Hi,

What exactly is a "white label" release? Anybody can explain how you make a white label release and why this can be usefull in your music career?

Also, how come that many remakes of existing songs are being released as white label? Is it true that with a white label release of a remake, you don't have to ask permission from the copyright holder, or will you get in trouble just like with a regular release if you don't ask permission first? Is a white label release legal or not? Can a white label be sold or is that promo only? How does that all work?

Thanks in advance for the info!

i think it´s a kind of promo vinyl, which should check the croud´s resonance! if it runs well, it gets an official release, if not -> not!

quote:

Originally posted by Dance123 Hi, What exactly is a "white label" release? Anybody can explain how you make a white label release and why this can be usefull in your music career? Also, how come that many remakes of existing songs are being released as white label? Is it true that with a white label release of a remake, you don't have to ask permission from the copyright holder, or will you get in trouble just like with a regular release if you don't ask permission first? Is a white label release legal or not? Can a white label be sold or is that promo only? How does that all work? Thanks in advance for the info!

let me break it down for you...

a white label is a promotional record that is either pressed by the producer and given out as a form of promotion to dj's to try out his tune. he'll probably want to send it to dj's that play that style as well as record labels. also if you send a copy of your tune to a record company they may want to press some white labels to send to dj's to test it in the clubs and if it does good than they might want to sign it.

to your second question. white labels are not sold, hence you can put any kind of remake that you want on them without permission of the original artist and more importantly the label that has rights to the track. as mentioned above they are GIVEN out, not sold (except if you give it to a record store or something, they can charge people for it, but as long as you don't sell it its ok). at least that has always been my understanding of things...

example...

tiesto made a remix of Radiohead - Street Spirit, but radiohead won't let it get released officially. dj's like tiesto and cor fijneman can have copies of it (although we all know what happened to cor hehehe) and that is fine, but i assure you that cor didn't have to pay tiesto for a copy...and its perfectly fine for them to play it anytime they want...however, it will never be released to the public and will never feature on a tiesto cd unless they can ever convince radiohead to let it be released...

Good thread.

I wondered that myself.

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Thanks for the info!

Additional question: If you make a remix of a song and send it to label or release it as white label, do you then own the copyright of the remix you've made or can the label simply take your remix and release it without your permission and without paying you anything?!

How can you protect a remix you've made or isn't that possible and can the label who owns the copyright of the original always release your remix without your permission, without paying you and without even giving you credits for the remix you made?

Last edited by Dance123 on Jan-23-2004 at 17:44

Well here is my view, although Australian Law may be different.

You need to have permission of the original rights holder of the song (ie the original artist) to make the remix. No one will care if you do it for a hobby but if you want to make money off it, you need their permission. They are also likely to want royalties as a result.

Once you have made a song, or done any written piece, you automatically own the rights/title to that piece of material. If a label releases your song without your permission, then you have the right to legal action over breach of copyright.

Once you sign a contract with a label, you no longer have title to that song, the label now owns all copyright to it. If you want to remix a song, then you may have to pay royalties to the original mix's title holder, who may or may not be the original artist. More than often, it is a record company.

Kinda complicated really. That's why lawyers make so much money.

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If you make an original song, then ofcourse you have the copyright, but my question was if you make a remix of an already existing song, do you then also own the copyright of the remix you've made, otherwise if you send your remix to a label they could just release it without your permission, without paying you anything and even without giving you any credits.

Can you protect a remix you've made or can the label that owns the copyright to the original song always release your song without your permission, without paying you anything and without even giving you any credits? How do you protect a remix you've made or isn't that possible?!

quote:

Originally posted by Dance123 If you make an original song, then ofcourse you have the copyright, but my question was if you make a remix of an already existing song, do you then also own the copyright of the remix you've made, otherwise if you send your remix to a label they could just release it without your permission, without paying you anything and even without giving you any credits. Can you protect a remix you've made or can the label that owns the copyright to the original song always release your song without your permission, without paying you anything and without even giving you any credits? How do you protect a remix you've made or isn't that possible?!

if you remix a song and then send it out to the label that owns the original, they can't release your mix without a contract, just as you can't release your remix without permission from them. if they did, then you would have legal action against them. Just because they own rights to the original doesn't give them the ability to infringe on your rights as the remixer.

your best bet would be to send a copy to dj's that are well known and you think would like your remix as well as the label and then have them push for the release. Having a well known dj on your team can definitely add to your chances of release, but its not always gonna happen.

please keep in mind that all of this is from an american point of view...i'm sure its possible that other countries have different ways, but are probably similar...

if you are really worried about protecting yourself...always look into copyright protection for yourself...

practical bootlegging example - Fragma Vs Coco - Toca's Miracle. Started life as a bootleg by a DJ called DJ Vimto. He put Toca Me under the Coco vocal, rejigged the piece so it all sat nicely and sent out white labels to big UK DJs. The tune became massive but was still going round in its original form which wasn't that great sound wise. The two record companies talked and the tune was remade by Fragma and released on Positiva. The 'original' sounded more realistic, for want of a better word, and DJ Vimto probably saw not a great deal of money from it. I remember he got a little bit of publicity at the time but I believe he currently works as a DJ in a bar in Nottinghamshire - or at least he did the last I heard.

What a great story!

Also with remixing as a remixer or somebody providing original elements for a remix. The remix legally can't be released nor is it usually a great idea to reproduce the recording with the intent to sell it in mind without a mechanical license to do so. Most remixers are hired by the label (mostly the A&R folk). A remix defined by copyright law is simply a derivative work of an original copyrighted tune. So, you could go and release your remix of an artist, it could end up getting radio play and you could end up signing it to a label where it could make a lot of money. The problem? If the artist you remixed hasn't agreed to let you remix and release the track and has negotiated no fee or royalty for you, you are entitled to nothing. As it is, remixers are paid a fee to remix and I don't think it's very common for them to recieve any royalty on mechanical reproduction/airplay/syndication resulting from the remix they've done.

-R

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