[Edouardo]

@Mark, I dug a little and found your soundclick. Many interesting tracks you have here. Have you got any favorite? I mean on personal level, as an artist choice?
I am curious to hear also those that you made on the blockbusters: The Postman (Don’t tell me you did the little country cue when everybody dances, I absolutely love this part!), X-Men, Titanic, U571 etc…

[Edouardo]

@Mark: Impressive

[Edouardo]

Hi Odie,
I am a NewBie too. I thought about that before carrying out my first submission. IMHO, the title should :
Reflect the ambiance of the song (Imagine what it could be used for)
Be composed of attractive words (So that the potential customer feels compelled to listen)
Be easily searchable (words should not be too common so you do not end in a massive hit list)

You want your song to be heard by sups, 10 minutes of deep thinking are well worth it when you compare to the hours you spent making the track!

hope this helps

[Edouardo]

I’m yet to participate in the non-exlcusive re-title model, which I think is at the heart of most people’s gripes here.

Hi Michael, I am new to the biz, building a catalog from my previous tracks and started to submit to a few libraries (and been accepted – for now 100% of my submissions :-), crossing my fingers this lasts)

After reading a lot on how things work, the Biz model I selected is exactly the one that people moan about… Could you tell me why you think the re-title system is detrimental to the composer. I only see advantages, probably because I am inexperienced. It seems to me that it allows the non-exclusive deal + publishing service of a library to coexist. The library only gets money when they pitch. That appears fair to me. Am I missing something?

btw, I admire Richard for his courage and thank him for putting his proposition on the table. I also thank those who reacted: it was a very instructive read!

Greetings

[Edouardo]

Anyway, in order to be 100% sure that I, and the libraries I submit music to, are covered, I go through a systematic screening process of every track I upload, hunting for samples or fraction of samples that could have ended up soloed.

Luckily, it doesn’t happen that often. If I find any, I re-arrange the track. I have done that to all tracks and variations I submitted and plan to submit. It might be excessive work, but at least I am sure! Still, the artistic side in me keeps on screaming “sacrilege !” when I do that.

There is most probably no clear legal answer, but I wish there was…

[Edouardo]

Thx everyone for your insights.

Layering seems the easiest way, however adding stuff just to add stuff is not very musical! So the question is still a blurred area in my head. 2 examples:

1/ I have a track which contain a Dubstep bridge and a complex ending. I built these by putting small fractions of Dubstep samples next to each other, like peaces of Lego. In solo. For me this is music making as it is far from random, I spent a lot of time on this part to make it sound like I wanted. Anything layered would just kill it. You can listen to it between 1:00 and 1:08 and also the short fat synth shot at 2:43 (soloed for about a half a second).

What do you think? Would that be tolerated? Asking the sample suppliers might be a little too complex as these samples come various sources that I will probably won’t be able to identify easily (all I know is that these are legit. because taken from my licenced sounds library).

2/ What about endings? Say you finish with a kick layered with cymbals. Once the kick is over, the cymbals’ ringing is actually a soloed sample. Some samples like deep impacts, used to end a sequence,appear to be meant to be used alone, and would enter that scenario too…

According to the example provided by Woodsdenis (thx btw), as long as the soloing is within the context of the song, it is OK… That would be OK with me, but is there a jurisprudence of some kind about that ? If not, it would mean that it actually is ok, as I can’t believe that the question was never raised before…

I am confused…

Or am I digging too deep and should spend more time making music than worrying about that?

[Edouardo]

When writing directly for a production company I’ve always been coached to take advantage of panning and to keep the “interesting” stuff (melodic instruments, etc) out of the middle so as not to create competition with the dialog

That’s definitely a good thought for music meant to be talked over. thanks Kiwi!

As for the panning, I am like Art, never really thought about the impact on the perception for the biz. When I mix, I do pan, freq and then volume, in that order. The pan part is artistically based, and if I hear phase problems when checking mono, I will correct it, but usually do that while attempting to keep the first feel (i.e. the original panning).

[Edouardo]

Thank you Michael, Kenny and Lupo for your answers.

I am realizing through your answers and my own research, that patience is one of the virtues required for becoming a successful Library Music Producer !

Being a publisher too may not be the priority now, you are right, one step at a time… I dive into a world that appears quite complex administratively. So thank you for teaching me how to swim!

Just one question I am trying to find an answer to. If I have multiple versions of the same track (Full, 15,30 and 60s sequences): Is that OK to register them under the same song (same ENJW number on PRS) and then provide multiple names, one for each version, even if these have different durations?

Music greetings

Edouard

[Edouardo]

Thank Michael. I am starting to understand a few things…

I called PRS, and had a very helpful conversation with a young lady. They told me that I could let the Publishers Blank. All rights would go to me anyway.

If non a excl. library re-titles tracks, it will of course intercept the publisher’s share. Otherwise, it is blended with the writers share and I get all.

On the other hand, they told me that if a track gets pitched in the US, I need to give them the information concerning the client: The Cue sheet is not automatically transferred from the US PRO to the UK PRO. That looks quite complicated…

[Edouardo]

Hi Desire Inspires,

Thanks for your answer. I asked a few questions to PRS but usually they have very basic answers that get me even more confused haha…
I am pretty sure some of those on this site might be dealing with PRS and are their own publisher… If they could share how they organise themselves or proceed in regards to Royalties, that would be really so useful!

I will try again with PRS support though.

Cheers

[Edouardo]

Interesting topic… Question i was asking myself too. Unfortunately I haven´t understood a straight answer from the thread, so I will ask Scary Bodega´s question again:
I plan to submitu track packs that woudl be composed of:
1/ Full track
2/ Full track instru only
3/ Non loppable sections (15, 30 and 60s): For instance Verse + ending
4/ Loopable sections of various sizes with no major instrumental changes
5/ Groovable loops of various length: for example the chorus but just Drum and Bass without synths

If I understand well 1/ 2/ 3/ and 4/ can be registered with an alternative name

What about 5/ should it be a new registration?

[Author]

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