Independent Music Retailing With Tryxo
The modern era music entrepreneur will most certainly have a great deal to contend with as they attempt to monetize their business efforts in the age of web 2.0. There are more resources available via online platforms than any other time in the history of the music business, and knowing where to invest your time and resources is becoming as essential as knowing how to get the right sound out of the board. The ability to connect with potential fans, consumers and business contacts from various countries via the net combined with the breaks that usually favor the efficient, and the courage to stand firmly behind your product will, undoubtedly, be considered the new “a,b,c’s” of success in the music biz.

PMP Worldwide took the opportunity to talk to Natalie Vandersluis, the CEO of Tryxo Entertainment L.L.C.(USA) and Tryxo Entertainment GmbH (Germany) that intends to bring the worldwide music landscape into reach for those entrepreneurs savvy enough to navigate the online wilderness in the “age of independence” through its online music store http://www.tryxo.com.

What is the story behind Tryxo?

We have worked in the entertainment industry for several years, doing events in Germany and the USA, working with independent record labels and doing business management for independent artists. Since we started working in this industry, it has been our intention to bridge the gap between continents for independent music. When we worked with artists from the U.S., we were confident that many of them would sell really well in Europe and Asia and vice versa. Yet we felt there wasn’t a single established webstore which would provide independent artists everything that we envisioned. So we decided to create Tryxo.

What are some of the ways that tryxo.com will benefit independent music companies, bands and individual artists?

The major benefit is that we pay the artists 75% per song sold from the first song on. It is our philosophy that it costs money, takes time and inspiration as well as talent to make music. The independent artists should have an outlet to sell their work. We will continuously strive to find ways for the artists to earn more money while we improve the site features and services.

We will start with Tryxo standard functionalities like current click and sales statistics per song. The sales statistics allow the artists to see how much money they have earned or to use it for contract negotiations. The clicks vs. sales statistics can also give the artists a quality control of their own music and indicate trends.

To ensure a streamlined process of signing up – no matter where the artists are from – and to still guarantee legal protection for the artists works, we have created an online Licensing Contract-signing procedure.

Last but not least, we have international presence from the beginning. Unlike other companies that start in one country or continent we already have presence on two continents and intend to utilize this to the fullest.

Is there a pricing system that tryxo.com mandates or is that left up to the individual user to determine?

Currently the price is fixed at US$0.59 of which the artists will receive 75% per song sold. We considered leaving the pricing up to the artists, but decided that we wanted to start with a very competitive price, that will allow us to still pay out the artists a decent amount per song sold. This also makes it easier for the buyers to understand how much they have to pay for a song – which ensures that there will not be any confusion on that end.

Can you go into how your Quality Control system works in regards to music that will be made available for sale to the public?

One person will check the song to verify that the MP3 has at least 128kb, then 3 people will listen to the song and rate it based on Quality, Ability to sell and Uniqueness and assign 1 point per approved criteria. The song needs to score a minimum 7 points out of the 9 possible to be Pre-Approved and to enable the artist to then sign the non-exclusive Licensing Contract online.

The main focus is to have the best independent artists around the world sell their music on Tryxo and have a top notch roster of artist in the webstore that will drive buyers to return to check out what is the latest at Tryxo.

What genres of music should a user expect to find on tryxo.com?

We accept all kinds of music genres on http://www.tryxo.com – anything from HipHop to Rock, Jazz to Pop or RnB and even Spoken Word. Part of our team works with Urban Artists while others provide knowledge in areas like Rock, Alternative and House.

What are some of the reasons for making tryxo.com exclusive to the independent music industry?

We feel that it is important that there is a worldwide outlet that provides as many services to the independent music industry as possible. There are many great artists signed to Major Labels, but these artists already have online stores, get radio play and tour worldwide. Why not provide the same for the independent music industry?

What are some of the ways tryxo.com plans on attracting potential music buyers?

The main selling points is the very competitive price compared to the major websites and retail outlets. At the same time, the quality of the music is very high. Tryxo will use a cutting edge Marketing Campaign which will launch in the U.S. and Europe

Customer relations will be a focal point. We will continuously improve the customers experience and add new features to Tryxo, so end-users continue to return to check out the latest releases and ultimately to purchase music from these great independent artists.

There are already several independent based online retail destinations. Can you discuss some of the advantages of selling your music on tryxo.com?

First and foremost http://www.tryxo.com is set up as a store. It is easy for the buyers to find their way to the product they are looking for and have a pleasurable shopping experience.

The process of signing up and uploading songs is simple and fast (based on your Internet connection) and we provide a simple online contract signing procedure which allows us to work with artists from all over the world.

We do quality control and although anyone can sign up – for free – not all the songs will be released for sale, so that buyers will not be flooded with a lot of music – quality not quantity is the key. This gives the artists the opportunity to shine.

Once their songs are released artists and bands can always see how many times the songs have sold and how much they are due to receive, so they have full awareness of their financial situation with Tryxo.

And last but not least, we mentioned before that we start with international presence and intend to bridge the gap between the different independent music segments worldwide – with sales.

http://www.pmpworldwide.com

Music is the key to a thousand emotions. We associate music
with the places we have been, the times we have experienced and
the people in our lives. Music is all around us. There is no
denying the effectiveness of music, so why not use it to affect
our own emotions and enhance our personal environment? Relaxing
music, relaxation music, meditation music… call it what you
will. There is no question that it can help us to shape our
environment effectively and can be changed to suit or influence
our mood.

In todays society, wherever there is radio, television, cinema
or the internet, we will be exposed to music. Music is all
around us and is a commodity so important that is used by
virtually every company on the planet to sell us their products
and services. Very often we are completely oblivious to the
sounds drifting out of those in-store speakers or the impact and
drama of an action-movie soundtrack placed in a car advert.
Music is a complex language that can convey any emotion or
conjure a response from any audience. At the same time music is
simple and universally understandable.

We are used to others using music to influence our emotions and
therefore decisions. However, we rarely use music’s benefits to
help ourselves. Relaxing music or relaxation music (also
marketted as meditation music or yoga music) can be used to
relieve stress, unwind after a hard day at work, promote good
sleep or as a focus of concentration during yoga or meditation.
As a composer of music for relaxation, for a long time have
researched the benefits of music for health and wellbeing. Music
is just a part of relaxation, but can be the key to calm and
relax your mind and body. A good habit can be built; find a
quite room, put work worries to one side and allow yourself time
to unwind – dim the lights, light some candles or incense or
whatever you find calming. Close your eyes and focus on the
sound of your breath. Take in the same amount of air and breathe
longer breaths but less often. Relaxing music is a great focus
for an exercise like this or any relaxation technique. Listen to
relaxation music at a volume level that is high enough to mask
any background noise but not so high as to be overbearing. In a
busy workplace or home, headphones are useful.

The music should not be too distracting and should be carefully
composed to be easy to listen to. Music should be upbeat but
also interesting and different enough to capture the imagination
and become a suitable focus for relief. Nature sounds enhance
the experience as this helps you to imagine a place of peace,
calm, tranquility and serenity. It is best to use music written
specifically for relaxation, although you could use any music
that you find particularly relaxing. This technique is most
useful if it can be practiced for a significant amount of time -
more than half an hour. However, it can be effective if used for
no more than just a few minutes at break times.

For many years I have supplied music for and played in bands that
provide music for corporate entertainment. Clients have included Audi,
The Evening Standard, Sainsburys, P.C. World, Safeways, Large corporate
clients at Henley and Ascot, I.T.V. and H.M. Treasury. Because of this
experience I felt it would be relevant in putting down some pointers in
helping clients choose the right kind of music for their particular
corporate entertainment.

Interestingly enough, most corporate hospitality entertainment work
tends to require music as an ingredient to a larger recipe. What I mean
by this is a great deal of corporate events are offering a multi
service package. Typically an organization may be putting on an
evenings entertainment to thank its workforce for a particularly
successful year. They may be offering music, food, comedy, a close up
magician, a casino and a caricaturist. The corporate client organizing
needs to decide what part the music has to play in the days/evenings
entertainment.

Questions he or she needs to ask are:

Is the music specifically for entertainment or is the music for background listening?

Do we need one style of music early on in the proceedings and then a change of style later in the days/ evenings entertainment?

Do you expect the corporate clients to be networking and discussing business or are they just there for a good time?

What overall atmosphere do you want to project with the event?

Is there going to be a change of location for the music as the entertainment event unfolds?

Different styles of music bands lend themselves to different
corporate hospitality situations. Below are a number of typical
corporate hospitality events with music suggestions for suitable music
entertainment.

Corporate entertainment model 1.
Evening reception with dinner and speeches.

In a situation such as this you will typically need music from the
outset as part of the meet and greet of the corporate evening. A
four-piece swing or Latin group is ideal with a larger ensemble for
particularly large gatherings. A professional outfit can pitch the
music at just the right decibel level so your guests can talk and enjoy
the entertainment without it encroaching on conversations. The
musicians would typically be dressed in Lounge Suits or Tuxedos (or the
female equivalent) to mirror what the guests are wearing themselves.
The music portrays an atmosphere of sophistication, which again
hopefully reflects the evenings overall ambience.

It is rare for corporate clients to want to dance especially as
clients there relationship is business not pleasure! In most cases it
is more important that the band is flexible in when it is needed over
the course of the evening i.e. At the top of the night for the
reception, a smaller version of the band (The pianist maybe for the
dinner), stopping for speeches and then after the speeches to play
until other entertainment is put on for the corporate clients. In this
situation give the band a clear idea of how you expect the evening to
go. What to wear, when they will be needed, when they need to get their
instruments in the building and be set up, when breaks will be
required, let them know if it is convenient or not to feed them and
then finally how they can leave when finished so as not to disrupt the
rest of the entertainment.

Corporate entertainment model 2.
Company Party.

Still corporate entertainment, still corporate hospitality but a
totally different set of requirements for the music. Ask yourself these
questions: Are your work force the type of workforce who will want to
dance at some point in the proceedings? If they are, then a
professional band with flexibility is essential. My experience is that
people of all ages will join together to dance to music from the
sixties and seventies. Whatever background music you require earlier in
the day/evening be it Latin, Swing, Rat Pack or Lounge, if you are
hoping to provide entertainment that will get people dancing remember
this fact. Sixties and Seventies. For some inexplicable reason this is
the music that gets people up on their feet.

When choosing your music ask the band if they can cover this part of
the corporate entertainment requirement. Get samples of their music if
need be. There is nothing worse than an ill equipped band struggling
through alien repertoire. However good the band is, if they do not play
the right repertoire, the right style of music then the corporate
entertainment will fall on deaf ears.

Let me at this point provide a caveat. Your workforce work together
They are not always going to be the best of friends however
professional their relationships are at work. Answer truthfully, will
they really want to dance together or is it asking too much? I would
say that in all the years of providing music for this kind of corporate
entertainment / hospitality , as long as the music is right, the
workforce tended to dance 30 or 40% of the time. It could be said that
a workforce who will enjoy each others company in this way is a
reflection on the talent of senior management to create a happy team!

Corporate entertainment model 3.
Company Fun Day.

These come in two types. The type to entertain your own workforce or
the type to entertain prospective clients. Both types of corporate
entertainment require music that is fun. This means that the music must
be perceived as fun and the band must be perceived as fun. In both
cases Jolly Dixieland Jazz or the summer sounds of Latin music are most
suitable.

Ask yourself these questions: does the band need to be mobile?
Meaning do you want the music to move around the site at various points
in the proceedings? If so then the jolly jazz route is most suitable. A
good professional outfit of four or five players can play acoustically
and move around a site as directed.

If the band can be static and close to electrical power then either Jolly Jazz or Latin Music is suitable.

Is the event outdoors or indoors and do you have provision for bad
weather? This is England, never trust to luck, assume the worst! Any
band that needs power cannot play in the rain for health and safety
reasons. At the first hint of inclement weather a band will have to
breakdown their equipment. Build this situation into your corporate
entertainment music decisions.

How do you want the band to dress? It is a fun day after all! In the
past I and my musicians have dressed as Elvis, Cavemen, Circus Clowns,
in fact all manner of characters in the name of corporate entertainment
and corporate hospitality. Good bands will have suitable outfits for
most situations but don`t hesitate in providing something off the wall
for a special event. Most professional players have a strange urge to
jump into such costumes at the earliest possibility! As someone who has
played at a nudist camp and for a toga party, both dressed accordingly,
take my word for it!

To draw this article together let me say this. Choose the right kind
of music for the event. Brief the band accordingly but make sure you
have a professional and flexible outfit, things can change over the
course of the event and you want to make sure the band are both
co-operative and able to fulfill your needs. Don`t hesitate to ask the
band for any special requirements you have. Do it in plenty of time so
they have time to prepare.

The corporate entertainment and hospitality you offer to your guests
reflects directly onto your company. The music and musicians must be
the type who are aware of this. Dont go for second best just to save a
small amount of money. You need a well prepared, well dressed band who
are both polite and charming to your guests. They need to play the
right kind of music for the event in order to help make the day or
evenings corporate entertainment a resounding success!

About the author

Jeff Williams is a London based trombonist and vocalist who has worked
all over the world in most areas of the business. He also runs a
successful, specialist, live music agency using the best of London
musicians, servicing both private and corporate clients playing all
over the country. He would be happy to advise you with your own event
or party and offers bespoke solutions for the perfect occasion.

With the recent rise of groups in the UK such as Arctic Monkeys and Arcade Fire, the internet is proving its worth more and more in the music industry. As traditional formats decline in use, the internet is providing independent musicians with a myriad of possibilities for promoting their music. Indeed, unsigned bands can reach their audiences without needing a record label.

Emerging artists used to spend most of their time down at the post office, licking envelopes, sending off cassettes and making further copies of their cassettes. Looking back, it seemed like the dark ages. Today’s indie music scene sees many bands sat at their computer screens, looking for new ways to promote their music. The emergence of several top bands over the last few months thanks to the Internet is proof that the cream will always rise to the top, and using the net, they have every chance of doing so.

Almost all artists have band pages nowadays. In fact, it seems to be the first step on the way to internet recognition. A band page will commonly feature a news page, a separate page for downloading music for free, a photos page, and a contact page. These band pages are, in effect, business cards for musicians. The website receives promotion on various music websites and forums, and the band can create their own image through web branding.

The majority of band pages are very simple. Some carry an internet radio feature on the home page, others allow you to simply download the music in mp3 format, others have lyrics and features on the group, but the intention is always the same: to get people to listen to the group’s music.

However, the limitation to a band page is that unless the band promotes itself through other means, i.e. through forums, internet radio stations, flyers at concerts, etc., the website will receive very few visitors.

Internet radio is becoming more and more popular. Sites like www.bluebeamradio.com function largely thanks to emerging artists who wish to promote their music, creating a partnership that brings a community of musicians together. By allowing groups to register for free and to post their mp3s, these radio stations are becoming an essential stop for new bands and independent musicians wishing to create a buzz about themselves.

The idea is catching on. Many listeners want to listen to one particular genre, and are frustrated at mainstream radio offerings. By finding an internet radio station that fits their needs, they are introduced to new bands. New bands, in return, are being given an audience that has already decided which genre they want to listen to, and internet radio stations like Blue Beam Radio, for example, offer the top-rated bands prizes, such as a concert in New York. The potential to be heard is enormous; it simply requires time in front of the computer!

So while internet radio stations offer streaming music, people will always want to download music for free online. While the music industry is clearly unhappy about free downloads of mp3s or other music formats, listeners will always find ways of sharing their music, it seems. Emerging artists are today taking advantage of that by scouring the internet for sites that offer free music downloads, and literally giving their music away.

The disadvantage to this is that most people will not automatically download online music from a group that they do not know. Almost all sites that offer free music for download operate using a search engine, and users search directly for a group. However, word of mouth on the internet means that when a band is being talked about, people will actually search for that particular band. The best example of this, as mentioned at the top of this article, is the Arctic Monkeys.

Hailing from Sheffield in the UK, the Arctic Monkeys’ success is due entirely to word of mouth on the internet. Their music is pure indie. Raw, punky, and blessed with no shortage of attitude, the buzz around the Arctic Monkeys started on blogs, and started to snowball. They were offering free mp3 downloads via their own website, which was a very basic portal including downloads, photos, future concerts and latest news. Once the buzz started growing into a shout, their music was available on internet radio stations, music download sites, blogs linked to blogs linked to blogs… very soon, they became the first band to reach number 1 in the UK through internet downloads!

What started off as a music curiosity became a music event. The band were soon appearing on national television, and even on the news, as their album sold more copies on its first day of release than the first releases of Oasis or The Beatles.

What happened in Sheffield can happen anywhere in the world. The internet has brought bands and listeners together at an international level – the rap artist at his home in Seattle can reach the rap fan at his home in Singapore, the independent musician in New York can reach the indie fan in York… but it is also interesting how communities are forming at a local level.

The internet is providing emerging artists with opportunities to create a buzz around their latest concerts, generating an audience that would previously have taken a great deal of legwork to gather. Through mailing lists, online flyers, blog and forum entries, a music event can be publicised many ways. The more innovative a group becomes, the more chance it has of reaching its public.

Local music forums have popped up all around the world. Indie bands will always look for a solid local fan base, and it is thanks to the internet forum that they have found this. Using their forum post signature to promote their website, these bands post flyers, concert information and more, and even share information about how to find concerts, where to buy equipment, and recording techniques. When looking for a local community of listeners, indie bands can easily find local communities of bands who are doing the same thing. While seemingly these bands rarely get the chance to meet each other unless they are playing a gig together, the internet gives them the opportunity to discuss and promote 24 hours a day.

In truth, the internet is simply offering an extension to the old “local scene” that existed before it. Indie music has grown over the last few years largely because of the adaptability of independent musicians to the internet, and because of their community spirit. While prior to the internet, a local music scene would have been limited to a handful of bands, today it is much easier for a group to break onto the local music scene, as long as they have a strong website, a strong image, and of course, good music.

And in the end, the essential truths of the music industry will always bear out. If you don’t have the music, you won’t make the grade. Listeners are canny people, and they will always filter out the good bands from the average bands, regardless of how good the website is, or how persistent the promotion is. However, as indie music flourishes, so do the best bands, and if they are on the right internet radio stations, if they can create the right buzz around themselves, and if they can reach their audience, emerging artists today have every chance not just of increasing their audiences, but of getting a contract with a record label.

Music has been a part of existence since time immemorial. And, it is everywhere -in the rhythms of nature, the chatter of animals and birds, the babbling of babies, and in the dancing of brooks. Listen and you will hear sweet tunes all weaving a magic of their own.

It is well known that the origins of music go back at least 50,000 years. Music seems to be ingrained in our genetics and tunes are rhythms that are integral to our lives.

Music seems to play many roles in our lives:

• Research indicates the children who learn music are more likely to become doctors, engineers, and computer professionals. Music learning develops areas of the brain responsible for language as well as reasoning. Music is known to sharpen memory. A Rockefeller Foundation study reveals that those who studied music have SAT scores of 427.

• If a child in the womb of its mother listens to music it is born with highly developed intelligence.

• Music molds people—it teaches coordination, teamwork, discipline, and self-expression.

• The therapeutic values of music are well documented. It heals people with mental problems, developmental and learning disabilities, Alzheimer’s disease, brain trauma, and hypertension. That music heals has been recorded in the works of Aristotle and Plato and in the centuries that followed.

• That plants respond to music is reality not a myth. Plants are known to thrive with music and also move towards the sound.

• Children who grow up in a music filled environment are happy, fulfilled, and joyous.

• Music takes the devout closer to god and in religion congregational singing has always worked. Singing hymns lifts any heaviness from the mind and frees the soul.

• When music is played in hospital waiting rooms and so on it ebbs tensions and calms the mind.

• Music has meditative properties and can be used for healing, exercising, and training modules.

• When music plays, people function better. Many find that they enjoy work or activities like cooking and cleaning when music is playing. It erases tensions and lifts weights off the shoulder. Music actually introduces lightness into the body.

• Music reflects the culture of a society and strengthens bonds. It creates a camaraderie and oneness as seen in football matches, military training, and festivals.

• Romance and love would not have so many hues but for music. Music and song have captured feelings, passions, agony, distress, and more succinctly. Through song many a romance have been immortalized. Mating calls and songs are universal in nature.

• Scientists are using music to map behaviors and unravel the many mysteries of the human mind and consciousness.

• Music settles down anger and resentment quickly and also helps us overcome feelings of sorrow and loss. It lifts the mind and spirit out of despair and gives hope. From centuries ago a mother has always sung lullabies to her fussing child lulling it to sleep with softly whispered songs.

• Music has other uses it can raise levels of excitement and cause frenzy. It is used to call armies to war by the beating of drums, to instigate raw emotions during revolts, and to drum up frenzy at football matches and rock shows.

Did you know that while classical music soothes and opens up channels in the mind, rock music can set pulses racing, and chants can send you into a trance. Music used differently has varied effects on human beings. Music can be a panacea or hell depends on how it is used.

If you are music lover then its sure that you too shall be interested to know about the upcoming future music trend. Music since years has been crucial in making you free of your daily stress and provides you with fun and enjoyment. In the recent times pop music culture has overtaken other forms of music but in future it might happen that any other music hits the charts.

Even if you are an upcoming music recording artist you should be aware of the trends in the future of the music industry. For all this internet shall be a great resource where you can find all kinds of downloadable music. This has paved the way for consumers to get more music but at the same time affected the quality of music by providing various music sharing files which in turn lead to piracy of music. This is indeed a great threat to the future music industry.

Upcoming music releases also show that there is advancement in the kind of quality of the music by use of different musical and electronic instruments and at the same time new innovations in the rhythm and music tunes. As more volume of albums are releasing in the market now consumers have a wider variety to choose from. Now consumer is not restricted to a specific kind of music, be it jazz, pop, rock or classical.

The future of the music business is indeed good but the piracy of music is sure a matter of concern which can cut down the costs of music production and bring down the revenue of the music business. Music business shall grow aggressively if music laws implemented are followed and there is no piracy or illegal acts performed.

Unlimited music downloads exist? Yes they do provided if you know exactly where to find them. Downloading music online has become a big business for music vendors these days. But to download online music can be a tricky deal for the uninitiated. Even if you are a veteran MP3 junkie and have downloaded tons of music online, there are probably still tips and tricks, truths and myths that would reveal more little-known but beneficial information to you in your pursuit for unlimited music downloads.

What are some of the truths and myths about sites offering unlimited music downloads?

Unlimited Music Downloads Truth 1 – Free is Not Free After All

Have you heard or come across sites that offer you free music downloading? Very soon, you would realize that there really is no such thing as free lunch. Try some of these sites and you would notice that you could be downloading corrupted MP3 files, or worse still, adware, spyware and even computer viruses onto your computer. You end up having to put up with a deluge of annoying pop windows with advertisements and unwelcome banner advertisement.

Your computer slows down to a halt and suffers from poor performance. You try to remove those pestering adware and spyware but find that it is quite impossible to do so using conventional removal methods. The only solution you have is to purchase expensive adware and spyware remover in order to get rid of those pests and restore your computer capabilities. If you are not careful, the harmful malware could totally bring the computer to a total shutdown. The cost of downloading music at some free sites is this: a new computer and expensive anti-virus, anti-adware and spyware. So it is not free after all!

Unlimited Music Downloads Truth 2 – Different Sites, Different Music Genre

You may not be aware but not all download sites offer you all genres of music. Some are specialized in hip hop music, others in classical pieces, jazz or pop. So when you want to download music online, be sure to check out if the site carries your ideal brand of music.

Unlimited Music Downloads Myth 1 – Sound Quality of Music Downloads Are Equal

In case you are thinking that the music files you download are of the same quality, then you cannot be more mistaken than that. Even for the same song title, and exact song sung by the same singer or band group, the difference in the quality of sound and music can be vast. It really depends on whether the file format is in MP3, AVI, OGG, AAC, WMA, ATRAC, DivX, WAV or other versions. Each format has its unique music range.

Unlimited Music Downloads Myth 2 – Lose A Fortune To Download Endless Songs

No, it does not have to cost you a fortune to download hundreds or even thousands of your favorite music and sound tracks. There are several sites that offer lifetime access to huge archives of music files for the price of a few CDs.

Read more about music, how and where to find great sites for almost unlimited music downloads at my blog. This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author’s name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.

If you look all over the internet you will find that many sites offer free sheet music for just about every instrument. When looking for sheet music especially piano sheet music there are many different genres to choose from and this makes finding the music much easier. As the turn of the century arrived piano sheet music became very popular among young adults, many people were playing the piano and parlor music became the new trend to sweep the country, this made sheet music very popular. So much so, that every home had a piano and more often than not at least one member of the family could play it.

Sometimes it is hard to read sheet music, this is not because it is hard in general it just takes practice, the more you practice reading the sheet music the better you will becomes at it. When learning any instrument and you want to learn like a pro you need to learn the sheet music, understand it and process it.

Music directors and other musicians use sheet music for different songs and it covers many different vocal ranges and instruments. It will only teach you how to play songs and compositions by rote. Nonetheless, not everyone is blessed with the ability to play songs by ear. Musicians back then publish their songs in these unbound sheets of paper. Going back to the 19th century most of the songs in the USA became popular by sheet music. In the past not all songs were written down so most of the popular might have been lost.

If you are looking to improve your musical talents a create resource is the internet, you can download free sheet music and this will benefit you in many ways because it allows you to play other pieces of music. Musicians that are struggling musicians find it much easier to find sheet music, most of the time they can download it from the internet for free. Today, sheet music is found on many music sites on the Internet with some giving an option of free downloads.

The Internet has brought forth many resources for musicians, from one-click access to research of songs, pieces and bands, to easy access to catalogues full of thousands of instruments and other products that can be ordered and shipped directly to them with a few simple clicks. As pieces of music get complicated for the person playing it the notation of the music becomes more complicated and the difficulty to the compose the music becomes harder, because of all this you will learn how to write the music as you go along. There are literally thousands, if not millions of musical pieces for violinists to play.

To have a good grasp of the notes for a guitar a good suggestion is that you learn them slowly and with concentration. Most violin music is written in the middle C so when producing notes they are written on the treble clef. When you learn a piece of music with traditional sheet music you are not just learning the notes you are also learning another language.

As you no doubt have heard, the music industry has undergone major changes during the past decade. Nowhere has the progress of technology brought more change than to the recording business.

In the 90s, music was overwhelmingly distributed on CDs. In the 80s, everyone bought cassettes. In the 70s, the venerable LP record was still in wide use. Good memories aside, those forms of music distribution were expensive, both for the record company AND for the consumer.

The average hit LP cost several dollars to produce and sold for $5 to $10. The CD cost just fifty cents to make, but sold for $10 to $15.

Then the Internet hit, and boy did it ever change things. Music could be downloaded in digital form making the massive cost of distribution almost nil. But digital music could also be traded easily. Bootleg sites and systems sprang up and came close to bankrupting the music industry.

Like a cat clawing its way out of a pool, record companies lashed out at anyone and everyone who might have been abusing digital files.

Today, after much deliberation by courts, governments, lawyers, and even concerned citizens, an air of calm and order has taken over the online music industry.

These days you can legally download your favorite music for as little as nine cents per song. Why so cheap? Artists and record companies realize there is massive access to huge audiences online. They also know that online digital distribution is dirt cheap — almost free. When they offer you music for just nine cents, they are still amassing reasonable profits.

Here are some things to keep in mind when purchasing music — and attempting to save money in the process:

1. Licensing makes downloaded music completely legal. At first the music industry fought downloading, but later realized the trend was far too big to be stopped. Today the industry negotiates licensing deals so that sites may offer a wide range of music to their customers while doing so legally and paying fair royalty fees to record companies and artists.

2. Not all countries are equal in the online music world. Many national governments have negotiated their own licensing contracts with the record industry. Buy music from a site based in Los Angeles and you can expect to pay significantly more. Buy from a site based in Russia, where much lower licensing rates are available, and you’ll get those nine cent songs I mentioned earlier.

3. Take care to read the “legal” page of a music download site. Not only will that page explain why the site is legal and legitimate, it can help instill confidence that you are on a reputable site. You won’t have to worry about malware and viruses being downloaded along with music files, as has often been the problem on lesser organized peer to peer systems.

4. Cheaper music means more opportunity to explore wider avenues of style and artistic range. Now that you can afford a LOT of music, branch out to check out types of music and artists you might not have heard otherwise. Your music experience will be richer and you’ll help support progress in music.

5. Make sure the download site you join has access to a wide variety of the styles of music you enjoy. Some carry the top hits from many countries.

Music downloading is one of the hottest and most rewarding activities to come along in decades. Now, thanks to legal download sites, you can enjoy your favorite music at unprecedentedly LOW prices.

If you want to use music for your website, in multimedia or traditional media productions you need to know about music licensing. Website designers, video makers, TV show producers and all other creative artists are constantly looking for music in their productions.

It’s important to understand what copyright means, how it applies to music, and how you can obtain the rights to use music for your production. Terms such as “royalty-free music” and “synchronization licensing” get tossed around loosely, and this adds to the confusion. Hopefully this mini-tutorial will shed some light on this.

A Tale Of Two Copyrights: Composition And Master

Copyright is intellectual property. If you own the copyright to something, it means, quite simply, that you have the right to decide who can make a copy. Copyright is the right to copy. Obviously it’s more complex than that but we’ll keep it basic for now.

In terms of music, the key thing to understand is that each recording of music actually includes two distinct copyrights:

1. The copyright in the song itself, or the musical composition, or simply the Composition. This means the rights in the words and music of a song, and is often referred to as the ‘Publishing’ rights. Think of an old-school songwriter sitting at a piano, writing music and lyrics to a song. That song exists before it is recorded. Often musicians (especially in electronic music and hip hop) have a hard time grasping this distinction because they write music while they are producing it – sitting at their computer. Copyright is formed when you write a song, by virtue of the fact that it is new and original and takes a graphic form, such as writing down the lyrics or doing a demo. The copyright in this Composition is owned by whoever wrote it.

2. The copyright in a sound recording, also known as the Master. The Master is a Recording of a Composition. The copyright to the Master is owned by whoever produced it. Often this is a record company. To illustrate this, think of a famous song such as “Georgia on my Mind”. Each record company that produces a version of that song owns their own recording (the Master), but the fundamental rights to the composition remain with the original composer, who owns the Composition – the copyright of the song itself.

Synchronization And Master Use Licenses

Normally, since there are two copyrights involved, two licenses need to be issued to make use of a recorded song:

1. Synchronization License: gives you the right to ‘synchronize’ the Composition with images or voice-over in your production.

2. Master Use License: this is exactly the same rights as the synchronization license, except it applies to the Master, the actual recorded interpretation of the musical composition.

Since the composer usually owns the Composition and the record company owns the Master, two different negotiations often have to take place, with two different contracts, for a song to be used in a Production. This can lead to complicated and time-consuming negotiations.

If a single company owns or controls the rights to both the Master and the Composition, this is called a One-Stop-Shop. This means that the company can sign both the Synchronization license and the Master Use license, which is less complicated and more attractive from the point of view of a website designer, an audio-visual show producer – or anyone who needs production music.

Most royalty free music libraries are such One-Stop-Shops since they control both the Master and the Compositions of the music on their website. Purchasing royalty free music means that once you have paid the one-time fee, you can use that music as many times as you want for as long as you want without ever having to pay additional money to the licensor.

It does not matter if one visitor or 100,000 visitors come to your website; or if the music is used for 3 months or 3 years – the purchase fee is exactly the same. If a piece of royalty-free music is purchased for use on a TV show, there is only the one-time fee, it doesn’t matter if the show is presented 5 times or 1,000 times. The TV show producer will never have to pay any additional fee for the music. This saves time and considerable expense.

Royalty free music does not mean however that anyone gives up their copyrights or their rights to administer a song. For instance, if you purchase a music license for a film project which goes on TV, the composer can still collect public performance royalties for the TV performance since these are paid by the broadcaster,and not by you the producer. The music may be offered on a royalty free basis but is not copyright free. The music composer and the publisher remain the copyright owners.

We hope this short article helps you understand the basics of music licensing.