making beats

Out of context: Reply #1488

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  • kingsteven0

    Excuse this slightly OT rant but I am having two simultaneous nightmares with music licensing atm.

    Firstly, a friend of mine who I played with for years told me I should register with PRS & MCPS because I was listed as a songwriter on several albums we recorded. I have been going through the process of getting registered which involved £200 of registration fees, one of which had to be a cheque, posted with written applications to both societies... I have a bunch of other stuff released and I know has had significant airplay and a few producers I've worked with ensured me that my share of certain songs should at least cover the registration fees. Anyway, whatever it is I guarantee it's not worth the headache I've just had registering myself against the works using their websites!! ... still a couple of works that are claimed by other folks of the same name that i'm going to have to sort out (and I guarantee it's not going to be worth it) hopefully mostly sorted now... but I just can't get over how antiquated the whole system is and how much I've been melted by it ...

    On the other side i've relaunched a DIY psychedelic label I had years ago to get a bunch of stuff released digitally that I put out on vinyl and to release a 7" I recorded for a friends garage rock band... Currently having to do paperwork to register the works as publisher just to complete the documentation to allow the vinyl to posted from the pressing plant...

    Anyway, the whole experience has been such a stress fest I'm close to swearing I'll never do it again, what a bunch of bullshit. Even the way the digital download services that are popular at the moment have a "ditch the label" rhetoric and a workflow that you can tell is designed to take a cut of the mechanical licensing of cover songs recorded by goober faced shitwads in their bedrooms on their ukuleles when they get picked up by advertisers... FUCK THIS!

    Not the first time I've been put off the act of creating shit by the bureaucracy of the industry, it's been clear to me for many years the folks making money in this game aren't the artists (and it wouldn't bother me at all if I didn't know how they distribute the money that's unclaimed) but it honestly just gets worse the deeper you dig.

    Anyway, this thread is always on the making side but I know a few of you guys have releases, wondering if there's any other nightmare stories I can take solace in :-D

    • btw. i went with routenote for digital distribution, one of the few companies that don't take a 30% cut (you pay $5/ $10/ $15 up front for single/ep/album) andkingsteven
    • works for labels/ multiple artist names. recommended.kingsteven
    • You not check out Distrokid.com - Keep 100% of your royalties. They are a big single finger up to the rest of that industry.microkorg
    • yeah, they're similar in pricing but have special accounts for labels that cost more... spent a couple days going through all this: https://is.gd/upxG8G…kingsteven
    • also, distrokid have a load of hidden charges when you get in to it, analytics aren't great and don't really like their marketing guff.kingsteven
    • Will check out that article. Looking to use a service like this sometime soon to get music onto platforms.microkorg
    • it's from late last year but there is a great excel spreadsheet at the end with all the features/ costs gridded out thats kept up to date...kingsteven

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