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THE OPPORTUNITY:
-
Ability to buy the compilation at
cost price (no mark up) and sell at any price (RRP
$19.98) keeping 100% of the profits
-
Non-exclusive agreement - 100%
ownership of master
-
Complete creative control over
song production
Warrior
Girl Music's mission
is to create, produce
and promote unique artistic creations
that are guided by the artist's
vision and under the artist's direction; creations that transcend race,
age or gender and that embrace passion, love for music and life,
personal excellence and global consciousness. Through this, artists are
developed and promoted
to their fullest potential as individuals and creative
beings.
Consider that the state of the music business is in
flux right now. For many years, artists would sign
record deals that provided insufficient financial
security, huge recoupables (expenses) to pay, and
very limited opportunity to recoup through record
sales. Most artists that sign to a major label (over
80% or more), do not recoup expenses, nor see any
royalties. In the meantime, if their record has no
success in the short term market place, they are
dropped or shelved, with many artists unable to
record another album for several years due to a
short-sited yet controlling record company contract.
Instead of asking artists to suffer through this
permanent waiting period, and loss of creative
freedom, we decided to come up with a compilation
series that allows artists to place 1 song, their
best song, non-exclusively (can do any other deal
they wish).
The artist provides us with a finished master, and a
small financial contribution ($400)
to assist in the making of our compilation.
In return, they are not victim to
a stifling record contract, but instead can make 100%
profit on EVERY sale of CDs they make. Doing the
math, artists make back their initial investment
after selling only the first twenty (20) CDs, making
this deal more financially viable and lucrative then
any standard record deal out there.
At the same time, the artist is getting promotional
exposure through our media and industry campaigns,
and through the networking of our other artists'
efforts (we have over 65 artists just on the first 2
compilations), so promotion is enormous just by being
part of the Warrior Girl Music artist community.
QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Females On Fire only -
Why do a CD compilation
just for women?
Gilli Moon, the
main force and CEO of Warrior Girl Music envisions a
new generation of strong, independent music business
women, who are rising through the ranks of the music
industry. gilli wants to embrace this vitality, as
well as celebrate femininity. She equally encourages
male artists who express female messages and global
human equality, love, communication and relationship
in their music.
This CD is not about by-passing the great male
artists, rather it is offering to balance the male
dominance that the "business" side of the music
industry has had. It’s time for a shift. It’s time
for balance, and equality. It’s time for genders to
be united and fair, so we can move gender aside and
just be artists, no matter what sex we are.
It takes a bucket load of money to record, package,
press, distribute and promote CDs. For many
independent recording female artists that is money
they don’t have, and a playing field that provides
little opportunity to expose their music. Our goal is
to cut costs for releasing an original song on CD by
combining it with other strong artists, and provide
the opportunity and exposure for the songs to be
heard.
The Females on Fire CD is also for those who have
released their own CDs as well, yet want to be part
of a new frontier, a new voice, and an alternative
vehicle for their music. With our promotional CD out
in the world, it’s one more vehicle for people, fans,
and the industry to hear your music, visit your
website, appreciate your art, and go buy your CDs and
merchandise. Call this inexpensive, terrific
advertising!
For the Art of Men
compilation artists, the balance is obvious. A
compilation for all genders!
Is this an
exclusive deal?
No. This is
non-exclusive. You can absolutely use your song on
other CDs, compilations and opportunities. You just
have to give us the right to use your song, for our
compilation.
Where will the CD be
distributed?
The Compilations are
part of a unique marketing approach by Warrior Girl
Music, using festivals, music conferences, grass
roots media, online promotions and targeted
distribution channels.
Promotion and
distribution are directed to music supervisors (film
and television), music publishers, national music
conferences & seminars, record labels, the media
(print and radio), producers, and artists looking for
songs. The CD is a perfect vehicle for artists to
access the music industry, the media and make
potential long lasting business relationships for
their music. Retail distribution includes direct
sales through the Warrior Girl Music Store and our
distributors in the U.S, Canada and Australia.
Whilst
Warrior Girl Music will also have the right to
distribute the CD through its distribution outlets,
which can only maximize the artists' opportunities of
public and industry awareness
-
most
of the CDs however will be given away as promo
copies, bringing attention from the music business to
our artists. Artists also are able to
sell their copies of the CDs.
Please read below
about Royalties for more
info on what we are doing.
What is the
Tour about and how will this benefit me?
Putting a tour
together is a great idea, but to be very honest, it's
not part of the "deal" for putting a song on our
compilation. We are working hard to organize touring
opportunities that may begin with discreet Females On
Fire and Art of Men artist showcases in capital cities and rural
surrounds, to a grass roots national tour of the
artists. If this all comes together, it will be built
by the solidarity and enthusiasm of the artists and
our label combined. Go TOURS for more info.
Along with specific
Females On Fire/Art of Men events,
Warrior Girl Music hosts shows frequently and
will be drawing from the artist pool
for these events. We choose our artists based on the
events' and venues' needs.
We host a bi-yearly Festival in Los Angeles.
Check
it out. Females on Fire artists are given
priority in selection.
Supply
Master Quality - what does that mean?
means:
a) radio friendly, ready for release, your best
version
b) a mastered track by a mastering engineer is
compulsory.
What we do in our mastering
process: Taking the best version of the song and
slotting it in with 10-20 other songs and making them
sound like an album - adjusting EQs, balancing,
cropping starts and finishes, and then of course
assembling it for the glass master to manufacture. We
need mastered tracks from the artists, so that our
job is easier and you get a better version on the
record.
How does our Production fee work
for Artists?
If your
song is chosen all artists are contributing a
small production fee of $400 which will be pooled
to pay for the CD Mastering, art designing,
manufacture and printing costs, shipping and postage,
marketing, promoting, & advertising the CD, as well
as administration costs of putting this all together.
That’s
right, we can’t do this alone. We are uniting to make
this happen! This is substantially cheaper than
recording, designing, manufacturing, promoting and
marketing a whole CD yourself.
The
production component of $400 from you shows us that
you are actively investing in YOURSELF and YOUR
career, and a sign of commitment to our project (if
it were free, you may not try as hard to be active in
our project.) Your financial investment proves you
are committed AND that you will work hard to have
your investment provide you a return. We don't want
artists who don't understand the enormous undertaking
putting together a marketed, promoted, distributed
compilation takes. We are in this together.
The
total amount is $420 - The
extra $20 pays for our shipping of the 20 Cds to you,
no matter where you are in the world. It covers our
time, packaging and postage. The Total payment is
$420 U.S (If you apply through Sonicbids, your first
submission fee of $20 is refunded, by way of waiving
the shipping fee for those artists)
What does the
production fee of $400 cover? Well, not much in the
grand scheme of things. Consider that most albums
released by a record label need a minimum of $20,000
to manufacture, promote and market, just for the
first month. Major Label albums go into the
$millions.
We see
your
production fee
contribution
as
an assistance
to helping us
collate
the songs for the CDs
(selecting songs, receiving applications and
contracts, plus general administration - yes we need
an assistant!, filing, databasing, website creation,
handling mail,).
We also MASTER the CD (there are two of them as we
make it a double compilation), design the CD artwork,
the one sheet and postcards artwork, print them
(minimum 2500 postcards go out)
and of course, we manufacture the CDs: 3000 of them
at first. You can imagine that your money doesn't
cover our costs, but it does help in the beginning.
Warrior Girl Music is
really offsetting
about 80% of the costs. These
expenses that the production fee doesn't even come
close to covering, includes labor,
full manufacturing,
marketing
(big bucks$), distribution & shipping,
and
promotion
(big bucks$),
plus Females On Fire
Touring and ongoing concert series and marketing
of all of that.
If
you were to do this yourself, here are some of the
costs you would have to consider:
Admin - approx 10
hours a week receiving submissions, collating files,
databases, handling of music, applications and
correspondence $$150wk x 20 weeks = $3,000
Office supplies,
burning CDs, mail packaging, paper, printer ink, etc
approx $ 400
Mastering full disk (we do 2 discs per compilation) $2,000
(Mastering
one song alone can cost up to $400, so consider
this opportunity a free, cheap, mastering job plus an
amazing exposure for your music!)
Manufacturing in
Digipaks (cool cardboard sleeves instead of the old
jewel case style CD presentation) approx $3500
Website design for
the artists profiles and the CD - $1,000
Marketing and
promotion - one sheets, retail advertising, online
advertising, pitching, postcards (2500) and general -
hmm, well let's say, $15,000 at bare minimum
Gosh where do we
finish? This is not even including distribution
costs, touring promotional costs, energy,
entrepreneurial talents, contacts and industry pull.
$indefinable. SO, YOUR FEE HELPS! Big time. Besides,
you can easily write it off as "advertising". Have
you seen how much those Ads cost in newspapers and
magazines lately? And you only get a week of
promotion! We give you years! Consider this a really
cheap way to advertise you and your BEST song.
 Q&A
I recently got an email from
a prospective artist about why she had to pay $400,
and I took the time to respond. Here is what I said:
$400 is a chunk of money, yep.
You'd pay that amount for one Ad in a newspaper or
magazine, and then you're money is.. gone, with
probably little return except that you can say "hey,
I'm in a magazine!" you'd pay that and more to master
a song with a mastering studio. you'd pay that amount
and 10 times more if you were putting out your own
indie record.
$400 investment shows me you a committed to this
project and that you, as an artist are willing to
invest in yourself and a coop project that requires
Your muscle, passion and promotional pull. If you put
money in, then I know you will have a "vested
interest" in the future of this project. If i didn't
charge a production fee, then artists invariably say
"thanks for the freebie" and don't do ANYTHING to
help the project.
Opportunities in life are not free. You have to work
HARD for them and sometimes you have to pay. I'm
paying. I'm paying thousands of dollars, let alone
investing an enormous amount of my time and energy in
making this project come to life, as a music cd, as a
coop of female artists working together to gain
exposure, as a tour. Your small investment helps me
kick start it. I then take over with the big punch.
If you've ever signed a record deal, you'll
understand that there are expenses incurred to
produce, market, promote and distribute a record. And
the figures ain't pretty. Millions of dollars go into
the first week's release of a major artist's record.
Millions. In the first week.
Warrior Girl Music is a boutique label. It's just
me...
Gilli Moon, a creative, out of the box artist,
producer and entrepreneur who sees the future of
music as being artist driven, artist empowered, and
based on mutual collaboration, helping each other to
develop careers.
Your $400 can easily be justified with simply getting
the exposure on the CD even as a promotional item.
There are hundreds of Cd compilations that are
created each year that are promoted at music
conferences, trade shows, festivals, the media and
industry. They cost around $400 on average and you
get NOTHING back except to say "hey, I'm on a promo
compilation that's getting heard." Females On Fire
offers this,... AND MORE. You should read the
distirbution page because it details where we
have been distributing the first CD already, and
who's playing the album (that we know of).
I'm doing much, much more. I'm releasing this CD
officially through Warrior Girl Music with national
distribution, advertising, media promotion and PR,
and hopefully a tour. It all costs $$ and i'm putting
that in. I personally can't share a budget of any
kind (I'm not sure if Sony would do the same either),
but I am being very candid with the chosen artists
from day 1 as to everything i'm doing. I keep them
informed on a weekly basis. The artists also have the
opportunity to become "mini distributors" so to
speak. They can sell the Cds at 100% of the profit to
them (unheard of in the major record company
industry) and can buy more CDs from me at
cost/wholesale price, thereby getting revenue from
record 1 (also unheard of).
It's also non-exclusive. You can still release your
music as you want. But if you don't, for a small
cost, plus alot of muscle behind you, you have
released a song, had it mastered, promoted, and
distributed. I think it's pretty awesome, if i do say
so myself ;)
So, what do I get in return?
You
become a mini distributor making money from Record
One. We first give artists 20 CDs each to sell at any
price and for 100% of their own profit.
You
can also order more at cost price
($4)
to
continue selling the cd. In that way, everyone
becomes a mini distributor, which is quite
revolutionary in this new music business marketplace.
With the demise of retail stores, and the merging of
giant distributors, the best way to get money from
your music is when it is artist driven.
You can attract third party opportunities directly to
you and Warrior Girl Music will assist in helping
that process without any fees or royalties unless you
decide you want us to represent you.
You get a mastered
song.
Mastering one song alone can cost up to $1,000, so
consider this opportunity a free, cheap, mastering
job plus an amazing exposure for your music!)
You get
to save thousands of dollars (see
above) trying to produce and market your own CD
when you can join forces with a group of same-minded
women under an umbrella organization that has respect
and power in the business. Strength in numbers.
You get to be part
of an international compilation, tours and overall
project that is already receiving a tremendous amount
of buzz, and an organization that is working in your
interests and already established with a great story
and reputation.
What's the gist about
Royalties?
We wanted to
avoid artist royalty payments for 2 very specific
reasons:
1. avoiding administration & paperwork hassles
2. we wanted to
get money into the artists hands EARLY because of
the nature of the music industry as it is today.
We feel that by
giving an amount of CDs to the artists to sell
for their own 100% profit, (20 to get started and
then any future orders at our cost) that the
artists would get money QUICKER than waiting
years for royalties that, on a pro-rata level
with the other artists, would end up much, much
less. I guarantee you.
Let me explain
further: there will be expenses Warrior Girl
Music will make beyond what the pool of artist
money will help pay for, including
administration, labor, mastering, packaging, art
design, initial manufacturing (and ongoing
manufacturing), promotion and advertising,
retail distribution marketing, PR, radio and
press, and tour coordination. So,
notwithstanding, there will be costs that WGM
will incur.
Artists do
not, in a normal record deal situation, get any
royalties until all expenses are recouped, as
well as shipping costs and all the other costs a
label usually finds and adds into a 20+ page
agreement that binds artists for a long time and
thwarts their creative process and control. More
so the going artist royalty rate is between
8%-15% of sales, and in this case, would be
pro-rated with how many artists are on the cd
also. If you began to work out the figures,
you'll discover that for an indie label like us
to release the cd, and recoup the costs
effectively, it will take YEARS for you to get a
dime and you'd be tied creatively to be your own
true independent artist that you are.
So we decided to
make it a realistic, new, joint effort with
the artists. They get a bunch of cds to sell
at 100% of the profits and this profit making is
from cd 1. If you sell the first 20 quickly
(that's how many you get to start), that's $ in
your pocket immediately. More cds - as many as
you like - will be available to purchase for $4
each also, just like you were going to your
manufacturer to get short runs, so you can
continue to re-sell for the 100% profits all the
time, any time, for as long as you want.
In effect, we
are all selling the cd together as a strong
artist-web driven label. All artists can sell
the cds in any manner they want as long as they
don't make deals with 3rd party distributors, and
especially no exclusive retail deals. It's all
got to be non-exclusive and not infringe
on the marketing efforts we choose. That's only
fair.
I believe that
if the FOF artists have the opportunity of
selling the cds themselves, as many as they want,
this would be a better profit margin than
us paying royalties to them once we recoup our
costs. Believe me, a much bigger profit margin
AND more immediate. We felt this is a fair deal,
with enormous reward for the artist. Besides,
imagine 30 artists per compilation promoting and
selling the CD, that's exposure to you in
territories you never even expected. Great
promotion for us, fabulous promotion for you.
Normally a
record label would not give the power of sales to
any artist. We am allowing this because it's like
all of us selling and promoting the cd together
and all being accountable and responsible for
sales. Who knows, a particular FOF artist might
have the power to sell more cds than we do. And
guess what?! They take 100% of the profits, not
us!
I know this is a
new kind of concept, but we believe this is where
the music industry is heading: a more artist
driven industry. And if we can make a deal
with artists that they forfeit the demand for
royalties on a cd, but in return they get the
power to sell at 100% of profits, then I think
this is a better and more generous deal for
artists. I, gilli moon, am an artist, and I like
this deal myself. And in fact we've signed 30
artists to Females On Fire 1 who all agree to
this deal and know it works.
We are a really, really small label. We don't
have financing from some wealthy entrepreneur, or
corporation. We are just like you, independent,
making our way in the world with our messages and
creativity. We don't want to rip artists off
either. We want it to be a win-win situation and
i think our promotional and touring muscle, plus
the community of women idea, is a success to all.
Warrior Girl Music just wants to cover costs and
make it EASY to do and successful for all.
Also, note in the application: "artist
contacts will be printed on the CD jacket keeping
all business opportunities solely under the
artists’ control (WGM does not become a party to
any potential and fruitful negotiations.)"
Ultimately, this is a promotional vehicle and the
cd will be given away to MANY music industry reps
who need songs. We do this already with the (Songsalive!
CD Sampler for over 8 years, so we've gotten
pretty good at this!)
Consider the fact that half of us spend $200-$600
on compilation promo cds to radio and the like
every year, and never get the opportunity to sell
them. So I think this type of deal I'm offering is
a walk in the park and a no brainer to say 'yes'
to.
I also project
this to you: if Warrior Girl Music ultimately hits
sales through the roof because of the greatness of
the music on this cd, then yes, I will look at
capping our sales to begin giving royalties to the
artists, but then we'd have to strike a new deal
where WGM is in control of all sales, like a
traditional deal and that means renegotiation with
every artist on the CDs.
For now, I'm open to the fact
that we are indie, grass roots, and working with
like-minded artists who believe in the vision.
So... are you up for it?
I hope you come on
board!
If
you do not agree to the above, then the Females on
Fire project is not for you, and that’s ok.
What do you mean by digital
downloads in Clause 6?
6. Website Promotion and Online distribution.
You agree that WGM may post the Song(s) and
related ID Material on WGM’s website,
www.warriorgirlmusic.com,
www.artofmencd.com and
affiliate sites for free streaming and
downloading including, but not limited to MP3,
Windows Media Player or Real Audio format, with
no further compensation to You from free
downloading sites. You give us permission to
offer your song online for digital download,
within the contexts only of the Album, and WGM
will split net profits 50-50 with You (less
distributor fees).
... That means that you can continue your
exclusive digital download distribution through
your own avenues. We are not doing paid digital
distribution, only CD/retail and etailer (online)
distribution (single download not mass digital
distribution). We ARE doing downloading of the
songs to listen to and this will not infringe on
your own potential digital distribution rights.
Our download availability will be through our
website and an mp3.com-style site (through
soundclick.com or a site that allows unique one
song downloads),
plus we we will podcast your music from our site,
and
that allows us to have songs from the album,
non-exclusively, in rotation, streaming and
available for listening and downloading.
It's all good promotion. Give a little away and
you get a lot in return.
Again, this has nothing to do with "digital
distribution".
Does it
matter what Track order I am on the CD?
Actually, no. In the
grand scheme of things, we find that a lot of our
artists get radio airplay or opportunities not
depending on the track order. For example on the
FOF2 compilation, Leigh Silver who is Track 15 on
the second Cd, has had the most amount of airplay
from our cd series. Also, we make no preference to
artists as to their track order. We create the
order based exclusively on the flow of the cd. An
order to an album is very important, from beginning
to end, and we want to make sure that all songs are
shown in the best light, and the order they are
placed in (which song is in front of them or after
them) makes all the difference in how the song will
be received by the listener. Some of our favorite
songs are on the cd 2 in the middle, because they
help heighten the flow of the cd. This is a concept
album, and we want our artists to shine as best as
possible.
How many CDs
do I get and when?
You get
20 cds to start with, to sell at 100% of the
profits for you to pocket. If you sell the first 20
quickly (that's how many you get to start), that's
$ in your pocket immediately. More cds - as many as
you like - will be available to purchase for $5
each also, just like you were going to your
manufacturer to get short runs, so you can continue
to re-sell for the 100% profits all the time, any
time, for as long as you want. You can order the
wholesale priced cds here.
You get these 20
CDs when we have received the goods from the
manufacturer. If you live in the Los Angeles area,
we ask you pick them up from our Sherman Oaks
facility, or at one of our shows. If outside L.A, we will ship them to
you.
Read here for more of what you get.
Where do i send my
application?
Females on Fire
application
Art of Men application
Got more questions?
Contact us
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