Dear Music Producers,

STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING and READ THIS NOW!

Here is "the deal". I noticed some of you guys are not signed up to any PROs. Even if you make music "as a hobby" you should be still registering your music with these guys and and copyrighting your music (copyright topic for later).

YOU NEED To become a "writer and publisher", there are two, at the ASCAP, or at the BMI or some other PRO (performing rights organization) place...the membership is expensive...a whopping...hold your breath, you might not be able to afford this...$70 for a LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP!!!...(that's $35 for writer and $35 for publisher) I know..It's like they are robbing us?!? No they are not, this is the most important part of this ENTIRE process...read on.

Ok, my amateur and hobbyists friends why do you need this?...(this includes me, because I just signed up myself by the way, the registration process takes about 15 days) Do it TODAY!

So now when you edit your song on pond5. You will see two white boxes that say COMPOSER and PUBLISHER. Most of you have Composer down, that's you (but this makes no difference if you do not REGISTER). Who published your song?? Don't know do you? That's because the answer is YOU! You published it! (this is why you register, you get 50% for writing your tune and 50% publishing it) And then a text window that says....PRO. Anyone following me? That's where you put ASCAP or BMI Here is how this works to my understanding. Please know this is a complicated mess since the invention of, the record.

Ok, here we go, say you sold a copy of your royalty free music here at pond5 for an incredible 5 dollars...pond5 takes their cut of OH MY GOD $2.50!! AHHHhh All my money!!!! Please read on...

So now your tune is out there being used, WITHOUT being registered....THIS is your MISTAKE and mine...don't get me wrong...there is a reason I am telling you this and it's not because I am trying to sell you something. I am trying to help you so we ALL can make a nice living off of our hobby, soon to be careers.

Listen, what if I told you that once your tune is broadcast on a national TV commercial or radio ad or something other form of HIGH-END broadcast, These companies already set aside money, HUGH SUMS OF MONEY....right...go on Nathan...Ok...so what happens when Producer Joe that bought your royalty-free music broadcasts on TV? Well...those companies MUST pay...you heard me MUST pay to use ANY and ALL content. So..You sold your "royalty-free tune" but alas! Once it is broadcast there is no such thing as "royalty-free", it hits tv and radio and guess what...CBS pays one of the PROs royalties even IF you are not registered....WHAT??? I know, I know...Where was this information yesterday?

Is anyone listening to me? If you are then your whole world just took the "EXIT to SUCCESS"...You can thank me later.

Why am I telling you this? Wouldn't it make sense to watch you all fail and keep this to myself..NO! Listen you need to start making some money. Lots of it. We the little guys are hurting our own market. Please, let us all start informing ourselves. There is a way to do this and it is not as hard as I once thought.

Royalty-free is perfect for your "amateur producers" (these guys don't know any of this either, by the way, well maybe some but then they wouldn't be amateurs.) looking to make money from a very LOW budget company. But once they "AIR" that production, the BROADCAST COMPANIES, pay with their HUGE SUMS OF MONEY...not Joe....They pay the PROs. And the PROs pay....YOU. What? You didn't register...oh...well, then guess what...the PROs KEEP YOUR MONEY!!!

Got this? Read this twice...Dream about this...let this sink in. This is going to change the way you view making music from now on.

If not...go ahead, make your non-PRO music, I know I have been making non-PRO music all along, but guess what. AS soon as I get my membership. BOOM all my songs are being registered and copyrighted and I am changing EVERY track on all those marketplaces that I have been so hard at work adding all my non-PRO music too. Who is with me?

Sincerely your friend and colleague,



Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

Just to get you thinking in case you skipped my post.

Most commercials on TV: the background music. For say a one year license, might go for...75k to 250k. A YEAR! I am only talking for national markets in the US. The BROADCAST COMPANIES pay PROS this, not our good buddy JOE. UNDERSTAND? JOE doesn't make any of this money. Joe makes money by finding the right music, the right video and the right idea and the RIGHT CLIENT, and says I'll do that for X amount of dollars....Even if Joe used your music FOR FREE...all you need him to do is fill out a CUE SHEET (pond5 and many others do this AUTOMATICALLY, for producers just like Joe) with you as the COMPOSER and PUBLISHER and, BAM! YOU CLAIM YOUR MONEY once it is on TV, radio, film..the list goes on.

A Film Intro, say 3.5 mins of music, might go for .... 350k to 500k. and the credits, well maybe 150k.

Last year I sold about 8 tunes. I am pretty happy. It made me invest a bunch of money into new studio equipment so I can make even better music this year. But this year I am going PRO, I am going to have my tunes on TV anyway, why not claim it! It's SO easy! Put some damn food on the table Go PRO! Let's do this already!


Hope your all having a good weekend,



Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

I don't like doing this, but if you want the nitty-gritty and cannot search for yourself on google, "What is royatly-free music" then here is a link to Wikipedia about music and royalties and such,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Production_music

Seriously, I want all non-PRO music producers...to truly take a look at what (myself included) we have been doing. Read the part about royalty-free music yet?

Do IT!

"These libraries (<-- THAT'S YOU!) depend mainly on performance royalties for their income <-- WHAT YOU ARE LOSING! (with a small amount of income from sales of physical CDs or online track downloads). <-- THIS IS pond5..."

"Assuming that the music is broadcast, royalties are paid on the music, though it is the broadcaster, not the customer, who pays them via annual fees to the performing rights societies." <-- THIS IS WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!!

BE SURE TO READ THIS, DIGEST IT, and tomorrow when you tell someone you are a music composer...you'll know what you are talking about...ok? Please, for your Families sake. Don't be the guy that had his song heard during that awesome commercial and you made $2.50. Your time, effort and creativity are worth so much more and THEY WANT TO PAY YOU. It is your part to REGISTER.

Glad you approve now. Go PRO Go PRO! Go PRO!

There is enough money, for me, you and everyone else at pond5. And when you have all that money, PLEASE send me and my family some good vibes, some good wishes, after all, it is this post you are reading that is going to change it all for you.

It's 2013, it's time to go PRO.

By the way, once you are member of some PRO you have to REGISTER each song in your library with the PRO of your choice. Ok? EACH SONG you want to be credited to you. And you have to search up how to copyright you music. DO IT! NOW, TODAY!

IT's SO Freaking EASY! I copyrighted 3 CDS jammed with production music for $135.00 by myself, it is so simple. Fill out a stupid form, stick your cd inside and forget it. 6 months later you have you music completely and utterly copyright protected. Come on! You can do this, too! Don't be fooled into thinking that it's to hard or to much. Listen I have been self-employed for 10 years, and my friends, goto work for some other self-employed person. Do you know the difference? KNOWLEDGE. THIS IS SO EASY. They don't know "how to start a business" did you know it's so simple, you could DO IT TODAY?

And I don't know if any of you noticed but if your thinking. Nah, It won't be broadcasted. Non-sense.

http://www.pond5.com/community?forum=242600

pond5 is almost a guarantee during the credits on TV these days. Keep your eyes peeled. Those background tracks on TV are...played for about 3-8 seconds, each video clip on tv has about what...6-10 music clips in it. Reality shows are fueled with music just like we make. It's a shame to watch some us fall into the ... I don't want to, because I don't know how.

And please someone with more knowledge then myself. POINT US IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION! This is it folks. This is what all the creative efforts on your part has been. To make it and make it big. Well at least that's mine.

Put an end to the pond5 takes 50% of the profits. CRAP. Pond5 provides you and me with producers that NEED music. I would be happy to give all my music away for free as long as you producers BROADCAST it!

THANK YOU pond5! You are going to make me SO MUCH MONEY! I really hope your non-PRO eyes have shifted a bit, listen, there are other places that LAUGH at us non-PROs. What are you going to tell Lexus? You make music for 20 bucks? COME ON! They will want to know what PRO your with and your going to look as foolish as I did yesterday. It's time to really understand how you, me and everyone else that is here can and could be making ALOT more than, 50% at pond5.

Sincerely,




Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

I didnt undrestand why so much noise?

Most people knows that its better to have PRO, but its not so nessesary. I saw people who sell their audio pretty well, without having PRO. What will be with their audios later (as they without PRO) I think its already their problem, because everyone could own this song later, so...

hi.
i read the wikipedia article and it says that part of the income is the performing rights, that are paid not by the producer but by the broadcaster. this broadcaster pays the money to ascap/bmi/pro and this pro then distributes 50% of the performance income to the producer and 50% to the composer.
so, in the end, although you get more money by registering with a pro, so does the publisher, pond5 in this case.
so the discontent remains: pond5 and the likes of it, take 50% of the income my work generates. and why??
i cant deal with the idea that someone having a site that hosts composers' music will take 50% of their work doing absolutely nothing in the composing work itself. isnt it enough that the state robs us by taxing us on that income? i mean cmon, if i make 10000 as income in a year, and split it in half with a rf-site, that leaves me with 5000., then comes taxes and im left with only 3000 or something like that. where is the justice in that??? my work is worth 10000 and yet i only get 3000 . wtf? i mean REALLY, wtf??

Dear Nawak, LivingroomClassics and my fellow musicians,

Ok...Let's say we both made some gold widget worth 10k...and your widget was exactly like mine only mine said "NATHAN LUIS STEINKE"...yours says..."UNKNOWN". We sell our widgets to the same person who uses our widgets the exact same way but when it comes time to pay the proper fees (which are already in place), I am going to get my fees, because I said...HERE I AM! I made that widget! You say, I made a widget too, but, you didn't engrave your name on your widget. So the money that you would've received goes to the PROs, and the PROs go, ah well, another UNKNOWN!

Any stock media marketplace that is trying to stop you, convince you that registering your music with a PRO is a mistake, or otherwise not accepting PRO music is a scandal. Sure you can make MONEY, but...at what cost. Listen you should be thinking about this the other way around. You are paying up to 70% to these marketplaces to put your music in TV Commercials, that's why they are charging you 50% to 70% to license your music. Come on, your not going to say I MADE THAT? It is a rip off IF you have non-PRO music. THINK ABOUT IT! Please.

Does anyone reading this know what PRO is?

Listen the worse part is misinformation - sadly, due to the flux in independent artist, like myself, we don't have the understanding of the structure that is in place for us. That is why all the noise. We need to SAVE our industry. Do you want to make money selling music, say 10 years from now? If everyone sold their music for 1$ at some stock media place...WE are all F*cked.

pond5 is NOT THE PUBLISHER!!!! You are COMPOSER/PUBLISHER unless you don't REGISTER as a publisher. What do you think PUBLISHER means? You compose music, then you PUBLISH it and then you add it to all those wonderful media marketplaces. You are all making a grave mistake, including myself, and I really have a hard time watching my fellow musicians go down a DARK and lonely road. I want to shed some light on this, just like I wanted someone to shed the light for me. But guess what. Not one single stinking person in the entire universe said, Nathan you are a fool thinking that your wildest dreams are going to come true by selling your music at rock bottom prices, I myself, as a non-PRO musician am ruining the music industry, and I want to stop and I want as many people to stop and think about what you are doing.

You get 50% for being the composer and 50% for being the publisher. That's 100% if you put me down as the publisher then I would get 50%. And this MEANS something when there is a PUBLISHER, ie someone you want to say thanks for publishing my work, here's 50%. Anyone putting your MARKETPLACE as the publisher STOP! STOP! STOP! Go back and change all your uploads.

YOU ARE COMPOSER. YOU ARE PUBLISHER.

LivingroomClassics, your right. You have to pay taxes on the money you make. That's life. You have to pay taxes on that $5 dollars you made from non-PRO too. If you don't beware.

BROADCAST COMPANIES pay -> PROs pay -> 50% to writer and 50% to publisher. YOU and YOU again. It's not as hard as it is scary to think...You went PRO..You can still sell you music as royalty-free, as long as you don't grant EXCLUSIVE rights to someone. And listen IF you grant exclusive rights...MAKE YOUR ROYALTIES!

I am not telling you this because I work for the PROs or any non-sense. I only wish, you and I, play the same game so we both can WIN BIG. Musicians reading this...we are not in competition with each other. Each SECOND is already bought and paid for. All I care about is, when I am being paid for my SECONDs...please don't sell it for a $1! OK?

The music business has been here, before many of you were born, this includes me, so it's our duty as members of this business to DO IT RIGHT and I believe with knowledge and little push, we all can achieve our wildest dreams. Otherwise My fingers and going to bleed with the amount of music I need to make in order to buy a candy bar.


Sincerely,




Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

P.s. Again, your producer friends do not pay these royalties. The broadcasters HAVE to pay it to the PROs. It is the WAY this works. You nor I are going to change that. So why not play by their rules! Enjoy the Suberbowl everyone and if you hear your non-pro music during those million dollar commercials...You'd wish you had it REGISTERED!

hi.
man u really are passioned about making us aware.
i admit i really appreciate your effort.
personally i thnk everybody is tryin to screw everybody and i have hard time actually trusting someone like the owner of this site. i never knew that i am the one that is actually the publisher,and did not have the infos u provided, information truly seems to be power... as i knew it, in the contract u agree when registerin on pond5, they are the publishers, because they are the ones publishing your content on their webservers...can u provide a link with the proof that if i go pro, i am the publisher, and, more importantly, that they aint gonna get 50% of my ascap incomes??
second, they just store the audio data on some servers, i never saw any ad of pond5 online, and i tend to believe that they really just store the data. the way it works is that producers come to the site and download some music. its not like pond5 actually calls bbc and asks them to visit the site. i mean really, i cant buy this bs.
thirdly, selling ur music at 1 dollar price is the same with selling it with 20. i mean to even get a good song idea i need at least a day, to record it another 2, and to mix and master it another one or two. i dont do mixing mastering, which means paying an engineer. its about 4-5 days of work all in all for one piece of music. if i translate those 5 days in money earned from being an employee, its obviously much much more than the 20 bucks price that sells on pond5, not to mention the site ripping me of at least 50%. i really see no reason why stock sites should get more then 15% of my earnings at most!
at least they dont get any money from performance copyright publishing synchronization rights, right? or not right?
anyways, thanx for the info, and most of all for the effort to give a damn about us ignorants. well, im an ignorant, maybe not everbody...

Dear Music Producers,

You are on the right track, listen, stop thinking pond5 is taking your money. Think of it like this, YOU are paying pond5 to handle the license fees. The royalty-free license is SO LIMITING in use is nearly laughable at a TOP level. Your Dad and Mom type amateur producers are paying for GOOD QUALITY music at say 20$ because you are selling them a NON-EXCLUSIVE extremely limiting contract.

You see... If your Mom and Dad take their video to say your local TV station, they are still only paying 20$ but on a national/global level the broadcast companies PAY the PROs...the PROs pay YOU. If you say don't REGISTER with a PRO, then that whole process is crippled. Why would you pay pond5 50%? That is our mistake...not realizing why we are paying these stock media marketplaces. We are paying to get our music, as scary as it is, BROADCASTED. What are we doing here? Making music for someone's 5 year old birthday party on youtube?? Come on.

Let's see the broader side to this. This process is for US, so your, and my, hard effort and time making music, means something and you can make Mad cash doing it. IF we do it right. And listen I am only doing this so when amateurs like myself struggle with this legal jargon they say, Nathan did it and so can I! I have cut, mixed, mastered, read, studied, invested, to much time to sit around and make peanuts.

Get this right, YOU PAY pond5 50% to get your music in the RIGHT hands, and when your music in the right hands, BE SURE TO have YOUR NAME on it. Nothing spells failure like a blank business card.

Royalty-free in no means...means...IT's 100% usable, to everyone. Read the legal statement here at pond5... http://www.pond5.com/legal/license

I am looking at this from TOP down, instead of BOTTOM up. Who is going to lease "unknown" music for anything worthwhile? If the top sellers here at pond5 are working for the top national broadcast companies, I dare say their non-PRO selection they are selling...Is their worst, and their best is registered with a PRO and it's not here on pond5. Think about IT!

I have been a registered composer at the ascap for awhile but just 3 days ago applied to be a publisher. When you log in to your PRO. It's a great feeling first of all...Second They ask you for two NAMES, the COMPOSER of music and the PUBLISHER of the music.

It's for sure not pond5, if you HAD a publisher it would go here, but since you do not have a publisher it is you. You can publish other people's music, if they let you. Here is a http://www.ascap.com/about/join/ascap_faqs.aspx

It's really not that scary, listen if you market your music then you are the publisher, all you have to do is register twice. There are two applications. COMPOSER and PUBLISHER, heck some PROs don't even have a registration fee. Shop around!

It goes like this. You make jingle, you register your jingle as song at PRO, you as composer, you as publisher. You then have 1 year to copyright said music, once you send it your government's copyright office, takes about 6 months. Then, you add to all your stock media marketplaces, and instead of leaving all that PRO stuff blank, you put in your LEGAL name that you REGISTERED, mine happens to be, NATHAN LUIS STEINKE, It's capped, because I am now a LEGAL company. You'll understand once you start looking into how to start a music company. You could go many ways. I choose to use my SS# as my tax ID. You could register with your respective governments and have some form of FED TAX ID.

At this point if you are not reading and learning you might want a lawyer.

There is this GREAT book. By, Donald S. Passman, and the title is All You Need To Know About the Music Business. He is an entertainment lawyer, and let me tell you. There is no 20$ this and 25$ that. It's 75k 250k...500k... You, me, and everyone that is entering into this music field needs to know this, SO the music industry doesn't collapse. Why are you making 500k worth of movie trailers for pennies...? Why? It makes no sense. Unless you are PRO? Am I right??

You can still sell REGISTERED PRO royalty-free music at 20$. It really doesn't bother Mom and Dad. Ok? They still license your music as royalty-free and use it locally during their happy 5 year olds birthday party. Nothing lost. However, do you now understand what you COULD be receiving if we do this right.


Listen I am not a lawyer and this is advice is free and I in no way mean to be the end all here. I just had the same question as you. Why am I paying pond5 50% to sell my music? Here is my answer at least and I hope it helps someone, somewhere down the line, because I wish someone said this to me, before I added 170+ non-PRO tracks across 7-9 stock media marketplaces. What was I thinking?

Not anymore my friends. Again I don't like out linking but please read this at taxi Taxi - Setting up a publishing company

Listen I am not making this sh*t up. I don't want ANYTHING from ANY of you, except, maybe a few thank yous and some good vibes. We are in this together. If you don't want to go with a PRO, don't. Be assured I will be picked up all that money your missing and stuffing directly into my bank accounts.

If a TOP level producers is going to pick music for national broadcast it's going to registered with a PRO. Hands down.


Sincerely,




Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

thanx dude :) i will search that passman book u mentioned

My Fellow Musicians,

This is SO important. If you didn't read what I had to say. Go back and read it. There is a bigger picture here. I love making music in my studio, just like you, and I love uploading my recently created music, to all those wonderful stock media marketplaces, just like pond5, just like you do. And I really don't like "LEGAL STATEMENTS", who does?

The fact is, pond5 is not ripping anyone off. We are paying pond5 to process the Royalty-Free license for our music, this is how pond5 makes money. We pay them 50% to get our music in producer's hands even if they are small time now. Fact is, George Lucas started somewhere.

So if anything, I would like to hear a whole lot more, "We love pond5!" around here.

If you do this right, you should be able to retire early and pay for your 10th generation great grand kids ENTIRE LIVES.

If you get this wrong, you are going to have a hard time buying a number 10 combo and supersizing it.

I hope everyone here, says to themselves, it's time I do this FOR REAL.

PRO doesn't not mean professional. Ok? It means Performing Rights Organization. If you go PRO, it doesn't mean you are now somehow more professional. It's simply means..

non-PRO: You failed, as your duty as a Musician, to register your work.

PRO: You have your music registered and will receive the correct royalties. (This surpasses your idea of "royalty-free", don't be fooled.)

LivingroomClassics,

I paid 30$ for my copy but I am sure you could find it at your, dare I say, "local" library. It's worth a read through, if not a lifelong study. And if any of you are having a hard time with this, get a lawyer (you'll soon realize, It's worth it), read, read, read, and listen, you will start to understand that there is a heavenly structure out there, just for us! Just for YOU! Just for ME! It really starts with the PROs.

There is so much more to being a music composer, try not to swindle yourself into thinking that you have to MAKE this money before you go and register, Some PROs are FREE. Listen. Read about it, Think about it, and then make an informed decision about your new "MUSIC BUSINESS".

It's not up to ANYONE but YOU!

No one is going to do this for you, so that means...You have to do it for yourself!

Take care everyone, I hope this post helps open your eyes to your greater potential.


Sincerely,




Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

P.s. If anyone reads this and KNOWS more, please, please, please point us all in the right direction.

Quick update: I am happy to announce I have been approved as a COMPOSER / PUBLISHER at the ASCAP. Took only 4 days. Cost 70$ for life. I wish you all the best. There is now a TON of work to redo and I will be registering each and every clip of music I made and every clip I make.

Think about your future. Aren't you tired of your spouse asking when the "music business" is going to kick in? Well. THIS IS IT!

This is how you START.

Good luck,



Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

i started reading more on those issues.
good thing u posted this thread.
personally i only had 3 clips uploaded, but removed them immediately after
realizing that not being copyrighted was harmful for me.
that was like 3 months ago i guess.
now i have more clips, but did nothing with them, as in i did not upload any of them anywhere.
i'll inform myself better and, if it turns out RF sites are ok, perhaps i'll
post them again.
however, i read on some forums that the best way is to contact music supervisors directly, and try to sell clips personally, cutting the middle man -RF sites in this case.
but i'll read more, thanx :)

Dear LivingroomClassics,

Try to keep your options open when you are building your business, there is money to be had all over the place. Most of us, at least me, enjoy the creative side of running a music business. Making the music. Try to allow time in your "BUSINESS DAY" for some quality "LEGAL WORK". Put down the guitar and get your hands off that piano and do a little research and start this process RIGHT. You'll thank yourself in the long run.

Think of this, you really don't have to sell anything, to anyone. If your name is on the CUE SHEET, and it's broadcasted, YOUR GOLDEN. (If you registered with a PRO.) Do you know what a CUE SHEET is? Research if not...

Really your asking them to pay you to "feed you and pay for some bills for your studio" while you make them an original cut. Which by the way, would be an exclusive deal and it is handled a bit differently than a "royalty-free" license.

If your going to contact an "executive producer", READ UP first. Know what you are talking about, don't take my word for it. I just want you to stop thinking pond5, is somehow, ripping you off. They are not. You are ripping yourself off if you do this wrong.

This IS your "music business", not pond5's. Pond5 is helping you sell license's that otherwise you would not. You can swing both ways here guys. No need to CUT anyone OUT.


Let us know if you find anything juicy,




Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

Some final thoughts,

First, when you make something, you own the copyrights. So as long as you have your MASTER copy of your tune somewhere (don't give it to anyone and make backups) you should be o.k. for a while, however it is a very good idea to get them registered at your national copyright office.

Secondly, PROs expect you to have already, "leased at least one track", so you NEED to have something up somewhere and have leased it or have leased it privately to a producer.

Thirdly, most libraries expect you to have at least, 50 production tracks, that's FIFTY tracks, to even consider being HEARD. So GET BUSY!

Lastly, if you are just reading this, go back to page 1, START there.

Thank you all for taking time to read this, I hope it has change your ideas about the music business, pond5 and your role as a composer. This is just the START of your new music business. Please read and help inform your fellow musicians. Feel free to contact me here at pond5 with any personal questions.


I sincerely wish you all the best of luck,




Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

exactly 50 is what i have :D

Dear LivingroomClassics,

Then it seems your well on your way to making it BIG. Good Luck.


Sincerely,




Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

thanx, good luck 2 u 2

Quick Update;

Submitted my first tune to the ASCAP as a COMPOSER and PUBLISHER. So far it was very straightforward, takes a couple days for the paperwork to clear. READ EVERYTHING. There's videos and FAQ's and tutorials, you can even "CALL" them on a dime.

THIS IS IT folks. Listen you don't have to register all your songs with a PRO. No one really cares. Why would "THEY"? But YOU should care. Take time to inform yourself. Registering my newest song was a SNAP. You don't even have to upload anything. There's no keywords to enter. No description. Just. Hi, I composed this, and published it, and want to register it like EVERY other musician that has gone before me.

Past the word along. Registering with a PRO is the first step. Don't make this mistake and listen, if you need, keep it non-PRO for now. Make those 50 tracks, cut them up. Make teasers, stings, 15, 30 and 60 second ads, looping cuts and intro/outros. Make MUSIC then, learn how to make it better, then REGISTER. GOT IT? Good.

Now go get'em!


Sincerely,




Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
liftedCREATION.com

P.S. If you have questions regarding becoming affiliated with a PRO, start on page one of this post. READ, then ask a bunch of questions. Everyone is here to HELP.

thanx for he tips.

i will do more reșearch.
however, if the song doesnt get aired, its nt as good for the composer.
say microsoft or a big corporation buys your song with 20 bucks from pomd5.
you get 10 bucks, and the huge corp. uses it daily as a jingle.
or they use it on the opening of windows 8 or something similar.
this i could consider a rip off. for something that worths 10000 buks to them i get paid 10. so still, dealing directly with the clients, instead of a rf site, seems appealing.

Dear LivingroomClassics,

If you read in the

http://www.pond5.com/legal/license

section 3 paragraph e. CLEARLY states, "Licensee shall not incorporate the Licensed Content into a logo, trademark or service mark without explicit written permission from either Pond5 or the copyright owner."

I don't know about you, but if MICROSOFT is willing to have a NON-EXCLUSIVE tune bought for 20 bucks to represent their BILLION dollar company. Wow.

We all need to pitch IN THE BIG LEAGUES, just have your "name on the ball".


Sincerely,




Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

Dear Colleagues,

It has been a month for me being a ASCAP affiliated writer and publisher and what a difference it is. It feels like I have "a license to make music". Rather collect my royalties from the music I make. If you haven't chosen a PRO yet and gone over there to register. What are you waiting for?

I have already commissioned my first work for hire, it's a 45 second commercial due out in a couple weeks. But until then I have been registering my music with the ASCAP. It's real easy. This was the first movie trailer I registered -

http://www.pond5.com/stock-music/21235530/psychedelic-flashback.html?ref=liftedCREATION

You will notice that in pond5 it says that I have those little white spaces filled in next to "PRO", "Composer" and "Publisher". THAT is the golden ticket folks. So if you are a "hobbyist" or an "amateur" musician, like I WAS it's time to take what's yours. Learn what royalty-free REALLY means, start back on page one of this post. PLEASE, for your own sake. Go register today!

This is the MOST important post you will ever read if you are not registered with a PRO. (If you are, then you know what I am talking about.)

Once your are affiliated with a PRO it doesn't stop there. Now it's time to further educate yourself. My good friend Aaron Davison, has put together a wonderful package at his website,

http://e30d1mrf8h3ilz9ew6zel66x0h.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=POND5

Sign up for his free e-mail. I did. His FREE advice is SO worth it. And guess what - It doesn't even stop there. Once you understand what you are doing in the BUSINESS side of this you won't be a hobbyists or amateur. You'll be a full blown royalty making machine.


All I ask is, "Who here thinks royalty-free means, as an musician, you will not receive royalties?" <- BE HONEST

If that's you. READ from page one.

Take care of yourselves out there.


Sincerely,



Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

P.S. Go back to PAGE ONE. READ, then please COMMENT and SHARE. This is big folks. This is it.

BMI is free to join

Dear MuscoSound,

Then there is no reason not to join and register your music and FILL IN these goldmines! You know. It's been a few months, since I became affiliated with ASCAP, everything is better. My music means much more. The business side just started to really kick in for me. I have just finished the background track for a 3 minute web promo, and I have another 45 second TV commercial about to be released.

On a side note: I just started a 60 day mentorship program with Aaron Davison. He asked for musicians to send him some samples, out of 100's, he only invited 38 to actually pay for the course and out of those, the first 5 to pay got in. I got in! I am so thrilled!

So now it's time to put this all to the test. Get my music on National TV. I am writing a blog, you can find it here,

http://nathanlsteinke.tumblr.com/60days

It's going to take the next 58 days to write, so I am off. (I am so very busy.) Thank you all that read my post, and wish me and my family well. With any luck, in a few months to a year we all should be smiling. At least that's my plan. Jump abroad! The train is about to depart.

Sincerely,



Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

Hey, I was reading some of the replies here... I am not registeret yet, because I thought this is a special appeal to certain customers since they do not have to pay extra royalities. Here in Germany agencies are offering songs that are not registered at GEMA for good money. It's specifically advertised in that way.

If I register now and customers see that I have a PRO-Status, it might result in fewer sales. What do you think?

Dear Soundprodukt,

I felt the same way last year. Listen, if someone wants to buy music that is non-pro. There is plenty to choose from, From a producers point of view, if they "lease" your music from pond5. It's doesn't matter if it is registered with a pro or not. The producers that lease audio from any media marketplace do not pay royalties, they NEVER HAVE! Producers pay "licenses fees". Broadcast companies pay royalties. If a producer, leases your track, they don't pay royalties. They pay to lease your track and then they give their awesome production to a broadcast company and they pay the royalties, And keep in mind the royalties are ALREADY paid. Meaning.. They already have the money set aside. It's not like they are surprised when they have to pay.

Here's the point that changed it all for me, Yes, you could NOT register your music. That's fine, but remember YOU WILL NEVER RECEIVE ROYALTIES, EVER! For people out there thinking they are going to MAKE MORE money by not registering with a pro and don't do this music business correctly are going to be very upset next year.

Listen, let's say you wanted to make 60k a year selling music. If you sold non-pro tracks at 60$ a piece...you would have to sell...2,000 non-pro tracks (you only get 50%, and roughly selling 2k tracks, that's about 8 tracks a day?) Now. Let's say that 50 of the sales were to people that have FULL intentions on broadcasting their production. But you didn't register your tracks...The money is there. They use your music but...they just don't know where it goes.

I know it seems like, geez I just put my track on-line and make a living...do you know how much you can make in 1 minute of nationally broadcasted music? Anyone?

It's enough to make those 2000 sales seem like chump change when you place your music in TV or Film. Listen pond5 is selling a LEASE on your music. Producers never pay royalties.. So really all music is royalty free for them. They pay to lease your track, sync it, change it to fit their production. That is what they are paying for. Then they hand their production, with a CUE SHEET to the broadcast companies that are entirely happy to pay you.

Keep in mind, when I say Nationally Broadcasted, I mean, 10-50 million people will see whatever they are putting on TV. So when they have to pay you some royalties...really they are paying mere 10ths of pennies per view, they don't mind. Paying you is important.

If media producers are out there only looking at non-pro tracks because they think they are saving a bunch of money on royalties are completely wrong. Do yourself a favor are start reading these terms and conditions. Please. I can't do this for any of you.

Registering your music, is so easy. There are tons of tutorials and videos...Listen, the music business was in place long before any of the internet was here. There is a right way and the amateur way. Sure there are a few companies out there telling people to buy non-pro music and they are telling musicians NOT to register their tracks. I can guaranteed I know exactly who is making money on these sites and it's not the non-registered musicians.

If you are putting your music for lease on a marketplace and non registering them. Wow, I am not sure what to say. Good luck! It's a shame. Truly you are leasing your music as an "unknown artist." There are going to be people that take advantage of that. Don't let them.

But - All in all this is UP to YOU. Not me, pond5, or anyone else. Only you can make that choice.


Take care and thank you for the questions,



Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

P.S. Also be careful with who you deal with. Some of the larger music libraries will NOT accept your unregistered music and if you have your music on certain media marketplaces, they want nothing to do with you. Keep that in mind. This goes both ways.

hey lifted,

Just wanted to let you know I joined BMI (which is free by the way), and that you are completely right. Thanks so much for the info.

Dear MuscoSound,

I saw you are selling music like crazy here! Great work! I have been searching myself for more answers and I am very pleased and surprised to find that, yes, what I said here is correct. It even gets better and better once you are registered with a PRO. There are tons to choose from, and if you do not want to pay application fees, you can join BMI.

Last month I started a 60 day mentorship program with Aaron Davison, and he his helping me understand the music business a lot better! I decided to write a blog about my experience. 60 Days with Aaron Davison I am in my third week and I am so happy to have a "mentor"

He has a course on-line that I was going to purchase as soon as I convinced myself, music education is worth a few dollars, and right before I was going to buy his material he asked me if I would be interested in his 60 day mentorship program. YES! Of course I am. Anyhow, you can read the blog if you want. It will be finished around may 18th, hopefully with great news of me landing my first placement.

He asked 100's musicians to apply for the mentorship, then only asked 38 of those musicians to actually PAY for the course, and the first 5 got in. I sent my payment as soon as I could and thankfully made the mentorship program.

Otherwise, I am learning about mixing and mastering and will probably be ranting and raving about that in the near future.

I am really glad to hear that you joined the BMI. That is great news! What a grand step in the right direction. As for others that are still unsure. You have to register EACH song you create. So if you have 20 songs...register just one. See how it goes. Take your best track. And get it registered. You will still have 19 tracks that are non-pro.

Listen, once you register with a PRO...you can still sell non-pro music. It doesn't cost anything to register your music. But if you don't register your musice, you could be losing 10,000's or 100,000's of dollars. And you would NEVER know.


Take care out there.

Sincerely,



Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

UPDATE: I am proud to announce that this week marks the end of my 6 years of considering myself an amateur composer. I have invested a bunch of money into new studio equipment AND sent my very first track off to a professional audio engineer. Meaning, I will have my very first MASTERED track from Hollywood (really that's where he lives)! I will be sure to share it once I get it back. In the meantime, I am waiting, and waiting and waiting...It's the first time for me to actually include another in my creative process. SO...

Instead of having hundreds of tracks to try and push...I am going to have just one for now. (Mastering a track isn't exactly "cheap") and you better believe that I have FULL intentions on registering this mastered track and submitting it to as many music supervisors as I can find. <- something I am learning in my mentorship program, if you are looking for a quick read you can find my little blog about my experience so far here 60 Days with Aaron Davison

Take care all and thanks for reading my forum post! Be sure to start from page one.

Please check my music!!!

Stop spamming.

Dear malkermusic,

Nice tunes. You got some real talent my friend. It would be better if you started your own forum post about your own music. I think you would have a better chance at having actual buyers listening to them. As this post is all about why you should be registering your music with a PRO, which I notice you haven't.

The reason you want to register you songs is quite simple. You will receive royalties if your song is broadcast nationally. Royalty-Free...does not mean "royalty free" It's the type of lease pond5 is selling. (there are a bunch of different types of leases) It has nothing to do with you not receiving royalties on the higher level. Now granted, you have to get your song broadcasted. Which is what I am all about.

I signed up to Aaron Davison's (He gets his music placed on TV all the time) 60 day mentorship program. I have 18 days to go. I decided to keep a blog of my progress which you can read here...Sixty Days with Aaron Davison.

The reason it is so important to sign up with a PRO and REGISTER is MONEY...and lots of it. If you are new to this forum post, do yourself a favor and go to page one 1 and start from there. You have to register each song with a PRO, and then when you fill out that COMPOSER and PUBLISHER and PRO part in your song edit...you will be added to the Cue Sheet. If you are not on these Cue Sheets...your making a big mistake. (By the way, putting your name in these spots means NOTHING if you do not register your songs)

Of course this is completely up to you. No one is going to do this for any of you. NO one did it for me, I stumbled on this myself when going over some terms and conditions on a different stock media marketplace. I turned my non-PRO butt right around and started my whole process over.

It was hard to cough up the 70 bucks to ASCAP to even look at my application. But with loads of luck they accepted me with open arms and I feels real good. BMI is free to join if you are looking to save a few bucks. There are others...for your respective countries as well. This is important. It's the BUSINESS side to music business.

You all have great music, and it's a shame to watch you lease your tracks for dirt cheap and then walk away from the rest of this business. Did you know, IF your music is used, (you'd never know) in a television show or film...THEY KEEP YOUR MONEY! Think I am lying? I'm not...They keep all the dough...you know why?

Broadcast companies pay royalties...no matter what...there is no such thing as "royalty free" for the broadcast companies. They PAY annual fees to the performer rights organization (PROs) They pay no matter what, for every SECOND they broadcast music.

Now, if you read that right. You will be taking today off from making music and do some actual business. Get your butt over to a PRO and sign up. First step after making that song is to register it.

And listen, I have heard it all...You'll gain more exposure and might have more sales as a non-PRO...lies. All lies. Do you know how many tracks you will have to lease to even make a profit as a non-PRO? Have you consider the math? Personally I want to make at least (this would be poverty level) 60K a year...from my music business. So I would have to lease...120k worth of non-PRO music each year. (Remember you are paying pond5 50% of your leasing fees) ... so 120,000 dollars divided by what? 20 bucks a track? Let's see...

Pretty easy...that's 6000 sales a year. GOOD LUCK!

Personally, I am going for just ONE - ONE SALE. To the right person, with the ability to get my one track on TV. That's where the money is and that is where 60k a year...turns into more like 250k a year.

I could go on and on here...but. I have things to do today. As I just got my ONE track back from my audio engineer and I just added it to pond5 yesterday (April 30th, 2013) so..I have a few more moments to wait. Before I can share it with you all.

ON A SIDE NOTE:

One of you e-mailed me asking if you have to register each music bed and special FX of your songs. I asked my mentor and he said, you can just use the same song title for each track. So let's say you broke your song down into parts. You only have to register the ONE main song, and then use the same title over and over for cue sheets.

Does that make sense? No? Ok. I have a song, I break it down into parts...and register the song as "SONG TITLE HERE"...when you add your tracks all over you add it like this "SONG TITLE HERE (horns)" or "SONG TITLE HERE (60 sec advert). When you register your song they ask you for alternate titles...You can have as many as you want...making more sense? Good.

Please feel free to contact me here with any questions. I will pass them along to my mentor if I don't know the answer myself.


Sincerely,



Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

P.S. Soundprodukt, Thanks for monitoring my post. I really appreciate it!

I read your blog lifted, and I am glad you are going down the road your going. I wish you much success! Thanks again for posting all this because it is complete fact and has changed the way I think about music licensing. By only relying on synch licenses I was throwing out a huge amount of potential income. Thanks again for letting me know all this, I really appreciate it! Thanks again and I wish you luck.

Dear MuscoSound,

You are so welcome my friend. I noticed that you are helping others out too and talking about licenses and how to go about this "music business" the correct way. I am excited to see where this is all heading and I hope my last blog post is something along the lines of "Landed my first placement on TV!"

I started this whole post because I was tired of people mentioning that pond5 and others are ripping us off...I had no idea it would lead me down this path. I am so happy to know that I helped at least one person!

How is BMI? I really enjoy ASCAP. I follow them on twitter and they tease me a bunch and we have a great time. Just learned about "New Music Tuesday's" Who knew? (Apparently I am the only one who didn't)

If you want you can follow me on twitter at @NathanLSteinke to keep in touch, (that goes for all of you). I generally make a fool of myself and tweet to pond5 about nothing. It's fun.

Really, all of our goals should be getting placement on TV or Film. Using pond5 as a springboard to find those music supervisors is a grand idea and it's exactly what I am doing now. But you NEED to register those songs!

Long live pond5!!!

Well I am off to find something productive to do. Thanks again MuscoSound and congrats on all those sales!


Sincerely,




Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com

Thanks, I am really glad I am able to help some of the other musicians out there, and buyers as well. It is kind of a new industry in a way and everyone is trying to figure it all out. I listened to your mastered track, and it sounds great. I am sure you'll get it placed eventually on television.

BMI is great. It was a really fast sign up process, and it's really easy to register the tracks. It feels great knowing that if I get a big placement it will pay off. I think any musician should really stop and think about that. If you heard your music used in a national broadcast, and it gets played over and over and over. Would you really be ok with licensing it for $20-40, or would you feel kind of like you missed out. Now I am secure and happy with my pricing because I know it's a great value for the person that purchases it from Pond5, and I am able to collect performance royalties from the broadcast companies (not the person who licensed the music) on the back end. I really have you to thank for opening my eyes to that.

Pond5 is a great place to get noticed by TV and Film pros. The video authors here are doing a lot of great work, and are attracting a lot of television, film, and video professionals. Us musicians are only a very small piece of the puzzle here, but I think that's great opportunity for all of us. I can't wait to see how your new remastered tracks do for you, and I really hope your hard work pays off.

Thanks again!

Michael Musco
Musco Sound

Dear MuscoSound,

It does feel good to lend a hand...I like knowing that many many people have read this and are either going THANK YOU...or they already know and are going...YOU DIDN'T KNOW THIS? As for me - I stumbled right into this "music business" without any formal training and thankfully 6 years later I am here!

I am glad BMI is working out for you! I thought it would be hard as hell to get my tracks registered with the ASCAP but it is SO easy! I think it's easier that uploading them to the media marketplace myself...no description to write...no keywords. Unless BMI is different.

I am seeing pond5 on alomst every TV show I watch now...I am seriously impressed!

Turns out I forgot Aaron Davison is also a music publisher. Meaning he knows a bunch of music supervisors and I just asked him to pitch my newest track! Well he asked everyone he knows...but I am hoping I have a little pull here...as I already beat out 100's for the mentorship.

We will see! My newest "professionally mastered" music track can be found here..."Psychedelic Flashback" (MuscoSound, thank you for the compliment! I think this is going to work...everything up to this point has gone smooth and without much of a problem.

The point of this forum post is to show you all that A. Registering your music is STEP ONE...seriously, because when you goto step B. Placing your music on TV or Film you will receive royalties EACH TIME it's broadcasted...Now I don't know about you but to me...that changes everything.

I will let you know what Aaron thinks of my track and update my post here! Thank you for the good luck wishes and all the good vibes - I wake up each morning (well in the afternoon) and think of all of you sending me and my wife lots of love!


Within a few more days I will update you all to my progress...If I can do this...so can all of you!


Sincerely,


Nathan Luis Steinke
Owner/Composer/Publisher
www.liftedCREATION.com