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Dean Fagan

@deanfaganmusic

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Music Industry Professional 🇮🇪
💸 | Music Royalties & Rights Expert
📺 | Composer for Media (Discovery, Disney+, WWE, Hulu)
📝 | Music Consultant

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Why I keep saying yes to music industry conferences 💡

I was looking through some of the passes and lanyards I’ve collected from conferences I’ve spoken at and attended over the years, and it got me thinking about why I enjoy doing them so much.

Obviously, getting the chance to speak on a panel or moderate a discussion is great. It gives me an opportunity to talk about royalties, rights, composing and some of the wider issues I see across the music industry every day.

But being on a panel is only part of it. Some of the most useful conversations happen before the panel starts, over a coffee afterwards, drinks around a bar that night or with someone working in a completely different part of the industry.

My day-to-day work gives me a very detailed view of royalties and music rights, while composing gives me another perspective entirely. Conferences are one of the few places where you can put that experience in a room with managers, artists, publishers, labels, composers, technology companies and plenty of people doing things you might know very little about.

I normally leave with a few new ideas, a better understanding of another part of the business and, hopefully, a few new relationships as well.
I also think it is important to get outside of your own area of expertise. Music is too interconnected to only understand the part that lands on your desk and if you can't connect the bigger picture together, well then you are behind.

The more I learn about what happens elsewhere in the industry, the better I become at my own job.

Hopefully there are a few more lanyards to add to the collection and if anyone has any recommendtions for some great conferences or networking events next year let me know.
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#conference #musicindustry #musicbusiness #networking #speaker by @deanfaganmusic

A few TV shows where my music has found a home recently 🎶

Working in production music, you don't always know where your track will end up when writing it. Though it is always a great feeling to discover that something you created has found its place on screens around the world.
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#composer #productionmusic #syncmusic #musicindustry #musician by @deanfaganmusic

"1 million Spotify streams pays an artist $3,000"

This is something you hear a lot, but it leaves out a very important question: How much actually reaches the artist?

There is no fixed payment for a million streams. The artist's share can depend on their distribution deal, label deal and any costs or advances still to be recouped.

In my day-to-day work I see this all the time. Follow the page for more insights into the music industry 👍
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#musicroyalties #musicbusiness #spotify #streaming #musicindustry by @deanfaganmusic

Something you have probably heard before: “1 million Spotify streams pays around $3,000.” It is a useful shorthand, but it can also be very misleading 👀

Spotify does not actually pay a fixed amount per stream. Royalties are calculated through a streamshare model, with the value of streams changing depending on things like listener territory, subscription type and the revenue generated in that market.

Recent industry data has put Spotify at roughly $3 per 1,000 streams on average, so you can see where the “$3,000 per million” figure comes from. But that is an average calculation, not a guaranteed rate.

More importantly, even if a recording generates $3,000 from Spotify, that does not necessarily mean the artist receives $3,000.

That money may first be payable to a label, distributor or other master rightsholder.From there you could have:
🔸A distributor taking a percentage or fee
🔸A label retaining its contractual share
🔸Recording costs or advances still being recouped
🔸Producers or other participants receiving royalties
🔸Multiple artists sharing the recording income

So two artists can both have 1 million Spotify streams and end up receiving very different amounts.

An independent artist who owns their master and has a low-cost distribution arrangement could retain a large proportion of the master income.
An artist signed to a traditional recording agreement could personally receive considerably less from exactly the same number of streams.

That is why I think we need to be careful when we say: “1 million streams = $3,000.”
Stream count tells you how much music was consumed. It does not tell you what the artist was paid.
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#streaming #spotify #musicindustry #royalties #musician by @deanfaganmusic

An Audi advert, with my own score 🎧

A short snippet from an old rescore from my composing archive. Alongside my production music work, I've always enjoyed writing to picture. It is always good to try enhance the picture you are seeing on screen, letting the movement, cuts and atmosphere shape the music.

Rescoring already existing visuals can be great practice for writing to picture and I would recommend it for any new composer building a demo reel.

Music composed by me. Personal rescore using existing Audi footage (not an official commission)
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#composer #rescore #originalmusic #musicproducer #sync by @deanfaganmusic

All of this starts with me sitting here at my desk in my home studio, working out an idea or trying a brief and seeing where it goes.

Over the years, I've been lucky enough to have my music played millions of times and featured across TV shows and top Network or Streaming services around the world.

When writing production music, you often have no idea where your music will end up. Something you've spent hours shaping can find its way into a story being watched by people all over the world. That's still one of my favourite things about composing.

There's a lot of writing and time at the keyboard but I am happy to see where my my music has travelled and grateful for the publishers that have helped it get there.

Still plenty more I want to do, but for onto the next cue 🎶
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#music #musicproducer #productionmusic #sync #tvmusic by @deanfaganmusic

One thing I never get bored of, is being out attending industry events, talking about the creation of music and business and rights behind it.
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#musicbusiness #musicindustry #conference
#speaker #networking by @deanfaganmusic

Another great year at @outputbelfast 🙌. Got to moderate a great panel on production music with @ciaranbirch_ & @clairecomposer along with catching up with plenty of industry heads and meeting some great new people.

Already looking forward to next year and hopefully taking part again.
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#musicconference #speaking #musicindustry #connecting #networking by @deanfaganmusic

New Album Release: Always great to see more of my music out in the industry this week. Happy to have 3 of my tracks co-written with the talented Michael Oates featured on this album released by Atomica music 🙌

Some creepy horror music perfect for Trailers, Promos & TV spots.

Use the album link to hear my 3 tracks: Bad Seed, What The Children Know & Twinkle Twinkle Little Scar.

Album: https://atomicamusic.com/albums/fsd1075
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#music #sync #horrormusic #traliermusic #productionmusic by @deanfaganmusic

Happy to say I will be back again this year @outputbelfast. This will be my 6th year attending and 3rd year taking part so thanks to Mark Gordon @scoredrawmusic for having me again.

I’m looking forward to moderating the panel “Creating Production Music for TV and Film” and being joined by composers Claire Batchelor and @ciaranbirch_

We’ll be talking about all things production music, the changes within the industry, how to best pursue a career in this side of the industry, effects of AI and how royalties and rights work within production music and much more.

As a composer myself, alongside my work in rights and royalties, it’s a conversation I’m particularly looking forward to.

I’m particularly looking forward to this panel and Output is always a great conference to catch up with and meet new people within the industry. If you’re heading to Output Belfast, come along and say hello!
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#musicindustry #conference #productionmusic #sync #speaking by @deanfaganmusic

Three things I wish I had understood about royalties when I started writing music 💡

When I first started composing music for media many years ago now, most of my attention was on getting better at the music and landing placements.

I knew a little about royalties and how they generally functioned, but I never put a lot of focus on them and I thought royalties would just happen in the background.

Looking back, there are three things I wish I had understood much earlier.

1. A placement does not automatically mean a payment is on the way.
Getting your music used is only the start. The work still needs to be properly registered, the usage needs to be reported and the data needs to match before the right income can make its way back to you.
That process can take time (longer than people expect), especially when different territories and societies are involved.

2. Good administration matters more than I realised.
Titles, writer details, splits, publishers, identifiers and registrations can all feel like small admin jobs when you are focused on creating.
They are not small once your catalogue starts growing and being on top of this early can make a big difference. A mistake across one track is manageable. The same mistake repeated across dozens of tracks becomes much harder to untangle later.

3. You should understand your statements, not just check the payment
For a long time, I think a lot of creators naturally look at the amount first.
But the more useful questions are:
🔸Where did the income come from?
🔸Which work generated it?
🔸Which territory paid it?
🔸Is anything obviously missing?
You do not need to become a royalty expert, but understanding the basics gives you a much better chance of spotting when something does not look right.

Working in rights & royalties has obviously given me a much deeper understanding of all of this, but being a composer is still what keeps it practical for me.

📌Behind every registration, statement and royalty line is somebody who created the music and wants to know that the business side is working properly.
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#musicbusiness #musicindustry #composer #musicroyalties #musician by @deanfaganmusic

The time of year again when BMI release another royalty distribution and I get to take a step back and look at where my own music has ended up over the past little while

Here is a little sample with some of the shows around the world using my music.

Most people would know me through my work witin rights and royalties but I am still and active composer creating music for TV and film and it is always great to see where my creative work has ended up.
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#musicproducer #musiccomposer #tvmusic #sync #musician by @deanfaganmusic