What’s ‘Originals’?

Tell Me About PepperHorn Originals …

PepperHorn Originals is all about using print publishing and you, the jobbing band as a new marketing tool.  Back in the day, before recorded music, sheet music, piano rolls and vocal folios were the only way of getting new songs out into the public.  With the advent of recordings and radio, that way of telling stories or songs has really been forgotten.  We’d like to change that with PepperHorn Originals.

We’re going to take PepperHorn – an independent print music publishing company and combine with Independent Artists and create a vehicle for their music to be easily and affordably shared with you, the guys on the front line.  We all know the trials and tribulations of trying to ‘make it’ as a musician – there’s never enough money or exposure.  Forget getting on Top 40 radio – even the college station run by a trained monkey and his drinking buddy just turned down your last demo!  But through online, direct print we have a cost effective way to have these artist’s tunes played in venues big and small, all around the world – by you – the bands that are out there night after night.

Let’s look at one scenario: you’re a vocalist. You’re in a pretty good market – a fair number of gigs, but you know that you need to have something that separates your band from the loads of pub acts, tribute bands and the like.  You have a half-dozen or so originals to your name that are really being received well in the venues.  You just don’t have enough material to get together a full set or even a full night’s gig.  That’s where Originals comes in.  Have a look through the catalog in the genre you’re working and find some other artists that are up and comers like you and have a complimentary sound.  At $5-$10 a song you can readily afford to put together a night’s worth of material.  You’ve now graduated from a middle rung local act with lots of covers to a fully original and unique, marketable package!  Seriously!  And we have some great tunes to work with.

Let’s try a group scenario:  You’ve recently got hip to the Afro-Beat  sounds of Fela Kuti and think it’d kill in your region.  You don’t want to just be a Kuti tribute band or be stretching out each groove to 20 minutes to fill the night’s slot.  Dial into Originals and see what you can find.  We have Ultra Magnus out of Toronto, Canada which has been laying down some booty shakin’ original Afro-rhythms for the last eight years!  Chad Paulson is their leader and lead song-writer and wants to get his sound out so grab an Ultra Magnus groove or three to pad out your book and get that band working.

So that’s what’s in it for you?  What’s in it for them? Well, first off you’re going to help them out. It’s not a contract written in blood or anything but part of this whole Originals thing is working together for everyone’s success.  Here’s a few pointers:

• So if you’re picking up a chart from Originals to get your band that extra bread every night please give the artists a plug before their tunes. It’s that simple.
• Even one better – after your gig is done you can submit your set list to the relevant Performing Rights Society (ie. BMI, ASCAP, SOCAN, PRS, APRA, etc.) so that the artist can collect their share of the royalties paid by your venue every year to allow live music there.  Seriously.  Check out this link here for some more info and directions on how to submit. It’s not going to keep the songwriter in croc-skin jump suits – but might help keep them in Kraft Dinner .
• If you’re really feeling the spirit (you know you want to) you can give a link back to an artist you cover on your website.  It’s easy to do and you both benefit from the generated traffic and exposure.  We’ll even provide you with the links (see here for details)[link – more info].
• Say you’re digging this tune and want to record it on your next album – well that’s awesome and I bet the songwriter is chuffed (I know we’re chuffed ).  Many of our artists have pre-authorized us to sell a limited mechanical license for their songs.  Have a look in the details section of the particular song you want to cover.  You’re putting money in the pockets of these songwriters and bands and you’ve got a great, hip, new tune for your gold record.
• Let’s say you’ve come up with a cool, happenin’ new version of a tune you’ve picked up from Originals and think others would dig it too.  We can sort out a licensing/profit sharing scheme through PepperHorn where we get your version out there to the masses, some bread in your pocket and get the artist their fare dues. If this is what you’re throwin’ down give Shaun a shout at shaun@pepperhon.com so we can chat about it.

And what does PepperHorn do for the artist and get out of this whole thing?  Aside from (hopefully) some good Karma:

• All of our PepperHorn Originals artists are on a 50/50 profit sharing split.  So 50% of everything we do for them is going back in their pocket.  This is at least on par if not better than many, many of the traditional model publishing agreements out there.  For reals.
• We send the artists 70% of the revenue from the sale of their original recordings through our site. So every time you grab that 99c track to check out their hip tune you’re seriously helping them out.  Thanks!
• We’re doing everything we can to create new marketing and licensing opportunities for our artists. All the time.  You should ask Shaun’s missus about how much he works.  She hates it. (Love you, honey!)
• We want to create connections between you, the working musician who’s tired of playing Brown Eyed Hurl for the millionth time – and some really cool, original, inspired tunes that your audience is going to dig just as much – if not more than that that tired old stuff.
• We do all of this on a non-exclusive, limited contract. What does that mean?  In simple-speak there’s no lock in to us.  Our artists are free to work with anyone else to market their material and can end their relationship with PepperHorn if they choose to do so.  Why would we do that? Because we think that the relationship we’ll build with our artists is a strong enough motivation to continue to work with PepperHorn into the future.

We all know the classics have their time and place.  I’m sure you can find Shaun up on Youtube somewhere nailing out some corny covers.  It pays the bills on Thursday night so that on Friday or Saturday it’s your chance to do something special.  We’re not going to be millionaires.  We just want to play some damn, good tunes and have fun doing it.  I bet you do too.

You can click here to head to the PepperHorn Originals part of the Shop and see what it’s all about.  We always welcome your questions, queries, posers and input so let us hear it at info@pepperhorn.com.  If you think you have something to offer and want to be a part of Originals as an artist or band drop Shaun a line at shaun@pepperhorn.com or visit the page PepperHorn Originals – For The Artists page for some more details.

Thanks for listening and grab some Originals … they’re good for you!