TAXI.com

I'm gonna hang out, while the tequila holds out, and reply to questions or clarify points brought up in tonight's chat. The Biz forum is also an appropriate spot for the biz-oriented bits. It'll be a good 15 minutes or so before I can see the chat posts I missed, meanwhile, I'm happy to expand on any issues/questions, but if there are none, I'll delete this thread, in lieu of wasting anyone's time.

The "mystery guest" mentioned that for some source music placements, a raw mix on a phone mic might be just what he needs.

Q: how would a recording like that ever get past the screeners unless the listing specifically stated "dirty, lo-fi recordings are fine" which I don't think I've ever seen on a listing, BTW.

Phone recordings are no longer necessarily dirty and lo-fi. My churches have been live-streaming services over cell phones for a few weeks now, and if the audio isn't necessarily Broadcast Quality, it's at least acceptable. The other side of the coin is that it's not all that difficult to degrade a BQ recording to make it sound more 'raw'. That's probably way more common than starting with a 'raw' recording, so you're right; there are few requests for crappy, lo-fi audio.

Hey Mojo!
Just following up on our Taxi TV chat.
I agree that you always want to control the rights to your music and not let CD Baby take your publishing rights. That's a given.

Here is another scenario that seemed to fit my situation that gave me hope for submitting to a Music Supervisor.
One of my band members wanted to get our original music on Spotify, Pandora, iTunes, etc. so we checked the box for publication. (I think it was with ReverbNation.) From there, I believe we gave up our publishing rights and I thought we couldn't get our music cleared for the music supervisor. After listening to our Mystery Music Supervisor, it sounds like we lose out on the publishing royalties but can still strike a deal by just identifying the licensed publisher. Is that true?

Over time, our membership with ReverbNation expired and we decided not to renew. I need to read the details of the "checkbox" to see if we have gained the rights back again.

What are your thoughts?

akira wrote: ↑

Mon May 18, 2020 7:10 pm

After listening to our Mystery Music Supervisor, it sounds like we lose out on the publishing royalties but can still strike a deal by just identifying the licensed publisher. Is that true?

If the Supe wants the song, the Publisher wants the publishing and you want the Sync Fee / Writers share then why wouldn't they

mojobone wrote: ↑

Mon May 18, 2020 5:50 pm

I'm gonna hang out, while the tequila holds out, and reply to questions or clarify points brought up in tonight's chat. The Biz forum is also an appropriate spot for the biz-oriented bits. It'll be a good 15 minutes or so before I can see the chat posts I missed, meanwhile, I'm happy to expand on any issues/questions, but if there are none, I'll delete this thread, in lieu of wasting anyone's time.

Mojo, first of all thanks for doing this. There were two statements by the Supe that I could not get my head around: He first said that if the song was too good it might distract the viewer too much and he then went on saying we should always write the best song possible. So which one is it? Does the first statement not suggest we should try to make the tracks we submit just a tad more boring than we'd like them to be?
Please let me know your thoughts.
Cheers,
Matt

MBantle wrote: ↑

Tue May 19, 2020 12:39 pm

There were two statements by the Supe that I could not get my head around: He first said that if the song was too good it might distract the viewer too much and he then went on saying we should always write the best song possible.

From my notes (not necessarily quoted verbatim):
He opened with the reality that the supe will pick the song that is "right for the scene". Having said that, he said be in it for the long game. Do not write to satisfy a specific scene/project/etc., but write songs you are proud of. Whether it's used in the project or not, you'll have a great song.

So which one is it? Does the first statement not suggest we should try to make the tracks we submit just a tad more boring than we'd like them to be?

As paradoxical as that is, my takeaway is to be sensitive to the placement, but don't compromise your creativity to try to make it fit.

cosmicdolphin wrote: ↑

Tue May 19, 2020 10:34 am

akira wrote: ↑

Mon May 18, 2020 7:10 pm

After listening to our Mystery Music Supervisor, it sounds like we lose out on the publishing royalties but can still strike a deal by just identifying the licensed publisher. Is that true?

If the Supe wants the song, the Publisher wants the publishing and you want the Sync Fee / Writers share then why wouldn't they

Thanks Cosmic!
Next, I will need to get approval from the rest of the band to submit on their behalf. It's a 5 way split and none of them are Taxi members. I think 1 of them is registered with ASCAP. I'll try to find some form that they can sign to cover my A$$.

akira wrote: ↑

Mon May 18, 2020 7:10 pm

Hey Mojo!
Just following up on our Taxi TV chat.
I agree that you always want to control the rights to your music and not let CD Baby take your publishing rights. That's a given.

Here is another scenario that seemed to fit my situation that gave me hope for submitting to a Music Supervisor.
One of my band members wanted to get our original music on Spotify, Pandora, iTunes, etc. so we checked the box for publication. (I think it was with ReverbNation.) From there, I believe we gave up our publishing rights and I thought we couldn't get our music cleared for the music supervisor. After listening to our Mystery Music Supervisor, it sounds like we lose out on the publishing royalties but can still strike a deal by just identifying the licensed publisher. Is that true?

Over time, our membership with ReverbNation expired and we decided not to renew. I need to read the details of the "checkbox" to see if we have gained the rights back again.

What are your thoughts?

My thoughts? Have you checked to see if your Reverbnation tunes are still on Spotify? Do you still have a free account at Reverbnation? I am (famously) not a lawyer, but what you signed away was not your publishing, so much as your exclusivity. Those checkboxes at CD Baby, Tunecore and Reverbnation represent an administration deal; you retain your rights, and the deal covers that specific relationship and no other. The pinch comes when you try to license the tracks to a library that wants exclusive administration, so they can pitch those tracks without fear of conflicts. HTH

AlanHall wrote: ↑

Mon May 18, 2020 6:23 pm

The "mystery guest" mentioned that for some source music placements, a raw mix on a phone mic might be just what he needs.

Q: how would a recording like that ever get past the screeners unless the listing specifically stated "dirty, lo-fi recordings are fine" which I don't think I've ever seen on a listing, BTW.

Michael followed up on this in a later show, I think it was Wednesday, and your question is in the title of the archived Quarantini. The upshot is that songs have been signed by publishers that heard a demo sung/played over a phone, back when phones hung on a wall. What you WILL see occasionally is piano/vocal or guitar/vocal, OK. That generally means your tune will be re-recorded by the artist, so your submission needn't be fully produced, with the four part harmony and full orchestration. SHOULD you send a raw, dirty, lo-fi recording? I wouldn't, unless that's what they asked for.

Can a #1 record be produced on an iPhone? Well, that happened in Japan, at least once, phones these days are pretty capable, but you'll still need a great song, some production chops and a damned great singer.

For film/TV, they like to have granular control over EXACTLY how crappy a track is; when it's SOURCE music, they want full range, unfiltered audio, cuz it's easy to crap up a great recording, but way harder to spiff up a crap one. You're gonna err, err on the side of quality sound. Give us your best.