"Now phone questions on music, songwriting, record deals, music making and getting record deals, learning the music business at makehits.com"

Thanks, as always, for your prompt and straight talking reply - I'm not so much amazed by you getting back to me, because I know, underneath the sparks, is a heck of a good hearted guy, but the speed you work at, with all the other stuff you've got going on, is a real inspiration.

Thank you for giving me expert confirmation on what I felt about the Album idea. Of course the Disney side of me loves happy endings so I'll put my thinking cap on and see if I can come up with that unusual/fresh angle on D******'s work. Maybe I can get a couple of younger chart Gospel acts to duet on a track or two. I've made great use of your "I need your help" tip over the past two years so might as well stretch it to the max now.

Cartoons and comedy writing are going wonderfully well thanks - lots of enjoyable work on - as you've often said about music, no greater joy then doing what you love and getting paid for it. The best bit is that where kid's work is concerned my fan base is about 6-12 years old, and my son has just hit seven. It's a real kick to be able to watch him enjoy a TV show or a book I've written, even though he's still too young to really understand that I did write it. Were your kids that young during the "Unicorn" days? [note from Dec: The Unicorn was one of our top Hits and aimed at teeny kids]

Of course the more success I have on the writing/drawing side of Cartoons the hungrier I'm getting to get my own production/publishing company going (yes, I KNOW you predicted this last time we exchanged e-mails. Dec 1: J*** 0). In particular, I want to get cartoon and comedy writing courses going via e-mail/manuals.

One of the big commercial partwork publishers are also interested in me doing a 26 part series for them, so I'll have a chance to compare the return from going the commercial route or the home publishing route. I've been looking at Phil Gosling's stuff recently - I assume you're familiar with him?

Anyhow, thanks so much for taking the time to respond and please remember that if you ever do need some car-toons to go with your hit toons, they're on the house

PS: speaking of your band, The Bachelors, I was rewriting my Writing Comedy book for it's second edition and I'm nearly sure I remember a comedy TV show where you guys were builders and trapped in the Channel Tunnel or something (back in the seventies?) Can't remember whether it was a sketch or a sitcom.
Enlightenment please!

"Thanks so much, I really appreciate all you’ve done for me. Really the best Pro I have met.
QUINCY ELLIS
==============================
We launched our CD on Friday with a wonderful party, BBC, ITV, independent radio coverage on the hour every hour playing our songs, BBC local radio doing interviews.
Ian Kellett
Action for Blind People Registered Charity No. 205913...... 23-25 Castle St, Carlisle, CA3 8SY
Telephone No. +44 (0) 20 7635 4800
Website: http://www.afbp.org
==============================

We have long fought to keep ourselves totally private for the Members of 'The Serious Writers Guild'. But lately, in advising music guys to be 'transparent' in their business dealings, we realised that maybe we could be perceived as being a little too unavailable.

Yes - my private direct line to the studio desk will still be only available to Members for queries and questions plus help with that mighty question. If I don't know the answer personally, I will get it within 10 hours...that is the promise.

Our new number from Tuesday 27th April is +44 (0)1323.728005 in the UK.....this will be a line for no charge info packs - a quick credit card hotline also. Please call in office hours and please respect that this is a business line and not for time wasters and tyre kickers. The girls and the guys will help all they can.

We have just launched a brand new page of brilliant Q& A's ....check it out www.makehits.co.uk/qanda19.htm :

(1) "They might offer me a publishing deal. Am I standing blindly beside a pitfall??"

(2) "I wish to sell my own music as well as others on my website?"

(3)"What is your advice about using high hats in the percussion tracks???"

(4)"I have a feeling in my gut that says the work is not lawful?"

(5)"Need I go to UCLA to learn how to write film Scores?"

(6)"Would you have a different name for every project?"

(7)"I have no money and no clue how to progress any further with a Demo?"

Check out the 'chart observations' this week for exciting new 'fan' involvement.

Forgive me just this once ....I am turning over this week's 'One Minute' to the 'agency' experts. After my initial mention of the regulations that have been sneaked into place here in the UK by the Socialist Government I got a deluge of well informed Emails from many concerned agents/artists/Agents Association members.

The regulations are to do with the way agents can handle fees on behalf of Artists and also the requirement that all artists have Public Liability Insurance and Portable Appliance Test certificates for their performing gear.

So just this once it is 'learning' time....check out what these guys say...it is important - and 'knowledge' is so important in the pursuit of your success in music. Get to know how these new rules will affect YOU.

First of all I should say it is NOT Proposed, the new legislation came into force on the 6th. April 2004 after 2 years of negotiations with numerous parties concerned including The Agents Associations and Neac. The new legislation must be observed not only by members of the above but anyone in the industry who acts as an agent or in fact buys and sells acts.

You can down load all the information from the DTI website www.dti.org.uk and is 53 pages.

The agents Association telephone number is 020 7843 0515 but in giving you that, I would assume they will only discuss matters with members.

There are two groups, Entertainment Agent who works on a commission basis and Entertainment Business who buys and sells. And there are different rules for each group......Regards....... Bill Clarke

Dec, as always, if you want the gen. on agency matters you can always ask me....

<<<<<<<<<I just got news, today, that there are major changes on the way re. the relationship between agents and artists in the UK. A little sketchy at the moment [I will get the correct detail].>>>>>>>>

The Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations came into force on 6th April. These regulations are authorised by the Employment Agencies Act 1973 (as amended) and are compulsory for all Employment Agencies and Employment businesses including those in the entertainment sector. The DTI (who are tasked with overseeing the whole thing) have not yet finished their staff training on it, and concede that the actual meaning of some parts will not be known until test cases have been heard. For example, there is no definition of the word 'Performer' within the regulations yet the meaning is central to whether or not an Agent may charge commission to the workseeker.

<<<<<<<<Basically, artists will be forced to have complete public liability insurance [get it free from Equity or MU].>>>>>>>>>

This is not a legislative matter, but is becoming contractually compulsory for the simple reason that the Insurance Companies have re-worded their policies so that if the Artistes are not insured the Venue insurance is automatically invalidated.

<<<<<<<<<,Agents will be obliged to hold a copy of that insurance policy for inspection.>>>>>>>>>>>

Again this is not a legal requirement but a matter of convenience as having it to hand will reduce negotiation times. Many Agents will not hold copies because they fear that they may be held liable if an Artiste does not renew and an incident occurs whilst the Artiste is uninsured on the basis that they knew that the insurance had expired because they had a copy and yet did nothing about it....

<<<<<<<<<<<Agents will no longer be able to accept fees on behalf of artists.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

This is not correct. However, the new Regulations are such that the vast majority of Agents will refuse to do so.

Agents who accept money on behalf of other people have to place the funds in a Clients Account - quite reasonable - but they now have to do a huge amount of administration in order to stay within the regs. This includes having the account audited by an accountant qualified to the level that permits them to audit for Companies House and a member of one of five approved bodies. One of the bodies quoted a base price of £3,500 for an account with few or no transactions, more if there are more transactions. I personally contacted my own accountant who agreed to do it for us as a special favour for around £700 - more than the cost of accountancy for all of my businesses put together!

In addition, monthly reconciliations and 30 day statements are compulsory (note that the reconciliation and statement periods do not even match!) and when sending money to an Artiste the agent has to send a statement declaring when the money was received (i.e. cleared to the Clients Account), who it was received from, why it was received, whether there are any deductions, if so what those deductions are for, and so on.

The regulations do not permit Agents to charge for providing the service, and for my own agency as well as the £700 auditing charge we would have to pay for staff for approximately 16-20 hours per week to do the admin. Obviously this level of expense is not practical for a service that has always been provided for free as a benefit and protection for Clients and Artistes alike which gives no benefit whatsoever to the Agent. You will not be surprised to learn that with effect from April 6th 2004 Complete Entertainment Services no longer operates a Clients Account!

The NEAC fought against this proposal and provided a sensible and workable alternative. We said that the way to make this work is to give any person who has money held on their behalf or their appointed representative (for example their accountant) or any authorised person (such as a DTI Enforcement Officer) the right to inspect all the Clients Account records at any time, perhaps but not necessarily with a reasonable amount of notice such as 24 or 48 hours. This would have prevented the '22 month' stupidity and meant that dodgy Agents could not afford to have their Client Accounts anything other than in order because they could have been checked at any time. Everyone wins, because it is affordable to do, and would have allowed Agents to continue to offer the Clients Account as a free service.

<<<<<<<<<<,The cheques and payments will go directly to the artists. >>>>>>>>>

That is indeed likely to be the end result, but it will cause problems for Artistes if payment is not forthcoming...

<<<<<<<<<<Some artists will applaud that, >>>>>>>>>>>>

Only those that do not understand the business!! At the moment the Agent will often take a deposit against the booking so that if it is cancelled or the Client reneges on the deal at least the Artiste will get part of their money. Also, for weddings etc. it is common for the balance to be paid to the Agent in advance of the event so that the money is cleared before the event takes place and the Artiste is guaranteed payment.

The advantage is that both Artiste and Client are protected, but due to the changes in the regulations Agents will generally not be able to afford to provide the service, and although they can increase their overall commission rate that is not fair on the Artistes who do not have occasion to use the service.

The idea of all this is to protect Artistes from Agents who might spend their money. Unfortunately, it never stood a hope of working! For example, the auditing requirement is ludicrously expensive and requires the procedure to be carried out within 10 months of the financial year end. What that means in real terms is the dodgy agents have up to 22 months to spend your money before they can be caught! As always, legitimate agents are forced to work to unrealistic regulations whilst the crooks who don't give a fig what the rules are just carry on regardless. As they don't have to be licensed or registered the DTI don't know who they are or where they are, and by the time they find out the crooks have normally moved on...

<<<<<<<<<<<Sadly a lot of agents will go out of business.>>>>>>>>>>.

That is not really a likely scenario. Agents can put themselves completely outside the regulations by either doing net deals (Buy and Sell) or by charging commission to either the Artiste or a booking fee or commission to the Booker - all are permissible under the Regulations. Because the regulations are badly drawn, what was intended to improve the situation for Artistes will actually make it far worse.

<<<<<<<<<<<Artists are notorious for slow payment of commission...and even non-payment! >>>>>>>>>>>

Very true! However, those Artistes are unlikely to be those who follow your teachings - a good Agent is worth his or her weight in gold to the Artistes and to the Bookers with whom they deal, and it doesn't pay to bite the hand that feeds you. As you know like yourself I am still a performing Artiste myself and I always pay commissions immediately. That means if there is a choice between my act (prompt payer) and someone else's (slow payer) guess which one the Agent will recommend??

<<<<<<<<<<<<So, agents client accounts will be a thing of the past.>>>>>>>>>>>>>

That is largely the case. There will still be some people whose businesses are structured in such a way that they cannot dispose of their Clients Account(s), and they will just have to bite the bullet and meet the costs and administrative burden or re-structure. For the general Agent, though, I suspect that your assessment is bang on!

<<<<<<<<<<PAT testing [Portable Appliance Test] will be strictly enforced and agents again will be obliged to hold a copy of the certificate for each artist.>>>>>>>>>

Again, this is not actually related to the Regulations at all. However, again for Insurance reasons, Venues are being forced to insist on PAT certification to prevent invalidation of their own cover if something goes wrong.

<<<<<<<<<<,,Bureaucracy gone mad?>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Yes and No. The new regulations were all motivated by crimes committed against workseekers, and they seek to address known scams and problems in the industry. The idea is good, but the implementation is fatally flawed.

There have been two big problems, namely 1) that Entertainment Agencies are lumped in with normal Employment Agencies which means that some things desirable from our point of view could not be included because of the effect on the other part of the industry and vice versa and 2) that the civil servants involved were effectively forced to do certain things because of the political aims of their masters which appear to have taken priority over common sense and good legislation.

<<<<<<<<<Most agents will now charge 20% to cover the extra costs.....>>>>>>>>>>>

Whilst it is open to Agents to charge higher commissions, I suspect that commercial and competition pressures will mean that these will stabilise at the old rates without too much problem. Artistes, after all, are employing the Agents to work for them and will simply choose other Agents if the charges are unreasonable for the service provided.

If you would like the full text of the regulations, current guidance, etc. then I can forward them to you, and if you need any further information please feel free to ask.

It might be worth noting that the Regulations use a number of words that, whilst they are central to the meaning of the act, remain undefined. For example, the word 'Performer' is not defined in the regulations at all, yet it is used in Schedule 3 as a type of person that can be charged commission for finding them work. It may seem obvious to you what a 'Performer' is, but for example what about Dancing JCB's? Performer? Plant Hire? Is an Elephant a performer? Is the keeper a performer or an ancillary worker?

The difficulty with all this is that you and I can decide what we think the words mean, but we just have to hope that the DTI and eventually the Courts agree.

Another interesting thing is that there is now a single penalty open for any breach of the regulations - a fine to level 5 (currently up to £5,000) and a ban of up to 10 years from running an Agency - and that is theoretically for every breach!

Chris Bray.
General Secretary - National Entertainment Agents Council
Managing Director - Complete Entertainment Services Ltd

There is no truth in the matter that an agent can't accept payments.

The new rules state ....

An agent must by law operate a 'Clients Account'
All monies received on behalf of an act must be paid into that account within 2 working days of receipt.
An invoice issued by an agent to a client must state that the cheque is made payable to bla bla bla - Clients Account
If the cheque is made payable to the artiste it must be forwarded within 2 working days.
The agent must within 10 working days pay the act less commission
The agent may not deduct anything else other than the commission for that job.

You are quite right about PL Insurance and PAT testing but an act also has to provide us with a Risk Assessment too.

Plus Agents have to issue Terms of Business to both the act and the booker

You would not believe the volume of extra paperwork this lot involves.

Just to clarify, we only need ONE client account, any number of acts payments can go into it.

Bill Clarke - Agents Association

Re the UK performers bit – as an agent, I already hold the insurance & PAT details on file, but see a lot of loopholes and potential problems with the proposals. When the government had a go at the building industry with the appalling ‘C.I.S.’ tax scheme the result was, as predicted, simply to drive many off the records and into the unofficial economy. Best wishes........Paul Hurst

1) 'F**K IT' ... (I Don't Want You Back) Eamon <G> [Same Top 2 as Australia...there's a novelty!]

2) "My Band" ..... D-12

3) "This Love" ......... Maroon 5

1) "Yeah!" Usher Featuring Lil Jon & Ludacris
2) "I Don't Wanna Know" Mario Winans Featuring Enya & P Diddy

1) 'F**K IT' ... (I Don't Want You Back) Eamon <G> [What a great success!]

2) "My Band" ..... D-12

3) "Left Outside Alone" .... Anastacia

About time the Australian chart came into line with the UK? And Usher is still king in The States. With the size of the country a successful record can stick around for a long time and generate serious sales.

The top two spots of both single and album charts in the UK stay the same this week. Yawn. Maroon 5 make it to No 3 on the singles.

But the big surprise is the resounding comeback of The Artist Formerly Known As Prince. Or Prince, to his mates. See, it's simple: change your name to an unpronounceable symbol and it makes it quite hard to shift your records, no matter how prolific you are. Change it back to something simple and recognisable and come up with a decent album title and voila, you've got an audience again.

The big single story is Marillion, and how many millions of pounds I would have bet only last month that I'd never have to type that sentence. 'You're Gone' is another fan club hit, a new trend where a group of fans notice that single sales are so low these days that if they just buy multiple copies each of their favourite band's new record they can give them a top 10 hit as a present. On the band's website their singer, Steve Hogarth, said: "By our calculations, in the current UK single market, if you go out and buy one single each, we'll go top 40. If you go out and buy two versions, we'll go top 20. If, however, you'd like to make an old dog very happy, you could dig deep, get into eight quid's worth of debt and buy three copies or more of our single. We'd almost certainly go top 10 and I'd have my first ever top 10 single just before my 45th birthday!" Wish granted.

I came across this Email from a Member....he has since had a 6 week series on Radio 4 in the UK and is script doctoring a major show in London's West End....some success story? TV shows and books galore!

Sometimes I get asked for advice far beyond music, as in this Email...but as I always guarantee: "If I don't know the answer I will get it in 10 hours....guaranteed"

You say: <<<<<One of the big commercial partwork publishers are also interested in me doing a 26 part series for them, so I'll have a chance to compare the return from going the commercial route or the home publishing route. I've been looking at Phil Gosling's stuff recently - I assume you're familiar with him?>>>>>>>>

The 'real' money is in self publishing...it's not hard it's just 'hard work'...plus 'learning' the skills needed...they are all well documented and easily available when told the sources....if you do have a publishing deal then make sure you retain the rights to self publish [which will not intrude on their commercial exploitation].

Have a look at www.centerpointe.com . That is currently one of the best 'models' for a money making web-site [a novelty in this day and age]. Bill pulls in $4-6 thousand a day from that site...it is almost fully automated and has many 'hidden' features which, when explained to you, blow your head off! For instance, scroll through until you get to the end of the second or third page..then try to log off and see what happens...totally brilliant idea, which I AM IMPLEMENTING IMMEDIATELY. So simple.

Your 'cartoon course' could be a real money spinner...everyone fancies themselves as a cartoonist....except me! Thank Goodness for clip art.

You say: <<<<<<<<<you guys were builders and trapped in the Channel Tunnel>>>>>>>>

Show was called 'Under and Over'... I wrote and produced the album from it.

'Bachelors' Live recording on location in Scarborough - the control room was in the dancers' dressing room...lucky us! The Decca engineer [back to camera] was actually engineer for Jimmi Hendrix as well....crazy!

It was a six part comedy which was pitched against the biggest audience ITV show at the time [with Tony Curtis and Roger Moore]...it was on BBC 2. Good experience and taught me so much about the successful side of TV.

The pilot show was directed and produced by the genius that did 'Doctor in the House'...then the series was directed by BBC in-house man Roger Cooke [not the same guy] who was a total alcoholic - didn't drink on the day of the filming...so he shook all day....almost in a coma...now there is a lesson to learn?

On the one hand was a dedicated, independent, freelance director who directed every syllable and every twitch of the eye...on the other hand a Bureaucracy employed alcoholic who just sat back and enjoyed the ride...result? It worked when he did Eric Sykes...but not three Pop Stars who were willing to learn and were totally malleable....tragically we were completely lost in the maze of TV comedy's indispensable skills.

Lesson? Alcohol and success do not mix.

"The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand,

and the determination that whether we win or lose,

we have applied the best of ourselves to the task in hand"

vince lombardi

You may use any part of this 'One Minute' in your own publications...we simply require you to add:

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'One Minute With Dec' is written each week by Dec Cluskey. Dec's advice?

Get in touch personally to discuss what you want to achieve in music dec@makehits.com

web: www.makehits.com or call +44 (0)1323.728005

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