Dubai Media City Launches Behind the Music to Empower Talent on the Cusp of Stardom

Dubai, UAE, 01 April 2021: Dubai Media City, the region’s largest business district dedicated to the media industry, has officially launched a new show called Behind the Music to empower and inspire talented songwriters.

Hosted by Elia Mssawir, Founder of the award-winning UAE-based company Big Beards Entertainment, the digital series sits down with a new guest every month to delve into their experience of working in the highly competitive music and entertainment industry – and how others can crack the code for success.

Majed Al Suwaidi, Managing Director of Dubai Media City, Dubai Studio City, and Dubai Production City, said: “With our trio of media-focused business districts that promote and amplify content creation, we understand the key role we can play in empowering local talent and guiding them through the challenging world of entertainment. By sharing the experiences of successful people from a plethora of different industries, we hope to provide a roadmap for emerging musicians and songwriters eyeing their big break in the glitzily world of music and entertainment. Behind the Music builds on the success of DMC Amplify, a live show we launched last year to showcase emerging talent. And by creating a new programme that profiles key movers and shakers we hope to augment our efforts to empower talent and enhance Dubai’s creative economy.”

In the first episode of Behind the Music, Elia hosted Robert Singerman, Senior Vice President at LyricFind, to explore how songwriters can promote, exhibit, and monetise songs, and communicate with lyrically with fans.

Speaking on the revolutionary .MUSIC domain extension, which DotMusic Limited won the rights to in April 2019, Robert Singerman said: “It’s a way to keep the income within the music community, before distributing it to the resellers, allowing musicians and music businesses to own their identity. It’s the first time the music community, including instrument manufacturers, religious singing groups, rock stars, labels, publishers, and the fans, share a single platform governed by the music community.”

Pre-registrations for a .MUSIC domain is now open through the DotMusic Limited website (www.music.us). He added: “We go through a rigorous vetting process of all applicants to ensure cybersquatting is kept to a minimum.”

In that regard, Robert strongly emphasised the difference between the music community and the music industry.

Robert noted that in most countries, lyrics are considered 50 per cent of the value of a song, with the music making up the remaining 50 per cent. “The lyrics are the more mnemonic value – you remember the hook, the chorus, the meaning. In the beginning of song-writing, it was all about the lyrics – the music was important to move people along, but the lyrics were the news and the stories. So, in effect, all LyricFind exists for is to amplify that value [of lyrics] and create revenue for songwriters and publishers, as well as artists and labels.”

Answering the million-dollar question of how to monetise lyrics, Robert explained: “For emerging artists, it’s really valuable because every single income stream rises as people know the lyrics to your song, as well as your catalogue value increases. The most important thing any artist can ever do is have people know the lyrics to their song. So, there are three ways to monetise lyrics – through your publisher, digital distributor, publishing administrator, or through LyricFind directly.”

He added: “Any artist, or song writer, or publisher, should have their numbers from these services. They should know what they make from the services on a per stream average in their royalty accounting.”

Robert concluded with an interesting fact – ‘lyrics’ is the top internet search term.

For those who couldn’t catch the live show on the official YouTube channel of Dubai Media City, you may watch the episode’s recording that has been uploaded on the official Facebook page of Dubai Media City.

Dubai Media City has a long-running track record of supporting new and upcoming artists, musicians and creatives through major initiatives, events and competitions such as Dubai Lynx. Local artist Rami Afifi was even commissioned to design the eye-catching street art mural that runs adjacent to Al Falak Street. The colourful artwork has immortalised the diverse collection of people working in the region’s largest media community.

In 2020, Dubai Media City also launched a new live show called DMC Amplify to promote local artists, share powerful stories and engage the community. Local music legend and resident host Big Hass, who changed the face of the region’s industry after hosting Saudi Arabia’s first hip-hop radio show, interviews a new person each month.