The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop
There are lots of financial obligations when you’re a solo musician or in a band.
You have to worry about getting gigs, writing music, obtaining copyright or other legal paperwork. Then there’s the infighting, splitting appearance fees, and paying for samples in your hit song that borrowed liberally from clips you found on YouTube.
Yeah – music royalties may not pay a lot, but they do end up paying something. But sometimes, what you get from those royalty checks isn’t enough to make ends meet.
But all is not lost if you have to file for bankruptcy. All sorts of extremely successful and well-respected artists have had to make that financial sacrifice in order to continue their careers later. If you end up having to file bankruptcy, at least you’d be in good company.
Continue reading "You can’t be a successful musician until you’ve gone bankrupt at least once"
” (which also was part of a lawsuit brought by Bozo the Clown). Web Watch recalls that “
” was used on some television special about teen idols in 1992 or so. And fans of magicians Penn & Teller should know about the band, as Penn as praised TMJ repeatedly in print and has sat in with the guys in the studio, and Teller directed one of the band’s music videos.
The secret to having a hit record is all about “Treating the radio guys nice.”
Buy this TMBG album for the song
“HEY MR DJ, I THOUGHT YOU SAID WE HAD A DEAL”
Rock band THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS wrote a song all about what it allegedly took to get a song on the radio, aptly entitled Hey Mr DJ, I Thought You Said We Had a Deal. In it, the lyrics read, in part:
I struck a bargain with my radio DJ
I said I’d like this song to be number one
He said I’d really really like to help you my son
And then I knew that I would have him to thank
Because he asked me how much I had in the bank
…
He said the record wouldn’t have to be hot
And no one ever seemed to care if it’s not
It would depend on something else that I’ve got
…
Hey Mr. DJ, I thought you said we had a deal
I thought you said, You scratch my back and I’ll scratch your record
And I thought you said we had a deal
And while it may appear that TMBG is talking about PAYOLA – paying money to a DJ to get a song on the airwaves — what they could be talking about is just THE BUSINESS OF MAKING MUSIC.
Continue reading "The secret to having a hit record is all about “Treating the radio guys nice.”" »