How should I go about Selling my Own Midi pack ?

norfairchild

New member
I have spent hundreds of hours writing melodies that are very catchy to me and I have about 15-20 Melodies which has Lead , Bass , Chords separately
I have a question When making a Midi Pack how to organise it ? And Is it Required to put key name in file ?
I have no knowlege in Music theory butbi have been producing from 5 years so I naturally have it .. I just don't know about keys
Pls leave a suggestion
Thanks in advance
 
What do you mean by 'Midi pack'? Is this a collection of standard midi files?

If so, a midi file does not need to have the key signature data, it may still function without it, however certain programs to might try to do something with the midi data may well need the data, and may complain if it's not there. It would be better if it WAS there. I do however have software that will play midi files that would not complain.

'Organising' the files would not be important, as long as each file is titled helpfully. Most would load the files into something, which could then organise as each sees fit.

It would be interesting to see an example? Even part of a file if you wish to protect your investment.

Geoff
 
Not to discourage, but I'm trying to understand what you bring to the table.

I have thousands of midi files of known and popular songs. I can get into trouble with copyright or not depending on a lotta things (uh-oh, i used an 'expert' word). But I can use them within limits.
I can change them around and stretch, bend, shift, etc. until they come out sounding like Bach on Acid.

I also have hundreds of midi files of generated beats and grooves - with no needle drop fees at all.

And then I can hit the Record button and have lots of my own notes wherever I want them.

Along comes norfairchild (North American Fairchild?) with some midi files. I'm sure they're very good; very precise; very clean. I'm sure they have catchy hooks and solid melodies. But why do I wanna cough up any money for them? That would be my first question. What do they do that no one else does? So from a sales POV, that'd be an important question.

Keys are a non-factor. Transposing midi is a click or two away -- across any scale I desire. Theory doesn't much matter until you send it off to the engraver who might want you to proof a few edits.

There's just SO MUCH available music. I'm guessing the fastest growing segment is background music for YouTube vids. If you can throw down a good groove in 5 minutes and not 5 years, you might wanna team up with some up and coming YouTube brand. Or just throw in with them and see if you can net a few takers - though i don't know how the residuals are structured these days. Then you can sell music instead of "skeleton music" (MIDI files),.
 
Getting a little off-topic here, but...

I too have large numbers of midi files collected over the years, certainly 1,000+, maybe 2k or more. Not counted them all, incl different versions of the same thing.

A select few , well less that 100, are, to me, REALLY GOOD. Some are original music, but written specifically for one of the modules I have (mainly the Yamaha MU90r), but a couple even for the Roland LAPC-I card which is 'vintage'. Others are of well known pieces, but are just so well done as midi that they really stand out as 'demonstration quality'. In some cases this is because it's 'synth' type music, but others not so. Some are bigger pieces, i.e. number of tracks/instruments, but not all.

I keep thinking - what is it that makes a midi file so special? Certainly it seems to involve something I've not got!

The VAST bulk of the files I've got are barely ordinary, even quite mundane, and many others are not even that. Maybe a lot could be improved with a lot of work with instrument selection, and other tricks. Maybe one day I'll discover the secret??

However, it WOULD be interesting to hear one of OP's pieces. Might be worthwhile.

Geoff
 
You may be right.
I think there is a section in the forum to post mixes and such.
Different people use it for different things at different levels of listenability, talent, and value.
Might be a good idea to put together a "demo" of the same sort of format any other audition tape would be like.
A few snippets of a few melodies/orchestrations/voicings. String them together -- and call it a demo -- and fade in and out of each one.
That way nothing is really being risked - no midi data is being exposed - and who knows what would happen?
 
I produce music - I'm just not quite sure if there's a market for selling 'components' of music? Sometimes to save time, I'll buy in a midi file and use it to save me time, but as a guide - I spent five quid this week and all I'm doing with it, is using it as a source of the music - so I'll double check the arrangement is the same as I need, then I'll play in a new version of each part. I could buy the sheet music, but over the years the quality of these arrangement of these is often a bit iffy - and Cubase lets me change keys and things. I've just got to the stage of deleting every midi track I bought and now have all my own tracks. It works for my workflow.

I can't think why I'd buy a melody or chord progressions - I just do them myself.

What exactly are you producing that would sell in quantity enough to make money?
 
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