I have about twelve panels left to draw for Lost Kisses #8. I need to still finish writing #9 & #10 & lay them out. I’m starting to be concerned from things I’ve heard that the state might not mail me the money for the DVD project in a timely manner.
I’m fairly well caught up on my emails & have heard a little follow up back & it’s bizarre to me that places are just now covering discs that are six months old. I mean, I guess the Silber stuff is far enough underground that it can be reviewed at any time & the late reviews might remind some folks, but wow does that sound late.
Started working on the pre-mixing of the small life form versus slicnaton stuff. I really need to dump stuff off of my hard drive so that my computer doesn’t have such a hard time working on it.
I received the first mix of the final song I’ve been waiting for on Vlor. I’m still thinking about changing some things on it because it has male & female vocals & the male voice is really punky & the female voice border towards ethereal & I’m not sure if some eq-ing could get them to mesh together a bit more.
Below are the answers to a little survey I was sent about cover songs. I know it’s clearly fishing for work by a company that does clearance work.
1. Do you record covers of famous songs?
Mainly for themed compilations or so re-worked that they’re legally considered derivative works.
2. What percentage of your recorded music are covers?
Maybe 2%
3. What percentage of your music played in live gigs are covers?
Probably 10%, one per show.
4. Do you use samples in your music?
Only of myself.
5. What percentage of your recorded music contain samples?
75%, I’m a looper.
6. What percentage of your music played live (gigs) contain recorded samples?
95%, once again, original loops/samples.
7. Are doing covers interesting to you and/or fit with the band’s goals?
Yeah, I want to give people a good time & my covers are so ridiculous that they seem witty.
8. Do you think that doing covers appropriate to your band’s style/vibe is a way to reach new music costumers – (e.g., digital downloads)?
Probably, but it’s more fun to do inappropriate ones.
9. Do you think there’s money to be made (say, on iTunes) by doing covers?
Definitely.
10. Do you think that selling your covers on iTunes would hurt or help develop your fan base?
As long as it’s good quality, it can only help. Poor quality hurts everyone.
11. Do you know that there are licensing requirements to recording covers (and selling them)?
Yes there are. But I don’t release them commercially myself so I don’t have to deal with it.
12. Do you know about how much a mechanical license costs?
I think about $50 per song per thousand CDs.
13. Do you know how to go about getting mechanical licenses for song covers?
Go to Harry Fox.
14. Do you know how to go about getting licenses for samples?
That is much more complicated as you need to contact people that own the master rights to the recordings as well as publishers & songwriters. Part of why I don’t do it unless it’s a recording that’s passed into the public domain.
15. If you did a cover, what would you be willing to pay to have all the mechanical rights simple licenses handled?
I guess maybe $20 for going through the Harry Fox thing so I didn’t have to.
16. Have you ever submitted your music to CD Baby, Tuncore, iTunes, Tarnius, CafePress, etc. without clearing samples and/or getting a mechanical license for covers?
Nope.
17. For your original songs, have you registered them with a performing rights society?
Always.
18. For your original songs, have you created a publishing company with a performing rights society?
Of course, that’s why I’m a member.
19. Do you think you fan base is interested in you doing covers appropriate to your band’s ID?
I think they’re more interested in the inappropriate ones. It’s more creative.
20. Take five (5) of your all-time favorite famous songs. If you presented them to your fan base for their opinion on which one they’d like to hear you cover, would that be of interest to you?
Not really.
21. If not (to the question above), why?
I think I’d rather the covers be a surprise. They’re mainly for the live show anyway.