Everything’s gone green - The world of mistrust music

image: Big chill night view by Neil Cocker (copyright 2005) (link to Neil Cocker’s Flickr page)

I tried it once. That was all it took to put me off it forever. Everyone else was doing it, so why should I miss out? That was what I thought at the time. The whole world except me was joining in and I was the only one not doing it. I finally plucked up the courage to have ago……

I’m talking about “Pimping” my Myspace. The art of changing your profile page to make it look funky, smart, catchy, and anything else you can think of.  Back to my first time…..

…….Well, that was painless, wasn’t it? Let someone else take control and do everything for me. Never again! Not ever! Never will I do that again. What a horrible experience. It looked like something my three year old would do in Photoshop or the like. I copied the code from one of the many thousands of so-called “Myspace editors”, looked at my profile page, and then tried to decipher where my bio had gone, how people could add me, and why all my friends had vanished! Had I done it wrong, I thought. Well, the code hadn’t changed, so it must be like that. Don’t forget that nice floating advert, that pointed everyone in the direction of possible smiley/trojan hell.

I must say, I’ve yet to come across a Myspace profile that has been tastefully decorated or that’s not a navigation nightmare. Instead of “Add to friends”, it’s always “Be my fwend” or something just as wacky. Backgrounds that don’t scroll and are repeated across the page are worse - you end up not being able to see what people have taken ages to write.  I’m sure I know a few things about webpage design - I may not have made the most interesting websites - and most people know when something looks right,  so why are people allowed to to have a free rein over of pimping their space? Myspace should start introducing some guidelines about what you can and can’t do. Don’t forget, too, that Myspacers who have loads of images, videos, banners, and all the other clutter, are just slowing down the page load time. We all know that a lot of users give up afer a few seconds if a page doesn’t load for ages.

I’m quite sure it’s a lot of fun pimping your myspace. It’s not for me, though. I hate it. I’ll never do it again.

If you’re a Myspace pimper and disagree with what I’ve written, leave a comment and show me your myspace page. Maybe I’ll change my mind, but in the meantime, I’ll stick with a plain, boring, profile.

Thanks to Neil Cocker from the Big Chill Forum for use of  photo.

Someone on the Big Chill forum that I occasionally visit wanted some advice about getting his music marketed through a music library and wondered if he had to sign up with MCPS and pay £100 for the privelege. As you may have read on here, I’ve recently signed a non-exclusive agreement with a major UK library, and haven’t had to register with MCPS, so something doesn’t add up if this chap has been told otherwise.

As far as I’m aware, the agreement I signed sorts out pre-clearance for my tracks that the library is offering to film, tv, companies etc. In other words, if a few tv production companies hear of one my tracks on the music library’s website and want to use it, there’s no need to wait ages for them to send me an individual agreement for each programme, for me to check them, sign them and send them back, etc, before anyone can use them.

From what I understand, the music library registers my track with MCPS (they get listed as the publisher), the production company requests a licence from MCPS website giving the catalogue number of my track, and the production company pays MCPS for the licence. MCPS (eventually) sends the licence fee (minus their admin fee) to the music library, which then pays me (minus their take - usually 50%).

If anyone else is looking for advice on signing up with a music licence in the UK, have a look here at the MCPS production music guide, which even shows you the official rate card for different types of production (anything from about £20 to £000s). The music library should be registered with MCPS - if they’re in the UK and not on this list, it’s probably not worth dealing with them.

If anyone from the USA or other countries is reading this and knows something about it in other countries, please let me know.

I’ve sort of mentioned this before, but now I can tell all…..

I’ve signed a non-exclusive deal with a major UK music library, called CandyCover, that supplies music to TV, film, and advert production companies. They’ve worked with big players like Orange, O2, Virgin, and the Ministry of Sound. It’s a massive break for me - never had anything like this happen before. They’ve asked to use 8 of my tracks - not my long, instrumental tunes that have been doing the rounds for a couple of years like Never Alone and For All we’ve done, but my more recent ones that are available at Music Freedom. They’re all fairly short and are wanted for the library’s “Art/Quirky/Cult Drama” section. I’ve signed a contract with them and the tracks are going to be registered with MCPS, the official publishing organisation in the UK, which means I get paid the proper rate if any of my tracks get used.

I know that a lot of musicians get tracks signed to music libraries, and the competition is huge

Listen to this article

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Should this blog be entirely about music? Comments please! I just wanted to put in a quick word about Paul’s blog. Paul Harrison is my stepson, who happens to have PDD-NOS, a condition similar to autism and asperger’s syndrome. He’s very withdrawn and hates having to meet new people, as it makes him anxious and can’t cope. He can’t get into school at the moment as his stress levels go through the roof whenever he thinks of being in class - he’s 14 y.o. and you just try making him go! The whole thing makes him more anxious and less confident. His school agreed to send him work home, which is a start… (more…)

I’m nervous and excited at the same time. So much stuff going on at home to keep me occupied and  frazzled and to keep me awake at night. If you’ve read my stepson’s blog, you’ll know more. Now I’ve got something else on my mind. Some major news - big, big stuff - about my music. Can’t say much at the moment. Am I superstitious or have mildly autistic tendencies and think that if I let the cat out of the bag, it will somehow not happen. If I spell it out, does it count as telling all? Maybe if I say it backwards? Or cross my fingers?

Anyway, here goes. (more…)