FT on OMD

An Interview with Rod Underhill

In the last few weeks, 1sound.com has really picked up the pace. They now have genre charts, a neutral zone where listeners help decide the fate of songs, songmining (a unique way to check out the high rated songs in specific genres), and . . a bbs that doesn't allow anonymous flaming. As time goes on, we're getting to see more of the big picture of the overall 1sound plan. Rod Underhill, the CEO of 1sound, while he is an attorney and has served as a judge, is also just a regular guy who likes more than anything to play electric guitar when he gets the time. He agreed to answer some questions about the latest feature that's just been unveiled

FT: So, I was just reading about your new “Label Entry” program ? What's behind that ?

Rod: There’s a serious problem that many artists face. They’d like to be able to contact their favorite recording label, but they can’t. The Label Entry program is designed to fill that need. The problem, in a nutshell, is this: labels usually don’t accept unsolicited materials from unsigned artists.

FT: I know exactly what you're talking about. I've sent stuff out myself. Hate that word, "unsolicited."

Rod: Yes, CDs and such mailed from a hopeful artist to a label. Most labels simply return such materials without listening to it. Nearly all labels prefer that an attorney or established industry professional make the contact on behalf of the artist.

FT: Why don't they just give everything a quicky listen ? I know the A&R peeps sit in their offices yakking on the phone cause I've done that with them. I never understood why they won't just take a look-listen at everything.

Rod: There are valid legal reasons that labels won’t take unsolicited materials from “amateurs.” There is a concern of possible litigation from an artist who might think his song ideas got ripped off. Funny enough, I was watching television the other night and saw an old Donna Reed episode from the early 1960’s. In the story, Donna Reed’s fictional TV son, Jeff, was trying to get Pop Star Leslie Gore to listen to a song that he had written. He wanted to break into show biz as a songwriter. Leslie patiently explained that she didn’t accept submissions from amateurs because of fear of litigation. It was one of the best explanations of why labels have this policy that I ever heard and the explanation was 40 years old!

There are other concerns, as well. The labels would rather that others filter out the material and offer them only the best material possible, and material that is well suited for the needs of the label. Can you imagine how buried the major labels would be with submissions if they had an open door policy? It would be a circus.

FT: I've read that you need to take your music to a attorney to "shop" it. Isn't that how to get heard by major labels ?

Rod: Sure, to a limited degree. And, if you can land an attorney to represent you, that’s great! But, there are not many attorneys who shop artists. I went out and interviewed several attorneys who do in fact spend time trying to bring artist clients to the attention of labels. I discovered that there was a real issue that prohibited many attorneys from spending a lot of time representing artists regarding seeking label deals. But, since attorneys are clearly professionals who can establish contacts with labels, having attorney representation is a very good way to go. Still, there has been this major problem that has kept attorney services out of the hands of most artists.

FT: Yeah, what was that ?

Rod: Money. You see, attorneys normally would like to be paid an hourly wage for their work. As you know, attorneys often command an hourly fee in the range of a couple of hundred dollars or more. Because it is very difficult to land an artist a contract, I imagine that many attorneys are reluctant to take a client’s money for such an endeavor. Many attorneys informed me that asking for $200 an hour to represent a client who wanted to land a record deal was just something they didn’t feel comfortable doing.

FT: Don’t music attorneys mostly work on percentage when they are trying to land a record deal for whoever comes their way ?

Rod: Sure, but that’s a problem, too. Most of the attorneys I interviewed told me that they couldn’t afford to spend a great deal of time representing artists on a straight percentage basis because they had to spend most of their time doing their paid hourly work. Consequently, most of the attorneys represented only a few artists, and did their work almost as a pleasant hobby. With the attorney paying costs for phone calls and such out of their own pocket, this also acted as a chilling effect that slowed down the process. Contingency fee arrangements seem more common for automobile accident cases than for label representation matters.

FT: So, what is 1sound gonna do, exactly to change this ?

Rod: Simple: we pay the attorney a reasonable up front fee, as well as offering a reasonable percentage of any deal they land. That way, the artist gets an attorney willing to spend a reasonable amount of time contacting labels.

FT: So that's what this Label Entry thing does ?

Rod: Yes. Many artists cannot afford a $500 or $1000 dollar retainer. But, most of the attorneys I spoke to would be willing to accept $200 to represent four artists, for example, if the artists were creating work in a certain genre. That way, when an attorney takes a meeting with a particular label rep, he/she can discuss four possible artists at the same time. The trick here is to coordinate these four artists and the one right attorney for them. Some attorneys would be willing to work on a straight percentage if we found just the right act for them. Others might want a larger retainer. We can coordinate all of that as might be appropriate. The secret is all in the filtering of the acts. The 1Sound.com artist filtering system was designed to locate the best independent artists.

FT: Care to go into any more detail on this ?

Rod: Sure. Let’s say there’s an attorney who meets every now and then with a representative from Capital Records. The attorney knows that this rep is looking for a hot alternative act fronted by a female singer. By giving that attorney four good acts that fit the bill, the attorney can ask the label representative to check out four acts at once, a reasonable number. But many attorneys won’t have four such acts at the same time. We can provide the acts to the attorney, and he/she can earn $200 bucks for having one lunch meeting with his/her label friend, for example. Coordination is the key here. That and finding the most promising acts. Some attorneys may wish to receive a $1000 fee or higher. Depending on the attorney and the act in question, that’s something we will seriously consider. And, again, others will waive an up front fee if we give them just the right act at the right time.

FT: So coordinating the right acts with the right attorneys is basically what we're talking about here ?

Rod: Yes. That and offering to at least pay an attorney’s out of pocket costs, if that is what the attorney needs to get to work.

FT: Do you have any of these attorneys willing to represent online acts ?

Rod: Yes. I know a lot of attorneys. Too many!

FT: Is there such thing as a super attorney who can cover every base, every label ?

Rod: Oh, sure. But most of the attorneys that I am interested in are the ones that have one or two reliable contacts at one or more major labels. Then it’s a matter of putting the right acts with those attorneys. Still, if we can put a “super” attorney together with an artist, we’ll sure be glad to do so.

FT: There are other companies who sort of do the same thing, right ?

Rod: Of course. I’m not an expert regarding the other companies that shop acts, but I suspect that some of them charge a lot more than $50 and that they also filter the acts after they accept artist money. That’s our fee for this service: $50 a year. Why pay $300 to find out that the company can’t shop you because they think you need to spend more time perfecting your act?

FT: Is this service open to all artists?

Rod: No. No one can reasonably represent every act that wants representation. Some artists are either not professional enough to aspire to a deal or simply could never fit the needs of any recording company. We understand that, so 1Sound.com filters the artists out before we accept their money for our Label Entry program. That’s one of the reasons for 1Sound.com’s rating program. We only accept artists who have fall into our higher rating categories. Then we’ll try to put those artists with the right person and the right label, to the best of our ability. It’s our responsibility to filter out artists who are hopeless cases before we accept our $50 yearly fee. Due to the ever changing needs of the various labels, we can’t necessarily predict what the labels will be looking for six months down the road, but we certainly can decline representing what may well be described as “hopeless” acts.

FT: I guess then you're probably also in the market for more freelance attorneys who shop acts, right ?

Rod: Always. We have good attorneys standing by but we’re always ready to talk to attorneys who want to get involved. I hope to constantly add new attorneys to this program. We want to bridge the financial gap between the deserving artist and the established attorney.

FT: Are you rating artists based on their signability, do the 2 go together ?

Rod: We rate artists based on the quality of their music. This is based upon many factors. Ultimately, “signability” is a factor that is exclusively determined by the recording companies. However, we want to ensure that we represent those artists who seem to have a fighting chance. Many artist who have complained about our rating system have said that it appears that we are rating artists based on their “signability,” or words to that effect. That’s not strictly true, but I understand why they would say that. Our better acts should be very, very attractive to labels.

FT: Ok, does joining the label entry program require any contractual obligation on the artist's part ?

Rod: The artist, should we obtain the interest of a label, be contractually responsible to pay a total 15% of the contract proceeds to his attorney and 1Sound.com. Naturally, the artist would be asked to sign an appropriate contract and the artist would have the right to accept or turn down any deal offered by a label. If an attorney should request that the artist sign an exclusive representation agreement then, yes, the artist would be contractually bound by that agreement if and only if the artist wished to enter into such an exclusive agreement.

FT: OK, a few more things and we can wrap this up. We've already heard a bit about 1sound radio. What's that about and do you expect a lot of people to listen ?

Rod: 1Sound Radio is planned international streaming audio network. Three initial stations are planned: 1Sound1, 1Sound2, and 1Sound3. 1Sound1 will be the first to be launched. 1Sound2 and 1Sound3 will spin off from 1Sound1 in the near future. One of the stations will be broadcast in the French language. The playlists will feature 1Sound.com artists, full album features, and other sonic goodies. How many people will listen? I guess we'll see, but Internet radio seems both fun and exciting to me and a great way to show of the music of the 1Sound.com artist community.

FT: We know the various OMDs mainly rely on the artist to bring the listeners to their site. How is 1sound different in that regards ?

Rod: Most of our traffic comes from Interactive X. That was the plan all along. Certainly, artists are bringing traffic to 1Sound.com. But our goal was to design a site that would bring fans and that is why we launched IX first. IX grows by leaps and bounds every day. We hope that the radio stations will also bring fans, as well. We have additional features planned that we will be launching in the future that are also designed to bring fans.

FT: What is it like for you personally to be working on such a major undertaking, is it fun, is it difficult, what's your general outlook about how it's going so far, when you wake up in the morning ?

Rod: My primary concern is the great disruption in the Online Music Status Quo that I predicted a year ago. It's all starting to come to pass. The era of unlimited free webspace for independent artists is starting to come to a close. Great challenges and great opportunities are in our future and where this future will end up is anyone's guess. For me, the greatest pleasure is working once again with the independent artist community as well as having the opportunity to try out my own vision of the future. It's also really great to be working with such a gifted and hard working 1Sound.com team.
=========================

Read more about 1sound's Label Entry at http://www.1sound.com/label/label_entry.php

Any comments ? Post them here.

Scott (Father Time)

(FatherTime is an successful online artist and personality)

OTHER FT COMMENTARIES: 1

*THE OPINIONS PUBLISHED HERE DO NOT NECCESSARILY REFLECT THOSE of thewireweb.com or OF ITS READERS.