Sundown Studios: News

Jessamine Youth Soccer Association is hosting it’s first vocal competition the weekend of the Jessamine Jamboree. The winner will receive a prize package worth over $1500. Cost to register is $12 at the event. Save time and Pre-register on-line at
www.jessamineyouthsoccer.com
or fill out the registration to the right and mail it in. Competition will be held in the parking lot in front of Tractor Supply from Fri 10am to 9pm and Sat 11am to 6pm.
Sing by yourself or create a group of three. Money raised will help support JYSA and the new Soccer Complex
JYSA’S MIC CHECK OFFICIAL RULES
1. ALL CONTESTANTS MUST BE AN AMETUER PERFORMER AND NOT CURRENTLY SIGNED WITH ANY TYPE OF AGENCY.
2. EACH CONTESTANT/GROUP WILL CHOOSE A SONG. 1 SONG, 5 MINUTE MAXIMUM. ORGANIZOR’S HAVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE ANY SONG CHOICE FOR ANY REASON. CONTESTANT MAY NOT BRING THEIR OWN MUSIC IN.
3. EACH CONTESTANT WILL BE REQUIRED TO SING IN FRONT OF JUDGES AND AUDIENCE.
4. USE OF PROFANITY IN SONG, OR WHILE ON STAGE, WILL CONSTITUTE IMMEDIATE ELIMINATION AND ESCORTED OFF THE PROPERTY.5. NO DRUGS OR ALCOHOL BEFORE OR DURING PERFORMANCE. THIS IS A FAMILY FUNCTION AND THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOR WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
5. CONTESTANTS MUST BE AVAILABLE 10/4 FROM 7-9PM DURING THE FINALS. CONTESTANTS MUST BE READY TO RECEIVE FINAL PHONE CALL AT 6PM ON 10/4 AND BE ONSITE READY TO PERFORM BY 8PM.
7. NO MORE THAN THREE PEOPLE SINGING AS A GROUP. EACH PERSON MUST PAY SEPERATELY AND IT DOES NOT INCREASE CHANCES OF WINNING.
6. CONTESTANTS WILL NOT REMAIN AFTER PERFORMING AS JUDGES WILL MAKE THEIR FINAL DECISIONS ON 10/4 AT 6PM FOR THE FINAL FOUR NOTIFICATIONS. JUDGES WILL NOT IN INTERACT WITH CONTESTANTS NOR SHALL CONTESTANTS INTERACT WITH THE JUDGES. THIS COULD RESULT IN DISQUALIFICATION.
7. JUDGES AND CHIEF ORGANIZORS WILL HAVE THE ULTIMATE AUTHORITY AND FINAL DECISION CONCERNING THE CHOICE OF WINNER.
8. NO TRANSFER, SALE OR REDEMPTION OF ANY PRIZES WILL BE PERMITTED.
12. OTHER GENERAL RULES :
a. Jessamine Youth Soccer Association, Sundown Studios, or any other participating sponsors and their immediate family members and/or those living in the same household of each are not eligible. Void where prohibited by law. Prizes consist of only those items specifically listed as part of the prize. Prizes are not redeemable for cash value. All federal, state and local taxes are the sole responsibility of winner. All federal, state and local laws apply.

b. Decisions of the judges are final. Mic Check Judges will have the ultimate authority and final decision concerning the choice of winners. Please respect the choices the judges make or you will be asked to leave.

c. Acceptance of prize constitutes permission to Jessamine Youth Soccer Association and other sponsors to use winner's name and/or likeness for the purposes of advertising and trade without further compensation, unless prohibited by law.

d. By accepting prize, winner agrees to hold sponsors, their respective directors, officers, employees and assigns harmless against any and all claims and liability arising out of use of prize. Winner assumes all liability for any injury or damage caused, or claimed to be caused, by participation in this promotion or use of redemption of any prize. By participating in this promotion, entrants agree to be bound by the Official Rules and the decision of the judges. Sponsors are not responsible for any typographical error in the printing of the offer, administration of the sweepstakes or the announcement of prizes. Official rules will be available at the competition as well as online and participating sponsor locations.

JYSA (Jessamine Youth Soccer Association) team up to put on an event called "Mic Check". It is an event much like American Idol, in which contestants will be judged on their vocal talent. The event will take place October 3 and 4. Location still pending. I will keep you updated as we finalize everything.

The Noonans are in to create a stellar Punk Rock album. It is sure to make your mother mad! So stay tuned, stay in touch and be ready to buy the vinyl album. www.myspace.com/thenoonansrock

Sundown has just aquired one of the most beautiful kits known to man. It is a must see. Pics will be up soon. Made with famous Keller Shells and a one of a kind custom laquer finish. To top it all off a new Snare drum was purchased a Caviotto Snare drum and it is signed by Johnny Craviotto himself. The kit is a 6 piece. 8" tom, 10" tom, 12" tom, 16" tom, 22" Kick, 6X14 Snare, 5.5X12 Snare, 12" DW Picollo Tom, 9 ea Zildjian A Custom Cymbals, Remote Hi-Hit, All DW 5000 Hardware and pedals. Sundown is making a name for itself as the premiere drum studio in Central Kentucky.

Here is a song fer ya to choke down. "Girls from the Thirties" We will have more stuff to add in the coming weeks and perhaps a CD for the spring. MMmmmm I can smell the CD now or is that spring?

Bedtime is currently working in the studio. They are a formidable foursome of rag tag creepy, scare your mom music. Keep checking the music page often as I will have them posted soon, very soon. They are original and have a grab you by the ear kind of sound.

Sundown Studios is changing it's format. We are becoming an all out drum recording studio. Our new forte' will be drum recording. So if your band is working on a new CD come to Sundown and record your drum tracks here first. Being a drummer for almost 23 years I know the importance of the all in depth drum knowledge and expererience to the art of drum recording. I have two new drum kits. I am currently remodeling the studio to fit a drummers format for accoustic modeling. I will also be utilizing my drum producing skills in the production format as well. Please check Sundown out if you want a 3D drum recording and not a 2D. Thanks

Sundown Studios is working on a Christmas album for 2007 that will raise money for charity. If you have written song lyrics for a Christmas song please e-mail the lyrics to johnlprice@windstream.net
The prize is helping out for a good cause and great studio musicians putting song structure and music to your piece. You will receive a free cd of course to and recognition on the CD as well. We will only choose one song out of all the submitions. You may only enter one song in the competition. You may not use lyrics of another Christmas song. Must be original!!! Be very creative with it. The disc in general will have 12 original Songs. No MP3 submitions and no directions on how the song should be sung. We just want lyrics only. Deadline for lyrics is October 10th 2007. The earlier the better though. A notification will go out on www.sundownrecording.com to notify the winner. Don't be a scrooge write some lyrics. Thanks Sundown Studios.

Sundown Currently is playing host to a Rush Tribute Band "Unstable Condition" www.myspace.com/unstablecondition. These guys are amazing! A must see and we will soon have a CD for everyone to hear. In the meantime go to the myspace page to hear updated progress recordings and mixes. Realtime!!! Thanks

Sundown Studios is now a one stop shop. We have signed up with Disc Makers and am a proud studio studio partner. This means for the consumer cheaper prices on CD Duplication. We have our own in house CD Graphic department and with alot of knowledge and background. We can duplicate from one professional looking cd to millions. CD's barcoded shrink wrapped and ready for sell. Photography is available as well. You will have free access to sell your music Itunes, CD Baby and various other sites as well. We set you up with free display stands and your very own CD casing to hang up on your wall to display your project proudly. We can do posters, Flyers the sky is no limit. Call and ask for details.

It's official Sundown Studios now has a Publishing Company. Hypnobioscope Publishing. Hip-no-bio-scope means to learn while sleeping. For those of you wondering how could a music publishing company help me? Read this interesting article to understand.


The Role of the
Music Publisher
Copyright 2005 by Keith Holzman,
Keith Holzman Solutions Unlimited.
All rights reserved.



A key adjunct, and potentially considerable asset, of a record label is it's own music publishing company. Not every label establishes one, either through lack of expertise and experience, or insufficient time to deal with it. But failure to establish a publishing division could be a lost opportunity and a very costly mistake.

The Music Publisher's Purpose:
The essential purpose of a music publisher is to administer, exploit, and collect royalties for its copyright properties.

Administration entails the filing of a notice of copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office in Washington, the issuing of licenses, collecting of royalties, and paying writers and co-publishers their share of the proceeds. Exploitation involves getting artists to record your copyrights, and extends to getting them used in films, television, radio and TV commercials, etc.

Creative publishers with song-writing savvy work with their writers and help them improve their craft and ultimately their output.

A music publisher acquires rights to songs from songwriters, lyricists, and composers. Assuming you're a label that wants to start a publishing division, you should try to acquire the publishing rights to material written by your artists when you negotiate their recording contracts.

In some cases an artist may not want to grant total publishing rights, but may agree to a co-publishing deal. The record company, as co-publisher, doesn't acquire as large a piece of the pie, but it's more than it might otherwise be able to obtain, yet still be worthwhile.

There are five different rights that a music publisher controls.

They are...

Public Performance Rights
Performing rights societies such as BMI, ASCAP, or SESAC collect royalties on behalf of music publishers for radio, television, live public performance spaces such as nightclubs, hotels, discos, retail stores, etc. that use music in an effort to enhance their business. If your songwriters are already affiliated with any one of these agencies, then you should do so as well. As a result, many publishers affiliate with two or more societies.

Mechanical Rights
The Copyright Act provides that, once a piece of music has been recorded and publicly distributed, anyone else can record that work provided they pay the current statutory rate. This is called a compulsory license.

Not surprisingly, mechanical rights are the rights to reproduce music via mechanical means, and dates back to the early days of piano rolls and the phonograph. Permission is required to mechanically reproduce a licensed work. Thus a publisher issues licenses to those who request the right to record a work already mechanically reproduced. And the money paid and collected for such licensing is what we call a mechanical royalty.

Many publishers prefer to have someone else issue licenses and keep track that payment is received for such usage. The largest firm that handles such matters is the Harry Fox Agency, Inc. for the U.S. The CMRRA is its Canadian counterpart.

Synchronization Rights
With lots of hard work -- and a bit of luck -- you'll have songs and copyrights that are of interest to film and television producers to use as background or source music in their productions, or for use in commercial advertising. This can be extremely lucrative. As publisher you would negotiate and subsequently issue a "synchronization" license so that the copyright can be used in timed synchronization to a visual. And in the case where, as record label, you also own the recorded performance that's used, you would issue a "master use" license for the work as performed on your recording.

Thus there are two licenses (and two fees) involved, one for the written copyright, and one for the recorded performance. In the case of feature films each license can range from $20,000 well into six figures, so there's a lot of potential income.

Print Rights
Traditionally, music publishers issued sheet music of all of their copyrights. This was a huge undertaking for it required the actual printing of all of its copyrights and then maintaining inventories in varying versions based on instrumentation, etc. Such extensive printing is rare these days, but publishers occasionally still issue printed folios of works by major songwriters who they represent.

Digital Print Rights
Digital music rights have become a millennial addition to the previous four. It's now possible for publishers to make available digital versions of songs and sell them on-line. This can be done as MIDI files, or as digital representations of printed sheet music, such as Adobe Acrobat PDF files.

The advantage of this is that a publisher need not actually print and subsequently maintain in inventory versions of all of its copyrights, but can instead have every single one digitized and be available indefinitely on a computer server. Thus they can be made available and sold on a 24-hour basis, seven days a week! And no warehouses full of dusty print materials!

Foreign Sub-publishing
Not only do you have domestic rights to consider, but you also have to deal with foreign rights. That's where a foreign sub-publisher comes in. Many governments overseas collect mechanical royalties automatically, so you may as well receive your fair share. Therefore it's a good idea to retain a sub-publisher in each territory where your copyrights are utilized.

Terms
The terms of publishing agreements vary considerably, and are too complicated to explain in a brief newsletter. However, it's been common practice that a publisher takes 50% of all income and turns over the remaining 50% to its songwriters.

With the exception of very large publishers who can set almost any kind of deal they want, I think a record label shouldn't be too greedy. Be fair to your writers with a simple, straightforward co-publishing deal where you share the benefits. For example, an artist would not just retain his normal 50% writer's share, but might be willing to grant you half of the publishing share, giving him a total of 75%. Thus you, as co-publisher, would control 25% of the copyrights.

Dealing With All of This
Publishing is a huge responsibility. Therefore small publishers may opt to have a larger publisher handle all of the administrative work -- for a fee, of course. This makes a lot of sense if you don't have the time or experience to cope with the necessary volume of work. And as your catalog of copyrights becomes substantial, you'll find quite a few companies willing to administer them on your behalf.

But once you've decided on an administrator, be sure they do their job, not only to issue licenses and collect funds, but also that they work to properly exploit your copyrights. There's a great deal of ancillary income to be obtained by having other artists record your copyrights and by getting them employed in other media.

Setting up a publishing company, although not terribly difficult, is beyond the scope of this newsletter. Specifics for doing so can be found in some of the books found on the Recommended Reading page on my web site.