LilOrange

No, you do get paid, yes, but you are required to give up on your copyright, meaning you don´t get any further percentages from the sales and they also take the credit for the songwriting. So, they claim to have written the song although they didn´t. This is what bothers me the most, not so much the money thing.

Hey, guys! I wanted to ask you what is your stance on ghostwriting? I work as a freelance songwriter and I get a lof of requests to ghostwrite (i.e. give up on my copyright). I really don´t like it and find it unfair and unethical. I don´t understand why would someone want to have all the credit and profit for themselfs if someone else has helped them with it. If I´m working on a song with someone else, it is completely normal to me to name them and give them a percentage they deserve. But, I am suprised how widely spread that is. It seems like it is completely normal to hire a ghostwriter or ghostproducer. It seriously started to make me feel angry, because it seems like you get hired less if you are not willing to do that. Which I find absurd. I mean, all those self-proclaimed "artists" who hire ghostwriters to write for them should really just find something else to do where they are good at, and not do what they do. It´s unfair. Rant over, lol. What do you guys think about this?

Hello, I don´t know if this question has already been asked, but what is the best way to perform as a (independent) solo artist? I make pop/electronic music. I´ve been promoting my songs online, but I heard the best way to promote it is to play live. I don´t have a band though. I do play piano, but I think playing this kind of music on a piano would be boring. Should I find a band to perform with? Or maybe perform with a DJ (producer)? What is the best way to perform as a solo artist? Also, how do I go about contacting the venues? Somehow I feel like they won´t take me seriously since I don´t have a label nor a band. I do have a website though, that I think looks good and professional... Thanks Greetings!

Well, we were supposed to play pop music and then go in direction of pop/rock and pop/jazz. Some of the songs are dance songs remade to be played by a live band, so some of them have literally 3 chords that repeat themselfs. I don´t think it´s a big philosophy. I wrote the titel of the song and, for example, those 3 chords that are played over and over again. But he wants it to be written like Intro, Verse1, Chorus, Verse2, Outro.....and how many times like :|| etc. He said, he can´t tell by my writing how much times he needs to play and he needs to listen to the song to know. Well, of course one should listen to the song. But, the thing is, i find it pointless cause it´s always the same! I was rewriting it a couple of times as he said, but he was never satisfied. Anyway, I did what he wanted AGAIN (I guess) and send it to him, but he didn´t reply. Oh, well....guess i should look for other artists

Hey, guys! How important is getting along good with your band members? How important is having the same type of approach to work? I recently decided to form a band to be able to perform my songs live, but also do some covers. One of the band members has a really strict approach to work. Everything has to be written down correctly and throughly, whereas I prefer to lay down the basics and then develope things as we rehears. It kind of annoys me and I don´t know if I should go on with his requests or just find other people. What do you think? I live in a smaller city, so finding people isn´t that easy. He is pretty experienced...What is your experience on this subject? Greets!

Hey guys! So, I have finished making 3 songs that I would like to send to a label. I wonder, what should the quality be? I think I improved the quality of my songs quite a bit, since I started recording them, but still I´m not sure if it´s good enough. Maybe if someone is interested I could send them privately the tracks to listen to and tell me if the quality is good enough or not. I used FL Studio. Another question I have is, how willing are labels to sign someone who still hasn´t published any song or performed (as a solo artist)? I heard that one should perform first, but then I also heard that the labels don´t want to publish a song that has already been independently published and performed, so I´m a bit confused and not sure what to do. Thanks everyone, Cheers!

Hey, thanks, John! It helped what you said! But also, a friend told me I´m supposed to by headphones with a plug in (adapter) for the interface (he said it would help reduce the noise), but when I plug the headphones in the interface I don´t hear anything, but I hear for example drums from the laptop mic when I´m trying to record the keys......

Oh, right, I forgot to mention....I use Alesis iO2 express audio interface. Cheers!

Hey, guys! I recently bought a new mic - Nady Studio Condenser. This one http://www.musiciansfriend.com/condenser-microphones/nady-scm-960-studio-condenser-microphone Anyway, I recorded some vocals and send them to a producer and he tells me that the sound is bad and I should rerecord it. Supposedly there is too much noise. Also, I usually record it in Reaper, but today I was trying out a new software - Magix and the vocals sound really horrible when I use that mic, it sounds WAY better when I use the laptop mic, which is ironic. Please help! What am I doing wrong? Is that mic good?

Hey guys! I was considering writing a letter to a company to sponsor a project that I started, what do you think, are companies usually willing to do that? Cheers!

Thanks everyone for the reply! So, I started to work with one producer, but the thing is, I feel like he changes my songs too much so they almost sound like remixes lol, and also he always makes just a half of the song not the whole song, I don´t know why. Anyway, he told me I should open a youtube account and upload my music there, but I don´t want to upload just half of a song. Do you think it would be a good thing to also upload raw unproduced songs? And yeah, any tips for finding a good producer?

Hello, can anyone explain to me how does the process of producing and everything go? So, for example, I record my song and send it to a producer who makes a demo, then what? Send it to a potential singer or a label? Do they than reproduce it? I´m not sure how does that go. Also, if I work with one producer, can I work with others too? Or how does that go? Thanks in advance!

Hello! So I recently stumbeled upon this site. It claims it offers copyright for free. Is that possible? http://www.copyrighted.com/

Is Soundcloud a good way?

i wonder what has more effect on the popularity of a song or an artists...is it the song? Do people really like the song or the artist so much that they make them popular or is it the marketing and people just like what has been advertised the most and played on the radio/TV?