Stand back please, I'm a songwriter...

Armistice

Armistice

Son of Yoda
So when I was doing the million and one things necessary to get my album together, I joined APRA/AMCOS, which is the Australian organisation that looks after royalties. I joined so I could register the songs and songwriting, not because I was expecting royalties.

It must have been a 20 page form, online, and I ended up having follow up with them via email as to whether CD Baby was a distributor or an amalgamation service, and won that battle, eventually got told my membership was accepted and thought nothing more of it.

On Thursday, in the mail, I got an official membership certificate - like the sort you can put in a frame (I'm resisting the urge to do so, so far) AND a membership card to carry in my wallet. "WTF do I need that for?" was my first thought. More plastic!

I wonder if I'll be able to flash my funky new membership card at crime scenes, natural disasters, demonstrations and press conferences, to get in / past the police tape etc, saying "Stand back please, I'm a songwriter, and I'm here to document <XXXXXXX> and turn it into a short but meaningful tune with a catchy chorus you can all sing along to..."?:laughings:

Or maybe I just use it to get discounts off stuff... :mad:
 
Can you park in the disabled spot now? lol Good job though, I should really register with whoever does that in Canada.
 
Leave it to the good ol' USA to give us nothing. :( Nothing except a 2 yr waiting period on copyright certs.

Oh wait, you said royalty thing. PRO's. Yeah, I joined BMI a long time ago. And THEY DO give you stuff..... junk emails. Wahoooo....
 
I initiated the process when I started pulling together the Pygmy Beat album. It's stalled though as my co-writer hasn't joined which leaves me in an odd situation - I'd have to join on the basis of my non pygmy beat songs but they too are co-writes. Can I be a card carrying, chart waving member if I can't go the whole distance?

David, maybe in the next war when you're called up you could hold up the card and demand to be a war songwriter like the Diplomat bloke on Australian Story!
 
rayc said:
I initiated the process when I started pulling together the Pygmy Beat album. It's stalled though as my co-writer hasn't joined which leaves me in an odd situation - I'd have to join on the basis of my non pygmy beat songs but they too are co-writes. Can I be a card carrying, chart waving member if I can't go the whole distance?

David, maybe in the next war when you're called up you could hold up the card and demand to be a war songwriter like the Diplomat bloke on Australian Story!
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The other half of The Jongleurs never joined Ray, I just listed him as co-songwriter on all the tunes (even though we wrote solely, we agreed to a 50/50 credit on everything the band did...) and that seemed to work, so I'd do it. You never know. They don't actually know who Richard Chesterman is, formally as a member, mind you, but I don't think that matters for these purposes - any royalties (yeah, right!) would come to me and I'd do the splitting... same with the digital distribution...
 
SNL had a skit that was called "emergency musicians" and they would chase after police cars and ambulances playing suspenseful songs ... Then show up at the scene to play.
 
miroslav said:
You get 10% off the early-bird special at the fish-n-chips stands....you know, 'cuz of all that "starving musician" stuff.
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RØDE Microphones

Get a FREE RØDE M1 live dynamic microphone (valued at $199) when you buy any RØDE NT1-A, NT2-A, NT1000, NT2000, NTK, K2 or Classic II microphone from an authorised Australian RØDE dealer. The M1 is the industry’s toughest and best sounding dynamic microphone, with a full lifetime warranty. Best of all it’s made right here in Australia!

AND

We are offering a FREE 1 hour consultation with The A&R Department to have a song of your choice analysed and constructively critiqued by Matt O’Connor, covering areas such as artistic direction, arrangement, performance, instrumentation and melody. You will also receive advice on positioning your song for radio.


10% off fish'n' chips is sounding good...
 
Armistice said:
We are offering a FREE 1 hour consultation with The A&R Department to have a song of your choice analysed and constructively critiqued by Matt O’Connor, covering areas such as artistic direction, arrangement, performance, instrumentation and melody. You will also receive advice on positioning your song for radio.
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Don't sell this short....I'm sure you could really benefit from yet one more person's critique of your music. :D
 
Can't get good fish'nchips in my village.
I have to make my own - even then the best'n'freshest fish is, ironically given I now live 5 minutes walk from the Tasman Sea, back in the middle of land locked Fairfield.
The high proportion of immigrants & 1st gen Australians there demand quality seafood and, because there a significant numbers, get it.
I miss Cabra & fairfield for so many reasons I can't number them.
 
Armistice said:
RØDE Microphones

Get a FREE RØDE M1 live dynamic microphone (valued at $199) when you buy any RØDE NT1-A, NT2-A, NT1000, NT2000, NTK, K2 or Classic II microphone from an authorised Australian RØDE dealer. The M1 is the industry’s toughest and best sounding dynamic microphone, with a full lifetime warranty. Best of all it’s made right here in Australia!
Click to expand...

They've been doing that forever, only when I bought my NT1As it was any M-series mic, so I got the M3.
 
Armistice said:
I joined so I could register the songs and songwriting, not because I was expecting royalties.
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Hey, good for you.
I signed up a few years ago for the same reason. It's kinda the done thing, right, but I'll hardly be getting any royalties.
Boy was I wrong......
Hope you start seeing some checks soon. ;)
 
rayc said:
Can't get good fish'nchips in my village.
I have to make my own - even then the best'n'freshest fish is, ironically given I now live 5 minutes walk from the Tasman Sea, back in the middle of land locked Fairfield.
The high proportion of immigrants & 1st gen Australians there demand quality seafood and, because there a significant numbers, get it.
I miss Cabra & fairfield for so many reasons I can't number them.
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Last year, when I went for a big road trip round Victoria via the coast, I was staggered by how hard it appeared to be to get decent seafood locally.... so I know where you're coming from! My GF works at Pyrmont, about 100m from the fish markets, so she's often tasked with procurement. :D
 
Steenamaroo said:
Hey, good for you.
I signed up a few years ago for the same reason. It's kinda the done thing, right, but I'll hardly be getting any royalties.
Boy was I wrong......
Hope you start seeing some checks soon. ;)
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Jeez I hope so, but I'll be very surprised Steen... haven't seen a cent back from CD Baby yet for digital distribution, and I know a couple of people have bought the damn thing via iTunes... I live in hope, but the wheels turn slowly.
 
Money from bandcamp came pretty quickly. The pay more if you like option is good too. I've had 2 or 3 people pay $30 for a $7 download and the money went to my paypal account. BC take their cut when it amounts to about the next purchase - then they take that entire purchase.
 
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