When you walk into a movie theatre you will see rolling credits listing the most important members of the production as well as the cast and crew involved in the project. Music services like Pandora, iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon along with others do not list credits of those who were involved.

“That’s the basis for a metadata movement being spearheaded by producer, mixer and engineer Count (aka Mikael Eldridge), whose ‘credits’ include artists like DJ Shadow, Radiohead, The Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, New Order, No Doubt, Galactic, Zoe Keating, and Tycho. ”
(Digital Music News)

Count wants his name included in these artists’ digital works – just like physical formats – which is why he’s pushing to properly credit performers, producers, and engineers on all online music services. He offers a solid case as well.

“If Led Zeppelin had only sold albums digitally when they started, it’s very unlikely that many people would know who Jimmy Page or Robert Plant are because the digital music files you purchase for download or streaming can’t show you who played on them.”

(1) Better credits make better user experiences. For example, if I like Radiohead or the Roots, I would want to know who produced them, what other albums they’ve done, and who’s performing on the recordings. Chances are I might like their other work.

(2) This is Marketing 101. It’s an opportunity for these companies to share and sell more music.

(3) Hollywood does it, so why don’t we? The Screen Actors Guild, Directors Guild, and Writers Guild along with the studios would sue if the credits were not there.

(4) This is not about egos. It’s about survival. Producers, engineers, and musicians need these credits in order to survive in this business. Nobody knows the producers work without credit.

(5) It’s an easy fix. Internet distributors to simply require the following info for all releases: list all performers, producers, engineers, mixers, and mastering engineers for each song and provide their preferred web link. Without this data, the release simply shouldn’t be accepted by distributors.

Click here to ‘Like’ the campaign to credit performers, producers, and engineers on all online music services.

“It’s absolutely unbelievable that I can go online and instantly have access to Roger Federer’s obscure tennis stats but I can’t even see who is singing a song on iTunes or Pandora.” – Count

Buzz Track: When She Was Mine

London based Pop rock act Lawson recently finished recording their debut album with Grammy Award winning producer John Shanks (Take That/Alanis Morisette/Bon Jovi). They recently finished an arena tour with The Wanted. The band sold out their show at the Monto Water Rats in 10 minutes. Check out the track When She Was Mine that comes off the upcoming album. For fans of The Wanted, Jessie J, and Cobra Starship. Expect an American takevoer.

Contact: lisa.birch@dawbell.com

Buzz Track: Let Go

Pop rock act and fresh on the scene City of Lions are putting the finishing touches on their self-titled album. The music video for the song You All Along was featured on JCTV’s “Top 10 Countdown” and the first single, You All Along is receiving spins on Kiss 95.7 in Hartford, CT.

Contact: cityoflionsband@gmail.com

Update/News: Lizzie Sider and her band have been chosen to open for Big & Rich on Saturday, May 19, 2012 at the Bergeron Rodeo Arena in Davie, FL. Lizzie will sing the National Anthem, and she will perform 5 of her original songs, with her band.

Buzz Track: Butterfly

Lizzie Sider is an upcoming singer-songwriter who has spent time in Nashville writing with Nashville’s elite. She was a finalist in the Florida Future Stars competition in 2010 and sang on the stage with country star Jamie O’neal singing the popular song “When I Think About Angels” which can he heard on her Facebook.

Contact: dsider@siderlaw.com

Pop duo LMFAO are facing a $7 million lawsuit from their former managers.

The stars, uncle and nephew Stefan ‘Redfoo’ Gordy and Skyler ‘SkyBlu’ Gordy, have been sued by bosses at personal management company RPM GRP, who claim the band signed a deal with them in 2008 but later ditched the contract and hired two of the firm’s former employees to manage them instead.

The lawsuit, filed at Santa Monica Superior Court in California, accuses the duo of breach of contract, tortuous interference and accounting.

The papers state, “LMFAO has thanked the managers who took them from ‘0 to 60’ by throwing them under the tour bus (i.e. firing them). Instead of hiring new managers, LMFAO then poached two employees of the original managers, hiring them on a salary instead of paying a commission to the original managers.”

Gone are the days when artists and managers have a 20 years relationship like U2 and Paul McGuinness. Other artists such as Metallica as well as Britney Spears also enjoyed long lasting business relationships with their managers. The rock band Kiss has been managed by Doc McGhee since 1996.

Veteran management team DAS Communications demanded $14 million in damages after they were fired from Pop star Ke$ha who they described as “a very young and inexperienced artist whose ‘star’ may not continue to rise.” According the papers filed she has made an incredible amount of money in a very short period of time, in large part due to DAS efforts.

Taylor Swift’s former manager also sued country singer for millions of dollars, arguing she owes commissions from a contract she signed with him in 2004, according to RollingStone.com. In July 2005, Swift’s father Scott fired Dan Dymtrow and the singer signed with record label Big Machine. Dymtrow claims he was fired because Swift’s family didn’t want to pay his commission after he helped the singer’s music career take off.

The artist and the manager generally begin on good note. In most cases, the manager will find an opportunity or negotiate a deal that will set the stage for success. The probabilities are low, but if the song reacts with the public and finds it self on top 40 radio, the artist is set to make several million from publishing and performances. Managers are generally paid a percentage of the band’s income, often 15% to 20%.

The manager makes more money as the band popularity grows since the income of the musicians is directly tied to the income of the managers. According to several seasoned managers in the music business the band begins to look at management as an expense rather than something of value. Instead of paying a manager 2 million dollars to manage a multimillion dollar business, the artist will hire salaried employees for half the cost.

In some cases, artists have hired family members only to find themselves in a financial disaster. For instance, Beyonce fired her father as her manager. Live Nation told Beyonce that Matthew Knowles had taken money from her that he was not entitled to as her manager.