Whenever songwriters use ordinary conversation in lyrics, the song quickly becomes very direct and very personal. It’s a profoundly effective technique, despite its simplicity. Conversational lyrics allows a songwriter to speak one-on-one to the listener, who almost takes on the role of a close confidante, rather than a cog in the wheel of a mass audience. And it creates a powerful emotional connection. Just ask Adele.

I've always believed that songwriters and musicians are some of our very best storytellers. Storytelling lends itself to visibility and representation, which fosters a sense of community. Community is anything that drives home the idea that you are not alone. Therefore, community does not need to come from a group of people that you know personally. In my closeted journey through high school and part of college, this was true for me. My community became the artists whose records I bought, whose shows I saw, whose words resonated with me.

LAUNCHED IN April 2018, Tracklib is the world's first and only music service that enables music creators to discover, sample, and license original recordings. It solves a problem that has been plaguing producers, DJs, and artists since the rise of sampling in hip-hop and dance music over 30 years ago - how to license and pay for usages in an easy and straightforward manner. Tracklib features a library of over 60,000+ tracks that users can browse, download, and license for samples with the click of a button. Tracklib was founded in 2014 to liberate sampling by creating a music service that makes it possible for music creators to sample original recordings without looking over their shoulders. Tracklib’s Creators Advisory Board includes top producers Erick Sermon, Prince Paul, and Drumma Boy.  

We’re in an awakening of mainstream LGBTQ representation in music where artists all across the spectrum can find success in their careers, but there is still a significant amount of work to be done within our community when it comes to representation for all. In order to celebrate our present, we have to confront and remember the history that got us here. Queer music fans, now more than ever, are desperately seeking the validation that their stories matter and that music written towards their experiences can be shared experiences across the gender identity spectrum.

Imagine, if you will, the musical landscape of 1976. Disco and soft rock rule the airwaves; in November of that year, Captain & Tennille’s “Muskrat Love,” strangely, will go to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Mainstream music remains placid, pleasant, and unchallenging, save the occasional sprinklings of prog and harder-edged stuff. “Harder” meaning, in this case, Boston and Ted Nugent.

Now, picture a sonic hand grenade thrown into the center of this safe and serene environment: A deafening wave of crashing guitars and furious, bile-spewing singers set on destroying everything that’s come before it. We’re talking, of course, about punk rock.

MOLLY NEUMAN is the Global Head of Business Development at Songtrust, the world’s largest global royalty collection service and publishing administrator. At Songtrust she leads the business development, sales, and marketing teams of in their service to over 150,000 songwriters and 20,000 publishers to collect their publishing royalties worldwide for over 1,000,000 copyrights. Prior to joining Songtrust, Molly was Head of Music at Kickstarter, Interim President and Vice President of the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) and held senior roles in label relations at Rhapsody International and eMusic. Additionally, she has served on the boards of SoundExchange and A2IM. Molly's career in music began as the drummer in the Riot Grrrl band, Bratmobile. 

I take delight anytime I’m at a tech gathering and no one brings up blockchain or bitcoin. It’s a buzz word and very few actually know what it means or what it entails. Blockchain is very fetch in that it’s not going to happen, at least not anytime soon. Mean girls reference aside, many critics are hyping blockchain up to be this magic bullet that can fix the music industry, bring us world peace, and make everyone and their mom happy. But just like using a unicorn to commute to work, it’s a nice thought but not actually feasible, and I’d like to break down why.

It’s easy to assume that your Performing Rights Organization (aka PRO) has you covered whenever a song you’ve written is played anywhere in the world - and that’s mostly right. Whether your song hits the airwaves in Seattle or Hong Kong, you can expect that eventually royalties will be paid to you. But when your song is stored on a server, downloaded, or used as a ringtone somewhere far away, your PRO may not have a deal with the reproduction rights collective in that jurisdiction. That’s where sub-publishers come in.

I am a software developer for Songtrust and have been for just over a year now. Songtrust is the first company I have worked at since I graduated from Florida State University in 2017 and it has been a tremendous, fun, and challenging first year. To bookend my first year, I wanted to share the top five things I admire and gained from working at Songtrust.