Wherein we get an expo center for ROCK CONCERTS!
And wherein, I got the audio mix better.

The producers of the show correctly licensed the music from me, and no one had to pay for the use… but the TV stations have an agreement – they pay a yearly fee, and that gets divided up among the music rights holders and disbursed through APRA.

I asked if they could give the money back to the station. They said ‘no’. So, now I’m trying to get the money to give back to the station that didn’t need to pay it in the first place.

Here is exactly how simple that is:
1) Sign up for APRA*
2) Collect money
3) Send money to TV station

*Signing up for APRA is a problem. It isn’t difficult, but it is a problem. When you sign with a rights collecting agency like this, they get to do things for you. Things that I don’t want done. For example, as a “benefit” they get to demand money for the use of my music. Wherever they think they can legally get the money, I’m sure they try. That is their job.

Lucky for me, I can “opt out” of a variety (possibly all) of their collection efforts.
– public performance
– broadcasting
– streaming
– live performance
– film
– background music
– radio
– tv

In order to keep the CC license, I would need to opt-out of everything… including the things where they are already collecting money!

Now it looks like this:
1) Sign up for APRA
2) Opt out of everything**
3) Collect money
4) Send money to TV station

**Opting out requires 3 months’ prior written notice – to be effected on July 1 or January 1. The July deadline is gone. So I could sign up in September, immediately give the 3 months’ notice, and be all good by January!
From what I can tell, this would give APRA three months’ worth of free reign to go after people for money – which is exactly what I do not want. Also, this process can cost about $200AUD.

So now…
1) Sign up for APRA
2) Pay APRA $200 to…
3) Opt out of everything
4) Hope that APRA doesn’t screw with people in the meanwhile***
5) Collect remaining money
6) Send remaining money to TV station

***We have now run into the territory of “really unacceptable” and “potentially asinine”.

Option, The First
Do nothing. Leave the money with people who collected it on my behalf without my permission. This money will go back into the pool of random money and be given to other composers for no apparent reason.

Option, The Second
Try to actually get the money and give it back to the people who didn’t need to pay it in the first place, while possibly screwing up licensing for everyone else.

I seriously dislike this portion of my world.

Dark Fog

A horror-like suspense-ish soundscape.

Echoes of Time

You can download the original WAV (while supplies last) at soundcloud.

Echoes @ SoundCloud

NEW!

Also available without the melody… just the drone bits.

Echoes of Time

You can download the original WAV (while supplies last) at soundcloud.
Echoes v2 @ SoundCloud

This piece accomplishes two goals; 1) I finally got around to getting out another rock piece. 2) I learned how to spell “Exhilarate” (no ‘e’ anywhere in the middle).

Synth is Monark.
Bass is NI Rickenbacker.
Kit is NI Modern Drummer.

Exhilarate

Here is one of the pieces that I wrote for the background of Back Seat Gaming: Episode 1.

Perspectives!

And here it is on SoundCloud for those of you who like to comment at specific points in time:

This is not music – but it IS Creative Commons: By Attribution art. And it is freaking cool.
Thanks to Dmitry for sending me the link.

Album art? Sure! Book cover? Why not! Stickers? Wallpaper? Anything that needs gussying-up… Cool stuff.
Also, they is high-res. Like 40 megapixels. I didn’t check them all, but they are really good to go for anything up to and including billboards.

Shareheads

Is this a rip-off of Strauss? Absolutely!
Is it as good as Zarathustra? Absolutely not!

I originally wrote this piece for a planetarium in Spain (where Zarathustra is NOT yet in the Public Domain). Enough people from other countries had issues with Strauss – so I figured I would post this.

Fanfare for Space

(background music not yet available for downloads… so – just enjoy the show!)

The Complex – Featuring sounds from the new Aeon virtual instrument from Heavyocity.

Take a Chance 37 seconds

Discovery Hit 15 seconds

Cheers!

The Soundcloud preview:

(WAV format downloads to the first 100 people)

The YouTube video, Note by Note:

And – the incompetech mp3 download link.

Cheers all!

Download it from Soundcloud. For free. and for Free.

—-

So what is this? It is something simple. A piece of music that you can play with two fingers. Any two fingers. (they do need to be on different arms).

This piece is dedicated to the Public Domain*. Please don’t be a jerk and try to sell this piece to people, or stop other people from using this piece by claiming it is your own. It is not yours. It is everyone’s.

This is actually a pretty versatile piece for scoring. Someone quietly thinking? Bam! Lay this in! Serious discussion about interpersonal relationships? Bam! Winner! Someone lose a puppy? I got your score right here!

*SoundCloud does not have a Public Domain licensing option… I chose the closest one there is.

Made with Native Instruments’ “The Giant” upright piano.

Inner Light

This piece came out of a late night discussion with the incomparable Preston aka BigD Gaming*. Well, it was late night for me… in Australia is was… tomorrow, I think.

*”Preston” does not begin with a “d”, big or otherwise…

Cheers, all!