Selling beats to rap artists

fasttrackpimp wrote:What's the point of 'once your works created' And technically getting a copyright if it's not gonna hold up in court. It seems pointless to me if you still have to get the paper to clearly state you own the rights to anything.

exactly, thats y I said above. ""what type of crack did you smoke today"lol

There's a form you fill out and mail to an office in Washington. I"m not in my studio now, so I don't have all the info. DEFINATELY sign up with ASCAP or BMI. I recommend ASCAP simply because it's free. That's your back end money. How do you know one of the tracks your produce for your artists isn't the next big hit? Also, with samples, there is a 3rd party company that you send your music to. They will find the owner of the copyright, who inturn, will either allow or decline use of thier work. Allowing comes with a price though which varies depending on what/who you sampled. Go get "All you need to know about the music business" by Donald S. Passman. An excellent read that should bring you up to speed on just about everything in the game. Happy hunting!

http://www.rapcointelpro.com

Everything you need to know and more.

Thinking back to my music business class, if you create a work on your computer, that file is automatically dated and timestamped - information that can't be altered (I do laugh at that) and as such, can (and supposedly, has already) hold up in court in a worst-case-scenario.

So in other words, you create a beat, you track that beat into your DAW, which is a session file dated and timestamped, which is comprised of multiple audio files which are also dated and timestamped. You burn this beat for someone onto a CD, or even give them the entire session file, and they jack it from you. When in court, you would provide the original files which can be linked to your machine (computer forensics) and are dated and timestamped with a date/time earlier than the guy that jacked you.

I'd hafta fish through a ton of books from years and years ago to get you a court case or anything, so this is strictly from memory and could be completely off-base, but just for what it's worth.

ASCAP, BMI, copyright - protect your stuff is the smart move. Lots of good reading out there to cover all of this, but if you got paper just hire a lawyer who knows the entertainment business and let him handle it.

Ladies and Gentalmen, please just copywrite ur music its just that simple
all this extra shit is not needed
get the form from the copywrite office fill it out the mail the form and ur music off to them
once they send back the copywrite info to you register your tracks to your performing rights organizatoin like ASCAP, BMI, and/or SEASAC

legend wrote:Ladies and Gentalmen, please just copywrite ur music its just that simple
all this extra **** is not needed
get the form from the copywrite office fill it out the mail the form and ur music off to them
once they send back the copywrite info to you register your tracks to your performing rights organizatoin like ASCAP, BMI, and/or SEASAC

co-sign...

Music Powers is also a good read. Check out the site: www.musicpowers.com

Wook

Co-sign what legend said, it's that simple.

But I want to go back to the interaction with the artist. Is it necessary to provide them with a contract stipulating your terms (fees, advance, producer points, royalties, writer's/producer's credit)?

And if you don't have a lawyer, do you, the producer essentially have take on the responsibilities of a lawyer?