know that you know, have at it! I wish you all the very best and much success!

-The Mike Sears

Tell Your Story...

Nobody can tell it like you can tell it! Why is that, you might ask? Well, the truth to the matter is that your experience, is your experience. That experience made you feel a certain way and left an impression on you that no one other than you can explain. If we look at what history really is, it is simply someone telling the story of something that has happened before now. Depending on who is telling the story, the chain of events and occurrences can be accredited as her story, their story, or his story; we choose to call it history. I believe your story is just as vital as his story and it needs to be told. I've worked in education for almost 13 years now and I once had an administrator who would always make this statement, "...Everyone has a story...!"

In this video presented on TED.com, I viewed a presentation given by Steve Jobs as he addressed a graduating class at Stanford University during their commencement ceremony. The speech he gave was remarkable. It was remarkable for several reasons, but I would like to point out two. In the video, Mr. Jobs tells three stories. These stories are events and occurrences surrounding his life and he shares how these things contributed to his success. In the first story he talks about why he didn’t finish college. Although it would seem as if not finishing college would contribute to a lack of success in life or in ones career of choice, the results of Mr. Jobs’s life were very contrary to this belief. It wasn’t at all that Mr. Jobs discredited education as a way of bettering oneself and establishing a career, but there was one thing that he attributed to his success that didn’t make clear since to him until he was later able to look back and connect the dots. This one fact was that he followed his heart. I truly believe that when you trust what you believe to be your purpose in life, the path you choose to fulfill that purpose becomes a by-product of what you believe. This became the case for Mr. Jobs and it worked out to his benefit. This is the first of the two reasons why Mr. Jobs’s speech was remarkable.

The second reason came out of the second story he told. He talked about how he and his partner grew a business that they started in his parents garage to become a 2 billion dollar, 4,000 employee company, in the span of 10 years. Mr. Jobs goes on to explain how one decision he made caused him to get fired from the very company he started. Instead of giving up, within 5 years, he started 2 more very successful companies. One company named Pixar became the first company to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. His second company NeXT, would become the gateway that placed him back with Apple as its CEO and advisor. Apple is the same company that he had once founded and was fired from.  He attributed his love for what he did as the driving factor for why he didn’t quit, even after the devastation of being fired. He talked about how in life, pertaining to work and in relationships, to go after what you love and never settle for less. Simply put, you should love what you do and only do what you love!

Steve Jobs told his story. In his story there were two things that I wanted to point out. The first is that if you follow what’s in your heart it will eventually lead you to the door of your purpose. If you choose to open this door it will lead you to a life full of success. The second thing is to find out in life what you love. Life is too short to spend it being miserable or to exhaust it on those things that really don’t matter to you the most. To find love is to find life and then begin loving the way you live.  If I could sum these two stories up with five words, I would say, “Have Purpose, Live For Passion”. I was truly inspired by Mr. Jobs’s speech and I sincerely hope that his story inspires you to live, love, and someday tell your story.

In the music industry, your story is important. It is just as important as the music you make or the specific skill or talent you have. There is a saying that goes, "People don't care how much you know till they know how much you care..." People want to know who you are, what you think, what you believe, and how you feel. They relate those facts about you to themselves and decide whether or not they will support or follow you based on what they discover. This is in addition to your talent. This is what will differentiate you from everyone else. There are so many talented individuals in this world, but people are more concerned with how you make them feel over what you can do for them. The former lasts longer. So in essence you should use your music, time and talent to tell your story. Your story will connect you with your audience and cause them to want and desire you more. Whatever your story is, no matter how small or how great, tell it and see if it adds or takes away from the total results you expect. Before you know it, you will have built a viable brand, which in turn can create longevity for your career.

-The Mike Sears