Jay Frank, author of the book FutureHit.DNA and former music executive at CMT and Yahoo! Music, today announced his new music company DigSin. The way DigSin works is that fans sign up for a free subscription, and artists sign with DigSin for individual songs instead of for their entire musical output.
Subscribers can specify their choice of genre and digital format, but otherwise will rely on the company being a tastemaker for discovering new artists. Frank said that once the database of subscribing fans grows, the company will be able to more accurately target exposure campaigns as well as generate revenue in what he said would be both traditional and non-traditional methods.
The music is free to subscribers. DigSin accepts all unsigned artists to its catalog, charging $5 each to add and distribute a song, then it evenly splits any profits the artist receives from the track getting picked up for a soundtrack, advertisement or other use.
Frank announced DigSin at the Digital Music Forum West event in Hollywood, Calif. “We are committing ourselves to expose new songs in a targeted, organic way that enables us to be a trusted filter to music fans,” he said, adding that the only way to succeed in today’s music industry is to explore and test multiple revenue streams in creative ways.
Frank previously served as senior vice president of Music Strategy for Viacom’s CMT as well as vice president of Music Programming at Yahoo! Music. He said that DigSin is short for Digital Single. Allegedly. DigSin will be based in Nashville and initially will focus on pop, rock, and dance.
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Let me get this straight – the artist signs over the distribution rights to a single. The subscribers get it for free. If it’s used in an advertising campaign, movie, tv show, etc., DigSin splits “the profits”.
Huh?
Does that mean DigSin gets half of the publishing? Or are we just talking mechanicals? And since the music is being given away, doesn’t that negate the copyright protection from unauthorized commercial use?
This is pretty vague, and their website doesn’t have a FAQ of any sort.
DigSin told me that it takes half of the publishing.
If this kind of idea interests you but you don’t like those terms, check out Tunecore: http://www.tunecore.com
IANAL, but copyright protection is unaffected by whether the music is sold or given away.
Here’s a source for more definitive information:
http://www.menc.org/resources/view/united-states-copyright-law-a-guide-for-music-educators