Throughout November and December, we held a webinar series revolving around The World of Music Publishing Royalties. Over the course of five sessions, hosted by Songtrust's own Noelle Gambuti and Elizabeth McBride, Publishing Specialists, and various special guests, we dove into the major themes of music publishing royalties. We covered topics from the types of royalties your song can earn you to specialized royalties like YouTube and streaming royalties. The turnout was tremendous and those that attended asked a lot of excellent questions.

JOHN COSENZA graduated from Oneonta State University with a degree in Music Industry. John has always been in bands and loved audio recording & production, but felt it was important to learn the business.  His first job after school was at the Harry Fox Agency, and then moved on to Warner Music on the label side where he then moved over to publishing at EMI/Sony/ATV as an Income Tracker.  Prior to joining Songtrust, John ran Royalties & Income Tracking at SONGS Music Publishing.

JAMIE FRANZESE'S aspirations to become a rock-star died ten years ago; he then realized the next best thing to do was to help musicians get paid for their craft; accurately & efficiently. He's been with Downtown since 2012 doing just that and looks forward to continuing to provide unparalleled services to our clients.

ANNA MICELI born in New York, but raised on the road, spent most of her early years on tour with her family, thus sparking her affection for music. She attended the College of Saint Rose and studied Music Industry, where she cofounded Rose Record Label and SMAN Music Publishing. As a fellow songwriter, Anna is proud to have been one of the first few royalty members for Songtrust. She currently helps manage the ever-growing royalty department.

SAMANTHA SHANK recently graduated with her MBA in Music Business where she developed a deep interest in music publishing and the massive business surrounding the song. After learning about Songtrust’s aim to make the complex music publishing accessible to all writers, she knew she wanted to work there. Today, Samantha works hard every day as part of the Royalties team to make sure Songtrust is collecting every last penny out there for their writers.

NIKKI BROWN studied Undergrad at Syracuse University, where she majored in I.T and minored in Music Industry. She wanted a career at a place that bridged the gap between tech and the music industry, which is what brought her to working in Royalties at Songtrust.

STEVE GUIGLIANO graduated from the State University of New York at New Paltz with a degree in Digital Media Production and has written and performed music most of his life as a guitarist. His love for music compelled him to find a career within the music industry and now is a member of the Royalties team at Songtrust as a Coordinator. 

MACKINGOSH ZUMARRAGA found his love for music through playing the piano and singing since the age of four. This passion prevailed throughout his school years and after graduating from Pace University with a degree in Arts and Entertainment Management, he decided to pursue a career in music publishing. With his experience in royalties, he aspires to help music creators develop not just artistically, but also financially, to provide them a better opportunity to impact the world. 

Soundcloud has become a critical tool for any songwriter or musician who wants to reach an audience of potential fans – but it isn’t as easy to do as simply pushing a button. As the largest online music community, Soundcloud affords an independent music maker a significant platform, but one that’s crowded with thousands and thousands of other artists, too. Here are some important steps to keep in mind when using Soundcloud to make sure your work stands out and finds the receptive audience you want.

Whether or not you need a music manager depends on where you are and where you want to go with your music career. Digital Music News says years ago managers were the liaisons between the artists and their record labels. But today a manager’s role focuses on a variety of different things from touring, social media and financial management to developing other revenue streams including music licensing, branding, and merchandising. You may be successful tackling these tasks on your own or you may want to consider bringing someone with more expertise so you can devote more time to making music.

NEXGEN MUSIC is a worldwide independent record label group recognized for its pioneering sound representing underground and cross-mainstream music. Converging from countries across the globe, NexGen artists, composers and musicians showcase their talent of creating music that "pushes the envelope."

Through their various imprints the label showcases a wide range of musical genres and styles such as: Downtempo, Chill-Out, Nu/Future-Jazz, Drum & Bass, Bass Music, Dubstep, UK Garage, House, Electronica (EDM), Trap, Hip-Hop, Trip-Hop, Soul, Funk, Leftfield, Experimental, Dance, Pop and more.

NEXGEN MUSIC is an artist-centric brand devoted to creating a forward-looking, inclusive and multifaceted musical community. They foster a philosophy of artistic growth, collaboration and experimentation, uniting promising new talent with established music production artists.

As a songwriter, retirement isn’t exactly at the forefront of your mind - finishing your song, setting up that next gig, and getting new equipment is more likely. However, retirement is ultimately still a top financial goal that you should be working toward.

While it may be the furthest goal out, any good financial plan starts with calculating how much money you’ll need to live on during your retirement years (aka your golden years), putting a strategy in place to get there, and then addressing your shorter-term needs, like upgrading your equipment or booking studio space. Many financial professionals believe you’ll need approximately 80 percent of your peak pre-retirement income to maintain your current lifestyle in retirement - seems like a lot right?

Shortly after I started at Songtrust and during the early conversations I had with candidates for roles on our team, we talked about how we would speak to the creative community about why it might make sense for them to work with us. Much of what brought me to Songtrust was the chance to be a part of an organization that gives access to an area of the business long made mysterious and seemingly unavailable to a large swath of songwriters and producers. The fact is that, by law, simply by having recordings of their compositions in distribution earns them royalties. Yet it can seem nearly impossible to access these royalties due to the complexity of the global rights system. This unfairness is something that motivates me every day.

CJ OLIVIERI manages the Client Acquisition Team throughout New York, Atlanta and Nashville. His team focuses on identifying rights owners in need of global publishing administrative services and transitioning them onto the Songtrust platform. CJ is also tasked with providing tools and education to prospects to help them better understand the music publishing landscape and learn how to further take control over their own publishing. 

NOELLE GAMBUTI graduated from Pace University with a degree in Arts and Entertainment Management and fell in love with music during her many years of dance training. She always knew she wanted to have a career in the music industry and now focuses on educating Songtrust clients on music publishing and why it is so important to maintain the rights to their music.

ELIZABETH MCBRIDE is a Publishing Specialist at Songtrust. With a degree in Music Industry Studies from Loyola University Orleans, the publishing world has become her centrifuge for understanding how songs get from creation to transaction data. After witnessing widespread inequality for songwriters, Elizabeth now shares Songtrust’s mission to create better harmony for performing rights and royalty models, and improve publishing literacy as a whole.

LORENZO COOK is the northeast representative for the Client Acquisition team at Songtrust in New York. As a musician with a background in A&R and a degree from the Bandier Program at Syracuse University, Lorenzo was one of the first employees to test out Songtrust’s outreach program, directly dealing with artists and managers on a daily basis.

CARLI GONDERINGER represents the CAT team in Nashville, TN. After spending a semester in college interning with DMP Nashville, Carli joined Songtrust in September of this year. She grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but has called Nashville home for the past four years. Studying music business and interning with a variety of companies has provided a deep insight into the independent, genre-bending music scene in need of publishing.

BRE HARPER, from Memphis, TN, is a young music professional making strides in the Atlanta music scene. After receiving her bachelors in Music Business, Bre joined the Songtrust Client Acquisition team in September. She prides herself on being an advocate for independent artists and helping them navigate through the industry.

The beat of a song (the drum, digital, or other percussive "beat" that serves as a core element in the song) can sometimes be as important – or even more important, especially in EDM and hip-hop music – than lyrics or melody in making a song a hit. But when a beat is created by someone other than a songwriter, such as a producer, what rights do they have to publishing royalties or writing credits? The short answer is – it's complicated.