SLiPSTR34M

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TROPHY CASE

With ratings like this on iTunes, no surprise how talented Hank is :) by coaster367in nerdfighters

[–]SLiPSTR34M 3 points4 points ago

Careful careful careful.
A song's popularity has absolutely no bearing on the amount of talent or skill involved in producing that song.

My journey from fundamentalist Christianity to atheism [long] by CitizenFordin atheism

[–]SLiPSTR34M 24 points25 points ago

"STEP 10: Use Logic."
First sentence: "Remember that God cannot be explained logically." Wat.

This showed up last night by Apositivebalancein halo

[–]SLiPSTR34M 2 points3 points ago

How it should be done (and the reason I'll stop pirating) by SamuelMitchellin Music

[–]SLiPSTR34M 1 point2 points ago

This model has been successful for me. Any CD sales from my label's website come with an instant MP3 download so they can start listening while waiting for the mail.

Well done, RIAA by drctrgeniusin WTF

[–]SLiPSTR34M 0 points1 point ago

Artists don't obtain live performance licenses, the businesses do.
Here's an example:
There's a Ben Folds tune called Effington that my band and I like to do. Ben is rep'd by ASCAP last I checked. If you've ever heard his music playing in a business - on the radio in a giftshop, from a jukebox, or himself playing it at a concert - that performance was licensed by ASCAP. The venue purchased a live performance blanket license from ASCAP that they pay every year. So if my band is playing and we cover Effington, we don't have to worry about it because it's covered under the venue's license. (If venues have a 'no covers' policy, that is usually why.)
Now I record my version of it and sell it on iTunes. I have to purchase a mechanical license from ASCAP and they pay Ben $0.09 every time someone downloads the song. (You estimate ahead of time and pay in advance, kind of like taxes.) Then it's perfectly legal for me to sell that cover.
Now I make a music video of it for my youtube channel - you need a different type of license for that. One type because it's being streamed - not covered under the mechanical license - and another type because it's set to video - that's called a sync license.
It's all pretty complicated.
Edit: My bassist is a member of ASCAP, I think. That means that even if we were playing our original music, the venue would still have to pay an ASCAP live performance license.

Well done, RIAA by drctrgeniusin WTF

[–]SLiPSTR34M 11 points12 points ago

My senior year Berklee (small aside: Berklee doesn't use 'senior', 'junior,' rather they go by semester, but anyway) Dude comes into my class and he's the membership director or something at ASCAP. They tell us that if we're actively gigging (basically all berklee songwriting majors are) that we're eligible for what's called an ASCAP Plus award - any public performance of your work, even by you, entitles you to a payment. We all think this sounds like a great idea and lots of us sign up.
Once you're a member (you pay dues... so you pay to get paid... you have the venues pay ASCAP to play your songs, and you pay ASCAP to collect your money, kinda fucked up, right?) you have to register your songs with them. To do that, you have to notate them and fill out all this paperwork and it's not exactly the kind of thing I want to try to attempt from a tour van so I never do it. So at that point I was an ascap member although they didn't rep any of my songs.
Just finishing up college, I stumble upon the Jonathan Coulton / MC Frontalot / Paul and Storm circle of the internet, and this great Creative Commons model where you encourage your fans to use your tunes instead of chasing them around with lawyers. This allows me to get a good footing on YouTube and after a few years writing and touring I build up a solid fanbase. I also become friends with JoCo and paul and storm through those circles and did two tours this summer with MC Frontalot. The point is not to brag but to show how well creative commons works for getting people to dig into your material and really build your fanbase.
About a year ago maybe, there was this article posted here by a dude who thought all music should be free. This wasn't just the regular 'legalize filesharing' argument, it was 'artists shouldn't be paid for their work' kind of thing which doesn't really have a logical defense... I did a youtube video rebutting his article, showing how my income is derived directly from my fans purchasing my music and merch, and that without that income I'd have to stop doing music and work other jobs. It got a lot of attention from the 'old school' songwriting circle and made the rounds in, among other things, the ASCAP newsletter. I exchanged some emails with the bigwigs at ascap, and they asked me why I hadn't registered any songs with them. I asked them why they were actively campaigning to end creative commons (really.) They called it 'copyleft' - the opposite of copyright, which it's not. It's an addendum, an extension to copyright, and doesn't affect it at all. I tell them that it's basically the only reason I have had any career at all and it's what's enabling artists like myself and Paul & Storm and Coulton to have careers and they sent back some form nonsense about how it's hurting people who should get paid. (How the balls am I going to get paid if no one ever hears my music?) So that was it. I didn't renew my membership. Maybe more info than you wanted but there ya go.

Well done, RIAA by drctrgeniusin WTF

[–]SLiPSTR34M -1 points0 points ago

haha I have no idea.

Well done, RIAA by drctrgeniusin WTF

[–]SLiPSTR34M 1 point2 points ago

Nah, I had a venue in Indy pull it on me when I was performing - "If you are an ASCAP member, you must have merchandise for sale." I did so I didn't inquire further.

Going to the TdN show tonight! Any tips or advice? by missjoliein nerdfighters

[–]SLiPSTR34M 2 points3 points ago

Don't shit your pants.

Well done, RIAA by drctrgeniusin WTF

[–]SLiPSTR34M 1 point2 points ago

Sometimes they will try to come after venues hosting nothing but original music as well - they approach up-and-coming musicians and tell them that they are eligible for payouts based on playing live. The leading edge of that is that they'll try to get venues to pay even if they have original music only. Check my recent comment history, I went into a little bit more depth on it.

Well done, RIAA by drctrgeniusin WTF

[–]SLiPSTR34M 0 points1 point ago

There are many state / local regs, yes. In addition, there are considerations as in my comment here

Well done, RIAA by drctrgeniusin WTF

[–]SLiPSTR34M 8 points9 points ago

The argument that I've run into (I've been a nationally touring performance artist for about 4 years) is that if anyone who is performing is a member of any PRS (sesac, ascap, bmi, etc), you have to pay. So you could get all original acts coming in, but if they're registered members of ascap, they can try to come after you. There was also a case of a guitarist playing a zeppelin riff to check his tuning before the show and they came after the venue over that too. And, yes, ringtones count as a public performance now, apparently.
There's a bunch of other weird rules too like if you do have a BMI or ASCAP artist performing, they legally must have merchandise for sale, or something like that. It's been a while since I kept up on it. I dropped ASCAP membership after they started attacking creative commons.

Well done, RIAA by drctrgeniusin WTF

[–]SLiPSTR34M -4 points-3 points ago

I mean it's illegal to have any type of music in your business unless you have a license.

Well done, RIAA by drctrgeniusin WTF

[–]SLiPSTR34M 1 point2 points ago

It was manually screened and approved by the revshare team. They don't like to admit that fair use is monetizeable but if you press it and it's clearly covered they'll usually let you do it.

Well done, RIAA by drctrgeniusin WTF

[–]SLiPSTR34M 2 points3 points ago

Any business having music (live bands, playing the radio, playing hold music, playing a jukebox) has to obtain a music license from one of the performing rights organizations (ascap, sesac, bmi, etc). This should answer your questions.

Well done, RIAA by drctrgeniusin WTF

[–]SLiPSTR34M 6 points7 points ago

It's the venue's responsibility, not the artist's. Learned it in music business class, have a gander at the ascap website.

Well done, RIAA by drctrgeniusin WTF

[–]SLiPSTR34M 1 point2 points ago

Sure it does. I have several songwriting tutorial videos monetized which use excerpts of copyrighted content for educational purposes.

Well done, RIAA by drctrgeniusin WTF

[–]SLiPSTR34M 12 points13 points ago

In the US, you need a live music license for any group with more than two members, even if it's original music.

I like male nerdfighters....A LOT! by necro3mpin nerdfighters

[–]SLiPSTR34M 0 points1 point ago

Maybe I like it that way ;)

I like male nerdfighters....A LOT! by necro3mpin nerdfighters

[–]SLiPSTR34M 1 point2 points ago

If you look at the Hey Molly live at the Space video on my channel, you can see everyone singing along except for one dude right in the middle of the front row with his arms crossed. He's obviously not there of his own volition. I think generally, though, the people that come to the shows don't end up hating it. Maybe they went with a friend but hopefully ended up liking it. It's not a thrash metal show, it's pop, so usually it's pretty accessible.
Actually I don't think it's about the music at all. I think it's about maybe kids who haven't been to a ton of concerts and don't feel comfortable in the concert environment - standing in a crowd with a bunch of strangers who all know the words better than you - which is why it's very important for the artist to be able to make people feel welcome and included. We don't want anyone going home feeling like an outcast.

I like male nerdfighters....A LOT! by necro3mpin nerdfighters

[–]SLiPSTR34M 3 points4 points ago

Trust me, yo, the majority of dudes at Mike Lombardo concerts look confused beyond all redemption.

ELI5: How is a professional studio set-up?(hardware + software) by Toovyain WeAreTheMusicMakers

[–]SLiPSTR34M 2 points3 points ago

Yeah. Sometimes studios have an assistant engineer to help with this.

Youtube/music industry taking down my uploads by nanaemin youtube

[–]SLiPSTR34M 0 points1 point ago

All uploads are automatically screened at time of encoding. It has nothing to do with if the video is public or private. YouTube doesn't do the pulls, the rights holders do. If you appealed showing that you own the rights to all materials in your zips, you'd win. But if background music trips the fingerprint system, it's up to the rights holder to decide what happens to the video.

If you could download any album free, legally, directly from record companies by sitting through an ad, would you? by soad921in Music

[–]SLiPSTR34M 0 points1 point ago

YouTube CPM's are only that high for special programs through third party ad networks. They're generally a dollar or less. There are many variables.

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