A couple of videos by David Ellefson, bassist for MEGADETH about royalties. He does a pretty good job of providing a simple explanation of the two types of royalties paid on recordings: "artist royalties" and "mechanical royalties." On the first video he talks about "artist royalties" which is money paid to the band or artist that actually performed the song on the recording (after the band or artist recoups or pays back all of the money the record company loaned to the band or artist) and "mechanical royalties" which is money paid to the song writer (without a need to recoup).

Not a day goes by without considering this question. Should I associate with a record company and make no money but rely on the record company to put some money into my new recording, create a buzz, and get it out there to the public. Or, should I do this all myself and make some money in addition to getting my music out to the public?

In a world of instant gratification, at one of CMJ’s most informative panels, music industry pros discussed the power of the song, perseverance and passion.

EMINEM LEADS GRAMMY® NOMINATIONS WITH 10; BRUNO MARS EARNS SEVEN; JAY-Z, LADY ANTEBELLUM, AND LADY GAGA EACH GARNER SIX; AND JEFF BECK, B.O.B, DAVID FROST, PHILIP LAWRENCE, AND JOHN LEGEND EACH EARN FIVE ARCADE FIRE, EMINEM, LADY ANTEBELLUM, LADY GAGA, AND KATY PERRY VIE FOR ALBUM OF THE YEAR AT 53RD ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS FEB. 13, 2011, LIVE ON CBS

I hear the question over and over and the answer is very simple. You need an entertainment lawyer: 1. Whenever someone sticks a document under your nose and asks you to sign; 2. When you decide you want to make a full-time career out of being a musician or artist.

I heard an interesting story last night on NPR's All Things Considered about how TV and film score composers are finding more and more work writing music for video games. It's true, video games are growing like crazy. I'm getting my kids their first Wii this year. Soon they'll be saying "Hold on to your chair dad!"

MyWerx and ASCAP have teamed up to provide ASCAP members with 600 MB of FREE revolutionary Copyright Protection through its WerxProof service. MyWerx simple copyright management platform provides songwriters with WerxPost, a free database for managing their life’s work, and WerxConnect, a social network that connects Creators and their collaborators to their work.

Mr. Murphy, I am a student at Long Island University in Brooklyn studying Jazz Performance. I am currently taking a course in music business which requires students to interview a prominent member of the music industry. Below are a few interview questions.

Movies have been developed pretty much the same way since talkies were considered cutting-edge. But now Amazon Studios, announces a new way to get your movie made. Amazon believes 21st-century technology creates opportunities to make and share movies and scripts more easily than ever. Cold be interesting.

Today, iTunes is the go-to source for fans to purchase music. So, how do you get your music up on iTunes? Answer: go through one of the sites that does all of the work for you. They have negotiated deals with Apple and made getting you music on iTunes easy. They also put your music up on Amazon, eMusic, Rhapsody, Napster, and the other important sites fans go to to purchase music. Here are the 7 Music Sites That Do It For You

I stopped by the CMJ trade show booth of Fargo Tube and talked to Frank Connor, the CEO about the latest site for selling your music, Fargo Tube. Simply put, it is a simple-to-use, one-stop-shopping point of contact between your band and your fans with built-in social media features (and more coming) designed to make selling your music easy and efficient. I thought the concept looked pretty interesting and what I thought set it apart from other similar sites was its ease of use and that you are promoting your URL rather than the site's to your fans.