Iāve written, recorded and mixed a song. I havenāt decided what to do with it yet (thatās more about other people than me though). Assuming I can get it out, Iām wondering about where to host it.
Currently itās a recording only. I have video footage, and will probably put a video together, but think Iād be happy to put it out as a recording only. If you think recording out 1st is a bad idea please say so.
What do you do wrt hosting the song? Bandcamp, YouTube, Vimeo, your own corner of the internet (e.g. purchased cloud space), something else?
Are there any particular reasons you use your host of choice?
And whilst we are on the topic, if you put it on those sharing sites does it become more difficult to get on sites such as Tidal, Spotify, Apple Music etc. (This isnāt necessarily a target for me, Iām more interested in your answers on where to host).
Via paid service like distrokid or symphonic you can easiliy publisch to 40ish platforms like spotify etc.
you could put it on soundcloud and youtube as well first, for free and less hassle.
If, for some reasons, it doesnāt work out, it is easily deleted as well.
I just publish all my originals on YouTube and set them to a playlist. Iām in no rush to hit the music charts. Plus it gives me time to revisit them with fresh ears and better playing skills before I decide to go mainstream.
What are your plans and aspirations wrt your own original music, Simon. That might influence your choice.
When I joined the Community 8 years ago, most recordings shared were audio only and hosted on SoundCloud. Today most are video hosted on YouTube. Purpose of most is to aid the learning process, so the ability to get feedback based on what people see as well as hear is useful.
Original songs are also mostly shared as YouTube, sometimes videos featuring clips of the person playing sometimes other clips or a slideshow.
In my 8 years I can recall a couple of people releasing albums. If I recall correctly the platforms theyāve used were Bandcamp and Apple Music. I canāt recall whether or not they used the platforms that Lieven mentioned.
There are a few people whoāve shared in the Community using a service like Google Drive or DropBox.
Personally my originals, and other cover recordings, are all on YouTube. I host there to enable sharing to the Community (there is no way to upload a recording to the Community directly) and also friends and family. I have no intention of ever releasing an original album into mainstream music streaming or for sale, nor do I ever intend to work towards a monetised YouTube channel. Iām not worried about views, likes, and subscribes. It is just convenient, both for me and anybody who wants to view and listen.
On YouTube you also have the opportunity to publish as Unlisted which limits access to only people with the link you shared which appeals to many people. Personally I always publish to Public, Iām not too worried about who might see nor am I worrying about my music being pirated . . . itās just not that good.
And given the typical views the majorities videos receive, I donāt think it makes a difference if you publish an audio-only with a single image to YouTube and later publish with a video. But if you wanted the world to only see the final video version but would like some feedback in the short-term you could publish Unlisted and share the link in the Community.
I use YouTube, itās the easiest and least expensive. If youāre clever about use of hashtags and leave it public then you can judge if thereās any interest in it. But be sure to not allow mixing by third parties. If you only want a certain audience then keep it private and only visible by people who have links which is what I do for anything shared here. If youāre not sure about whether you want to publish it or itās work in progress keep it private and donāt put links to a forum or community that has access to the link.
@Socio There are a couple of interesting points there.
I found some advice from a sound engineer: as you are going through the mixing process regularly render / save the mix out so you can listen to the whole thing without the temptation to fiddle part way through. I think it is good advice and I did use it. It also enabled me to share with my son, even though he isnāt using the same DAW as I am, and use his ears.
Re playing skills: I think the drummer, singer plus my bass and keys playing are doing a good job of hiding my limited guitar skills. (Iād insert a smiley face if I could find it).
Your response was helpful @DavidP. Iād forgotten that itās possible to post stuff as private. Like you, everything Iāve put on YouTube or Vimeo to date has been Public.
Thanks @DarrellW - there is some helpful stuff in your response. I donāt think I quite follow the bit of advice Iāve quoted above. Do you mean publish to YouTube, but keep it private and seek the feedback from Justin Guitar (and maybe the similar bass community Iām a member of)? But donāt put the links on other communities and forums such as Facebook and Instagram?
Thanks @LievenDV . That opened up a bit of the music business (distribution) that was only on the extremes of my peripheral knowledge. After a bit of internet searching , the distributor Iām initially drawn to is āDittoā. Incidentally, even if I donāt go that far, I did find they have an AI driven mastering tool that I may try out.
Congratulations on accomplishing that difficult feat, Simon. Well done. Iāve written a few tunes, and publish them on You Tube and sometimes as a post on Facebook. One thing I would point out, I get a copyright first, before posting anything. If you donāt, someone sees it, says, āHey, thatās a hit record,ā and finds itās not copyrighted, they could then copyright it themself and it would legally become theirs. I think the last, most recent copyright I got cost $65. It took about 3 months to arrive once I sent it in. Read the online e-copy information on the form carefully before submitting. The copyright e-site is really user friendly too here in the US.
Thank you @jvlynch. It was one of Justinās lessons in grade 2 that inspired me to have another go after a break of 10 years or so.
My understanding of UK copyright law is that the copyright is automatically applied (or at least thatās what the governmentās web site says). There is no fee to pay, nor is there any register of copyrighted works. Further the copyright may apply in other countries via the Berne convention. The UK and US are both signatories / members of that convention. Disclaimer: Iāve no legal training.
When I wrote songs a decade or so ago the recommended method was to send a hard copy of the recording, lyrics and music to yourself via a postal method that has a date. Then you can show in court the date your music existed. I still have the packages unopened. Iāve never published any of them . Iām not sure I will go that way this time, but Iāve seen other methods suggested which Iāll revisit. So thanks for the prompt.
Hey Simon, as you said, it may differ in the UK as far as copyrights go. It used to be ok to have the post office here date stamp a copy, put it in an envelope, mail it to yourself, and not open it. At that time, if you filed a copyright infringement suit against someone for using your works without permission, that unopened, dated copy would work. Thatās no longer true. You can claim ācopyrightā whenever you post something for the public to see, but that claim would not hold up in court either. Here in the US, it has to be an actual, verifiable copyright. Plus theyāre fun to have and hang in a frame. I have a few. It never gets stale when I get another one. You just never know down the road what might happen. Copyrights here, currently anyway, are good up to 70 years after an authorās death. I am no legal expert either, but this is from what Iāve learned applying for these and speaking with a few copyright attorneys here in the US. Keep up the great work. Send more. Loved it!
In the event that someone steals one their songs and is successful monotonising it. Interestingly, in the US you must have proof of registration in order to file a claim. Whereas, in the UK you donāt need to have it registered but they do recommend that it makes it easier to prove in court if you have it registered. It seems like a good business to be in being a registration service, almost Ā£100 every 10 years per piece.
With over 100ā000 new songs being uploaded to music sites every day, the chance of someone stealing any of our songs, claiming it to be their own, and making it so popular that they actually monetise it, is smaller than a nit on a gnatās nut
In fact, if it were possible to orchestrate, that would be a much easier way to become known as a songwriter and achieving success- just by demonstrating that you were the creative genius behind the āsuccessā. Seriously, youād have to pay top dollar for that kind of āexposureā Controversy sells!
Itās a completely different kettle of fish, when ācompaniesā go around ripping off genuine professional artists with followings.
Ā£10 per year for registration fees? thatās a lotta spotify hits!
@LievenDV@DavidP - this chat has (possibly momentarily) morphed to a āprotecting copyrightā discussion. I do find the copyright issue interesting and will contribute to it, and hopefully it is also of interest to some in the community. It is different to my original question (which I hope is also interesting to the community) though. If you want to split the topic feel free. As the op Iām ok either way.
@brianlarsen Iāll answer your question, but please forgive me if it takes a couple of days. There are number of reasons I can think of for protecting copyright / wanting to prove it, but Iāve a band practice tomorrow and a gig the following evening which will probably take my stringed instrument (4 in this case) bandwidth . (2nd edit before I spotted the pun )
Yes, but with work in progress just donāt share any links unless you want critique on something youāve not finished. I tend not to share anything unless Iām happy with it and then if someone comes up with constructive critique that makes sense I will revisit it.
Currently, all my completed originals are on YouTube. Mine include music videos, but I donāt think thatās a necessity. Some people just put slideshows, art etcā¦.
For one of my bands, we will eventually be using distrokid to get the songs onto streaming platforms. That is still in the works, so I donāt have a ton of info about it yet, but they seemed to be the best available option for us.
Hope your gig goes well! I look forward to hearing your song when you decide to release it.
@brianlarsen you had an answer from @Socio ā In the event that someone steals one their songs and is successful monotonising it.ā
Iāll add to that āā¦ā¦and the writer(s) get no recognition for it.ā I wouldnāt lose much sleep from me not making money from it. Not having the recognition would be a bigger deal for me.
I think you are likely correct about the chance of the music being ripped off. Thatās only part of the risk equation though, the other part being consequence. Socio and I have written above about the consequence to the individual. However there is also a consequence to the music industry as a whole. The estimates for copyright infringement annually in the music industry run into 10s of billions $US. I suspect a large portion of that is illegal downloads rather than someone stealing the rights to the words and music. Nevertheless it feels to me as though it would help reduce copyright infringement if creators took some relatively simple steps to protect their rights to copyright.
@Jenndye429 thanks for your response. I think your CounterPlotās videos are great, so itās good to see that you donāt think the video is a necessity. Nevertheless I think I can probably do a bit better than the video I have so far. Iāve found IMovie is limiting so Iāll try do a compilation from Thursdayās gig (which was good thanks) in a different video editor and see what I can learn from that.
Thanks for the help you provided on this thread. I decided to publish it privately (at least initially) on SoundCloud. If any of you want to listen to the song, Iāve put a link to it over on the Community recording / Originals thread.
. Iām not sure I will go that way this time, but Iāve seen other methods suggested which Iāll revisit. So thanks for the prompt.
Controversy sells!