Hi There,
Being a Composer of Library and Production music, you would think that I have everything to hand legally and finger on the pulse of all that’s Music. Err no! Not working close to the Capital, all music composition commissions are largely on the Internet or through it. Production Music Libraries or Library Music portals have gone the way of licensing their music at a meaningless price for the composer-a matter of pence per track-which means that ‘a living’ can no longer be made from music composition, unless you are fortunate enough to have the time and persistence that needs super-human endurance-and as someone has said ‘near genius’. I remember one composer for Film & TV who was famous commenting that there are many of composers around like him and just as good or better, but they were not in the right place at the right time unfortunately!
I have a family to run and the job of being a composer in today’s market demands more time than a family tolerate-end of story-apart from making a living through it.
License terms from libraries such as Q-music, itunes, CSS Music and the like all run business models that favour themselves rather than the composer. Slightly different are companies like mediamusicnow.co.uk whose pricing structure is fairer than most where they charge more than the others per track from £4.95 to £24.95 believing they choose professional services and quality music with fair pricing structures. They also interestingly unlike most give 1000 licenses at the base price for the track, then increment up to several million copies covering most needs-and the composer still gets 50% of the incremental charge-that’s what I call fair! Good tracks deserve appropriate reward.
I believe the Royalty Free companies need to show respect to their composer base more than they do, and show this in fair remuneration! Just because there are a large number of composers, doesn’t mean they should reduce the reward for work done. The pricing structure that exists with Royalty Free Libraries relies on the thought that at least something is being sold and we should be thankful for that!-and we composers have to live with that disastrous philosophy whilst they line their pockets making a good living! As composers we are at the mercy of a pyramidal business model-us at the bottom-that’s the only way it can work.
I believe the only fair way is for enforcement of the Music Licensing system, which balances the requirements of both sides fairly-but we don’t live in a fair world. Generally the pursuit of wealth at the cost of what is ‘fair’ in life is always the way of man. Man will always design systems for wealth at the expense of the man with the weaker hand-competition always has a loser. There are other ways that business’s can be run and models that don’t work on the winner/loser systems. To be brave enough to adopt them, would take something else! The capitalist model seems to be the only ‘functioning’ one here in the West. There are other working models that work elsewhere in the world that I know of, but they demand a different philosophies which are difficult to swallow by the majority.
Therefor we carry on in the same old vein, until perhaps a miracle happens and someone has the guts to make something work that is sensible and fair for all. Until that day, perhaps this little ‘insight’ might stir you?
Hi All,
I am glad to report that the continuing release of my albums continues with ‘Chthonic Netherworld’ on a wider scale. It is released in nearly 260 countries by BelieveDigital.
It contains Electronic Sytnth music created for Film & TV some of which has been released in America and elsewhere. Containing Sci-Fi backgrounds, Synth Leads and and Sc-Fi Pads it takes you to other worlds and through space to Alien Worlds. Your imagination can run riot-the music was partly created for Aliens operating on human beings!-aaaaarrrrrrrggggg-as part of a diploma in writing ‘Music for the Media’.
I take inspiration from many sources from Ian Boddy to Sc-Fi music and Films. The studio equipment used is the latest gear-Kore 2 and it’s many synthesizers to Propellor heads Reason. Hopefully people will get the benefit of the latest sounds taking them to the future!
Hear on www.itunes.com/paulstokes www.believedigital.com/artists/90126,paul-stokes-herbst.html or www.musiczeit.com/directory.php?artist=80&title=Paul+Stokes
Enjoy!
Cheers
Ian Boddy-was an unknown to me 10 years ago until he was introduced to me as a result of a contact at a Music seminar. His biography is shown below for interest:
Ian Boddy – Biography
Ian Boddy has been at the forefront of the UK electronic music scene since 1983 when he both performed at the very first UK Electronica Festival in Milton Keynes and released his first vinyl album The Climb.
In the 4 years preceding this event he had been experimenting at an Arts Council funded studio in Newcastle whilst at University. His early work resulted in 3 cassette only releases on the Mirage label as well as several local concerts. These early tapes showed Boddy gradually forming his own style through a long self teaching process in the techniques of analogue synthesis and tape manipulation.
After the success of 1983 he went on to release another 2 vinyl albums, Spirits and Phoenix, as well as performing several concerts throughout the UK. However it wasn’t until 1989 that his first CD release, Odyssey, came out on the EM label Surreal to Real. After Drive, his second release on the Surreal label Boddy formed his own record label, Something Else Records , through which he released a further 4 solo albums as well as reissuing his 3 early vinyl albums and the cassette only release Jade on CD. Furthermore he released three collaborative CD releases with some of Europe’s finest exponents of EM, namely Andy Pickford, Ron Boots and Mark Shreeve.
He continued to expand his concert appearances which have now surpassed over 100 events with concerts in the UK ( including several more UK Electronica appearances, two shows at the Jodrell Bank Planetarium & two at the National Space Centre), Holland ( five festival appearances ), Germany and three shows in Philadelphia, USA.
Alongside these mainstream EM activities Boddy has also built for himself a formidable reputation as a sound designer having produced a series of sample CD’s & virtual instruments for sampling specialists Time & Space. In late 2008 Boddy set up his own downloadable sample CD company with the Waveforms series of sample packs. Furthermore he is also involved in library music having composed nine such CD’s for the publishing company deWolfe as well as producing some music for a computer games company.
Thus we come up to the present with the formation of his DiN label in 1999. Unlike his private Something Else Records the DiN label was set up to allow Boddy to actively form different collaborations with a wide variety of musicians as well as release other artists music. DiN has achieved widespread critical acclaim for it’s adventurous outlook at the world of EM and has seen 31 releases with Boddy being involved in 16 of these ( five solo and fourteen collaborative projects ).
In 2008 DiN expanded it’s catalogue with a series of download only releases featuring Boddy in concert both as a solo performer and with other DiN artists.
January 2009
by Stokes-Herbst on September 10, 2009
in General
Does Nature flow along with the creative and in harmony with our inward creative energies? I often go for walks in a nearby forest called Pinchintorpe Forest looking for inward inspiration. Over the years I can count on one hand that I have seen deer. On every occasion I have seen one, I had an inner sense-quite clear, that I would see deer. Brilliant! These occasions lead to creativity in me, and I wrote the track-Pinchinthrope Forest-a Piano work from these inner leadings. I would call it God leading me-He’s part of Life, you may call it something else.
It is a Classical piece, piano only with a beautiful melody-give it a listen on itunes….
