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The feeling of having ownership of your music means having control of your music. It is a great feeling. It is something you are proud of and something that you have crafted by yourself. Even though you might license in some beats and vocals to make your song come together, so what, it is what you have produced with blood,sweat and tears (or just had fun with your friends playing around).

The big question is, like any company or mission, how much are you willing to give away for getting ahead and who should you give it to? That is super important to make the right decisions and it is not always easy to get it done right when suddenly things start to happen fast and you don’t have the right people around you. As soon you get on the radar of mid/heavy champs in the music business you will see some bids coming in, which is great. Most important than is to have a manager you can trust already in place or get one quickly. If you really are skilled, you can pull it off yourself for a while but it is hard being business manager and artist at the same time. It is the part of being creative that is getting the punches.

However,lets just take a couple of steps back and talk about the time when absolutely NOTHING happens. You have done prework before release, got some small buzz and a couple of thousands streams and then things start to fade away, how can we avoid that scenario.

It starts with teaming and networking. When you start out, you probably don’t have a lot of money to buy yourself a promotion or pay people to work your song. Perhaps you don’t want to either, you just want to get your music out to a very closed fanbase that follow you and you are happy with that.         

The thing is that you have something that is valuable, that is your song. Even though you can’t pay people to work for you or get you that playlist placement, you can always trade, sell or give a way shares to bond with people you want to collaborate with or just want to continue mention you in their podcast, Instagram account or sending the lastest news about you in their private channels.

The question is:

“SHOULD I GIVE AWAY SOME OF MY OWNERSHIP?”

If you ask us, our answer is yes. If you start out and need to find people, both fans and collaborators who are willing to invest their time and passion in you, and you likewise, then it shows you are committed to the journey, and most likely it will be bumpy so it would be good to hold on to somebody.

Hopefully,down the road, when things start to pick up and you might want to get that advance from a major label or larger independent label who have the resources to take you further, you will eventually have to give away ownership and control at some point (unless you strike a distribution deal, then you keep your rights and most of sales). If you sign a license agreement you probably sending away 70-80%of your sales for 7-10 years against a nice advance.  

Point is,when you start out, don’t be afraid to utilize the one asset you have, your song, and connect to others who can help you and believe in you and want to take the time to follow on your journey. In the end, it is the fans that builds artists, as it should be and always have been.