Selling Cover Versions And What To Watch Out For

As you all no by now I am pretty Computer Savi and I like to think outside the box...
After recently showing people a simple way to get onto iTunes, GooglePlay, Amazon and Spotify,
I thought It's about time people also learnt another important little trick about Publicity & Marketing

By Performing An IMPROVISED COVER...

 Now i say improvised simply because most good songs and pieces of music have already been covered...    I E: do you really want to try and sell a cover of HURT?,  when clearly Johnny Cash wiped the floor with everyone who's ever sang it?... You'd have to be Epic or just plain old crazy lol

But an Improvised cover (a restyling of the original) so people know what it is, but have never heard it that way.. now that's the way to promote your music (its ALL about SEARCHING and Terminology)
Computers are Thick... they do what their told (and all they show is what people search for)

So if you were to record a cover song, or do your own rendition of a piece of music (something famous) and people find it while searching (searching for the original) then there's a chance they would click "Related" or "Also By This Artist"   to see what ever else you have done...
 (so uploading a few similar style tracks BEFORE HAND would be a wise move)

Obtaining a License to Distribute your version has always been complicated, and involved a label or a manager and many many legal fees and time. A costly and very complicated prospect for many..

BUT now made simple via  LOUDR.

Now i still recommend Distrokid (for your own works, because that covers google, iTunes, amazon and spotify, and more of a percentage of your sales)  BUT with Loudr you can sell Cover Versions via loudr and still get it on iTunes while loudr take care of the legal side for a percentage (iTunes also take a cut, but then your not paying to keep it on their, so its money for nothing in reality) and ber in mind the Original License holder of the (c) will also get a percentage.
But then your not really doing covers for the money, after all its not really yours...

Your Doing It..
To Gain Exposure...
To Get Noticed...
To Get Heard...
To Drive Web Traffic To Your Own Work....

So The Percent You Do Earn From A Cover Is Merely A Bonus...
(not only a form of FREE Advertising, but you also get a little profit back off it to)

Complications?
Its recommended to work alone (on a cover) less of a split with the royalties..
And if you do work with others, work directly and arrange a split before uploading it
(IE,  if you sing over a karaoke backing track that wont be legal)
A cover made using a cover is a license nightmare, because only the original artist can license it, obtaining multiple licenses can be complicated  (i am unsure how this will affect medley based tracks)

Another Interesting Aspect?
Say your in a band & you want to release a song
Loudr can split the royalties between who YOU want..

So How Does It Work?
Well you create a picture (for your track)
You upload the image and the audio file.
You list the original Artist & Original Release Date
You list who is performing on the track "you uploaded"
and then loudr attempt to gain a license from the copywrite holder to sell the track online
iTunes is optional and you would get more royalties only selling via loudr, But you would get much much more exposure having it on iTunes...

One of my most popular covers is a piece of Movie Music I put Lyrics to, i also have some other covers  (ber in mind a cover is that track you keep in a folder such as "can't be sold" or "mine yet not mine"  they are tracks most of us already have sitting their and we've been unable to do anything with them "legally" because their not ours to upload, even though we did them)  but laws change and labels want easy cash.  After all, google already put adverts on videos using music owned by 3rd parties, that alone is an evolution of licensing in the hands of us the artist's. Studios, labels, record companies, they are happy with a percentage, especially when they have done none of the work within the track their making money from   :)

In an industry now being mostly run by musicians you have 2 main options open these days

A) You can pay to have stuff hosted and sold for you (gone once you stop paying)
B) You can have stuff hosted free and sold for you, they take a % per sale (but its on-line indefinitely)

Musicians Have NEVER Had It So Good....
A Chance To Leave Your Music Behind For Future Generations
While Money Builds For You & Down The Line Your Kids....

The % Aspect Is The Only Way To Really Keep Your Music In Stores When Your Gone..

UPDATE:
Distrokid now also offer to deal with cover versions but their is a monthly fee to be paid 12 months in advance. But if your releasing through a specific lable or something then that maybe the way to go.
If you have issues finding the Loudr   JOIN  page try this link.

E.U 14 Day Off-Site Purchase Return Policy To Screw Struggling Artists and Tax Payers

First post of 2015 brings some sad news tbh

E.U 14 Day Off-Site Purchase Return Policy
To Screw Struggling Artists...??
While Law Makers Build Their Personal Collections...
And Screw The Tax Payers & Artists??
ALSO... Enabling Chart Manipulation??


In June apple will be forced by E.U law (covering all E.U countries) to return money to anyone unhappy with an iTunes store purchase, be it app's, music and videos. Giving them 14 days free use of the content. Before this change in law, users could request a refund for content which had failed to download, or failed to work properly, but even those were manually dealt with on a case-by-case review. For any content which had actually downloaded, Apple reserved the right to reject refund applications, And they Still Do outside the EU.

But this new law means that people can essentially download a full album and have 14 days to cancel the purchase (and immorally keep the album) Most reading this will think well that's cool, free music, movies and app's. but what about the Tax?

This will make it a hell of a lot simpler to rip off multimedia in HD quality, with no fear of a knock on your front door (meanwhile governments already struggling will struggle even more) let alone the loss to the struggling artists.

Now before the Pirates out their condemn me.. ber this in mind, I give ALL my music away (buying my stuff is 100% OPTIONAL) I can earn off royalties, the actual sales do not interest me OR define me or my future dreams. but struggling gov's will start struggling more right?
So just how will gov's offset that massive yearly loss?  INFLATION on something else?

Ive seen people talking about DEMO apps that should just expire after 14 days and then unlocked with an in app purchase?  That's clearly just fkn stupid, so you get an app for free (well you haven't bought it.. it's a DEMO.. DUH...)  So you buy this suggested Inapp to unlock it?  Well you have 14 days to get the money back.. That's full circle stupidity right there... And that's besides the fact it ain't rocket science to navigate an iPad or iPhone Sub Directory Structure and maybe crack the thing.. people have been cracking things since MS-DOS Applications.. If it can be closed, it can be re-opened.
But you wont have the full app until you pay? That's irrelevant.. 14 Days on ANY Sale AKA Financial Transaction.

It makes me wonder (as this will be LAW with no ifs or butt's)  But on GooglePlay AKA Android Market. An artist has the option to allow TWO full playbacks of each song. Clearly anyone in the right mind can grab that from a temp folder while its streaming.. But the fact you CAN listen to a whole track TWICE then choose to buy it, then have the option to return it.. that's wrong. You have ample opportunity to figure out if your buying the right song from 30 seconds, let alone 2 complete playbacks. No one benefits from this besides the people changing the laws & the downloaders.
Meanwhile another breadline is stripped away from each countries breadline system (let alone the poor fkrs who spend the time making the object being ripped off)

With the GooglePlay aspect of 2 full playbacks, it also begs the question who researched this new law, why wouldn't google play have a tick box on the artists side that tells them if they offer the Full preview mode then refunds wont be accepted?  It's clearly the song you wanted.. you had the chance to hear it twice?

This isn't just about music, apps and videos, its about the system we live in, the system supported by taxes.

TO me.. Right of cancellation is just a slap in the face of "Creative People" by people who are in a position of power to make and break rules while fkn creative people all over for their own benefit..
Regardless or how the next budget will survive.

REMEMBER.. I couldn't give a fk about sales, i have no Front Man aspirations, i get by.. But many don't, and this will be a massive Incentive KILLER for creative people who don't need that pressure when their trying to be creative. Ide understand if this was a washing machine "THAT DIDN'T WORK"  but then again, if you buy a washing machine "THAT DOES WORK"   and you "Don't Like It"  maybe you should of got off your lazy ass and went and looked at one before hand?.. or maybe read some reviews?

The more stupid your treated.. the more stupid you become...  oo you have some food on your chin. just let me get that for you...

This law is going to crush the coders, the artists, the musos, while making piracy simple
meanwhile the "Tax MAN" is gona be looking for money in all the wrong places AGAIN!!

GIVE PEOPLE FREE STUFF.. THEY DIVE AT IT WITH NO THOUGHT OF THE CHANGES THAT'LL FOLLOW!!  YOUR A SHEEP THINKING THIS IDEA IS WELL COOL.

CHART FIXING??
So lets spend say £10,000 through a scam to get an album into number 1 in the charts, then recoup all that money. I mean that's a fantastic concept to isn't it?
no more will you LOOSE £10,000 to publicity and media fees just to make your make £50,000 in real sales, Hell you can also get that £10,000 back now to (people/jobs no longer needed)
Another case of manipulation of sheep right?

THE IMPLICATIONS ARE PRETTY ENDLESS AND WILL COST "US" MORE IN TAXES ON OTHER THINGS...  THINK ABOUT IT FFS....

PS
THIS IS NOT DOWN TO APPLE.. THIS IS NOT APPLES FAULT...

ALSO THINK ABOUT THIS..
because you can get that 69p app for FREE, 20 million people will pay an extra 2 pence on a loaf, and extra 3 pence on a 4 pint of milk, it'll all creap up around people who don't even use apple.

We all have gov's that have become accustomed to a way of life, that way of life is done by dealing, shaking hands, sliding policy's.. BUT every palm you grease, every back hander you pay.. that POOL gets bigger, them numbers of people ON THE TAKE increase.. until their is nothing left to take.

I realised a while ago why NO ONE in power cares about Longevity, why No One in power cares about tomorrow.. Because as soon as their dead.. the rival is out the woodwork with what they had over them with zero fear of reprisal.. so why give a fk or worry about the future?
They live for the moment, take what they want, change the rules as they go
and this one.. is going to fk society, creativity and respect even more...

YOUR GOV is going to have to re-coup these losses somewhere right?
after all.. they have become Accustomed AND Dependant on those taxes right?
Local county's, boroughs, what ever your local system is that maintains parks and crap like that.. say goodbye to what little we got in our communities...

This is bigger than thinking  "YEAH FREE STUFF WOW YEAH KEWL MAN"
the money has to come from somewhere to keep them in the life they have become accustomed to
sheep sheep sheep...

How To Get YOUR MUSIC Onto iTunes Amazon GooglePlay and Spotify for FREE

Ever wanted to get onto the MAIN music distribution sites for FREE?
EVEN GET 100% OF YOUR SALES?

think its a scam?  check out my Store Page Links
(I PERSONALLY USED THIS METHOD AND IM IN STORES)
AND I AM NOT SELLING THIS TUTORIAL SO PLEASE SHARE A LINK TO IT
on your fb, twitter, myspace... and so on...

So Here's How To Get YOUR MUSIC Onto iTunes Amazon GooglePlay, Spotify and others for FREE for 12 months AND you DON'T have to give ANY credit or debit card details so theirs NO concerns about cancelling and them taking money!!!!

After the First Year it'll cost you  $19.99 a year  (A YEAR)  and your uploads are still UNLIMITED..
YOU CAN NOT TOP THIS AT THE MOMENT EVEN GOING DIRECT TO THE STORES SO READ AND CONSIDER THIS....  look up  cd baby  and   tunecore   if you wish to see what other companies charge.
 
All you do is sign up on DistroKid, this then means you have a record label (no deals, contracts, just a label behind your name) that gets UPC and ISRC capability for free, more on that in a moment.  They will allow you to upload ONE track that will go onto the FOUR TOP stores and others, for free, for ever & you get 100% of the sales (minus what paypal take regarding the transaction)..

Now to get Unlimited Uploads.. Still FREE  you can either Refer (get 5 friends to just register) or pay the $19.99 for that first year.. So 5 mates sign up and you have a whole year of unlimited uploads and 100% sales commission (and distrokid becomes a larger music label because of us)
The initial track will always be out their unless you delete it, weather you pay or not it survives  ;)

Note on websites YOU are listed as the artist, DistroKid is listed as the Label
if you decide to give them $34.99 a year you can set your own company label name & release date, use a barcode you already have and so on. Paying gets you interaction, things that need manually doing, much of its automated if its a fresh album, i just can't fault them..

A downside is you can not individually set prices uploading through distro, but 1 upload goes to lots of stores, handy for low bandwidth (also see what it takes with rivals to get onto itunes & stay on their) then spotify, Amazon and google,. If you would rather have price control (but no 100% commission on google) you can get an artist hub account for a 1 off fee of $25, and then set upload prices, their is info on that google hub and CD creation to order here  what you should do is look around the "Tabs" on my blog, especially the store tab, you can also hit the Albums tab and look at each album "blog post" to see links to the stores (to check out the default pricing) If your on a mobile device make sure your using webview to be able to see this whole blog (use web view link at the bottom of this page)

Now you can delete an album any time you wish, but ber this in mind, for free you also get given a UPC (Universal Product Code / Bar Code)  for the Album or Single and each individual track gets an ISRC code.

Another cool thing is if you go here then search for your UPC, it'll come up not found, but show you an image of it (save that image of the bar code and then you can add it to your cd covers for hard copies)
I choose the second image, the 13 digit EU code (im in the UK)

Remember burning programs such as nero, you can use CD TEXT for track listings and you can add the UPC, you can also right click each track and on properties add the ISRC for each track, helping cd players show album info and download album art  (a professional little touch & easily done, tutorial on that will follow soon)

Remember they ask for NO card details, so you have a year to decide if your going to extend that year,  they will notify you when your are at the end, if you wish to not continue with them they pay any moneys owed & remove all besides that first track, if you decide to RE-UPLOAD you wont get the same UPC, ber that in mind. Web Store stats are 2/3 months behind (iTunes, amazon, spotify and so on) so for 2/3 months your not going to see any stats or information on your account, all's you can do is wait..
main thing is the site has a basic terms and conditions, unlike some of the random comments on the Tunecore music publishing agreement (about rights to perform you work in other languages)  none of that crap is in the distro agreement & you can cancel it any time you want...

for $25 and price control on that GooglePlay idea i noted above, id probably accept the deduction per sale idea and only upload to iTunes, amazon, spotify and the others bar google with distrokid  (kinda gives your Google a way to do promotions, competitions, IE set specific prices for sales or give away's)  ;)

ALSO Check back soon because i will show you how to get COVER VERSIONS of stuff onto iTunes, so you can help plug your OWN MUSIC using covers of other peoples music, the more unusual cover you create the more the fans of that other artist will enjoy your other works   :D

NOTICE:
I don't work for DistroKid and i am a NEW member, that means I TOO WILL HAVE TO WAIT roughly 3 months to see if i have had any sales... (sales in post updated, Distrokid are genuine) :D
NOW.. with that in mind until i get a Pay out i have NO WAY to confirm how genuine this company is OR if they will pay me.. So until that time I am looking at this from ONE VIEW...
Im on Spotify, iTunes, GooglePlay and Amazon UK and USA  (and its cost me nothing to be featured their)  I will be heard, even if im not paid... i have essentially made it to the on-line stores....
and i WILL update this post when i do or don't get paid, you have nothing to loose unless your song goes global and they run off with billions, but for many off us we don't care, we just want our work out their...
and.. well mine is out their.... using the method above, personally.. any pay out is a bonus lmfao

Music On iTunes PC & MAC

Music on iTunes iPhone, iPad, iPod

Music On Amazon

Music On GooglePlay and Look Who's Under Similar Artists

Note: googleplay prices have changed on my albums..
all prices listed in images are subject to change...

UPDATE:
I Have Been Paid By Distro Kid
So I CAN Confirm It Works :D

The Makers of REASON puts their very first app onto iTunes

The Makers of REASON puts their very first app onto iTunes... one wonders if a mobile version of reason will one day appear.. from Propellerhead Software...
We can only hope so... oo and yes yes yes yes by the way.. their first iTunes app...
its FREE TODAY...

https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/figure/id511269223

Remember to expect bugs.. their kinda new at this... besides its FREE at the moment

Also ber in mind this is the company that brought you REASON 5 and the Ability to Use & Make your own Reason Re-Fill files....  So have patience... I think their just testing the waters with this...
Ide love to get Reason 5 on iPad and iPhone...

Selling Your Music Online Advise

So you want to sell your music on-line? and it begs the question..
What's The Best Way To Sell My Own Music On The Internet?

For many people fed up with Reverbnation and its lack of artist support, the only other real viable way was iTunes, and now google play. But as many know, iTunes not only limits it to semi savi people with iTunes or an iDevice with the App Store, but they also charge a fee for adding an album OR a track and then you also have to pay to keep it their. (because you get 100% of sales) but you MUST be selling otherwise why pay to keep them in-store?.

Many opt for reverb because they take a cut of a sale, so its actually costing you nothing to have it online in a store.  Downside?  well you can't touch any profits until it reaches $20 (if you live in the uk, you'll find it takes either 2/3 album sales to reach that payout threshold) a harsh reality that you'd have to sell maybe 4 cd's or 40 singles just to make about £16

I recently signed up with "Google Play"  AKA The All new "Android Market" and i thought ide share my experience of that so far.

The Google Play "Artist Hub" requires a one off $25 set up fee, i gather this is to put people off uploading any old crap (well some of them lmfao) in pounds it worked out about £16 on the fee then £0.46 exchange and a £1.00 NON-STG PURCH Fee.
So your talking roughly £18 to get your self a "Store Page" on Google Play
(once you have this you can upload singles, or albums with no additional fees)
Because they also take a cut like reverb and audio life did (only this is 30% per sale)
(but you start to TIE IN with a Google Wallet account for additional media, and google wallet only take 1% of a sale, so hard copies & T-Shirts could be done easier for merch via google wallet,  kinda like an Amazon but for you not them)

Remember though this is Google, Reverb/Audiolife don't care if your tracks relined and are hissy as hell.  Google have a Piracy AND Quality Policy, but don't let that put you off, NONE of my uploads have been mastered in a Studio NONE..   I work in a spare room, with substandard equipment, i generally just depend on a "Noise Reduction Filter" that i scan my recordings with, it removes most back ground noise. and my tracks are accepted.

The minimum pay out is £1 a month, you can higher that your self if you want
and you also have to remember Google Play can be accessed via a web browser (meaning) like iTunes (for pc) you can access music in Google play with NO NEED for an Android Device.
The payout also goes Directly to a Bank Account Number (not paypal)

With all this in mind Clearly then you could optionally disable MP3 sales from Reverb and just use it for people who want your music on CD's with covers...  but now the interesting part..

You could open a blog on google (like mine your on now) and link to the google play profile for mp3's using your blog as a FREE SITE..  and bypass Reverbnation (removing their $1.00 fee per cd sale) and have your Cd's done directly by Audio Life (because Audiolife and Reverb both take a cut)  The reason ide suggest this is simply because reverb dont deserve the $1.  They have been kicking artists out the charts for months now for simply promoting them selves rather than paying for reverb promotion and ALL THREE of their support forums all do the same thing
PLEASE REFER TO EMAIL TICKET...  and then the topics locked...

So if you wana get your self into another shop window (a shop window you can promote without ended up MISSING from the pages you SHOULD be shown on..) then ide give google play a whirl

Im not saying its the Ultimate site, but neither is reverb or iTunes.. It all depends what your doing.
I am still unemployed and as you no in the UK the benefits system is going mental, so it wasn't easy for me to find the extra money to do this.. but i did because i think its a better chance of sales and exposure.

Sadly INGEUS who are meant to HELP ME have essentially done nothing besides cost the government money on my name for the past 2 years and i have NOTHING to show for it..
NO WERE in Liverpool has helped me TO THIS DATE!!
and Reverbnation are clearly more concerned about PROMOTION FEES
EVEN IF you Click  "Don't Show Me This Again"
Ive even had spam off them, in my reverb inbox off reverb them selves..

Ber in mind i was number 1 composer in the whole world.. and its only TWO days ago i SPENT Anything at all online to get anywhere...  Google Play has been my first outlay of money since i began putting my music out their, so all my blog hits, my time at number one, it all cost nothing, not even a domain name...

So Clearly... i no when to spend, and when not to... Defo Recommend Google Play
If they later change their policys about uploading, i wont be happy, but as it stands TODAY
Its worth the risk if you have £20/$25 laying round  (note theirs a tax form to fill in online to, along with the google play form)  you CAN delete tracks your self to, ive noticed some places don't allow that and it has to be in writing, you can UN-publish any time you want on gplay.

Here's how my page looks so far  Here

I have also opted in my music (so people who pay a monthly fee to access "music in the All Access" system) can listen to it under that contract they have as long as their paying google for it (and for that) 
I get the same kinda kick back concept for each play, as a youtube video does under adsense
So even if your not selling you can be getting a little something back

When you realize if you spent £18/$25 on the likes of Google Play Artists Hub...
you could have the same deal you have no (mp3 wise).. and with Support, AND A Company that people have actually heard of with a reputation a lot less fkd than who ya with.. LMFAO

 Only wish ide done this sooner tbh....

I also Highly recommend  Distrokid.