How To Sign Yourself

By GeeGee Miller

I think a lot of artist and producers have built this Boogeyman in their head when someone says "get your paperwork together" or "get your Business together". It sounds daunting, like it may be confusing or hard or work you just don't know where to start. You've built this Boogeyman and I'm here to tell you your fear is like a shadow. Much bigger than it actually is. The business is NOT hard. Of course you're going to be learning something new but it's around what your prime interest and passion is: Your Music. You'll take in much easier and faster than you think. Then once you transition you'll never be able to look at the "going back into the studio" "shootin' another video this week" "please share..." Artist the Same Again. You'll see EVERYTHING from the Business Angle.
That's when it Changes. That's when it Gets Fun.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jul 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667856117

Book preview

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© 2022 GeeGee Miller

ISBN: 978-1-66-785611-7

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Table of Contents

[INTRODUCTION]

1ST ACCOUNT

2ND ACCOUNT

3rd ACCOUNT

4th ACCOUNT

5th ACCOUNT

6th ACCOUNT

7th ACCOUNT

8th ACCOUNT

9th ACCOUNT

10th ACCOUNT

Let’s Review

WHO’S THE PERSON WHO’S WRITING THIS BOOK?

[INTRODUCTION]

I know…………….I know you get frustrated because things aren’t moving fast enough for you. You get tired of being taken advantage of. You believe that the world is against you. You believe the music industry is designed to keep you out. You often want to quit the business completely. You resent the fact that you’re stuck in a bar band because you have always dreamed of filling stadiums someday.

I know…………. I know your friends, family and fans who believe wholeheartedly in your talent start doubting your seriousness. They don’t see you treating your career like a business. They become convinced that you should get a ‘real job’ and do music as a hobby.

I know…………. I know It takes you longer to do things that others who know the industry do automatically.

I know…………. I know you don’t know the issues facing the industry so you don’t fight for your own rights.

I know…………. I know your inability to monitor your business: You don’t know if your manager is taking you for a ride. You don’t know if your publisher is actually working on your behalf. You don’t know how much money you really should have.

I know………… I know you’ve made bad business decisions: You sign bad contracts or management deals. You sign your songs over to a publisher for life. You don’t know how to get out of bad contracts. You’ve hired an attorney who is not familiar with entertainment law to review and negotiate your contracts. You take gigs on which you ultimately lose money. You pay too much for things that shouldn’t cost you much, if anything.

I know……….. I know you’ve lost income: You don’t get the best gigs because you don’t know how to pursue them. Your songs aren’t cut because you don’t know how to promote them effectively. Your music isn’t in film and TV because you don’t know how to license them.

I know……….. I know you are left out of high-level industry conversations because you can’t add anything to them or discuss them intelligently. You can’t negotiate the best deals because you don’t have the leverage. You don’t understand what your peers are talking about.

I know……….. I know You are easily taken advantage of or exploited.

You don’t get paid what your worth because your management takes or spends too much. You get into bad deals or sign bad contracts because they look good to you. You make rookie mistakes like paying too much for recording, paying to have your songs published, getting song critiques from non-reputable sources etc. You get taken by a vanity record label.

𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐌𝐞, 𝐈 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐇𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐞.

Look, I get it you’re doing big things without Development. But you’re seriously misunderstanding Development if that’s how you look at it—you doing BIG things but not having your business tied down, filled out, and accounted for you are literally performing to thousands and not getting 1cent from everybody going home and streaming your music.

I self-taught myself everything about my business. Everything that I do and Teach.  No one reached out and said Let me help! No one in the beginning invested anything or guided me. Yes, I had mentors but that was for the mental side of what I was taking on. I built my business with $0 and Wi-Fi. In 2o16 when I started on my own I went from 2 clients that first year to now having 553.

But I know those who are in my family or close friends are not going to support me (which I clearly don’t need to continue growing) until I buy my first house or lavish car.

It’s no entrepreneur secret, 9/10 people measure your growth in material things.

I’ve grown in SO MANY areas in my life that does not result in a house. The house will come. But myself love growth, my spiritual growth, my maturity growth, my mentality growth, my experience growth, my passion growth, my understanding growth, my overcoming of anxiety growth, my love for life growth, I had to grow in so many areas and there’s no house at the end of those growths. There’s no round of applause. There’s no trophies for growing. There’s no dollar paid to you for overcoming self-hate. It’s just you and your growth. Maybe if they knew what I had to overcome to simply have the guts to start my business they wouldn’t see it from the point of view of me just posting about my business all day. They would know what I had to overcome to get the guts to make that post and share it with the world.

I ran the business with a partner the first 3 years. He brought the glitter. They said I 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 him. He’s a huge producer. He’s around famous rappers all the time. People want to see famous rappers, he’s around them—you need someone that brings the showmanship." The truth is, because artist saw him standing next to famous rappers in a picture on here they’d just get to me just to get to him. They’d spend thousands with him and get No results and guess who was the ‘scam’…. guess who took all their money….me. January 4, 2016 I decided I was going to start from scratch. I mean I built the logistics everybody just recognized him (well cause while I was sharing wisdom and insight he shared photos with famous people). Since I’ve taken over the Artist Development on My Own: I’ve done more, grown more, accomplished more, get approached more, earned more, learned more, gave more, understand more, travel more, work more, and Now I REALLY love what I do more. Long story short, TRUST YOUR OWN DOPENESS.

I currently now have 691 clients and growing. Let me help make ASCAP and BMI and all the Performance Rights Organization make sense to you explaining it from a different angle for you. You can make …💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰 (16) Royalties off of 1 song.

Let me help guide you. Invest in your MUSIC BUSINESS so you whatever you go through from that point: hard times, relationship issues, moving, new babies on the way - No Matter What, You’re Getting Paid 💰. Unsigned artist can expect 64.18 cents out of every streaming dollar.  Which is nearly four times greater than the payout from a major label. The most a Signed artist would Make 16cents out of every streaming dollar. Let me teach you how to use your BMI and or ASCAP, Your Soundexchange, Your Soundscan, Your Nielsen Accounts, Your Publishing, etc. n my Artist Development Process I guide artist, producers, managers, musicians how to get paid off of their music. I walk you through step-by-step the royalty collection system, ownership, self-marketing insight and strategy, demographic/taxonomy insight for strategic promotion. In a nutshell, I Teach You How to Sign Yourself. You Will owe nobody.

There are no stupid questions while in Development.  A lot of indie artists are confused about the difference between ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and SoundExchange…. that’s okay. That’s why I take the entire royalty collection system and break-it-down account by account. I don’t want percentages from anywhere from any artist. The money aspect I’ve always said God sees what I’m Doing. He’ll bless me in that department when he sees it best for me. Until then, I’m completely 100% with having my integrity over money. The money is the bonus.

I never started this to get paid.