Hard Lessons from the Music Industry
As some of you know, I’ve been at this thing for a while. I often get texts from colleagues asking for business advice, and I always end up thinking dang, I really wish someone had stopped to tell me that when I was first starting out.
On the phone with my lawyer the other day I realized I have a platform I can use to educate fellow song writers, so why don’t I? You can’t imagine how many in’s and out’s there are to the music industry.
So let’s start at the beginning. Are you a song writer? Are you in a band? Wanna make sure you don’t get screwed out of royalties or residuals? Get yourself registered with BMI or ASCAP today as both a song writer AND a publisher. Use your full legal name for both. Why? It makes recouping your back end MUCH easier! When you’re asked to perform on a session, yes even for a friend, ask about a session fee. If you get asked to come up with a few lyrics or a bit of melody, ask to be credited as a writer before you commit to contributing material. Always have your BMI/ASCAP information handy to share with anyone who invites or contracts you to play. If you’re asked to tour, inquire the same kinds of questions. Will I be paid for the shows? Will I be paid for rehearsals? Will any of the shows be recorded by the venues? Etc. If there’s little to no cash involved consider you DO have the option to say “no thanks”.
Why is this stuff important? When I was 21 a musical group called Sleepy Sun asked me to join as a full time member. Over the course of a year and half I recorded vocals on 2 albums, 2 singles, rehearsed (often for much much longer than the time it takes to play a show) and played hundreds of shows. Each album’s recording session lasted an entire month and took place in another country. Each tour was approximately 4 to 5 weeks long with approximately 1 to 2 weeks off in between. And guess what? I wasn’t paid for any of it.
I liked to sing and I was excited to be in a cool band. It had never occurred to me that one thing would lead to another and I would suddenly be 3 tours deep with no break in sight and no money to show for it. It had never occurred to me that the band would continue to withhold paying me for as long as they could. And while my impulse today is to judge my younger self harshly, I have to remember that at the time, I was only 21, hadn’t gone to college and had zero business smarts. I trusted these guys and thought eventually we’d be making enough money to where we could all get paid right?
In addition to recording and touring for free, I was also left off the publishing and writing contracts for both albums and singles as the band stated that they did not see my contributions were worthy of pay of any sort beyond my food allowance. During the first album’s tour cycle the only payment I received was a $10 or $15 daily per dium for food (only received during the tours on show days).
When I finally found out I was the only member of the group not being contracted or paid in any professional capacity I did finally demand a fee which the band begrudgingly stated would be $60 a show…
As their co lead singer for nearly 2 years I had gone into $15,000 of debt trying to pay my bills between tours and let’s be honest, on food. After the band began paying me, which was roughly around the release of our 2nd album, their kindness towards me shifted. My pleas for time off to stabilize my life were met with hostility and shaming. In the middle of touring Fever I was given a final ultimatum, my mental health or the band, so I did what I needed to do and I left. We released Fever in June of 2010 and I flew home that October.
The moral of my story, it is 100% ok to look out for yourself! Always ask for what you need upfront and if there isn’t money there to at least pay a bill, I recommend not contributing. Obviously if you don’t need the money and you love the people, hey go for it. Just don’t let people guilt you away from taking care of your basic needs you know? Don’t assume your friends are looking out for you or even know the proper way to conduct themselves.
And while I’m finally airing this chapter out a little I also want to state for the record that I was never romantically involved with anyone in the band. I see comments from time to time that just miss. I left to recover myself and my only regret was not knowing better sooner. Any claims that state otherwise are false and defamatory.
Live long and prosper,
Rachel Fannan
Origins of the American Police Force and (a Reminder of) the Brutal Reality of Slavery
Sorry people but the origins of our American police force are 100% race based. They were called patrollers and they were meant to be part of the solution to Colonial America’s biggest problem, labor. Obviously control of this new labor force would be key.
By the early 1700s, a system of racially directed law enforcement was well on its way to being developed.
Why? White dudes wanted free labor. They imported black human beings from their homes and forced them to work day in and day out FOR FREE.
A great question you can ask yourself is what job would I be willing to do work for free? I mean real shit like picking a crop, or cooking someones meals 7 days a week. And no being a parent doesn’t count (caught ya boomer). Like would YOU do that shit for free? For your whole life? For someone who terrorized you?
What I’m trying to drive across to protest deniers is slaves were forced to work back breaking jobs in the blazing heat, with very little water and food, and were often beaten or killed for extremely minor “offenses”, all of which sounds completely insane when you say this shit out loud. Am I right? It really happened, and not to you! So this is where the anger becomes compacted.
The conditions these kid napped people of color endured here colonial America were literally a fucking nightmare.
To put things into perspective even more, Jamestown received it’s first shipment of 455,000 human beings in 1619… ok that number alone is fucking disgusting.
And our 13th amendment which was supposed to abolish slavery was signed in 1865.
Dear white people, that is 245 YEARS of American slavery. 245 years of shipments of human bodies. 245 years of working them to the bone, raping them, selling them off, killing them, beating them… real shit people, not some 20 day probation crap. 245 years of cops being racist and having FULL reign to brutalize and murder people of color. Being a slave was torture.
Not to mention between abolishing slavery in 1865 and 1964 when the Civil Rights Act was signed, people of color saw 98 more years of repression and illegal hangings. Aaaaand since 1964 until today has been like 55 years? So omg 55 years of “freedom” and ya’ll white people are like “protestors are just as bad as cops”.
I’m like….. ya no.
When you say stuff like “the protestors should be peaceful or else they won’t get what they want” you’re saying 1.) all protesters are violent and 2.) 245 years slavery isn’t horrific enough for some protests?
Meanwhile 90% of the protestors we are seeing are peaceful, many of them are white allies, so NO this is absolutely not just all black people wrecking shit.
That anti protest sentiment is 100% racist and unpatriotic, slavery was WRONG and America did that. We owe people of color more than we can repay.
Rachel Fannan releases ‘Princess of Swords’
I’ll keep it short because our country has more important things to focus on right now, but to my friends and fans who are still looking for moments of reprieve, I offer you Princess of Swords. I’m so proud to release the next chapter of the Marigold Experiment, even in the midst of one of the most painful times in American history. Please take a second to visit my YouTube channel for a video I put together myself, with one of my dearest friends Raya Heffernan. It’s an homage to the lonely warrior within us all.
Love,
Rachel
Fannan to release ‘Princess of Swords’ 5/30
Dear friends and fans,
I’m so excited to announce the release date for the next installment of the Marigold Experiment, ‘Princess of Swords’. As some of you can probably relate, I’ve found it really hard to stay motivated during my state’s lock down. It’s been helpful to remind myself that while this isn’t a rehearsal, it’s totally ok to feel the feelings and take another day off. We are our own worst critiques. So let me be the next person to tell you, it’s ok to feel bad right now, and it’s ok to lean on comfort foods, embrace your insomnia, maybe treat yourself to a guided mediation from Deepak Chopra, and in the meantime listen to all your favorite music.
produced by Alec Justice / mixed by Dani Munoz / lead guitar Evan Weiss / strings Meg Webb
Until this is over,
Rachel
