1,729 thoughts on “General Questions”

  1. I was not sure where to post the following so am on this page, i was wondering who else shares my thoughts on producer collaberations ?

    not getting someone to play a bass or drums or sing, i mean sharing the responsibilty of two people around a computer making a track.

    I have tried it and i find it a total and utter nightmare, when i have tried with someone else in my mind i am doing summersaults, i honestly sit there with someone less experienced and think ‘god you idiot, you are wasting my time, how stupid, how stupid idea, oh get on with it, arg, i hate wat your doing..’ etc etc,

    I mean I get bored sometimes because I am all alone a lot of the time, but when I have tried it this is how i feel. Im not going to fight it as after several attempts at getting a mate in to hang out its how i feel. I by no means make great music or anything, its ok, but having someone who really cant get it together or has had a bit of a go at using logic etc whilst not knowing it inside out, just drives me nuts, and cant explain themselfs, its funny i ask am i a control freak ? or am i just so used to doing it alone, can i not share things ?

    so if anyone has similar negative sharing space experiences tell me !?

    I have kind of realised that the music space with my speakers etc is private and i dont want anyone touching it or messing or moving my samples around. kind of obsessive now ! but its my space, special time ! ha. i wonder who else shares this or am i in a minority here with my dark negative energy ;-))

  2. Art
    I sent you an email to one of the addresses I had for you, not sure if it was the right one. I lost the email you sent me with my log in info.

    Thanks!
    Advice

  3. Hey, if a library recently registered 3 of your tracks,Retitled with a PRO after urgently sending an email saying they need your CAE# does that mean they were placed? They only did 3 of the many I sent

    How would I found out if they were used? the library doesnt like emails etc concerning this

    • Smith,

      Very strong possibility they were placed, especially if only 3 out of several were registered. The only way to know (assuming the library won’t tell you) is to check your cue sheets at the PRO or wait for the quarterly statement from the library and/or your PRO. Either way, it will be a bit of a wait.

    • It could mean a placement, but maybe not.

      Sometimes when a library registers all your tracks, they don’t all show up in your PRO catalog at the same time. There could be processing delays on some tracks but not others.

      I had the same reaction once. I signed a bunch of tracks with a library and then suddenly saw 2 registered with my PRO. There were no placements. A few days later the others showed up in my catalog.

      Some libraries register tracks promptly after signing while others wait unti there is serious interest by a client. You can’t read too much into it.

      Best of luck!

  4. Hey Art / or anyone who has dealt with CDBaby

    I recall you mentioning that there was an issue with your wife’s CD with respect CDBaby’s contract preventing selling the music through other venues.

    Does the CD Baby contract also prevent licensing? I had three CDs out in the 90’s, two New Age and one Smooth Jazz that did ok on radio. I recently sold 60 of one of the New Age CDs to a bunch of massage therapists. It seems that there’s still some life there so I’m thinking about selling on CDBaby, but I don’t want to rule out licensing, because it might be more profitable in the long run.

    Any advice?

    Thanks,

    Michael

    • Hey Michael, Here’s the first bit of this link:
      https://members.cdbaby.com/membercontract.aspx#physical

      ———————–
      DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION ADDENDUM

      1. Additional Authorization:

      While selling Your Content on the Website is non-exclusive (meaning you have the right to sell your music and videos directly), the rights granted by you to us under this Digital Distribution Addendum are exclusive with respect to serving as your authorized representative for distributing Your Content to third party distributors for online redistribution, because online retailers (e.g., iTunes, Amazon, etc.) will refuse content that may be delivered by multiple parties.
      ——————————-

      So it does appear to be exclusive.

      • Hey Art,

        Thanks. That clause would appear to limit selling tracks through an online sight, like AudioSparx. It does not appear to preclude licensing through companies like Crucial, or Audiosocket.

        I’m going the all digital route. No interest in manufacturing CDs.

        Thanks again.

        Michael

        • Right, that’s why I opted out at Audiosparx.

          To be clear to others reading this. I didn’t opt out of Audiosparx just their “INTERNET ROYALTIES” option.

  5. I noticed lately that more posts I intended to respond to don’t have a reply button. Any idea why that is or just a glitch?

  6. Can anybody recommend a good non exclusive library, that DON’T require you to fill out meta info or categories? I have a rather large catalog of tracks and I just wanna hand it over to a lib ala Scorekeepers with out spending allot of time having to fill out info for each tracks, like pump and Musicsupervisor.com require.
    Thanks in advance!

    • I think you’ll find that most Exclusives are very high-end libraries – your chances of placing a large catalog of your own tracks with one is pretty slim at best.

      If you’e lucky you may place an album’s worth, though chances are you’ll find re-writes are often called for too. So it’s not an easy one stop option. Best of luck though 😉

      • Darkstar,
        I agree, but I was actually looking for NON exclusive lib to submit to.
        But thanks for taking the time to reply 🙂

    • thats why i’m thinking about having a couple of children right now…want to go on holiday ? want to go to the arcade ? want some new trainers ? fill out the metadata kids, fill out the metadata.
      But yes i think theres a huge gap in the whole libraries, a massive oversight, of just how time consuming a demoralising metadata can be. I have a simple solution – templates, and not just the ones we provide from our previous tracks, i think what should be implimented is say a ‘drama template-happy’ or ‘drama template – sad’ – click that one button all keywords are put in and done, all catagories also, the upload could be , upload track – hover over it and get choice templates to go for, not go ‘hip hop’ then get a choice of east coast, west coast, etc, it just takes so so long. i dont have the solution but i do believe that once a problem is identified and people are unhappy about it then collectively solutions begin to be offered because at the moment i do feel its very time consuming and first generation.

      • Adam,
        You bring up some great points, this will definitely be an issue for composers going forward.
        By the way wouldn’t it be a great feature to add to MLR if it was possible to filter the libraries that required composers to fill metainfo/categorizing ? Maybe I should suggest this to Art…..I’m so grateful for this site! 🙂

        • @ Happy Ears: Great idea about listing here what libraries require metadata input from their composers. It would require that someone research all the libraries for that info and let me know. Once I have it I will add it to the database here.

          I would also like to add what libraries allow for batch metadata input such as a csv file.

          I will give free lifetime access to MLR to anyone that wants to take this on.

    • I hate track tagging too… Long, boring, and tedious…

      HOWEVER, ask yourself WHY you want to avoid libraries that require this. If you just want to save yourself work, you may be cheating yourself out of good opportunities.

      One thing to keep in mind is just how much we learn from track tagging. If WE can’t figure out the genre, moods, sound-likes, etc for a track, imagine how it will be received by end users searching for tracks. So as much as I hate the process, I’ve learned a ton– stuff I take with me to future writing efforts.

      I’ve had some libraries do their own tagging and I end up scratching my head as to how THEY categorized a track. At times I’ve emailed libraries to (nicely) inquire about how they tagged. For example, I had what was clearly a World music track tagged as pop or something else and asked the library if they would change it. Recenly something of mine at another library was labeled “Folk” and I’m not sure that’s the best fit though I give a lot of weight to decisions by people with experience.

      🙂

  9. Anybody check out Measurement Arts? I don’t see them listed here unless they grew out of some other situation that is listed here. Anybody check these guys out yet?
    They retitle, are accepting submissions with submission forms, take 50% publishing, non-exclusive, one year contract.
    I thought there was a “general” category here but I couldn’t find it so listed under newbie for now.

    http://www.measurementarts.com/cbs_catalog.html

  10. Any libraries come to mind that pay up front on a per track basis?
    I don’t have a bunch of tracks but would like to start generating some meaningful cash on some cues. I’m not talking about $30 a track. More like $250, $500 or even $1000.
    Thanks

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