Digital rights?

SuprSi

How do you go about ensuring your tracks remain your property? I have an offer from a couple of labels for one of my tunes, which is absolutely brilliant and a dream of mine for the last 15 years, but they've asked for WAV versions of the track and the stems, which is me basically handing the tune in completely editable format to the label.

How do you ensure that nothing dodgy will happen and another musician won't take all the credit for it without you knowing? Are there any securities or agreements you need to sign before handing your stuff over to a label or in this day and age is it just a case of sending the material on and trusting them to do the right thing?

mordeith

SuprSi wrote: »

How do you go about ensuring your tracks remain your property? I have an offer from a couple of labels for one of my tunes, which is absolutely brilliant and a dream of mine for the last 15 years, but they've asked for WAV versions of the track and the stems, which is me basically handing the tune in completely editable format to the label.

How do you ensure that nothing dodgy will happen and another musician won't take all the credit for it without you knowing? Are there any securities or agreements you need to sign before handing your stuff over to a label or in this day and age is it just a case of sending the material on and trusting them to do the right thing?

AFAIK copyright is applicable once you've created something and are able to prove so. I know songwriters send themselves a copy of their lyrics via registered post. Of course you can't really do that with digital content. I guess its just a matter of if you find someone has used your work without permission then you ask them to cease and desist. Like the various sample cases you hear about (Robin Thicke for example)

SuprSi

mordeith wrote: »

AFAIK copyright is applicable once you've created something and are able to prove so. I know songwriters send themselves a copy of their lyrics via registered post. Of course you can't really do that with digital content. I guess its just a matter of if you find someone has used your work without permission then you ask them to cease and desist. Like the various sample cases you hear about (Robin Thicke for example)

So would you be happy enough to send your track off in that instance? The worry is that I couldn't possibly keep an eye on every release so if something dodgy were to happen it's highly likely I'd never even know.

paulo6891

Are they a reputable label? And congratulations!

mordeith

SuprSi wrote: »

So would you be happy enough to send your track off in that instance? The worry is that I couldn't possibly keep an eye on every release so if something dodgy were to happen it's highly likely I'd never even know.

Well I assume they're indicated they want the stems for mastering and possible remixes. If not, then I'd be a little bit wary. Having said that, there's so few opportunities in this game than you'd be mad not to send a track or two. As Paulo says above, are they a reputable label? Have they an online presence where you can check their back catalogue of releases. I'd imagine there would have to be some kind of contract signed in any case

holystungun9

I suppose a 'good' label would want the stems specifically to send to a mastering engineer to mix and master it to the expected standards. With so many labels out there I am certain that most newer/smaller/whatever ones have to limit their spending and probably look for instantly releasable stuff that they can skip the mastering on.
I suppose all you can do is suss out the label and maybe track down other artists who they have released stuff for. Find them on soundcloud and dm them or something.
If someone did steal your music or go off and do mixes and claim no knowledge of you, I feel most people aren't going to lawyer up and start fighting. You might get it to court and win but the outlay of money to chase it would be off putting to say the least.
Have a look at the basewaredistribution.com, tunecore.com, and dancephonic sites. I don't remember exactly but one site had a good summary of what's involved in publishing and what copyright is. (I think it was on one of these). There are some groups / organisations you can pay into and register as an artist with and they can pursue cases of copyright infringement.
You could drive yourself mad doing of that and maybe other folks just send it all off without thinking about and it always works out.
Whatever happens let us know how you deal with it as it would be good info for the rest of us. Good Luck!

SuprSi

They're good labels alright with some very credible artists already on board, which is cool, so I guess it could be to do with mastering. I'll dig a little deeper anyway just to confirm before sending anything useable. Thanks for the help, I'll let you know how I get on!

Stab*City

Why would you send the stems/Wav without signing a contract first?

SuprSi

This is what one of the guys was asking for, hence my question. It's been resolved though as the guy I'm going with will give me a contract up front, which answers my questions.

paulo6891

They may just want to alter something small with the mix as well - it can be hard for amateurs to get it 100% perfect as most have untreated rooms. Just make sure that you either have an mp3 with your name etc on it which can be timed to when it was bounced. Either that, or keep the DAW file and don't make ANY changes to it, that way you can check the last modified date. Create a duplicate if you want to make changes down the line.