The Music Industry’s Inconvenient Truth

by Paul Gelsomine

It’s no big secret that the music industry is a tough business to be in. As we quickly move through the digital landscape, seeing the slow death of physical product among other opportunities, the whole Music Industry game continues to be constantly shifting. Gone are the days where composers would receive huge cash advances. There’s also the feeling that technology platforms are disrupting the music business. Some claim they are improving the game, while others say they are taking money away from the creators.

The vast majority of educational content being spewed out about the music industry works under the assumption that there is only one viable path forward. Many believe companies writing this material, are trying to attract future independent content providers as customers. (more…)

CWR (Common Works Registration) 101

by Abby North

One of the greatest obstacles music publishers face in royalty collections is proper and comprehensive registration of all their works.

Within the United States, there are several performance rights organizations (PROs), two of which (ASCAP and BMI) expressly allow publishers to register works by providing data files using Musicmark’s Electronic Batch Registration (EBR) standard. SOCAN, the Canadian PRO also accepts EBR files. (more…)

Composer Interviews – Earn Free Access

One of our subscribers pointed out that the composer interview section hasn’t been updated in a while. To be included you must have some experience in the field and you must be earning at least 5 figures annually as a production music composer (we have enough interviews at 4 figures and under). The interviews will always be available free of charge (they will not require a subscription to access).

Those accepted will receive one month free access. If you have a lifetime membership you can donate the free month to a friend. (more…)

Sneaky Creepy Halloween Video

Happy Halloween!

It’s the time of year to break out this video we made a couple of years back. Used a piece of our own music (of course) called Sneaky Creepy. Love making animated videos and need to do more!

Review – iZotope’s Neutron 2

Intelligent Mixing Tool – iZotope’s Neutron 2

By J. Scaturro

iZotope’s award winning, research-driven audio technology includes a suite of products that give you new ways of treating your mixes with intelligent tools for modernizing and elevating your sound. Included in their product line is Neutron 2, a versatile mixing plugin consisting of multiple sound shaping modules and powerful audio analysis tools including Track Assistant, Masking Meter and the Visual Mixer.

Neutron 2 is part of iZotope’s line of intelligent DSP plugins for Windows and Mac, available in AAX, RTAS, VST2, VST3 and Audio Unit formats. Plugins are offered separately and in bundles such as the Music Production Suite and 08N2.  Each plugin comes in three versions: Elements, Standard and Advanced, each adding additional features.  For simplicity, I’ll focus on the Standard level of Neutron 2. The feature comparison charts on the iZotope website will give you details for each version.
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