MUMBAI: The Music Specialist’s CEO Allen Johnston is a well-known music specialist with more than three decades of progressive experience in all aspect of music product development, promotion, licensing, sales and distribution for the national and international market. Thus, who can be better than him to explain the dos and don’ts of the music business?

In a conversation with Radioandmusic Johnston explains the rights and wrongs for an independent artiste.

“The biggest problem the independent artiste face is lack of preparation. I suggest that if the artiste is performing there has to be a rehearsal before the mirror to see exactly how they project themselves prior to the event. It builds the confidence of the artistes,” explained Johnston.

In his opinion artiste don’t have to worry about the reception of performance when they have something new and different. In fact, he believes that even if one out of 100 like the performance, the artiste has accomplished his task.

He also discussed the major problems the independent artiste face naming them as money management, funding sources, and streaming matters. He said, “Artiste has to take into concentration that this is a business. I think he should work with someone who understands it well. When he performs at a club they need to ensure that they get 50 percent money ahead of the performance. This will save their time as they don’t have to wait after the performance to get paid. If they are learning the craft they have to understand their worth before the start.”

On the same note, he expressed, “A singer has to work on the crafts before going to the studio or to the clients. The performance has to evoke the emotions of the audience. Secondly, when he is out for a performance there should be an agreement in the venue where he is performing.”

Johnston further explained that one should make it a point to involve more than two people in an agreement. As a deal between two people can change it’s the third witness who makes the difference.

He explained, “Artiste should approach venues which offer proper contract. He should read through and understand it first before signing it. Majority of times it is 50 percent before and 50 percent at the end of the show.”

Speaking about the need for streaming platforms he said, “To make money in streaming an artiste needs all the platforms. It’s not about which one is the best but it’s about how many streaming platforms the artiste is going for because streaming pays less. In India its 10pa every time we stream. If we see Billboard, they count on number of sales. One sale of CD is equal to one download. But it takes 1500 streams to make one download.”

He also mentioned about the guy who made the most viral song Gangnam Style and is no more in the scene. He said, “There was a guy in South Korea who made Gangnam Style. No one knows what he is doing next. I think it’s the fault of the artiste as they don’t take music as a business. If I am writing a song and it's popular I should see how it’s happening and plan on next thing and continue to build on the success. It will get viewed and I’ll get a lot of money.”

Allen Johnston was one of the panellists at the Totem Pole 2017 The Road To Excellence Conference.