Ethical sampling

Sampling is a very big part of the music I listen to and create and it isn’t strange for me to hear multiple producers using the same samples. It usual for producers to go for old songs that are obscure or from other countries this is so it is less likely for there to be any legal action. Often when I sample I use normally old video game soundtracks as they usually have very simple and catchy melodies which is obviously due to the fact the hardware at the time didn’t allow much space on games so music was often like this, so they are perfect for sampling as they where made with the thought in mind that it will be heard over and over again.

WBL Evaluation so far

I would say I’m doing well so Far on my worked based learning I think that my progress has definitely slowed down over the last few months but I’m slowly getting back to working with new people. I’ve done collaboration with 3 different people both online and in person, I think that I’ve done some good work with these people although the tracks aren’t all complete I have high hopes for them. I tried to do different styles for each collaboration so that I could use a variety of different production techniques as well as mixing differently, I also tried to approach each track from a different perspective even small things such as working in different places often can change how the music I make sounds.

I do still have a few more collaborations in mind but will need to find new artists to work with, I also need to start promoting upcoming tracks and also finish existing tracks. I’d also like to try completely different genres as I’ve just stuck to hip hop and other sub genres in it, maybe doing other types of music can grow my production knowledge and teach me something new or just reinforce existing skills.

Within the next few weeks I should at least 2 more tracks completely finished as well as have started on a couple more collaborations. I’m hoping by the end of March I can get in contact with a couple of artists but it can be hit or miss even with smaller artists because lots of them just don’t check email very often.

WBL Looking for artists

When looking for people to work with I don’t really have any sort of requirements as long as they are dedicated to the project and are at a similar production level or better, also I think it’s important to get someone who maybe makes different music to you I feel this is a good way of gaining new knowledge on things that you may not have known it’s important to get the most out of a collaboration as you can as one great collaboration can give you many benefits. But you can get the same results with someone that makes the same music as you because everyone has their own way of doing things and just knowing different ways of doing the same thing is always useful.

WBL Collaborating over the internet

One person I will be collaborating with will be my friend Roy who I met online a few years ago, I already produced and e.2p with him last year and I want to build on that relationship aswell as I feel that it was rushed and we both could have done better on our parts.

Collaborating in this way is not ideal I think the main problem is that sometimes it can be difficult to communicate problems or other changes over emails trying to word things in a way the other person understands isn’t the simplest task.  It isn’t the most ideal way of collaboration but with the type of music I make it is very common and so getting more experience with it for future work is a good thing. One thing that is good about doing it this is way is often if both people use the same DAW you’ll probably send the whole project and looking at other producers work can make you learn a lot, even if it isn’t something you don’t know how to do maybe they do it in a different way.

 

 

WBL What needs to be done next

Some of the things I need to do next is:

Continue to contact artists for potentioall collaboration.

Start to promote and market myself things such as creating social media, banners, logos and art for music.

Have back up plans in case some people can not work with me.

Start working with professionals in the same field to gain more experience.

Finish music started already.

WBL Contacting/talking to other professionals

When talking to people who you wish to work with or collaborate with in some way the way in which you approach them in the most important step in having a successful email or conversation. Making the email that you send more personal to the person is key, always look at their social media or just general research about them is a good way of knowing how to connect with them on a more personal basis. Trying to understand the personality of the person is a good way in knowing how you should word your email or conversation. Simple things such as making sure that your grammar is correct and that you don’t ramble on for a long time, it’s good to keep it short and to the point if you can so that the person who you are in contact with can know right away what your intentions are and what you want to do with them.

• Amanda Palmer kickstarter success
• different crowd funding sites
• why people might support artist with funding
• pros and cons of crowd funding

Record labels: their roles and how they’ve changed

From their conception back in the late 1800s record labels have gone through many different changes, as time has gone on the roles of record labels and their impact on the music industry has definitely shifted.

What are record labels

A record label is associated with the marketing of recorded music as well as music videos, they are also involved with artist recruitment also known as A&R, the copyright of recorded material and also publishing.  There are two different types of record labels although both are tightly linked, the first type of label is a major label, the big three major labels Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group all have the most successful artist in the world. All these labels have their own distributing network in which they use to get the music for artist that have signed an exclusive contract with them out to the millions of consumers across the world in multiple platforms. The other type of record label is an indie label, the biggest difference between major labels and indies is money. The majority of indie labels are very small and have little money behind them they also do not have their own distribution network in which they can get music by signed artists out to consumers.

Contracts

The contracts record labels use are often confusing and in the case of major labels it would seem that they are often unfair, often the artist will only receive 14 to 18 percent of the record’s dealer price which can be between £6.50 and £8.50. Major labels offer advances, which for most artists is the biggest reason they want to be signed to a major rather than an indie. New artists signing to major labels can expect anything from US$50,000-350,000 however the artist in question will first need to recoup this advance before they ever start to make money from record sales or depending on the type of contract even merchandise. Typically indie labels will do what is called a 50/50 deal which is when 50% of money earned goes to the artist and 50% go to the record label. This deal is good because once the artist has recouped advances and other costs they will be making way more money than they ever would be but it will take longer for that money to be recouped. Major labels will always take a larger cut normally between 12 to 15% of the retail price of the record, which is a significantly smaller amount than a 50/50. Although it does make sense when record labels invest so much money into artists that they would want a way to make a profit from them. As u can see from the table bellow major labels take big risks when signing new artists because they can never know if they will be profitable or not.

Typical investment by a major record company in a newly signed artist

Advance	US$50,000-350,000
Recording	US$150,000-500,000
Video production	US$50,000-300,000
Tour Support	US$50,000-150,000
Marketing and Promotion	US$200,000-700,000
Total	US$500,000-2,000,000

Another type of deal that major labels often use is 360 deals, the difference between a 360 deal and a normal record deal is that with a 360 the record label not only gets that 12 to 15% on the record sales but also receives a portion of other income streams. Things such as touring and merchandise, this is a very modern creation as record labels historically never did this. Major labels however have tried to adapt to the modern age were record sales are declining and even the most profitable artists are not making the type of money from records that labels would want. As you can see by the graph record sales have continually gone down but not even just physical but digital to. It is clear that the casual music fan who makes up most of the people who listen to music no longer care to buy albums or singles but would rather stream. With this change labels have turned their focus to the real money-maker which is touring and because with the old model of contracts the label would lose out on even more money so the 360 deal mean that even if record sales are declining the major labels can still make big money from their artists.

distribution

The way that music is distributed has also changed a lot, in the past the only way you could get music was by going to a music shop and buying a CD, vinyl, cassette tape etc. But now it seems people are less interested in physical copies and more into digital instead. Digital is much more long-lasting and can never really go wrong, although many people of the older generation like the novelty of having a physical copy of an album. So because of this change record labels have had to look at online distribution to make some money from all the digital sales.

The Internets Impact

A big reason for this shift from digital to physical is of course to do with the internet and its world-wide reach, music is now easier than ever to listen to and download. One of the biggest issues when it comes to music and the internet is the fact that many if not most people who listen to music on the internet download and listen to it illegally. Even though outdated sites like Napster allowed its user to share files with each other using a peer-to-peer system meaning you could download any song you wanted at the time. Many sites like YouTube have strict restrictions on copyrighted material which does help but the internet has grown to big to be contained and it is now impossible to stop it. It is not to say the internet has not done any good, the internet in some aspects allows you to be your own record label. You can put out your own music and make money from that same music and the money goes straight to you without any sort of record deal independent artists still have a platform in which they can share their music with an audience around the world it goes without saying that many young stars in the industry have had some kind of success on the internet. But does the good out way the bad? Well one way to look at it is that with online distributors like iTunes and Amazon labels and artists still have a way to make money from the sale of their music but also with the popularity of 360 deals the focus has shifted more to the mind-set of how can you make an artists not just an artists but in itself its own business. The internet allows more people than ever now to have an opportunity of making it somewhere in the industry, something a few decades ago would be just a dream is now a reality that many independent artists can see.

Conclusion

With the rise of the internet and the digital age record labels have gone through many changes, the introduction of indie labels as a way to give up and coming artists a change to get recognised, the changes in how their contracts work by taking into account the declining record sales and capitalising on the other income streams of an artists. Many of these changes have negatively impacted labels and major labels in particular the internet has taken lots of money that would otherwise be the record labels away but at the same time continues to churn out more and more talent that these labels can then make money from, also with the rise of vinyl sales recently although only a small portion maybe there is some hope for physical records. The future of the music industry and record labels is unclear but it would make sense for labels to continue to try to fit their business around a generation that has grown up with the internet and no little about owning CD’s or vinyl. Major labels are already a huge part of the music industry and are going nowhere but their relevance to many up and coming artists continues to decline.

 

 

Publishing

Publishers 

A music publisher ensures that songwriters and their composition are used for commercial things such as on TV shows and adverts. They do this through a publishing contract which is normally different than the recording contract that an artist may have signed. The songwriter will assign the copyright of their compositions to the publishing company and in return the company then licenses the composition, helps monitor where they are used and collect and distribute royalties accordingly.

PRS

PRS for music limited is the UK’s largest collection society, bringing together two collection societies.

About me

 

My name is Raj I make more electronic focused beats as well as other electronic genres. I have been Making music for about 5 years, I also study Music technology at DMU in Leicester.