This Studio Tip comes from SeeJoeRock.com “PRO”, Range Recording.  You can connect with them at www.SeeJoeRock.com/RangeRecording

From their first real introduction in the early 70’s the synthesizer has played a unique role in popular music.  From the pioneering work of groups like Can and Kraftwerk on the Krautrock side to the slippery funk of Sly Stone and Stevie Wonder, the synth has had its ups and downs.  Some years it’s all over stuff and then for some reason it goes into the musical witness relocation program.  I think it is safe to say that today it has come out of hiding again and is back with a vengeance.  Like any weapon, it can be used responsibly or it can be misused with tragic consequences for all involved.

In part this rise and fall can be located in what kind of synthesis we are talking about.  When they first came into prominence the reigning design model was multi-oscillator analog synthesis with names like Moog and Arp dominating the landscape.  Further down the road various other designers and manufacturers got on board and those quirky sounds give way to the dreaded digital synthesis of the 80’s and the emergence of Yamaha and the ubiquitous DX-7.  The DX-7 is the kind of beast that can give any instrument a bad rep for years to come.  That is exactly what happened.  The cheese factor of digital synthesis was so insanely high that it basically broke the cheese-o-meter in half.But then a funny thing happened. Some clever teenager (probably in Sweden or Germany) decided that the old and finicky analog synth could be righteously modeled in the digital realm and that in fact we didn’t need a dedicated instrument at all and viola- the so-called “soft” synth was born.  The soft synth was simply some snappy code that imitated all the awesomeness and parameters of the old and finicky analog synthesizers (which had now become very expensive collectors’ items btw).  Suddenly anyone with a computer and a controller keyboard (essentially a keyboard with no sounds of its own) was able to do a pretty damn good imitation of the classics in the field.  Witness the rebirth of the synth in the 21st century.  While some analog purists still maintain that the real thing can never be truly copied, the advent of soft synthesis certainly did allow many people to make some ultra-funky sounds for very little money and even less programming skill.  The threshold of entry was lowered considerably and some fairly astounding sounds emerged as a result.

Some readers may wonder where I am going with this history lesson but let me assure you I do have a point.  My point is that an absolutely enormous and dazzling galaxy of waveforms are now available to musicians that wish to add these exotic ingredients to their music.  No longer are we limited to the prevalent designs of an era and virtually every kind of sound from the earliest monophonic bleeps and blips to the most complex polyphonic multi-timbral onslaught can be dialed up and brought into being.  I would argue strongly that we are in living in the new Golden Age of synthesis and that any band would be crazy not to at least experiment with what this can mean for their palette of colors and textures.

Like anything on Earth synths can be overused and contrived but they can also be deeply mysterious and brilliant. When you are thinking about what a song needs, sometimes it is not another section or another chord or another guitar part.  Sometimes it is the infinitely malleable and amazing synthesizer that can mean the difference between ordinary and extraordinary.

For more studio tips, go to: http://www.rangerecordingstudios.com/studiotips.html

Create, Consult, Control

News & commentary on intellectual property issues.

Got more questions about protecting your music? Connect with Steven O’Donnell on his SeeJoeRock.com profile: www.seejoerock.com/AttorneySteve

“Music is what feelings sound like. Don’t be afraid to lay it all on the line.”
- RYO Records / www.seejoerock.com/ryorecords

“Your live show should appeal to all five senses. You need to learn how to make the audience buy into and believe in what you are doing on stage. Strive to make people feel passionately about your music. Make them absolutely love you or absolutely hate you. There is nothing worse than a lukewarm listener.”
- Break My Band / www.seejoerock.com/BreakMyBand

“Management is not what every band needs especially when you are not ready. Establish yourself, develop relationships and a resume before you take the next step! Find out what the bands missing, not what you already have!”
- DJQ Artist Management / www.seejoerock.com/djqmanagement

“Being successful in the music industry consists of 40% talent and 60% promotions! Why release great music if no one knows about it.”
- AheadPR / www.seejoerock.com/AheadPR

“5 helpful tips for printing on a CD!!
1.) Make sure to use the correct Dering templates and follow the specs.
2.) For CD labels sometimes simpler is better. Sometimes using solid PMS spot colors renders better results than artist’s images or subtle and detailed artwork.
3.) Keep type larger than 8 points for easy reading and higher quality printing.
4.) If you want to print on a disc without printing a white base coat down first, be aware of the different surfaces of the disc. For example the center area of the disc is clear plastic. Printing type or logos across these different surfaces can lead to unappealing results.
5.) Remember that the silver surface of the disc can be used to add an additional “color” to your artwork. Letting the silver of the disc show through type or graphics can add a nice effect to your design”
- Dering Corporation / www.seejoerock.com/Tracy

Find more helpful PRO TIPS by our SeeJoeRock.com PROS on www.seejoerock.com/professionals

One year ago today, SeeJoeRock.com was launched to help support and promote local musicians everywhere and help connect them with music industry professionals from all facets of the music business that can help take their music and/or music career to the next level!

SeeJoeRock is a free service to all musicians and music industry professionals!

So join today and get connected! Be seen.  Be heard.  Be discovered!

Whether you pursue the label route or self-release, it is important to realize that the “thing” that you create as an artist is a product, which must be protected. Your songs, music and even your image are all classified as “Intellectual Property” and qualify for a variety of legal protections to ensure that it not be stolen or misused by someone else. As an artist, it is your most important and valuable asset and it is not enough to rely on your managers, agents, or even lawyers, to protect your interests in the works you create.

Intellectual property law is complicated and nuanced, but an understanding of the fundamentals will help you be more effective in protecting your rights. Please note that the purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the intellectual property rights associated with music and the music industry in the United States. It is not intended, nor should it be used, as legal advice, but a launching ground for you to begin to learn more about your rights as a musician.

Why Copyright?

No matter where you are in your career, Intellectual Property laws, particularly Copyright law can greatly impact your art and income. Similar to a title on your car or house, a Copyright provides proof of ownership. Your songs, music and recordings qualify for Copyright protection in the United States of America as guaranteed in the Constitution.

Under current law, the owner of a Copyright has the exclusive right to reproduce works, create derivative works, distribute, perform and broadcast music. If you do not maintain control or legal interest in your creations, someone else can determine how your art will be used and reap the profits.

Generally, Copyrights attach to creative works at the moment of creation but are not secure until the works have been registered with the Copyright Office at the Library of Congress (the government agency that manages the copyright registration process). Properly registering your works with the Copyright Office protects your creations from both traditional and newer challenges brought about by technologies such as the Internet and home recording devices and ensures payment in the event of infringement.

You may have heard that if you mail a copy of the song, lyrics or recording to yourself that you have established your rights. Unfortunately, the “poor man’s copyright” is not enough to guarantee your rights or prove date of creation. A claim cannot be heard in court without a proper registration.

Under current law, only woners who register the work with the Copyright Office can defend their claim in court, and registration within three months of publication (within three (3) months of publication (publication is defined as the “distribution of copies or phonorecords of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental lease or “lending”) are eligible for payments for statutory damages and attorney fees.

A song qualifies for a two distinct copyrights under the Copyright Act of 1976, a copyright for the Musical Work and for the Sound Recording. The copyright for a Musical Work includes both the lyrics and musical arrangements that accompany the lyrics. A Sound Recording is the fixation of the Musical Work in a recording and includes both the performance and the production/engineering.

When one person writes both the lyrics and the music for a song, the owner of the copyright is pretty straightforward. However, writing music is often a collaborative process. Technically, everybody who contributes to a song may have a claim to the ownership interest in the copyright. That is, the Copyright Act provides that all people who contribute to a creative work have an interest in the copyright.

Therefore, if a third party, whether a producer or another artist, provides input on the song, he or she should be included as an author for purposes of the songwriting. The best way to make sure that all the interests of the parties involved are protected is to have a written contract that spells out what interests will be owned and by whom. A written contract will also assist in maintaining the expectations people have regarding publishing royalties.

How To Register:

Registering is relatively easy to do and inexpensive ($30 each form). You can get the forms directly from the Copyright Office to register Musical Compositions you will need the Form PA - for Sound Recordings you will need the Form SR. The Copyright Office provides detailed instructions for each form and will assist you in the registration process.

The earlier you register your Musical Work and Sound Recordings with the Library of Congress, the more rights you have in the event that the Copyrights are infringed.

Registering your works before they have been published or performed publicly can also save you money. Register in advance and you can bundle all the songs you have written, and/or recorded on one Form PA and one Form SR and not pay the application fee for each individual song. This way you can title your application My Songs of Summer 2005 including “It is Hot,” “When will it Rain?” and “Who says I have to sing in Tune?” and pay only $30 vs. $90 for each song individually.

If you wait until after you have performed the songs or published them, you cannot list the songs individually along with the title. Eventually, you may want to file a unique application for each song on the compilation but taking the first and early step of registering the songs provides you the benefits discussed in this article.

In the past, all works to be protected by Copyrights required a Copyright Notice be attached. While the current law no longer requires that the © notice be attached, its advisable to include one to notify the world that somebody owns the rights to the works.

Benefits of a Copyright
Owners of copyrights in music have a variety of exclusive rights available pertaining to the use and performance of the works. These exclusive rights are:

(1) Mechanical Rights: The right to reproduce and distribute the musical composition to the public in a fixed medium including, but not limited to, audiotapes, compact discs and other material objects in which sounds are fixed. Mechanical Rights do not apply to audiovisual works like digital video discs and motion pictures.

(2) Synchronization Rights: The right to use the music in an audiovisual program, including motion pictures, television programs, commercials and videos.

(3) Performance Rights: The right to perform the work publicly.

(4) Print Rights: The right to print sheet music that sets forth the Musical Work.

There are licenses available to copyright owners in music that correspond with each of the exclusive rights in the works. In exchange for the rights and benefits of the Copyright Act, certain of the licenses are automatically available to third parties as long as steps are followed. Other licenses have to be negotiated with the copyright owner on a case by case basis.

The licenses available for copyright owners are:

Mechanical License:
a. Compulsory License: Upon the initial public distribution of a Musical Work, the copyright owner consents to allow others to record the work and distribute the new recording as long as notice is given to the copyright owner and a statutory fee is paid for each fixed recording (whether compact disc or tape) manufactured and distributed. The statutory mechanical rate as of 2005 is 8.5 cents (the “Statutory Rate”). In 2006, the rate is set to increase to 9.1 cents.
b. The owner of the copyright may agree to a mechanical license at a rate lower than the Statutory Rate.

Master Use License:
Where a third party wants to use the actual Sound Recording to create a derivative work (e.g. a Sample) or to include it on a compilation (e.g. a soundtrack) then a license must be acquired from the owner of the copyright in the Sound Recording separate and apart from the Mechanical License in the Musical Composition.

Synchronization License:
The license to synchronize music with a television show, commercial, motion picture or other medium is negotiated directly with the owner of the copyright. Note, the synchronization license issued for a motion picture includes a performance license while a synchronization license issued for a television show does not include the performance license.

Performance Licenses:
c. Public Performance Licenses: Generally, licenses granted for performance of copyrighted music to the public, whether through the radio, at a concert, or over loudspeakers in a mall or parking lot, are managed through one of three performing rights organizations (ASCAP, BMI or SESAC).
d.

Grand Licenses:
The owner of the copyright in a Musical Composition grants the license directly for works to be contained in dramatic works, i.e. musicals, ballets, and the like.
e. Digital Performance of a Sound Recording: After 1995, Sound Recordings transmitted via digital means are entitled to royalties for performance. More information is set forth below.

Print License:
The owner of the copyright in the Musical Composition grants the license to print sheet music.
One of the most recent advances in the royalty scheme for musicians in the United States has been the adoption and implementation of a limited performance royalty for the copyright owner in the sound recording. The royalty for the digital performance of music for sound recordings is administered independently from the public performance licenses ASCAP, BMI and SESAC administer. SoundExchange is the non-profit established to collect and distribute the licenses from digital broadcasters including, but not limited to, satellite radio and webcasters.

Copyrights: Not Just For Music
In addition to music, you can also protect your liner notes, photographs and artwork as “original works of art.” Generally, outside of a an employer/employee relationship, Copyrights belong to the person or people who create the works even if the works are being created specifically for the use by a third party. That is, the photographer who shoots photos of the band, the graphic designer who creates the band logo and others who create materials for you are deemed to own the copyright in the works they create.

Therefore, you must get a written release from the people that create the artwork, photographs, marketing materials, and other creative works on behalf of your band that assign the copyright to you.

This contract should contain language that specifically grants you/your band the ownership of all copyright interests in the work the third party has created.

To Be Continued
Copyright is one of the most complicated areas of law for it attempts to protect intangible assets from current and future threats. And as technological advances continue to expand opportunities and challenges, Copyright law becomes even more important to artists than the framers of the Constitution ever imagined.
Next month in part 2 of this series, we’ll discuss how to protect your work from unwanted challenges and other Intellectual Property matters related to music including Trademarks and the right of publicity.

Nancy Prager provides legal counsel to a range of clients who have intangible assets that they need to protect, exploit and manage. Her clients include independent musicians, managers and others who have interests in copyrights and other intellectual property related to the music industry. She can be reached at nancy@pragerlaw.us and http://www1.myspace.com/nancyprager.

More to come as they are updated!

So this past weekend, we had the amazing opportunity to attend the Dewey Beach Music Conference in Delaware and let me just say, it was awesome!!  For those of you who don’t know what this event is or what goes on, be sure to check it out here [Dewey Beach Music Conference] and get hooked up for next year!! It’s every independent, DIY Musician’s MUST ATTEND event!!

I have to say, out of all of the amazing people we met, pros in the Industry, amazing bands and musicians.. the one thing I took home with me that I thought was crucial to make sure I got back to every musician out there reading this.. was the importance of musicians getting themselves registered to get PAID for their PLAYS! And one way is with SoundExchange.

SoundExchange (www.SoundExchange.com) is an independent, nonprofit performance rights organization that is designated by the U.S. Copyright Office to collect and distribute digital performance royalties for featured recording artists and sound recording copyright owners (usually a record label) when their sound recordings are performed on digital cable and satellite television music, internet and satellite radio (such as XM and Sirius).   SoundExchange currently represents over 3,500 record labels and over 31,000 featured artists and whose members include both signed and unsigned recording artists; small, medium and large independent record companies; and major label groups and artist-owned labels.

As they state right on their home page:

If you are a featured recording artist you may have royalties due to you by SoundExchange for the use of sound recordings on which you performed.  Certain digital services (such as satellite radio, internet radio and the audio only channels on digital cable television) are required by law to pay a royalty for the digital audio transmission of any copyright protected or commercially released sound recording.

As a featured recording artist on a sound recording you should register with SoundExchange as soon as possible so that you are paid the royalties you are due.

And what we learned that was even more interesting, is that it doesn’t matter if you are a local hole-in-the-wall pub performer or Brittney Spears, you get paid the exact same amount if your music is played.

We at SeeJoeRock.com have made it a priority to make sure all of you artists, musicians, bands out there, get registered and get PAID!! Even if it’s just a small amount, it can start to build up, add up and every bit counts!! And this isn’t even a paid advertisement! We are all about supporting our artists and making sure they get the most out of their hard work!

Don’t miss out on getting what you deserve! Go to SoundExchange.com TODAY, get your music registered and start getting PAID FOR YOUR PLAYS!!

More to come on the Conference!… So stay tuned!