Freestyle Artists Beware

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mannyriv

mannyriv

Recording / Performing Artist
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There are many issues on the business aspects that are affecting freestyle artists. One of my biggest concerns is the lack of knowlege of key points needed to generate revenue from royalties, and also ownership of material. There are producers that charge a lot of money and want to keep rights to royalties unless they sign an agreement with you stating that they still want to get points from the publishing and royalties for their contribution to your project. However, if it is a large amount of money you are paying for the music, you should not allow them to collect from publishing and royalties because it is work for hire and they already made there money in an industry where the opportunity to generate funds from royalties and publishing is very limited. Remember, once you pay a producer a fee to put together music, that means that is concidered work for hire, which makes you the owner of the music. It is like if you go buy a car cash, that car is yours. However, if you don'ty pay a fee, then royalties should be collected by the producer that will cover the cost of production fees. There are some producers who will charge artists fees to produce music, then they will take those songs and sell the rights to a record company, and still get points from royalties and publishing, leaving the artist with nothing. There are also some producers who let artist use there studio to produce songs and want production credits just because it is there equipment. That is not how it goes. If I fix my car in a friend of mines house and use his tools, it does not mean they own the car. Also, just because they may be the one to run the equipment or record the vocals, desn't make them producer. That just means they are engineering the track. There is a difference between an engineer and a producer, producers tell engineers what they want the track to sound like. How to protect yourself, make sure all your material is copyrighted. Make sure that everyone gets fair share of what the contributed for the song. For example, if I produce the song, and you write it, then you will copyright the lyrics, and I will copyright the music seperately, that way we get a fair share. Also, if you have had material nationally distibuted, make sure you register you become a member of ASCAP, BMI, or any other associtions in charge of collecting royalties. Everytime you record a song, make sure it is registered so you can get what you deserve. Remember just because someone may have papers saying they started a record company, that does not mean they are a legitimate record company with access to radio play, distribution, producers, engineers, promoters, lawyers and the knowledge of how to generate funds for everyone. Look before you leap. Read the fine print before signing on the dotted line.

Peace,
Manny
 
mannyriv said:
There are many issues on the business aspects that are affecting freestyle artists. One of my biggest concerns is the lack of knowlege of key points needed to generate revenue from royalties, and also ownership of material. There are producers that charge a lot of money and want to keep rights to royalties unless they sign an agreement with you stating that they still want to get points from the publishing and royalties for their contribution to your project. However, if it is a large amount of money you are paying for the music, you should not allow them to collect from publishing and royalties because it is work for hire and they already made there money in an industry where the opportunity to generate funds from royalties and publishing is very limited. Remember, once you pay a producer a fee to put together music, that means that is concidered work for hire, which makes you the owner of the music. It is like if you go buy a car cash, that car is yours. However, if you don'ty pay a fee, then royalties should be collected by the producer that will cover the cost of production fees. There are some producers who will charge artists fees to produce music, then they will take those songs and sell the rights to a record company, and still get points from royalties and publishing, leaving the artist with nothing. There are also some producers who let artist use there studio to produce songs and want production credits just because it is there equipment. That is not how it goes. If I fix my car in a friend of mines house and use his tools, it does not mean they own the car. Also, just because they may be the one to run the equipment or record the vocals, desn't make them producer. That just means they are engineering the track. There is a difference between an engineer and a producer, producers tell engineers what they want the track to sound like. How to protect yourself, make sure all your material is copyrighted. Make sure that everyone gets fair share of what the contributed for the song. For example, if I produce the song, and you write it, then you will copyright the lyrics, and I will copyright the music seperately, that way we get a fair share. Also, if you have had material nationally distibuted, make sure you register you become a member of ASCAP, BMI, or any other associtions in charge of collecting royalties. Everytime you record a song, make sure it is registered so you can get what you deserve. Remember just because someone may have papers saying they started a record company, that does not mean they are a legitimate record company with access to radio play, distribution, producers, engineers, promoters, lawyers and the knowledge of how to generate funds for everyone. Look before you leap. Read the fine print before signing on the dotted line.
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Manny, I'm sorry to hear you got screwed. Believe it or not there are still a few honest people in Freestyle. 3 to be exact.
 
Rhoq said:
Manny, I'm sorry to hear you got screwed. Believe it or not there are still a few honest people in Freestyle. 3 to be exact.
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I didn't read that as Manny got screwed - it sounds like he is trying to give some very sound advice to people on how to protect their work. Of course if you are not the writer of a song you are not entitled to any of the writing or publishing royalties but if you are the writer copyright be sure to copyright your work. Great advice, Manny!
 
damianwild said:
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I didn't read that as Manny got screwed - it sounds like he is trying to give some very sound advice to people on how to protect their work. Of course if you are not the writer of a song you are not entitled to any of the writing or publishing royalties but if you are the writer copyright be sure to copyright your work. Great advice, Manny!
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hes speaking from personal experience and i know who he is referring to...the best people to give advice on matters are people who have been through it...
 
Rhoq said:
Manny, I'm sorry to hear you got screwed. Believe it or not there are still a few honest people in Freestyle. 3 to be exact.
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Rhoq, for your info., I never mentioned that I got "screwed." Read a book called "This Business Of Music," which will enlighten you on what I mentioned above. It will be to your benefit and to anyone who is a part of this business. The purpose of this site is to share info. about our genre of music that can be helpful to others and that's what this topic is about. I do appreicate your input but due understand however that I am in no way pointing fingers at anyone. Also, anyone who comes up with a melody or directs a person on how to sing the song can be considered to be part of the production, or co-production credits, so I guess Taezee was right, you can call me producer. LOL
 
Good Looking Out!! Work For Hire Contracts are the way to go..(1 x payment) VS Royalties..Another thing Artists should know is Producer Points are Nagotiable..It Means that The max % is not Mandotory and sometimes you can Pay royalties until a Certain Doller amount has been payed to the producer. As Long as Both Partys agree to a deal and have it in black and white...Its a Lawful Buisness deal.
 
well said i seen this work for hire and then the producer still collects roalty points he told my friend that he needed a publisher to make thing worse this was a compliation cd so all the artist paid (work for hire ) and the producer collected the roalty units. i wont name names but that was dirty i have a caompany of my own that deals with hip hop and reggaton and before i started it with my brother i educated myself here are some books that you can get on line or at barnes and noble store. ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE MUSIC BUSINESS FIFTH EDITION BY DONALD S. PASSMAN i highly recomend this one ----EVERYTHING YOU D BETTER KNOW ABOUT THE RECORD INDUSTRY BY KASHIF he has a web site http://www.brooklynboy.com START AND RUN YOUR OWN RECORD LABEL BY DAYLLE DEANNA SCHWARTZ and
 
mannyriv said:
Rhoq, for your info., I never mentioned that I got "screwed." Read a book called "This Business Of Music," which will enlighten you on what I mentioned above.
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I'm quite familiar with The Business Of Music: The Definitive Guide To The Music Industry by Krasilovsky, Shemel and Gross. I have the 9th edition sitting right in front of me 😉
 
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