New Cd on Itunes Now.....

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/what-u-talkin-bout/id511122817?i=511122896&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

2012 The Free Musik Group Is Here!!!!

The Pros and Cons Of Tagging Your Music

The last few weeks I’ve come across a few discussions online about whether or not you should tag your music when shopping it. So I figured I’d throw in my two cents about the pros and cons of tagging your music & my general theories on it. Here is a handy color coded guide for your reading pleasures… PRO & CON…

For about 7 years, I have used tags on my tracks. Here is an example of how I do it.


Note: This is the EXACT same file that was played to Jim Jones before he bought this track…

[viddy f='http://www.beabetterproducer.com/BE_A_BETTER_PRODUCER_FILES_MAIN/mp3s/Businessman.mp3' t='Businessman' a=left r='viddy_close']

-

The main reason I tag my music is to discourage beat “jacking” (the unauthorized use of music for commercial and/or promotional purposes). I try to strategically place my tags over key points in my tracks, generally the best parts or parts that repeat the least. This way, someone may be able to chop up the track in pro tools and construct a version of my track, but it still wont be as good as the real thing. Tagging my music has undoubtedly protected some of my music from being jacked. I know this because there are a few MC’s out there who even used my tracks straight off the beat CD’s with the tags still on them. And I’m not talking about some random ass soundclick/myspace artists, they are actually semi well known MC’s… On the other hand, tagging has probably blocked some placements for me too. Many artists like recording to tracks immediately & may be too lazy/hollywood/pissed off to have someone contact you immediately for the track. If done properly, tagging your tracks can also help build your brand/name. There are a bunch of industry people & MC’s who can recite my tag when I see them & in the Jim Jones track. On the Jim Jones track “Go With You” (Produced by Rony A), they actually liked the way his drop (“illathanmost”) sounded so much that they left it in anyway…

Many people believe “as long as your music is copyrighted, you will be OK”. This is ridiculous. Yes, if someone steals your music and puts it on a major album, it will definitely help you out in court. But there are other ways someone can steal your music & essentially render it useless. Today someone can jack one of your tracks & post it up on a popular music site & mixtape radio shows within minutes of recording it. Once your music is in circulation publicly, it can completely ruin your chances of ever placing it with someone else. I’ve had leaks/jacks like this happen to me 3 times so far (it’s crazy how the timing on these things work out)… Two of those times it completely turned the artists off of the track & ruined the placements for me. For the “Bright Lights Big City” beat (above), someone jacked the beat and placed it on a couple of Hip Hop websites. Of course some of Jim’s people heard it. Word got back to him, but fortunately he either didn’t care or just liked the song enough to not worry about it.

I think that pretty much covers up all the Pros and Cons of beat tagging. Just because you may be leaning one way or another, remember you can always use a combination of tagged and untagged beats.

This is the formula I have created to decide on whether to send someone tagged or untagged beats…

“If a jacked song from the artist or artists on the label you are sending tracks to will improve your discography,

then you should send them track with no drops.”

which means…

“If a jacked song from the artist or artists on the label you are sending tracks to will NOT improve your discography,

they need to cut a damn check before they see any music without drops.”

Just my opinion though…

How To Copyright Music

How Do I Copyright My Music?
That's a question I get asked a lot here at the Music Biz Academy. And so, I decided I might as well write a formal article about it.

I discuss the issue in detail in my book, How to Promote Your Music Successfully on the Internet, so I've more or less included an excerpt from that here. So here we go...

Why Copyright My Music?
If you see yourself as a serious musician (and I presume you do), you would be wise to register your original songs with the U.S. Copyright Office (if you reside outside of the U.S., skip to the section on International Copyright below). This will protect you in the event that someone, somewhere, steals one of your songs and claims it as their own. Whether you want to copyright just one song for possible digital distribution or an entire CD of collected works, the process is the same.

The eCO Online System
The U.S. Copyright Office encourages you to register your music via an online registration process called the eCO Online System. Once you go there, create an account for yourself, then log in and you’re ready to start. Registering a copyright via this process is not all that difficult, but the technical language can be confusing. The online process does walk you step-by-step through filling out the document, but even so, take your time. Carefully read the help links (the underlined text) provided each step of the way. If you do that, it will help you understand what information goes where.

You’ll find a copyright tutorial for the eCO system at http://www.copyright.gov/eco/eco-tutorial.pdf . I recommend you take a look at that before you undertake this process to see what you’re in for.
The filing fee for online song registration is $35.

A few tips regarding the eCO process that I think might help you:

You’ll want to register your music as a "sound recording" as this kind of registration includes not only the performance, but the underlying music itself.

Under "Title of Work" add the name of your CD first and set the "Type" as "Title of work being registered." Then list your song titles and set the "Type" for those as "Contents Title." So the album name is the "Title," the individual songs are the "Contents."

If you have cover songs on your album, you’ll exclude those under the "Limitation of Claim" section. For example, if track 7 on your CD is a cover tune, under "Material Excluded" check the boxes for "Music" and "Lyrics" (if you have lyrics) and then in the space for "Other" indicate "Track 7." Then under "New Material Included" check all the boxes and under "Other" list the track numbers for your original songs. So here you specify what tracks to exclude for copyright registration (because they belong to someone else) and which tracks to register under your own name. If all the songs on your album are original, you can skip this section entirely.
Once you have filled out the form and verified all your information, add it toyour cart, pay for it, and then you’ll receive an email with instructions on how to print out your registration and mail it in with copies of your CD. You can also upload the files digitally, if you prefer.

If you don’t wish to go through the online process, you can type all of your information in Form CO, print it out and mail it in. And you’ll find instructions for Form CO at http://www.copyright.gov/forms/formco2d-ins.pdf . Fill out the PDF file following the instructions and then print TWO copies. One copy for yourself, and one copy to mail to the Library of Congress to the address provided.

The cost to submit the form by mail is $50.00.

Either way you go, whether online or via mail, it will take six months to a year for the Library of Congress to process your registration. However, once you’ve submitted your work, you’re officially protected. If you use FedEx to send your copyright forms (which I suggest you do), keep your tracking number handy and you can present this as legal proof of your effective date of copyright registration should you ever need it.

What Does Copyright Registration Do for Me?
Well, if someone does steal your work, not only can you prove the work is yours by your registration, but you can also sue for damages (you can’t legally sue for damages if your song isn’t registered with the copyright office). If the copyright infringement is determined to be deliberate, your attorney can initiate a formal criminal investigation.

Registering your songs' copyright grants you these exclusive rights:

The right to make copies and duplicate your CD
The right to distribute your music
The right to prepare derivative works (alternate versions, new arrangements)
The right to perform the songs publicly
The right to display the product publicly
The right to perform publicly via digital audio transmission
Once you’ve registered your sound recording (your CD) with the U.S. copyright office, these rights belong exclusively to you and you alone (provided, of course, that you are the actual copyright owner). No one can take those rights from you.

Once your song is registered, you no longer have to worry about someone stealing your song idea and taking credit for it. If someone does that, gets a hit out of it and you can prove the song is yours with your registered copyright, you are going to smile all the way to the bank when the court awards you damages, which can be very high for copyright theft.

How to Copyright Individual Digital Creations
What if you only want to copyright a single song (or video, or photo, or article, or blog or whatever) to prove it’s yours? See http://www.myfreecopyright.com/ . At this web site you can upload your digital files, be they music, video, pictures or whatever, and they are instantly copyrighted and you can prove the date/time of registration. The service is free, and it’s a very simple way to copyright your individual music creations. Just so you know, however, even though you can use this digital copyright in a court of law to prove infringement, you cannot collect statutory damages from the infringer. You can collect lost profits that might be determined, but not statutory damages which is generally where the big money comes from. To collect statutory damages, you still need to send in a registration form into the copyright office as stated above.

What About Creative Commons?
There is an alternative means by which you may copyright your work called Creative Commons ( http://www.creativecommons.org ). Basically what this does is create a copyright for your music whereby instead of all rights being reserved, only some rights are reserved. This invites others to use your work for certain purposes without having to get permission from you first. In theory, this means people searching for music to use in their products or digital creations are more likely to use your music if they don’t have to jump through a lot of legal hoops to make use of it. So, for example, you might allow a song to be used in a non-commercial product (ie. no financial profit for the distributor) without forcing the licensee to get permission from you, but still reserve the right to collect a royalty if the product in question is a money-maker. The Creative Commons copyright is still a rather new concept, and there are many variations on it that may make the concert confusing for the potential licensee. Even so, it is something to at least be aware of if the concept becomes more widely recognized and accepted. For a list of the different Creative Commons licenses available, see http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/meet-the-licenses

What About International Copyright?
If you are not a citizen of the United States, obviously the comments above do not apply to you as every country handles the copyright process a bit differently. However, chances are that your homeland is a member of the World Intellection Property Organization (WIPO). If so, you can start researching your copyright options at http://www.wipo.int/members/en/ . Select your country name from the WIPO list, follow the “contact information” link, and that will take you to a page that lists the web site address of the copyright office for your country.

Some notable and related links from this article:

The U.S. Copyright Office: http://www.copyright.gov
Copyright and Fair Use: http://fairuse.stanford.edu
Copyright Your Web Site: http://www.gocopyright.com
Copyright Form SR: http://www.copyright.gov/register/sound.html
Copyright Your Digital Creation: http://www.myfreecopyright.com
World Intellection Property Org: http://www.wipo.int/members/en/
The Harry Fox Agency: http://www.harryfox.com/index.jsp


The above a brief, (and slightly edited) excerpt from How to Promote Your Music Successfully on the Internet.

-----

Sonic Simplicity is Here!!! We make you sound good!!!

Sonic Simplicity Mastering Studio provides CD Mastering, Mixing, Restoration and Transferring Services. We provide the option to upload your project directly to our server, or to send a cd or dvd to our Studio in Bristol, Va. Sonic Simplicity prides itself on customer service; you will always have the opportunity to speak to your Engineer. No matter where you are in the world, we consider you a local client at Sonic Simplicity.

Check out our website www.sonicsimplicity.com

Rules For Labeling Mp3's

I thought it would be a great idea to iron out a simple format, so whenever you send a track to some A&R, artist, manager, etc, you will make it as simple as possible for them to track you down when they want your music… Believe it or not, a good percentage of producers/artists/managers send out mp3′s that make it very difficult to track them down. So with no further delay, The OFFICIAL Rules Of Labeling Mp3′s!


Rule #1:

Include your name

Whatever name you want to be in the credits of whatever album you want to get on, should be in the file name.


Rule #2:

Include Your e-mail

Just because you emailed the beat to whoever, it doesn’t mean that they didn’t go into their gmail and just download 1000 beats and dump them into an ipod. Don’t make them go through all of those gmails just to find your track!


Rule #3:

Include Your Phone Number

It’s great getting phone calls from people that want your music. Give them that opportunity. Don’t forget the area code…


Rule #4:

Include Something To Identify That Particular Beat/Song

It helps to name your tracks, just so moving forward there is something that can be used to identify the track. Otherwise whoever wants the track is going to have to beatbox it to you, which can be entertaining but is a nuisance.

Here is an example of a perfectly formated mp3 file…



So there it is. Simple, short and to the point. There is no doubt in my mind that over the years, people have lost out on placements, money and deals just because they didn’t properly label their music and could never be tracked down. If you follow these rules, that will never happen to you.

The Government Giveth, The Government Taketh Away

Over the course of history`8, it was decided that people who made their ideas tangible –like songwriters– should make money. So they made up a bunch of really esoteric, hard to understand rules­ (aka laws) on how it should all work. The foundation for these laws can actually be found in the United States Constitution. The rules built on this concept get updated from time to time, but ultimately the foundation of the six legal rights that a person gets when he or she creates a copyrighted work, by making a song tangible (meaning it’s recorded or written down) are the basis for all the rules, laws and money made in the music industry.

Which, if you think about it, is a bit weird, because, what is it that is actually being sold when someone buys “music?” A buyer walks out of the store with some sort of device (like a vinyl record, CD or digital download) and plops it onto a machine. That machine “plays” the device, causing a speaker to vibrate in such a way that sound waves move through the air to our ears. Our ears detect these sound waves, and transmit them to our brains as electrical impulses. Our brains interpret these impulses and we “hear” the music.

In other words, unlike food or clothes, there is nothing tangible to a song beyond the intangible memory of what you just heard. The sound of music always lives in the past.

And yet, the governments of the world (acting on behalf of their constituents; in theory at least) decided that these transmissions of sound waves, and the people who wrote the songs, are so valuable and important, that they created a complex set of laws and regulations. These laws require that licenses be granted and payments be made to the people/entities controlling the rights to the recordings of the songs (usually called a “record label”) and the lyrics and melody of the song (usually called the “songwriter” or “music publisher”).

These rules and regulations tie together, regulate, and give basis for a global consortium of tens of millions of record labels, artists, songwriters, music publishers, performing rights organizations, and mechanical royalty collection agencies, to generate and collect and administer over $23 billion dollars.

And the governments of the world take this stuff very, very seriously. So much so, that there is an entire shadow economy built around an infrastructure of copyright boards, judges, copyright police, congressional committees, and teams of lawyers that are supposed to be the experts in knowing all the rules, and, in some cases, set royalty rates as to what these innovative creators should be paid.

However, in a move that could be construed as paradoxical (or, at the very least a “head scratcher”) these very same governments that created a way to assure that artists, songwriters and record labels can make money also decided that a songwriter/lable only gets these rights for 70 years after the death of the last surviving person who wrote the song (or ninety-five years from the date of publication in the case of a work for hire), after which point, all of the author’s rights get taken away, and the song becomes a “public domain” work, This means it’s available for anyone to use in any way they like without having to pay or negotiate anything with anyone.

Or put another way, 69 years and 364 days after the death of the last surviving writer, the people who control the rights to the song (like someone’s child or grandchildren) get to make money from the use of that song. The next day they don’t; one hell of a Monday to a Tuesday.

Which brings up the question as to why. Why give all of these rights and all of these rules for a set period of time? What is the reason that on that last magical day the very same hand that gave these rights decides it’s enough and takes them all away?

After all, when a song’s rights are stripped away from the person who wrote it, and the copyrights expire, many other people can make money off the recording and song. For example, at some point in time, the Beatles’ recordings and songs will enter the public domain, and when they do, anyone can release a Beatles album or cover Paul/John’s song without paying them. If someone buys that song or album physically from Amazon, a slew of people make money off the Beatles: Amazon makes money, the person who sold it makes money, the entity that made the cardboard box that the CD ships in makes money, the U.S. postal service makes money. The Beatles’ label, their estate, and John and Paul’s estates don’t make money from the sale.

Hardly seems fair.

On the other hand, what happens if Dr. Evil comes to life, only this time he has a trillion dollars at his disposal (don’t laugh too hard, there was a moment not too long ago when Bill Gates was worth a trillion dollars), and he decides he is going to buy the copyrights to all the recordings and songs in the world. Without a reversion of copyright, the world would be denied access to these creations. Corporations could hoard them forever, and perpetually deny or grant access at their whim. Put another way, corporations would have a complete and total stranglehold on culture (one could argue they already do, but that’s a different topic).

And thus the tension between the public good vs. copyright holders and creators comes to play with the government standing in between them, trying to come up with a solution that does not tip the scales too far on way or another.

The question I have relates to technology opening the flood gates to more creators: should there be a re-evaluation of this tension? I honestly don’t have the answer, and I truly can argue both sides of this equation. If it were me, and I wrote and recorded the song “Paperback Writer,” why the hell should I not be entitled to make money off the thing I created? Who the hell is the government to interfere with my rights and decide it’s been long enough for me, or my children, or their children’s children to make money off my creation. If I build a house, the government doesn’t get to take it away from me after a period of time and say it is “public domain.” Why is my song, my creation, thought less of than a house?

On the other hand, somehow it would just not feel right to me if Mozart’s great-great-great-great-great (not sure how many greats should go here) grandchildren got paid each and every time his Flute Concerto No. 2 In D Major – K. 314 was played and sold.

In other words, what is the place of public domain and the reversion of copyright in the new emerging digital music industry?

My concern is not over what the answer is, but instead who gets to shape the discussion. To this point in time, the creators themselves are the minority voice. The multi-national corporations that have gobbled up and/or “own” all of these songs and copyrights are the ones pulling the strings, lobbying for changes to the law. This would be fine if the creators of culture–aka artists–and corporations were in step with one another, but this is hardly the case.

Today’s world has allowed musicians and artists to break free of a system requiring them to relinquish their copyrights to pursue their dreams and ambitions. Together they are louder than any other music entity. The trick is allowing their voice to be heard. Connected Music Group is simply a megaphone, you are the voice.