The Business of Musical Theater: Writing Songs for Profit

The Business of Musical Theater: Writing Songs for Profit

by | Jun 23, 2021 | Blog

Business of Musical Theater Pt. 2

 

Last week’s blog encouraged MCs and beat writers to become involved in theater.

The two reasons I cited are that

  1. Theater pays better and
  2. The artist maintains ownership of the work.

One that I didn’t mention is one that is almost as important. This third reason is that you, the writer, gets paid for having written the work and that payment begins once the show is performed.

 

How Theater Works

 

In theater, a producer puts up the money to do a production. This is called the capital budget. It covers all the expenses that needs to be paid before the first performance.

After performances begin there are still expenses. Actors are paid a salary. The theater owner is paid rent. Advertising and marketing agencies are paid. This budget is the weekly operating budget. All revenues that come in are called gross revenues.

Gross revenues minus weekly operating expenses gives net revenues.

All theater productions assume that, initially, the expenses of the production will exceed the gross revenues until the public realizes what a great show it is and the production sells out. The capital budget accounts for this by setting aside an amount of money to cover these losses.

In most artistic endeavors, the creators get paid from the net revenues. If there is no profit, then the creators don’t make any money.

Theater is different. Because the capital budget includes more than is needed to cover expenses, writers are able to get paid from the gross.

So, if you write rhymes or beats, wouldn’t you rather get paid from day one?

Yes? Then you should be writing for theater.

We are currently looking for submissions for 2022-2023. Contact us for more information.

The Business of Musical Theater: Writing Songs for the Stage

The Business of Musical Theater: Writing Songs for the Stage

by | Jun 14, 2021 | Blog

Another Revenue Stream

 

I’ve talked about this before, but I think that it is worth repeating. A side effect of our mission is creating another revenue stream for people who write rhymes and beats.

It’s difficult for songwriters to get paid for their creative output. Another revenue stream for people who create hip hop songs would help a lot of artists, don’t you agree?

 

In Musicals, Songwriters Keep Their Songs

 

Someone who writes songs gets paid when the song is performed. This happens in the music business when either the songwriter performs the piece or when someone else records it and the recording is sold or streamed. In order for this to happen, the writer must give away a portion of the ownership of the revenue the to someone else, called the music publisher.

In return for this ownership stake, the publisher performs certain licensing functions. In theater there are licensing houses that do the same thing. The difference is that the songwriters who write songs for musicals do not give up any ownership rights.

The licensing company does not own anything. They only rent the right to license the musical, and if the artist is dissatisfied with one licensing company they can switch to another. This does not happen with a music publisher.

 

We Want Hip Hop Songs

 

Rhymes Over Beats exists to help hip hop artists create works of theater, and once created, to produce them. This happens only if we can convince hip hop artists to look at theater as another revenue stream – a revenue stream that is more artist friendly than the music business.

So, what do you think? Are you ready to keep your ownership of your music?

If you are a hip hop artist, please think about what we can do together and contact us.

We are looking for collaborators.

Extending Our Reach: Touring shows in Africa

Extending Our Reach: Touring shows in Africa

by | Jun 8, 2021 | Blog

In The Continuum

 

In 2006 I worked on the producing team for In The Continuum, a play by Nikkole Salter and Danai Gurira. It was a wonderful experience for me to be able to produce this great play.

One of the things that made it special was the ability to take it on tour to Africa. It was done in Zimbabwe and South Africa.

 

To Africa and Beyond

 

Remembering this made me wonder why more American plays don’t do this. Theater makers here think nothing of transferring a show to the West End in London – why not go, like we did with In The Continuum – as a matter of course to Harare, Zimbabwe?

Admittedly there is a language issue, since less than one percent of people in Africa speak English as their primary language. (Although English may be an official language, in some countries less than 1% of the population is able to speak it.) But this does not stop us from taking plays to other countries in Europe. Does anyone think twice about going to Paris or Berlin? And there are entire countries in Africa with significant numbers of English speakers, like Kenya or Zimbabwe.

I think we at Rhymes Over Beats would like to change this.

 

Let’s Extend the Borders

 

I want to reach out to our audience.

If you have a connection or know someone who has a connection to a theater in Africa please put us in contact with them, or have them contact us.

We want to work with them.

 

Europe Goes Hip Hop

Europe Goes Hip Hop

by | Jun 2, 2021 | Blog

Across the Pond, Hip Hop is Thriving

 

Last week’s blog was about one of the current trends that will cement hip hop as the dominant force of the theater of the future – how universities are starting to incorporate hip hop into the curricula of theater departments.

This week’s trend is what is happening in Europe.

Musical Theater is an American creation, but has spread around the world. Hip hop theater is the same – a modern American export.

Some examples are:

  • In England the Hip-hop Shakespeare Company was founded in 2009. Its mission is to look at the similarities between what Shakespeare was doing and what modern hip hop artists are doing.
  • In Liverpool, 20 Stories High is committed to making theater that is socially accessible and inclusive using the hip hop aesthetic.
  • In Ireland in 2014 in Limerick, the Limerick City of Culture funded a production of a retelling of Irish legends of pre-Christian Ireland in hip hop.
  • And in Paris , Theatre le 13eme Art, this year has a hip hop production Folia.

 

These productions are, I believe,  just the beginning. As more and more theater artists are raised on hip hop as their primary mode  of musical expression, more new work will be created using this aesthetic. Just watch and see all of the hip hop musicals that will come out of this decade.

Just as in the 1920’s when Showboat premiered, we are at the start of another revolution in theater.

At Rhymes Over Beats we are proud to do our small part to bring it about.

 

 

 

The University Goes Hip Hop

The University Goes Hip Hop

by | May 26, 2021 | Blog

It’s All Academic?

 

Last week I talked about how this time is the time for hip hop theater. This week’s blog is about current trends that will cement hip hop as the dominant force of the theater of the future. Specifically, how hip hop theater at the university level is starting to gain traction.

The university level is where the theater practitioners of the future are being trained. The students realized that there was a disconnect between who they are as aspiring artists and what they were being taught. In many instances they have taken the lead in working to incorporate hip hop into the creation of new work.

Here are just a few examples from a few universities:

  • In 2004 undergraduates at NYU asked a faculty member to support the work they had been doing outside class in hip hop theater and combine it with their academic studies. They had been working on their own, because the traditional university curriculum was not meeting their needs. This led to the creation of the Hip Hop Theatre Initiative.

 

 

  • The University of Wisconsin Madison has the First Wave Spoken Word and Hip Hop Arts Learning Community. It has created a four year scholarship program for students to work with faculty and hip hop and spoken word artists to develop their craft.

 

Not all of these programs will be successful. But a lot will be.

I believe that this is just the beginning – watch for more hip hop theater productions happening all over.

Do you have other programs that we should know about? Let us know by commenting below