Self-publishing 101

The era of begging for music publishing deals is gone. The publishing business has changed thanks to technological advances and the DIY (Do It Yourself) trend. Before, very few big publishing companies dealt with composer societies such as BMI and ASCAP. With a little bit of work, songwriters can now keep the total income generated from royalties. 

The Oscar Selfie

Ellen DeGeneres, the successful television host, had one of the greatest ideas during the broadcasting of the 86^th Oscars Academy Awards. She gathered famous Hollywood actors and actresses, and they took a “selfie.” Ellen tweeted the photo, Twitter broke down because of the high traffic, and the tweet became the most retweeted post in the history of Twitter in the matter of hours.

Al Schlesinger, a Living Legend

The last Sunday January 26^th , Full Sail students had the chance to watch the 56^th Annual Grammy Awards broadcasted live. The event was held in the Full Sail Live Venue and it was perfect. We watched the ceremony in a huge screen and the sound quality was incredible. Between the commercials, Full Sail were giving away some prizes. One of these prizes was to have a lunch with the entertainment lawyer and former president of the Recording Academy, Al Schlesinger. Fortunately one of my classmates won it, and she invited me to come.

Zach Quillen and his Independent Success Story

Few people know who is Zach Quillen. He is an example of hard work and perseverance. Quillen, a former employee of the Agency Group met Ben Haggerty in 2010. Ben Haggerty is an American rapper born and raise in Seattle and known by his stage name Macklemore. Today, Zach Quillen is the manager of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.

José María Escriña: Transparency, Honesty, and Professionalism

 The words above best describe this successful business executive. José María Escriña, born in Spain and living in Miami, is the Peermusic’s Vice President for Latin America Operations. He began his career in the music industry as the lead vocalist and guitar player of a Spanish band called Insanity Wave. Now, Escriña works with the most important independent publishing company of the world. Thanks to my relationship with Peermusic Miami, I was able to arrange a quick Skype meeting with him. Jose María Escriña is an extremely busy person, which is why I am so grateful he was able to grant me some minutes of his valuable time.

Top Ten Songs of 2013

The year 2013 was of great changes for me. I left Venezuela to pursue my real dream, the music business. Living in the United States introduced me to a whole new experience discovering great music on the way.

This post is from my very personal opinion. I chose the songs I liked the most this past year, may be you are agree with me, maybe not. My purpose was to find songs with the ingredients to be great with commercial content at the same time.

I hope you have fun checking out these artists, and maybe I can help you to discover new music for your iPod.

Let’s begin