stevelane

Steve Lane Creative Souls Featured Reel by Noemi Creative Souls

Those who take action with a generous heart, are those who create entirely new worlds, free of limiting skies. Creative Soul, Steve Lane, is a brilliant entrepreneur and philanthropist with altruistic motives to generate boundless bequests for others. His zealous pursuit is to educate and guide musicians in fulfilling their dreams, free of charge, and ensure that they take action with the proper tools and knowledge as they advance in their careers.

Steve Lane is a music publisher, producer, founder, and executive director of the Florida Songwriters Association (FSA), a 501c3 charity dedicated to providing education, resources, and unwavering support to nurture the talents and dreams of these aspiring artists. With a fervent commitment to fostering creativity and excellence, the Florida Songwriters Association is poised to revolutionize the landscape of music education in Florida. Steve also established Digital 1 Media Services Corp, Digital 1 Productions, and Sync House License to service musicians in their careers. Steve is a Committee Member of the Songwriters and Composer Wing of the Recording Academy.

His journey began as a road manager for the first contemporary gospel trio group, Trin-I-Tee 5-7. He was involved with top music producers. After leaving as a road manager for the Grammy Award-nominated group, Steve went on to Tower Records, a retail giant, working for their distribution division, Bayside Distribution. He was in charge of shipping CDs and DVDs worldwide through Bayside Distribution until Napster took over and turned them into relics.

Steve joined Ingrooves Distribution, a partner of Universal. He then went to Sony RED independent division for streaming music, RED Music (currently The Orchard), focusing on streaming, getting involved in music distribution and sync licensing.

In 2015, Steve became a direct publisher and distributor, partnering with FUGA Distribution in the Netherlands, and securing intentional sub-publishing agreements with over 80 countries, distributing music through all DSPS (Spotify, Apple, etc.). Through Digital 1 Media and Digital 1 Production services, Steve handles admin, copyright, and royalties, including pitching songs for sync deals through Sync House License (a division of Digital 1 Media Services). They have landed placements in notorious TV and film projects such as “Ms. Marvel”, “Hacks, Sandman”, “United Shades of America”, supervising music for “Zumba Fitness”, and several more projects. In addition, they have a Roku channel, podcast, and YouTube Channel to promote artists.

“As I started to work with independent artists, I realized that they didn’t know the basics of the music business. How to protect your work? How to collect royalties? How to organize metadata? What’s a split sheet? Simple things we need to know to protect the music and career,” explains Steve, adding, “My passion is education. The more I educate you the more you know and the better you will strive.”

Affiliating with Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida, Steve hosts annual events, workshops, and programs that assist musicians in structuring their music path. Furthermore, graduates from Full Sail University can get hired for Steve’s production team as camera operators, lighting techs, editors, drone operators, sound engineers, etc. They are taking on film projects and are currently working on a documentary for two-time world-heavy champion Pinklon Thomas.

“Your artistry is your company. You are a walking company. Artists make money and lose it all because they don’t treat themselves as a company.” Steve works closely with executives and experts in the music business, extending his knowledge to guide artists and their careers properly, teaching them how to be protected as artists and their own companies.

One of Steve’s greatest inspirations is his uncle, Clancy Eccles. Eccles was a 1960s music producer in Jamaica who influenced Bob Marley, Third World, and many others. Back in those days, musicians would sign deals with foreign companies to publish and distribute their music collecting the upfront fee, not knowing about publishing royalties and giving away their rights with that signature. Some of the songs Eccles produced went on to be hit records, however, Steve’s uncle died without even knowing there was a wealth of royalties that belonged to him. This fueled Steve’s spirit to help others like his uncle, creating a world where musicians can find a safety net and expand their horizons.

Another one of Steve’s passions is working with children. Affiliated with the Boys & Girls Club, The Florida Songwriters Association facilitates students with studio equipment, and they even got to create the theme song for the club. Thankfully, for the past three years, they’ve been receiving a grant from the Orlando Police Department to support their program. Steve is working diligently to establish a scholarship fund to send a group from the Boys & Girls Club to Full Sail University Labs.

“Being able to offer others an education in music motivates me to keep moving forward to keep helping people,” reiterates Steve, who continues to create more events and programs to reach the entire state of Florida with his noteworthy offerings.

Miami is now bursting with opportunities devised by Steve through the Florida Songwriters Association, partnering with the Hard Rock Cafe in Bayside, Miami, and LAMM Miami. Steve and his team are putting together panels with top leaders in the music field to impart their wisdom to musicians about music publishing and production, royalties and how it works, how to prepare for sync licensing, opportunities to pitch songs for projects, and many other important topics.

Steve’s devoted love of being there for others transcends the paradigm of how music and business are handled. He has crafted a world where musicians of all ages are welcome to receive authentic contributions and tangible achievements. Steve Lane is a beacon for musicians, weaving together melodies into one glorious symphony.

“Be kind. Your time is limited. Other’s time is limited. Help people with the investment to give back. It could be time, to give a piece of advice, whatever you give back that will come back to you in abundance. Don’t be afraid to give.” – Steve Lane