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Great reading and advice 
[/quote]Now I got a question.
If I remix a track just for the fun of it and with the purpose of sharing it here for example, with no lucrative purposes at all.
Can I still get sued for the record label or the artist? [/QUOTE]
if it is available on the www it is being distributed and would therefore breach copyrights and yes you could be sued.
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| Originally posted by Gibbo893 Now I got a question. If I remix a track just for the fun of it and with the purpose of sharing it here for example, with no lucrative purposes at all. Can I still get sued for the record label or the artist? if it is available on the www it is being distributed and would therefore breach copyrights and yes you could be sued. |
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| if it is available on the www it is being distributed and would therefore breach copyrights and yes you could be sued. |
If you are looking for a subpublisher (one that will expose your music to film, TV, radio, restaurants, etc. in another country) then this is where hundreds of them meet around the world: Frankfurt, at the Music Messe. You bring your music and let them hear it at each booth (each booth is a different publisher from different countries) and then if they choose you, they sign you for their country and you will get royalties from them when your music is used there. I've heard that this is THE place to be to find a publisher. Here is the website:
http://musik.messefrankfurt.com/frankfurt/en/
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| now in the UK all this [copyright] requires is sending yourself a master copy via special delivery. this ensures that u have a receipt of postage with a date and signature on it. the cd and inlay must state the copyright statement i.e. "� . All rights reserved". make sure on the package you write which tracks are in the package (if any legal arguments occur u dont get 2 chances in court ). make sure you keep the receipt and the package in a very safe place. another way of ensuring copyright ownership is leaving a copy in a safe deposit box, with a receipt dated & signed by the bank manager. make sure you write exactly the same things as stated above on the cd and package, and keep the receipt in a safe place. i understand that copyright laws differ from country to country, so if ur not sure then make sure you check what must be done! |
The $30 is just a processing fee, and for the entire package. You just have to organzie things neatly thats all. For instance I've put as much as 14 songs on one CD, printed out a track list, titled the collection, and paid only the $30....
I'm not 100% sure but as far as I was told, the poor man's copyright is the wrong way to go in america. Because the package was in your possesion, the courts may not consider it evidence of copyright because you could have easily tampered with its contents. The copyright office provides you neutral "third-party" verification of your copyright, and thats key.
~Mike
Just wanted to clear a few things up on the send it to yourself method. this is NOT a real copyright. This will, however, be enough to start a lawsuit. Alot of judges will indeed not count this as credible evidence since nowdays anything can be found online or on 0day sources. However, if you don't have a few bucks to copyright something, do indeed send it to yourself using mail that will surely include your name and DATE on it. If worst comes to worse then this will be enough to get a lawyer interested in begining the proceedings.
Something I didn't notice covered here...
If you copywrite something in the US for example, does that mean it is copywriten in every country, or just the US?
From the documentation I've read, many countries have copyright treaties... Which means if england has a copyright treaty with the US, then someone in england could be sued for copyright infringement of a US citizen's work. I'm not sure which country's laws would apply and in which cases though. What I can tell you is that I saw a list of all countries involved in a copyright treaty with the US, and it was HUGE.... UPDATE: Spent a few minutes and couldn't find the doc again, but if you search for "international copyright" you get a few links to read.
I guess as long as this thread keeps getting spam replies which are deleted just before I come back to view nothing, for the 20th time... I might as well post a link to additional information:
http://www.harmonicblogger.com/2008...sic-poetry-etc/
This thread so eloquently shows that copyright for the last 100 years or so has been working against both artists and listeners, and is basically there for the labels.
I also think it's weird that about all labels demand that you sign your copyright over to them. Same shit every-where really. Seldom does a comic book artist own the creative rights to a character he has created, it's all owned by Marvel or DC.
Like health-care, art and commerce are a volatile mix.
Re: Some words of advice to all you producers from Sean Cusick
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| Originally posted by Sand Leaper Taken from Sean's column @ www.xpander.nl.It's long,but well worth the read: 06-06-2003 A few small pieces of advice� I have been thinking about certain things more and more but without much good effect. It started with this grand idea to write an article on record deals, to try and give some advice to young producers who are perhaps inexperienced in matters. It is my belief that some of this information may end up being important to them. It didn�t take very long for me to realize that I am also pretty inexperienced in these matters. So I asked around to a few people and came up with what may turn out to be valuable advice to whoever needs it. As a warning, this column might only be interesting to producers. I have been pretty lucky in my dealings with record labels and label managers and in no way does any of what I am about to say reflect poorly on the labels I deal with, although I have learned a little bit along the way about how to protect myself. Most people who get involved in a record deal of any sort are hoping to make some money from the deal. If the record they�ve produced is any good then this very well might turn out to be the end result, but there are a few things to watch out for on the way. There are several different ways to make money on music. Royalties, publishing and licensing are the three terms that come up more often than just about any others. When signing a record deal an �advance on royalties� is many times the only money you will ever see from that deal. This is not always the case and of course there are broad exceptions depending on the type deal you sign and the overall success of the piece of music in varying areas. Now, there really are very few industry standards when it comes to deals but there are a few accepted rates and conditions. To get a reasonably good �advance on royalties� you usually must have some sort of viability, whether that comes through your past releases and reputation or the merits of the work involved. Everybody thinks that they have quite possibly created one of the most startling and innovative pieces of music known to man and if only it would get the proper exposure and support then they and their music would be thrust into infamy. This simply isn�t the case. Consistency matters and for some people consistency is the only thing they have going for themselves. As a general piece of advice I think it is a good idea to hold onto all of your publishing until you can get the right deal. Publishing was created to be an artist�s royalty and many labels will try to do what they can do to tell you they are doing you a favor by taking it off of your hands, that they cannot properly promote the record because their hands are tied by not owning and controlling the publishing. This is a bunch of bullshit. When they sign a deal their incentive should be to sell records. Everybody realizes that there is not that much money in selling records unless the records get to be pretty successful and even then the real money is made in licensing. They will cut you into the licensing fees as a general practice but by owning your publishing they will cut you out of quite a bit of money you might have made otherwise. Even if you do sign away some of your publishing to them to give them incentive to try and place your music in films, television or on mixed compilations make sure you are only giving them administrative powers over your publishing (rather than ownership of the publishing) and make sure that it is for a term (5 years or less). Try not to give them more than a 30% administrative fee for collecting your publishing. In the very rare event that your music is embraced by humanity and remembered forever you will die starving and penniless while these gutless ******s get quarterly checks made possible by what used to be your intellectual and emotional property. They will sit around their swimming pools watching their children, wives and possibly mistresses play in the sun while drinking expensive mixed drinks while you are roaming from trash barrel to trash barrel scrounging for pieces of bread that are still soft enough to eat. I promise you this will happen to you. There are no other alternatives. So, hold onto all of your publishing as long as you can and try to sell it all in one deal when the time is right. Hopefully by that time you will know what is right for you. If a label does demand to own your publishing and there is very little chance that the music you�re making will have crossover potential then expect a 2nd advance for your publishing. It is a separate piece of your property and should be treated as such. But try to avoid this. If the label you�re dealing with works very closely with a lawyer then don�t kid yourself. Lawyers believe that nothing is truly yours without a signed contract and that if you haven�t educated yourself on legal language then it is your own fault and you simply don�t deserve to be treated fairly anyway. Very few of them believe in a thing called �ethics�. They operate under the false premise that law is �ethics defined� and they will use these �ethics� to fuck you out of everything you�ve worked for and all of your dreams if you give them the chance. Then they will congratulate each other on how clever they each are by pool-sides in Florida or any other state that is corrupt and worthless enough have them. They are annoyingly ubiquitous but not god-like in that same regard. What is theirs? Whatever they can take from you. Beware. I have had a lawyer try to tell me that he was somehow doing me a favor by allowing me to sign over all of my publishing for life to him for $1 (yes, that�s one American dollar) and that it was a �fairly standard practice� in the industry. These spineless shit-slingers don�t usually create art, they are just positioned to exploit those who do. Without the infrastructure of law many of them would naturally fall into pimping or another related and foul endeavor. There are some lawyers who are kind, decent and fair though and many of them that I have talked with share and have echoed my feelings on the other sort among their kind. Exploiting people who are struggling to express themselves is a refined form of cruelty and one that I have very little patience for, although I�ve learned to be careful with them. Sort of like liquid acid. Sign all deals under an artist�s name. Don�t sign away the rights to your birth name. This is the name your parents probably gave you and wanted you to own for life. Do not give it away. It can have consequences for whatever other plans you may have in life (ie. If you are a dj and you become very successful they might have a claim to some of your success because you accomplished it using a name that they own, be careful here. This is an extreme example though.). Be sure that the �options� in the contract are attainable. Don�t let them force you into producing a particular type of track only because that is what they are looking for. You can give them first right of refusal on a follow up track but make sure that they cannot dictate what style that follow up will be. Now, of course, if you only make one type of track then this won�t affect you very much and you will suffer the destiny that you have charted out for yourself by being a narrow minded nerd. Talk to people who have made mistakes. Listen to what they have to say. Use their mistakes to your advantage. Use your wits and read the contract carefully. If the contract is in a complicated language that you cannot understand ask them to rewrite it in a more clear and understandable way. If they refuse to do this you can be pretty sure they are trying to fuck you over. Or your music simply isn�t worth the time and money spent on making things more clear to you. Move on at that point if you can. If you can�t afford a lawyer to look over your contract then ask a label manager that you know and trust that has no direct involvement in the deal you are signing. Some label mangers know and understand legal language enough to point out some obvious changes you should either request or demand in the contract. Contracts are written by lawyers. These lawyers work for the label you are dealing with. Don�t ever be fooled into thinking they are your friend or that their interests really lie in your success and well being. They are the undertakers and morticians of the music industry. They drink embalming fluid at their parties. You�re going to get screwed a little bit. Everybody does. But it is a trade off to some degree. If you want your music out there you must swallow some of this. Don�t be led into believing that your rewards will come later. Some label managers will try to tell you they are going to do everything they can to promote the record in such a way that it will help your dj�ing career. Don�t believe this. Tell them that you are going to do everything you can to keep from shitting in their kitchen sink when you come to their house to enjoy drinks by the pool some Sunday afternoon with their wife and daughters. Make sure there is a release timetable in the contract. Otherwise they can give you nothing or next to nothing and keep the record held in limbo for years. This will bring you no happiness. Make them stick to their contractual promises (within reason). Once they are in breach of contract then you have some bargaining currency, but not much. Make sure whatever obligations you agreed to are fulfilled by you in the manner stated. So, an �advance on royalties� is many times the only money you will ever see from a project. Don�t accept an advance in installments or under any �you�ll get it in 2 weeks or 2 months after the record comes out� kind of way. This is not really much of an advance. An advance is generally something you get when you make the deal. A lot of labels are trying to hold back advances. This means that you might not ever get anything from giving your music to them so be careful with this. An advance should be paid no later then the week of release. If the music is good (this doesn�t mean that you think it is good, but that many people think it is good, not just your friends on ecstasy at an after-party) then you should get an advance. Keep in mind that the label is there to make money so be willing to negotiate, especially if you make weirdo underground tracks for drug crippled ketamine freaks. Make sure you get the proper credit on the record (label copy, artist�s credit). If you don�t have a publishing deal then make sure that �copyright control� is printed on the record sleeve along with the writing credits. Make sure the record will get proper promotion but be wary of paying the label �recoupable expenses� (remix, legal, transport, pressing costs, promotion). If they decide to go to Paris and they hand out a couple of your records while they�re there, make sure you�re not paying for their trip. Many labels do this and that�s why you never end up seeing any money after your advance. In fact, you can have a pretty big record and they�ll tell you that you still owe them money which will need to be taken out of your next release because they spent so much money partying in Paris and you had agreed to pay to them to promote the record. Some recoupable expenses are normal. A 50/50 split is understandable with certain expenses. Some labels just disappear. There is nothing you can really do about this. When a label folds you are probably fucked. That�s why it�s important to check into the label a little bit before you sign. Make sure they are providing their artists with royalty statements (every 6 months) and make sure that they are paying royalties on releases. Make sure it is in the contract that if the label collapses all rights and ownership return to you (�complete rights to the Master Recordings�). Make sure all advances are non-returnable. Otherwise they might come after whatever money they gave you if they go out of business and can�t release your record. This is not your fault and you should not have to return any advance because they failed. There are two basic types of licenses, exclusive and non-exclusive. An exclusive license means that no one else but them is allowed to use the recording. A non-exclusive means that it is for a particular use and you retain the ability to be able to use the music again elsewhere. Your label will generally get an exclusive license from you and then turn around and create non exclusive licenses with other parties in an effort to make revenue from their investment. This is normal and how labels make money. This is also how you make money if you have signed a contract that provides for that. A 50/50 split on third party licenses is pretty standard in the dance music industry. So the label gets 50% and you get 50%. If your work was collaborative then you and your partners should have 50% of those revenues to split amongst yourselves. As for PPD (Published Price per Dealer) 15%-17% is pretty normal. This is the amount of money that you�re getting royalties on for each sound carrier for each individual unit sold. Beyond that it is complicated beyond my knowledge. In fact, no two people I spoke with could even agree what actually PPD stands for� Make sure that you must approve the choice and fees for remix artists. Otherwise the label can get one of their friends to remix your music and pay them way too much to do so. This is more of your money lost. Gravitate towards people and labels that you like and trust but be alert when making deals. It is the critical point that determines your future happiness. Each predicament is somewhat unique so don�t get lulled into just signing whatever contract they sent over assuming it�s the same as the last one they sent. The longer you let a label hold �your money� the less they tend to see it as �yours�. Make sure that you have regular communication with the label but don�t be an annoying dickhead that thinks they love �the artist in you�. Always make more music. As a general rule in life try to produce more than you consume, it will keep you happier than just sitting around fingering your ass-crack wondering why you�re not a star yet. Good Luck, Sean [email protected] I�d like to thank Chris Fortier of Fade Records and for his help and advice with putting this column together. I�d also like to thank Steve Porter for not interrupting me while I was talking... |
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