Artists to watch · music business · music industry · music industry interview · Music2Deal.com

Tom Beck Interview

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Richard Rogers (RR): For those that might be unaware. can you give us some background information about yourself please as I know you are more famous as an actor than as a musician/singer?

Tom Beck (TB):  My background is on the music side. I’m 40 years of age, I grew up in Nurnberg and I started to play the accordion at the age of 4 or 5, they were my first musical steps and then I played the organ and keyboards and then I started to play along to songs that I heard on the radio on the piano or keyboards and then i started singing to them. Then I started my own bands, the first one at the age of 12 and then I played at random weddings and stuff and played the things that people wanted to hear. I became the popular story of the bored man that sits there at the the piano trying to entertain the whole crowd, sometimes for 6 to 8 hours, a whole evening! Then i had other bands and started studying musical theatre and through that I started to do more acting and next to the acting I decided to do my first album and recorded that in 2010 and released that in 2011 and there have have been 3 albums with the last in 2015. So it’s been 4 years! I’ll be recording my 4th album this year.

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(Richard Rogers, Tom Beck)

 

RR: On Wikipedia Deutschland it mentions you’ve released 5 albums?

TB: Yes that is correct. Three studio albums and two live albums.

 

RR: My German was obviously not good enough to understand. Enshultigung!

TB: No worries.

 

RR: So who were your influences musically?

TB: Well i grew up in a very very small village where people would listen to everything basically from early bad German folk music to Schlager but personally my influences were rock’n’roll music, Elvis, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Ray Charles because of the work on the piano. Then of course The Beatles and The Stones. So all the piano hand work stuff I was influenced by the British musicians. Paulo Nutini is one of my favourite musicians and I went to about 6 or 7 of his gigs and saw him live.

 

RR: Who are you signed up to, record company wise?

TB: Well basically i’m a freelancer. I released three albums on my own label but with a distribution company. This time round I don’t know whether to go off in search of a label or whether to do it myself. I don’t know, i’m not sure. I’m not represented by a publishing company either so I collect everything through GEMA. Unfortunately they don’t play my songs on the radio but I have a loyal and true fanbase and they have been here and accompanying me for the last ten years now. Like tonight here at the Koln Luxor Club there will be over 500 people here and it is sold out and that makes me really proud as I have no single out and no album out and they don’t play me on the radio so I just have a real and true fanbase. If I had a label of course it could get bigger. But I think why should I, I just need to use my accounts more with things like Instagram, use more footage and do more advertising for myself than I actually do. Maybe I would go with a label and would they want me? I don’t know. I’m not filming at the moment so i took the time to do this short 7 show tour and afterwards to do some recording and hopefully do an album.

 

RR: And where would you do that. In Berlin?

TB: I’m not sure yet. Maybe some in Berlin and some in Cologne because I have a few producer teams that I would like to work with, also one team in Munich. I don’t know if I’m going to produce one album with one producer, I used to do that but it’s like an old school way to do it. So maybe I will split it.

 

RR: The only problem with that is from an A&R perspective when it is split up into so many different production teams you lose the basis of the sound that maybe you were aiming for in the first place.

TB: Yes you are right. That is what I am afraid of actually. I’m afraid it’s not going to be one unique whole sound. I’ve got some friends who have got in 3 producer teams and it seems to work fine and you don’t hear any difference.

 

RR: The last Lily Allen album felt from a professional angle very dissipated. It’s completely split with lots of separate producers as opposed to her first albums with one production team. For me it’s too diverse, it’s totally incoherent as a piece of work and I think a mess in part. I thought it was a poor piece of A&R to be honest. So why the tour with nothing to promote?

TB: It’s just to keep my fanbase motivated and as the last tour was 4 years ago. I didn’t know how many people would turn up. It make me happy and proud.

 

RR: Good for you if you have nothing to sell. Re-connecting to the fans is a great way to go. I passed about 45 of them lining up for the gig (it was 3 o‘clock in the afternoon in the middle of a cold February afternoon). That means you have a particularly integrated fan base, did they come initially from what you were doing in music or from your acting career?

TB: Well the music came first but I became popular to most of the people out there in Germany due to the variety of TV series that I have been doing so yeah most people will know me from the TV. They started coming to the concerts 8 or 9 years ago from when I had my first concert and they are still there! The first gigs had about 1000 to 1500 people per show and about 500 of them just came to see the guy from the TV. I would rather be appreciated as a musician rather than the guy from the TV.

 

RR: Have you released any music outside of the GAS territories – Germany, Austria, Switzerland. AKA the DOS countries.

TB: No, all the albums have only been released in those 3 territories so if any labels come in there is a back catalogue to exploit. Everything is available on Spotify. The first two albums are completely in English and the second one was actually recorded in Nashville in the USA. It has more of a country vibe. The third album was the first one recorded in German and the next one will be in German as well. I felt strangely more comfortable writing in English. The German language is harder to sing, for example there are a lot of hard consonants so it doesn’t sound to smooth. You also need to be careful what you say in the land of the poets and intellectuals, as an idea if Ed Sheeran sang in German his songs he would not be successful because the lyrics would be too cheesy! It would sound like Schlager. It takes time to find your own language in German. It sounds weird I know. In fact I needed two years to experiment and write in German to feel comfortable with the language. It was tough writing in German at the beginning but it is very challenging to find unique German language in songs. Most of the time I am co-writing and I come to the session with a theme. Sometimes we jam to get a song started.

 

RR: You’ve been married for 6 months, is it what you were expecting?

TB: Yeah definitely. We have been together for 6 years before so I knew what i was going to expect.

 

RR: So for Valentine’s Day were you on the road?

TB: Well actually I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. It’s the only day I don’t agree with it just because some industry tells me to celebrate that day. I can do that every day if I want and I can bring flowers and we can go out and have a great time together and I can tell her how much I love her.

 

RR: Well huge congratulations and good luck with this club tour.

TB: Thank you.

Interviews · music business · music industry · music industry interview · Music2Deal.com

Interview: Mario Christiani – CEO/Owner of Music2Deal

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Professional Update 2019 & Additional Member Benefits Coming Soon!
Interviewed by Peter Fosso – Head of U.S. Operations, Music2Deal

 

peter fosso & me (2)
(Peter Fosso, Mario Christiani)

PF: Hi, Mario. So I hear that there will be a Music2Deal update happening in January 2019. What types of benefits can we expect?

MC: Well, we’ve noticed that there are many members who still are not benefiting as much as they can from our system so we’re helping them in this new update. For example, many members haven’t uploaded a Music (Song) Offer even though it´s free with a Basic Membership. Or sometimes they post their music in the wrong section. Although we tried with former updates to optimized the usability, members often don´t know the right steps to do on Music2Deal.

So the idea of Music2Deal is great and a lot of people are already doing good business on Music2Deal. But to be honest, sometimes it´s just a matter of having the right knowledge. For example, someone who is working in the music business should know about the differences between the song copyrights and the performance protection rights, so that they know in which section they should post their music offer. When I look at these sections I sometimes see members who don´t have this knowledge. But sometimes, it´s also a question of how the website supports his members in the way of using the website. And in this case, we see a lot of potential to make things better, which we wish to accomplish with this coming update.

You know…when I talk with people at those conferences, like MIDEM, they see the advantages of using the Music2Deal platform, that it makes sense to stay in contact with their business friends about music opportunities and that LinkedIn, Facebook & Co can’t really offer this. It´s like using Excel to do your accounting and not using an accounting program.

 

PF: Can you tell us more about how to solve those problems? Maybe give us an example?

MC: With this update, so that we can improve the user experience for each of our members, we are implementing better user communication and usability. For example, if you are a Publisher and your registration was accepted, upon first login you’ll see a short “1st-LogIn-Tour”. Currently, after completing your profile, you’ll see a page to post a Music Offer, choosing from 4 sections. These 4 choices are too much at the 1st time login on Music2Deal and then continuing with a further page. And a Publisher would unlikely need to post a Vocalist Offer. So, we assume that they’d prefer to post a Song Offer. In the case of an Artist, they would post mostly post an Artist Offer, and so forth. If you’re an Artist, who hasn’t yet posted a Music Offer, we’ll suggest it to you.

Or if you’re A&R, to post an Artists Want, etc. We simply want to see our members get the most so that they don´t miss business opportunities. We will also inform a member if they have enough credits for a free upgrade. We’re also adding guided tours and a new “how it works” page for a better understanding of how to use Music2Deal in the best way for their business.

The-Professional-Update

PF: There was already an update announced in 2018. What happened?

MC: Once we started really getting to know the needs of our members we realized there was much more to do to incorporate their ideas – now further improvement that can be enjoyed by our community of music professionals.

 

PF: Is this the reason why this update is called “The Professional Update 2019?

MC: Yes, that´s right. Just two features, as an example. Now a member will be able to send a new song first to just their friend circle, getting initial feedback prior to deciding whether to publish the song. Additionally, you’ll be able to filter the members who can contact you. For example, it makes no sense if you are a Booking Agent and a Songwriter contacts you that is not a live performer. These mismatches are time-consuming and, of course, most music professionals would like to avoid this. Therefore, we’ll be providing this feature.

 

PF: Will you announce all features of the Professional Update 2019?

MC: Yes, we’ll be announcing the update’s features here on the blog as well as in our news section on Music2Deal.

 

PF: And finally… When will the update happen?

MC: Good question :-) Look for the update to happen in the beginning of 2019.

Music2Deal Interview – Braverick
Interviews · music business · music industry · music industry interview · Music2Deal.com

Music2Deal Interview – Braverick

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Marcus Behrens – is an independent A&R Consultant and a member of The Recording Academy/GRAMMY Pro. He has been working for Sony and Warner, with placements and productions including Meek Mill, J. Cole, Sabrina Washington, Jadakiss, Frank Lars, The StoneWolf Band and more. He is currently managing singer/songwriter Nya Crea who has worked with Tony Mo (Destiny’s Child, Keisha Cole) and was one of the support acts of Enrique Iglesias and Florence and The Machine.

Marcus

Since there are still a lot of people in the music industry, whether it ́s an artist, songwriter, producer or even a record label who don’t see the importance of YouTube, Marcus founded Braverick to offer services like YouTube MCN, YouTube channel optimization, as well as music distribution and Spotify promotion.

Music2Deal: What exactly is an MCN?
Marcus Behrens: An MCN (Multi-Channel-Network) is a way for YouTube creators to access useful resources to grow their channels, as well as copyright protection, ad revenue, and YouTube partnership.

MCNs deal with monetization, advertising, and copyright law, to help the creators focus on their creative content. You don’t necessarily need an MCN to produce monetized content, but partnering with an MCN offers benefits that make it easier. These benefits include assistance with search engine optimization (SEO), access to video production facilities, funding for costly projects, and seamless access to other platforms besides YouTube.MCNs make money off the “revenue share”. This is shared money earned from monetizing your videos and advertising with the MCN’s ad partners. You also get a share of these same profits. The percentage that the MCN takes varies – as high as 40% if you are small and don’t have a lot of weight to throw around, or as low as 10% if you are a big, viral channel.

To think that an MCN just greedily scoops up your money then goes away, is not the best way to look at it. In return for being able to share your profits, your network will provide you with access to tools that will help grow your channel and make it more popular. They want your channel to grow, because the more money it makes, the more they make. They are in your corner.

Music2Deal: Do I need a YouTube MCN?
Marcus Behrens: Some channels, in particular, music and gaming channels, don’t need to partner with YouTube networks to monetize their content, as long as they stay away from copyrighted music/copyright infringement and follow the rules. If you are astute at making and spreading your YouTube channel, you could definitely get by without an MCN.

However, some MCNs may offer features that even the savviest creator needs, one of those being sponsorships. Collaborations are important, and going through an MCN to find collaborative sponsorships with other content creators, can be extremely valuable. Sponsorships are hard to make happen on your own and are very much facilitated by using an MCN. In sum, you want to focus on content creation. The more you can handoff the duties of day to day business stuff to an MCN the more you can concentrate on making great content – the whole reason for a YouTube MCN in the first place.

braverick

Music2Deal: What is YouTube optimization?
Marcus Behrens: It encompasses all the little tricks and strategies that are employed to make your videos come up in searches, and get noticed in general. We have a team of YouTube certified employees, who know the ins and outs of YouTube and are aware of things you can do to make your videos get more views. You can use their specialized knowledge for yourself.

This may sound simple and inconsequential, but actually, people in your corner who are knowledgeable of YouTube and proven strategies to get videos noticed can be huge and a game changer.

Music2Deal: Would I have to be locked into a contract for a long time?
Marcus Behrens: No. In regards to the YouTube MCN as well as the digital distribution, you can opt out every month.

However, we do make long-term agreements in the field of YouTube and digital distribution with people and companies we invest in.

Music2Deal: Why should I work with Braverick?
Marcus Behrens: We’ve Got Your Back!
That moment when you start to realize that the songs you write or the videos you make have turned into a business, things can get a little overwhelming. Maybe you have signed a contract with somebody, but it turns out that things are not going the way you had expected.

But let’s face it, in order to be great and famous you need to work on your brand, promote yourself and well, get into business so you can make it. And yes, that includes annoying emails, dealing with rude people, unreturned phone calls and more.

But you are the creative genius, the talent, the artist! You can’t be bothered with the technicalities; you need some space and peace of mind so you can work on your craft. And most importantly, you need people around you who get you, instead of suited up dudes that never return your calls or understand what you need.

Well, this is where we come in. We’ve been dealing with people in the music industry our whole lives, and we know how it all works.

From channel optimization and YouTube MCN to distribution, we will take care of everything so we can help you develop your business all while letting you create brand new content and focus on your art.

And the best part? We work for you and your craft – that’s all we care about. So whatever you need, we are there already taking care of it, listening to your problems and answering all your questions in simple English and German – no business talk!

To us you are not just another number in a spreadsheet, you are a talented individual that deserves the best, a part of our family.

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