General Question about Collab's

[yammer107]

Hello, Maybe I'm thinking too deep about silly little' things but; In general how do you folks go about this collaboration stuff - in terms of agreement or trust with the other party, protecting yourself or your work, when dealing with people you've never met or know very little about, etc. (internet) IE: Ever worry about the other party running off with your work in some fashion, etc? Or registering the work as a single party? Or is just a chance you take, an accepted risk.... and get over it. Chris

[joeymurillo]

That does worry me sometimes as well..Especially with overseas..I mean I'm starting thru taxi to get some emails from other writers to Collab? I'm just making sure all my ideas are secure before anything else plus I would like some more info on that myself..JM

[deantaylor]

I've done many collabs over the internet .. many overseas. I never had many doubts and have never had any problems with anyone stealing my work. I actually find the trust factor in collaborating very life affirming. And I believe you get a real good sense of the integrity of people that you never meet in person, but who still reply to emails, meet deadlines, work hard, exchange money with me ...... and much more. They can easily hide if they want to, but they don't. You can also get a good feel from this forum, by reading others posts, of just who is of outstanding character and who will go the last mile with/for you and who shares your goals and sensibilities.Just my 2 cents. I am an optimist, BTW.Dean

[joeymurillo]

Good point!! and I agree!! and soon find out either way..thanx Deanwww.taxi.com/joeymurillo

[yammer107]

Thanks guys, Yes I certainley feel familiar and trusting enough with some of the common names here on the TAXI forum. But there are a zillion more here I dont know as well. Everybody seems genuinely committed to the same goals here, I get a great sense of 'were in this together' and to help each other up the mountain. Didnt know if there were any ground rules or things I should watch for is all. Guess I'm just fishin' a bit.Chris

[deantaylor]

Chris,Of course I do apply some common sense. I certainly wouldn't work with anyone I thought was 'shakey'. Just haven't run into that yet. Quite the opposite .. so many great people that I've met and become friends with.Plus it is sort of like having work friends .. or like on a sports team .. sharing common goals, hopes, dreams .. sharing the joys of forwards and song deals .. and the disappointments, too. And I learn so much from them, too. DeanPS If you really wanted to be safe, you could register your songs with the LOC before collabing (if there is a 'whole' song there to register .. one of my co-writers did this before I wrote lyrics to his music) and then register your collab as well when it is done (your co-writers name goes on the form too .. so if they re-registered it again as their own later .. your registration would be first.) And one other thing you might consider is signing a co-writers agreement with your collaborator that sets down a few things in writing, like splits. I don't always do it, but it is a good idea .. if only so you both remember what you agreed to. lol Templates are available on the internet.

[devin]

I've had much more success with folks who are actively using Taxi. It seems someone who has some skin in the game are more serious, and respect the effort it takes to work together. I've ended up doing two things with involve Dean for example, and both have gone amazing. On the other hand, fishing for "local" musicians via Craigslist etc has been a longer and mostly unrewarding process. It's too easy to post one time saying "I can play guitar!" and then become flaky. A Taxi forum member who's stuck it out for a year is at least used to showing up!It's important to define the relationship very early on. I notice Dean always puts his expected payment method right in his first post...the "you'll get some cash if the song pays any" strategy is very common for hired guns contributing a track to an already mapped out song. It takes some trust on behalf of the "musician for hire" in this case...but it's easily extended once the working relationship starts to groove. Other people would get paid up front for their work via PayPal...or sometimes barter with complimentary skillz.Collaboration is the next step for folks working together, and that again requires some up-front communication about how it's going to work. Some of my favorite things to keep in mind:1. Start small with a first collab. Do one song, and see how the communcation and commitment goes.2. Have an agreement, documented if necessary (usually prudent!). Spell out the foreseeable work process, and a few contingency plans. "you do this, I'll do that, we'll register the song over here, we'll communicate once a week on status, don't post anything unless we both agree first, you pay for Taxi submissions, I keep the master, and if it falls apart we take our pieces and run"3. Realize that internet collaboration is usually iterative...it's hard to brainstorm simultaneously if you have to type out an idea and wait for a response. By the time your partner gets back to you, you may have already changed your opinion. Focus on what the song needs, if possible.4. If it really goes sour, and the work was a true collaboration, you'll both have to walk away from it. Unless it's easy to pull apart (you did the music first, I did lyric and melody later, etc), you may have to drop the whole project...without the other person's consent for "joint custody", you can't take their ideas.5. When it's time, register the song together (publishers do this for you too if you get some love for your song). Let the PRO track each of you from now until eternity...don't register a song in just one name, and expect the other person to keep sending you the $2.15 every quarter from the royalties for that repeating Skippy Peanut Butter commerical.There's a million more good ideas...I'll see if I can find some old threads with some other very knowledgeable folks chiming in.[edit: here's one that's related]http://taxi.proboards27.com/index.cgi?b ... =8638Every single forward I've had in my first 10 months with Taxi has been a collaboration. There's just too much for me to learn to get good at everything fast enough...I need other people!Some of those folks are remote...like Korea...the chances of me even meeting them are getting small.Unless, of course, 50 Cent cuts our tune. In which case, I'll meet my collaborators on Fifty's private jet during the party (I'm bringing the banjo I recorded the song with for Fifty to sign in that case!)It could happen.

[yammer107]

Thanks Dean and Devin, And Devin for your extended post ..... Pretty cool your first few forwards were result of collabs. Somebody from Korea in the mix as well, really? Season is ripe for some protest music over there I imagine, eh! I really had no idea of the general ins & out, or what to watch for. Thanks for all the insight..... I'll dig into the other thread next. Chris

[bluntbeats314]

i've only done a few collabs and i agree with the previous posts-taxi members, some musicians junction members and for some reason-i've had pretty good luck with artists from craigslist-not all but some. being a poor college student the can't afforrd to copyright each and every beat, i usually keep all the emails from an interested party. if they ask for a beat i won't send it until i get a simple "all i ask is that you send me a copy of the finished product and be honest in your intentions of using the completed song." it's not much but at least i have a series of timestamps, black and white agreement by both parties and a copy of the sent beat to john or jane doe.i've had friends with major placements try to rip beats from me with quick tongues and pseudo-collab projects but i understand that i'll have to take some loses in order to make a few gains...i just hope that the gains outweigh the loses.THE REASON.http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplaye ... 46252&q=hi

[greatmoves]

This is for, bluntbeats314. you can always do a "compilation of works copyright". Its when you gather/compile multiple songs ie... beats in your case. and copyright them at the same time. think of if like copyrighting an album. this will save you some cashBB