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Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Making Your Own Music-Record Computations

Making Your Own Music And Record Computations

Prices on albums vary in the music business, pending on an artists or bands status. There is a growing practice of releasing new artists at what's known as "new and developing artist prices." The theory is that people will fork ou some money to try something that is fresh and new at a bit of a steeper price. So what happens is a number of debut albums are released at mid-price. Because for the history showing that this work pretty well when pushing new artists, the labes have gotten tougher about controlling prices, and it is harder to get limits in your contractual deal. Some record labels will take this new release to the extreme and put out radically discounted Cd's, say $6.00 PPD to get a buzz going about a new artist or band and increase the initial sales. If the label does decide to do this, they will ask you to give up you royalties on under priced albums or what is called "cheapies." In your deal you should ask for a limit fun for units sold. Unfortunately a majority of the labels won't agree to unit limits. They say that they will just put enough out there to launch your career and it is in both of your interests to raise the price.

Music Making Software

Home Recording Software
I have found that as a band, solo artist, dj, rapper, you can make music beats and record from you very own computer with a few goods music software's on the market. No need for a professional music studio. Find more information on music making software. I personally recommend trying this music recording software.





Sunday, July 24, 2011

Making Your Own Music-Mid Price And Budget Records

Mid-Price Records

Budget Records

When making your own music, you should know about record pricing. After a record/album has had an initial run in there current release, it is known as what is called a catalog item, meaning it's listed in the company's catalog of available titles, but isn't being currently being promoting to the public. Some catalog items are issued at mid-price, meaning a reduction in price that's designed to encourage consumers to buy older titles. Today, a typical mid-price for a CD originally released at $12.05 would be $7.75 to around $8.00. The contractual definition of a mid-price record is one with a PPD between 65% and 80% of the price for newly released top-line records. Some companies go as high as 85% for a mid-price.

Royalty

The royalty for mid-price is usually 75% of the U.S. basic rate. It is 7.5% if you have a rate of 10%. This sucks because the royalty rate is lower and the PPD is also lower. The record label can justify this because their wholesale price is less, and accordingly so is their profit margin. Their thinking is that a lower price will generate extra sales to more than make up the lost revenue. As you gain clout, you can get negotiate a period of time after initial release before a record can be sold at mid-price usually between 12 and 18 months. This provision use to be easier to get than in today's music industry. In recent years it's become routine to issue catalog items at mid-price, and also because of the developing artist. If you do get restrictions, it will be for the U.S. This is because in some foreign territories, mid-price is customary for the first release. Presumably, your interests and the record company's are the same, since they want to maximize their profits in that territory. Thus they won't put something out at mid-price unless they believe the reduced price will promote enough sales to justify the lower profit margin.

Budget Records

The next step down from mid-price is budget, which means the company doesn't think it can sell the stuff unless it knocks the price way down. these are records that are stuck in the bins of stores saying "Big Savings", or "Reduced Price." These are records sold around 8 dollars or less. The contractual definition of budget records is one with a price of less than 65% of the top-line price, but sometimes there is no mid-price definition and contract says everything under 80% of the top-line price is a budget record.

Royalty

The royalty on budget records is 50% of the top-line royalty rate, or 5% in our 10% rate. If you have any clout as an artist, you can hold back budget record prices for a period after initial release.

Music Software

Home Recording Software
To make music beats of your own, I recommend this product.
After you buy this software please send me your email in the comments box below for a chance to win $500 in music equipment!

Monday, July 18, 2011

Making Your Own Music-Video Devices

DVDS AND OTHER HOME VIDEO DEVICES
Video Devices

DVDS are treated like audio when it comes to royalties when making your own music. If there is a substantial video component, some labels will pro-rate your royalties between audio and video, meaning they pay your audio royalty on a portion, and your video royalty on a portion. Let's say that there is thirty minutes of music and ten minutes of video, you will get three fourths of your audio royalty rate. A purely audio or visual DVD your royalties are:

Manufactured Units

If home video units are manufactured and distributed by your record label, you will get a royalty that falls in the range of 10% to 20% of wholesale for U. S. normal retail top price sales. Companies and labels vary their royalties depending on the wholesale price. For a higher price, you get a higher royalty as you get from your CD with the exception of Canada at 85%. All royalties are reduced for very low priced videos, called a budget line and for free goods.

Licensed Sales

Smaller labels will usually license someone else to manufacture and distribute home video. In this case, that company pays a royalty to the label, and the label pays you 50% of its net receipts.

1. Distribution Fee for the record company which is a percentage of gross and therefore taken first. This is a way to cover the labels overhead in handling the license.

2. Distribution Expenses, meaning the cost of duplicating, shipping, etc.

3. Third Party Payments, to unions and guilds, though many companies now try to charge these against the artists 50%.

Home Recording Software
Here are two home recording software that I recommend:

Sonic Pro

*After purchasing one of these softwares, please leave your email in comment box on this blog for a chance to win $500 in music recording equipment.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Making Your Own Music-Multiple Albums

Multiple Albums
Making Your Own Music

Today I will talk about multiple albums and have changed now that vinyl is dead and Cd's took over. When making your own music Cd's can hold a lot more songs that vinyl. In the era of vinyl records, they only had about 50 minutes of playing time on them. This includes cassettes to. Now there are box sets that are three or four Cd's in one package. There are also two-in-one sets as well. These do not sell well as single Cd's.  They are also expensive to make. Anytime you want to sell a multi album, you have to get the consent of the record label. If the label does consent, your royalties will be reduced. The royalty is adjusted downward in the ratio that the selling price of the double album is less than two times the price of a single album price. Regardless of how you define it, and no matter how your royalty gets computed, all record companies treat multiple albums as only one album for purpose of the artists delivery commitment.

Box Sets

Box set are sold as three or four Cd's and are sold in a single package. Some of these box set are valuable because some sets have songs that were unreleased from past albums. When making your own music, royalties on box sets are negotiated in the signing of the deal. They will depend on the selling price, the number of selections, the size of the artists royalty rate, and your leverage.  These are a few different ways that albums can be offered to the consumers. I hope you have a little bit more of an understanding on how multiple albums work.

Music Making Software

Here are two good home recording software that you can use to record quality songs from your computer. They are a music recording software download.


Home Recording Software

Sonic Pro

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Music Recording Downloads


Music Making Software

In today's society it has become easy to obtain access to record and making your own music. Instead of spending endless amounts of money on studio time, you can record music from home without a professional recording studio. A alternative is software that you can buy as a e-book which is becoming more efficient  for the user. If you are into creating techno beats, Dub Turbo is a good software and very inexpensive. It is a unique piece of software that contains a plethora of sample beats and preloaded data base. Not only can other professional audio suites cost upwards of $1000, but it can take weeks of intense studying before you learn how to use them to make something that is high quality. For anyone who’s just getting started, or looking to have some fun making beats… there is a much better way, such as Dub Turbo. Dub Turbo works on PC or MAC, it’s extremely intuitive but still reasonably powerful: it comes preloaded with a database of over a thousand pre-set beats and sound samples that you can easily put together to make your own original beats… and you can get this software here for under $30! You control everything from your computer keyboard and is easy to use. This is a top make your own music software. Here are some of the features:

  1. 16 tracks of stereo system boomin’ seem to construct your hot beats with
  2. Easily attract or trigger sounds with keyboard cutting corners
  3. Attract bars and build by 50 percent clicks – change sounds/designs fast
  4. Drag and copy your bars around – then easily edit them
  5. Jog through a large number of sounds and drums
  6. Record live towards the metronome or draw or tap inside your beats
  7. Edit volumes, go solo, mute, save, edit the tempo
  8. Export your 44.1 studio quality .wav Master – this really is industry standard!
This is a great music recording software.Click make your own music to try today!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Greatest Hits Album And Best Music Making Software

Greatest Hits Album


I have discussed a lot about how royalties work in the music industry. When writing songs, recording and making your own music, your Greatest Hits album is considered as a pro-rata royalty. Here is how it works. If your first two albums were %12, and the other albums %13 and half the Greatest Hits album is the royalty rate of the first two albums, it will be a %12.5 royalty rate. Suppose that some of your earlier albums had royalty escalations because sales success. What royalty is used?

1. You will get the lowest royalty for the album from which each selection is taken before escalations based on sales of that album. The starting royalty is pro-rated based on non-escalated rates.

2. You will get the highest royalty rate achieved by the album from which the selection is taken based on sales of the album. These rates are pro-rated.

3.You get the lowest possible rate and no escalations at all.

Best Music Making Software

I never recommend any products, however here are two great music recording software. If you want to record songs and beats at home, I suggest these two programs:

Dub Turbo

Sonic Pro

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Home Recording Software-Making Your Own Music

Benefits Of Home Recording

This will be a short and brief post on recording. Artists and musicians always wonder can I record at home and get the same quality as a studio? The answer is yes. No need for a professional recording studio and expensive equipment that only works if used properly and who ever is recording your sessions knows the band and there characteristics when recording. This is why many bands are not to keen on there own recordings when you pay tons of money and just choose a random studio. Not to say that the person recording does not know what he or she is doing. Recording is a fine art and you should really do your homework on who is good in your area. However, there is an alternative to studios. Most bands are broke and every band needs a demo or something that they can promote. Keep in mind that there are a few music making programs that you can benefit from. These days everybody is trying to save a buck. Studio costs are very expensive and charge to much money for what you get. Not the best value. Yes, you can create songs from your own home with some various home recording software. If you really dig deep you can find a great software with a lot of value and will get the job done. I recommend a software that is great for recording at home. Reasons why this is a top software to use:

1. MP3 is a big no no. Don't export. Lose quality in master recording
2. This software runs 44.1 Stereo WAV files
3. 44.1 is Professional
4. Offers 64-128 Bars arranged in patterns, not one bar loops which limits recording capabilities
5. Offers all the capabilities that expensive recording studio equipment provides
6. Easy to use 16 Track Sequencer
7. 10 Pad Drum Machine
8. 4 Octave Keyboard
9. Full Training Video for any music recording genre

You purchase after including some information and email and you have the software in a matter of seconds. No disks to download saving you space on your computer. I have found that this software has the same capabilities as the big dogs that will cost some big money. Dub Turbo is under $40! They are user friendly and anyone can use them. They both have a really easy interface and no complications in using them. So, a home recording software can be recording music directly from your computer.

Home Recording Software













                                          

Home Recording

Sonic Pro

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Making Your Own Music-Master License

Master License

Master License
When making your own music, master recordings are licensed out for motion pictures, television, shows, and even commercials. Record labels have historically credited the artist's accounts with about %50 of all the net profit receipts. Over the years, all the major labels have found a way to squeeze every penny from the film industry and put together complication records. To make these records in the music industry their is a fee of around %15 to %25 of the receipts, which comes off the top before it is distributed to the artist.

Complications

Anytime you record with other artists, this is called coupling. When you produce an album with various artists is called complications. This is a great way to generate big money profits off the album sales. This practice has been around for years.

Royalties

Royalties
Say there are ten songs on an album with complication, and you do one song out of ten on the album, you will get one-tenth of the royalties. This royalty is referred to as pro-rata. This just means you get a small portion of the royalty from the complication album.

Control

When you make your own music, control is a major factor. You never want to record with someone you don't really like. Again the control of your bargaining power in every facet depends on your status. There are three. New artist, mid level, and superstar. Once you get to a high level of mid level you have more bargaining power and control. I will get more in depth about masters licensing in the next post.

Music Making Software

Home Recording Software
Here is a great music recording software that has a great value for what it can do. You can record right at home!

Friday, July 8, 2011

Music Industry-New Technologies Part 2

Music Distributed Through Technology
Music Distribution

Here are more ways that the music is distributed to listeners. In the music industry their are several ways that you as a listener have access to music. Ring tones and ring backs are songs that play when your cell phone is busy. Instead of hearing a busy signal, you will hear a song. These songs are done in two different ways. One way is polyphonic, which is played by a synthesizer. Master tone is the actual master recording by the artist .A tone made polyphonic only the songwriter gets paid. A master tone the artists gets paid. Webcasting is another way. It means anything streamed on the internet. This is done by a subscription. Satellite radio like XM and Sirius are the big ones in satellite. You will have to listen to what ever they play. Each channel is a specific genere or artist. The band AC DC has there own channel. Podcasting is another way. It is a download program for interviews of artists and some songs, but limited. Si as an artist, you ask, what do you get paid for these electronic transmissions? When making your own music, it depends on your contract. If your royalty is %15 and $100 is made, you will get $15. For iTunes you will make pennies on the dollar for each download. Audio and video streaming are three ways you can get paid. Percentage of advertising, subscription fees, or advances for you being on audio or video streaming. Webcasting is collected by a company called Sound Exchange. A portion goes to the label and a portion goes directly to the artist. Podcasts are still a bit new however, you get a percentage of revenue.

Here is some great music creation software:

Home Recording Software

Pro Tools Make Music Now Recording Studio

Tascam DP-02 Digital Portastudio - 8 Track

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Music Industry-New Technologies

New Technologies And Electronic Transmissions

In the music industry, the next generation of the music being delivered will be electronically. This means that digital music will be sped over a wire, satellite, Wi-Fi, or some other service that has not yet been discovered yet. When making your own music, it is being put out there in several ways like listening on demand, burn in into a CD, captured it on your computer, or iPod. To all the record companies and labels, anything that isn't a CD is what is called an electronic transmission. This term is a music industry term for digital delivery and much more. In a contract the language will go a bit like this: "Any transmission to a consumer, whether sound alone or with other data, by and means now known or hereafter discovered, whether on demand or not, and whether or not a charge is made for the transmission." Includes radio, TV, and film.

New Technology Royalties

Tethered downloads. This means that the record company doesn't give you the consumer complete control over the download. You can downloads onto the computer, but can't copy it onto a CD. Or you can make a few copies, no more than three. They are encoded. Or you can play for a month and it self destructs. Services like Yahoo and Napster have subscriptions. As long as you pay monthly, you can listen to the songs you download. Untethered downloads means you can copy it, burn it, or do anything you wish with it. Next post, I will continue to list the new tech royalties.

Here is a home recording software for make music beats.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Making Your Own Music-Royalties U.S. Sales

Royalties For United States Sales

Today I will discuss first with your record sales in the United States. Here are the royalty breakdown when making your own music:

1. A CD sold in the United States;
2. At full price, wholesale price(PPD);
3. Anything through retail channels (record stores);
4. Company's normal distribution channels like wholesale distributor

Sales are complied 1 through 4 are know as United States Normal Retail Sales (USNRC). The royalty rate for these sales is usually defined in record deals as something like the U. S. basic rate.

Foreign Royalties

In the music industry, the royalties for sales outside the United States varies widely from company to company, and artist to artist. Companies usually gives a higher rate in territories where they have an ownership with the distributor. Canada has evolved into %85 of the United States rate with most companies. So if the U.S. rate is %10, an %85 rate means you get %8.5 for normal retail sales in Canada.

*Here are some recommended recording equipment:

Alesis iMultiMix 8USB

Tascam DP-02 Digital Portastudio - 8 Track

Audio-Technica AT2020 USB Condenser USB Microphone

Want to make music beats?

Home Recording Software

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Making Your Own Music-Distributing Methods!

Distributing Methods

When making your own music and recording, I will discuss more about distribution. Distribution is the same whether it is rock music or if you make music beats as a DJ. All digital records are sold electronically. The major business is downloads of full masters on the internet like iTunes, thirty second song samples through cell phones like ring tones, and internet streaming. In the near future sales will be made with full length masters through cell phones. Even though digital sales is a bug buzz it is still only about %10 of total sales. So %90 is still CD's. Here is how records are distributed:

Wholesale Distribution

Record wholesalers are the major way of distribution. They buy from the manufacturing company and sell to retail stores. There are major and independent distributors.  One stops is a term that means records are purchased from major distributors and sold to mom and pop record stores. They buy in bulk and then add a markup to make a profit. Rackers are people that leave floor space from department stores like Wal-Mart and Target. Licensees distribute records. They sign a license agreement with the record company and manufacture and distribute the records.

Make Music Software

Here are a few great music making software where you can record from home:

Music Maker 17

Sony Creative Software ACID Music Studio 8.0 - 2011

Cakewalk Music Creator 5 Software

Dub Turbo

Sonic Pro

Monday, July 4, 2011

Making Your Own Music-Audit Rights!

Audit Rights With Your Record Label

This is very important to know as a recording artist. After your accounting clause in your contract, should be an audit clause that immediately follows. This means you have the right to send an accountant to verify every penny brought in by the record label on your behalf. In the music industry, I can not stress how vital this clause is. This is a way of assuring that you're getting a fair reporting of all the reporting money going in and out of your band. Make sure that you have this, because most artists get shafted and can lose on profits and take a hit on your royalties if you don't. If this clause is not in your contract, the label will take advantage of you and will nickel and dime you. Keep in mind that this is not free to do. This will cost you money to have an audit. Make sure that you require quarterly reports and file them for your own records. An audit cost can run $25,000 to $50,000. When making your own music, most of the record labels have a built in right to audit. Ask anyways. You can only audit once a year.

Recommended Recording Equipment:

Pro Tools Make Music Now Recording Studio

Tascam DP-02 Digital Portastudio - 8 Track

Sony Creative Software ACID Music Studio 8.0 - 2011

Acoustica Mixcraft 5 Audio MIDI Music Recording Software V 5

Dub Turbo

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Making Your Own Music And Special Packaging Costs

Special Packaging Costs

Most of the record companies believe that inner sleeves an special inserts add a little more album sales in the music industry. Since vinyl has gone, special inserts have become a non issue. CD's still have inserts. Say, you write thank yous for your parents, etc, this is a added page. You have to negotiate for extra panels for your CD. If you are at the superstar level, you can get more pages. If you are not at the superstar level and want extra pages, this provision will reduce your royalty by 5 to 10 cents per unit. Just be aware of this and save your money. Are special insert really needed? It's about the music anyway.

Here are some bargain recommended recording products:

Pro Tools Make Music Now Recording Studio


Tascam DP-02 Digital Portastudio - 8 Track


*Dub Turbo

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Making Your Own Music And Controls

Controls

In making your own music in the music business, their is something called control. These are various clauses and consent that you must ask for. These are some of the controls that you should actually get and ask for:

1. Consent of coupling and the specific details on controlling it.
2. Consent on use of your master recordings in commercials.
3. Consent of licensing your master recordings for film and television.
4. Approval of your photographs and biographical materials used in advertising and promotion.

If you can't get this in your contract, don't sign. This is income that is big profit for you and you hear a lot of songs on television and movies.

Soundscan

In the record industry people wonder how record sales are tracked? A company called Soundscan. They began in 1991. They track by reading register tapes of reporting stores. Soundscan data is also used for Billboard charts. Keep in mind that they are not %100 accurate. Soundscan is not set up for independent record stores, so there are some missing profits. Sometimes labels will agree that reserves can't exceed their shipments less the Soundscan numbers. Here is an example: If 100,000 albums were shipped and Soundscan showed 80,000 sold, the reserve couldn't exceed 20,000.

Recording Products

Here are some recommended recording products:

Dub Turbo

Sonic Producer

Pro Tools Make Music Now Recording Studio

Alesis iMultiMix 8USB

Friday, July 1, 2011

Making Your Own Music At Home

Making Your Own Music At Home

In the music business, trying to succeed at it takes time, energy, patience, and can be expensive. What I mean by expensive? Well, think about if you are serious about a career as a recording artists. You might pay for rehearsal time for a space. Everyone needs to record and put out some songs. If you are just starting out, you should know that you can cut costs by recording at home. These days the quality of recording from home is very good. You can produce the same quality from home as most studios and not spend tons of money on studio time. Here are some products to check out:

Sony Creative Software ACID Music Studio 8.0 - 2011

Pro Tools Make Music Now Recording Studio

Image-Line Software Image-line Fl Studio 9 Fruity Edition V.1


I have become a fan of ebooks. Here are a few of the better beat creating software's out there.

Dub Turbo

Sonic Producer

These two products are great for recording from your home and both cost under $30! This is a bargain for what they can do for your song creation. I highly recommend!

Making Your Own Music And Album Cover Artwork

Album Cover Artwork

When making your own music as a musician, whether it's new artist, midlevel, or superstar, you have a big involvement your your album cover artwork. You still have to ask for it. This means in your contract when you sign with a record label. In the music industry, this process is called consultation. The label and you or your band have to go through an approval process. The next step is approval. This means you can approval the artwork that the label prepares. When you have approval rights, the label has to please you with submitted artwork or you can stop them from using it. Remember that every little detail in the music business maters. When you get the rights to creative artwork, make sure that you have an adequate budget. If you are at the superstar level you get %100 creative control on your cover artwork. A normal budget for artwork for your cover is between $20,000 to $25,000. Some cases, the label will exceed the maximum amount of your budget. If they do make sure, that in your contract you are not charged against your royalties.

Check out these recording equipment products:

Pro Tools Make Music Now Recording Studio

Tascam DP-02 Digital Portastudio - 8 Track

MXL 990 Condenser Microphone with Shockmount