A few ?'s

D

DA GOAT

New member
Okay I kinda new to this beat selling biz, so I wanna know:

1) When selling beats do you send the master copy of a wav or mp3, & do you send it in the form of a master CD or have the buyer download it from the net?

2) For copyrighting whats best thing to do; I mean should I go ahead and fill out the official forms or mail a copy of the beats to myself with the date and etc. on it?

3) Do I need to join BMI, ASCAP?

Any answers will be greatly appreciated along wit any other necessary info not mention in my ?s.

Peace
 
I think people kinda strayed from this question cuz it mostly depends on whose buying and using your music. The problem really comes in the areas of syncing up and mixing. If you sell a stereo version of your music on cd, mp3, or wave file then it mayl create problems for someone who is wanting to change the mix and/or sync the music up to their equipment. Most studios perfer to multitrack the music from the original equipment for quality reasons. They usually want to mix using their own equipment to insure they have full control over the levels. Otherwise a snare may be to low or bass to high etc. and they can't do anyting about it. If the buyer is using software then you should try to go with a wave file of each sound in your music at peak levels tracked in the same or similar software. If the buyer doesn't care then just make that money.

If i sell a stereo track i usually leave two measures of a click track at the begining and four measures at the end of the track then burn it to cd. This way the buyer can have something to reference to if syncing up is needed. also the software exports a file that is exactly two measure into the time and not just at a guestimated time. Then i name the track with the original tempo in the name ex. Beatrack85.

Any music you do and plan to present to anybody should be copyrighted in some form. A poor man copyright (mail to yourself) is a good way to ease any paranoia you may have. If you are going to be doing any business with your music it is always a good idea to register your copyrights and poor man copyright.

I'm not really sure what level you are at but you should contact BMI or ASCAP to find out if their services are right for you. It won't hurt at all.

I hope this answers you ?'s. I don't know a whole lot but i got a little experience. I should've answered you earlier but.....My Bad. I hate thinking about the business side of this game. Probably cuz Ineed to copyright some stuff myself right now.
 
Good lookin' Lazi atleast u replied, and answered some of my ?s.
If anyone else has input please give it'll be greatly appreciated.

Thanx again Lazi

Peace
 
DA GOAT said:
Okay I kinda new to this beat selling biz, so I wanna know:

1) When selling beats do you send the master copy of a wav or mp3, & do you send it in the form of a master CD or have the buyer download it from the net?

2) For copyrighting whats best thing to do; I mean should I go ahead and fill out the official forms or mail a copy of the beats to myself with the date and etc. on it?

3) Do I need to join BMI, ASCAP?.....
Click to expand...

1) I wouls ask the person you are selling the beat to....

It definitely shouldn't be in MP3 format.

2) check out the links I sent you. ;)

3) Yes, you should. I am a member of ASCAP :cool:

peace........
 
i am a member of BMI.

i have also recently incorporated my production house (Computer Recordings Of Sound, Inc.)

Any song that I allow anyone to record over I own the copyright, we come to an agreement on up front money as well as money tied to any release that includes that song.

Thus far, all of the beats that I've sold have been recorded by the artist/group here in my studio, so I haven't had to worry about having to send a WAV file or whatever.... wait that's not true. I did send an artist a DAT tape a few years back with a stereo mix. the artist's record company (Capitol Records) had another producer re-record the track but the artist's sexual preference was discovered before any of his work was ever released. that was actually a good thing, because I had not worked out any points arrangement with the artist or record company.
 
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