benedictrm
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Posts posted by benedictrm
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Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond. I got tied up last couple of days.
[damooch916] - I am very interested in discussing with you about songwriting issues and I will do it in another reply or if there is any other way I can communicate with you.
So I am trying to figure out what I should do.
What do people in the industry do when collaborating? ?
Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.
[benedictrm] wrote:
I already answered that above. So long as you can prove that you were there first and that the other person traded off your work, you are (technically) set. But again, all that is piss in the wind until there is enough money on the table to make https://forum.fiverr.com/t/when-to-copyright-my-music-when-giving-it-to-sellers/625610/7suing worthwhile.
So if I timestamp my work by posting it on the internet then I am technically set.
Also people will most probably not make any money from my stuff so no need to sue.
If they make a lot of money then I can technically sue.
The problem I was worried about is if they make some money then if I have a official copyright then I won’t have to pay the legal fees.
SO practically there is very low probability of this happening so its no use worrying about it.
So what you are suggesting is “Trust the Song, let the Song lead.” (I don’t know how to do quotes).
So you are saying I put the song out there and see what happens.
The issue I have with that is that if the song is good then there is more chance that others will try to do something unethical with the song.
So If I don’t worry and focus on writing a good song and put it out there then unethical people will be more motivated to do something unethical.
if its not a good song I have nothing to worry about.
My problem is that I am planning to write a lot of songs and beats and fiverr is the best place I found for hired work. I am on a tight budget cause I have to do a lot of songs.
So I have to work with people who seem questionable since they are low price gigs.
My other problem is that I don’t want to bulk copyright a bunch of songs and beats. I want to do one or two songs at a time and see how the songs do and how I can improve them.
And then apply all my new knowledge to write another song.
If I do a lot of songs at a time then all the songs might have the same flaws.
We can talk about what unethical things can cause me problems if that helps.
I think I should give a little more background on how I collaborate.
- One way is, I write the song all by myself and in most cases I even sing the song
and then I give to a singer in fiverr to copy my singing, basically do a cover
- I will obviously have an informal copywright by timestamping it
- I am worried the singer will give the song to someone else in the industry who
I don’t know how will misuse my song. There are many ways they can misuse by song, that can be a long discussion to have here.
- I write the Beat for a hip-hop song and give it to a rapper to write the lyric
and rap for the song.
- in this case the rapper has 50% of the copyright
- one worry is the rapper will claim the beat as his own
- he may give it to someone else in the industry who I don’t know how will misuse the beat
Thanks [benedictrm] for all the very helpful advice.
If you can add something based on my new discussion, that will be helpful.
I have one of those images too, right next to my inquiry form to remind people that if they want the moon but intend to invest a used peanut for it, things probably won’t go as per their pipe dreams.
I think that you are not taking in what is really being said here @sohanalam183
Letting the Song lead is about doing what the song needs to get where it needs to go. The reality here is that “Ice Ice Baby” probably really did need to lean on the Queen song to get there. It is a super track really and I can’t imagine it without that borrowed hook.
The only real fault here was that they didn’t clear it first. Or maybe in the wash, if Ice’s peeps had asked Queen’s peeps it would have been an automatic no which would have killed that song and all the joy it brought to so many. Not that I endorse the stealing but ultimately the song did what it needed to do and everyone got paid.
Forget all this obsessing about what might (but probably won’t) happen and let the songs do what they need to do. Get on and get this song out. Then turn around and do it again with the next. The most powerful thing in developing a career is publishing and doing it again. Whilst all your energy is in this distracting fear you will deliver nothing.
If budget is tight - and who doesn’t have a tight budget* - you find ways to move with what you have. Many acts have a first recording or three that are rough as guts. Without them, the act would not have become the shiny version you know. These rough records let the act learn their craft as well as start to build a fanbase of people who are there for the songs (instead of only for sound effects).
Again, it is songs and the passion in their delivery that matters. Getting that down costs you very little financially.
🙂
*I get so tired of people who try to make me their slave because they think they are the only person with a tight budget. When people tell me that money issues are unique to them it tells me that they a danger to work with as they have no thought for anything but themselves. they will never follow the song where it needs to go and will abuse everyone when it all falls in a heap. And it will seeing they see nothing but uber-stardom as a success and their “career” will look like this over and over seeing their ladder to success has no rungs:
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- One way is, I write the song all by myself and in most cases I even sing the song
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Yes this is a grave concern with Fiverr (and probably most other places these days). Everyone goes on about not upsetting anyone whilst upsetting people - only those people are considered irrelevant. Yay Cancel Culture.
What I can say is that your first mistake was not sending this piece of 💩 on their way the moment they started whining about a discount. Begging for sympathy based on some heath or family tragedy is a huge Red Flag. Scambot 101 stuff.
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Thanks for all the responses.
In my original post I already mentioned point # 2 [benedictrm] made.
Once you publish in soundcloud it is already copyrighted.
But the problem with that is that if you sue someone then you have to pay the legal fees.
If you get real copyright then then you will be reimbursed for you legal fees.
Considering this you will never practically sue anybody unless you have a real copyright.
That was my original question, do I send it after it is published or after it is fully copyrighted.
[benedictrm] 's point #1 – I have nothing worth protecting, that is debateable.
Obviously there are probably a million songs in soundcloud and none of them made it big.
But people in the industry who screen songs are being sued a lot and so people in the industry has stopped screening unsolicited songs. So I guess there are unsolicited songs written by beginners or not established people that are worth stealing.
Now back to my original Post. All of the sellers I am talking to are in the US so if I do have a full copyright then it might be possible for me to sue them. But I don’t even know who they are and they can leave fiverr anytime.
So I guess suing is really impractical.
Also a lot of the sellers I am trying to work with have very low pricing so I am curious how come their price is so low.
The other point made by [benedictrm] I am aware of — it might be advantageous for me if they make money from my product cause I can sue them later.
So the main question is, Is my song worth stealing? I guess I am having this discussion cause I think it is worth stealing.
I guess there is nothing I can do about this problem and do what [benedictrm] said and “focus on finding people who are trustworthy”.
But the problem is that I plan to use fiverr a lot and I don’t have a big budget and I am going to have to work with Sellers who have low price Gigs.
So I am trying to figure out what I should do.
What do people in the industry do when collaborating? ?
Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.
So I am trying to figure out what I should do.
What do people in the industry do when collaborating? ?
Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.
I already answered that above. So long as you can prove that you were there first and that the other person traded off your work, you are (technically) set. But again, all that is piss in the wind until there is enough money on the table to make suing worthwhile. Until then you can use YouTube etc to remove offending things that you can reasonably show to have been taken from your without permission.
- You work with someone, they take your hook, use it in their song and publish it on YouTube. You contact YT showing how you wrote that part, worked with this person giving them opportunity, and now they have your part in their track under their name. Most likely their video either gets blocked totally or any monies they make come in part or full to you. Normally you get to decide that. (Eagles allow virtually no use of their songs at all).
- You hire a Mix Engineer who shows the finished work in their Portfolio. Unless already formally agreed otherwise, chasing this would be extremely bad manners and YT will probably uphold their right to have the video so long as the song is identified as yours and their Credit proves they have a right to display this work (a legal right under law).
Again, talk to people you seek to work with. Slippery people are always slippery, they can’t help but be grand. Real Professionals are nothing like Sharkskin Suited Slimeballs in films. We tend to be to-the-point, blunt even. We want to contribute to a Great Work of Art and build a Relationship. No more, no less.
Also, again, all this worrying is not doing you any good at all. It will only lead you to make poor choices as your fear leads rather than getting the song where it needs to go. Trust the Song, let the Song lead.
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Honestly, as a Musician and Mix Engineer for 30+ years, i think you are worrying far too much and obsessing over details that probably don’t have much relevance for you right now.
Most of those detail things are administered between your Publishing Company (Record Label) and the administration organizations (ASCAP). You don’t get into it because either:
- you have nothing in particular worth protecting, yes I mean that. If you aren’t yet Metallica, you have nothing worth protecting, because in great part you have nothing worth stealing. That is no reflection on your music simply that with no money in the game there is nothing of any particular value.
- you haven’t realized that your work has copyright the moment you put it into form and particularly when you publish it. Technically there is no more to it. You put your tune on YouTube and Katy Perry comes along and clones it, you were there first. See point #1
As Ms 7413 said, those who have a habit of stealing care not for the laws of good men, they will do what they do. If you fall under Point #1 you have nowhere to go as you can only really sue someone once there is money in the game.
However, if hypothetically I were the writer of a song called oh I don’t know, “Under Pressure” and some cove called Vanilla Ice came along and made a #1 Smash Hit from my song I would feel blessed as not only does this prove that I have got summit’ but I get to talk about how I am the real fella behind Mr Ice’s happenin’ hit. That should see people nosing around. Also seeing Mr Ice has raked in massive mounds of pounds I can hire me some peeps to be talking to his peeps about how half of those proceeds are really mine. Before the court case ever really starts I will probably have a check in my bank and my name on all the credits to ensure what I am owed comes along in the future.
You have to give trust to get trust. I won’t work with people who show they don’t want to trust me. It will become a nightmare fur us both.
So for now, don’t fret what is essentially irrelevant and focus on finding people who are trustworthy. You can spot people who are born slippy as once a leopard, always spotty. This means that their proposals are probably full of signs that they are loose with the truth. Exaggerated claims, too cool for school 'tood, stupidly low pricing…
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Honestly they both scream tacky to me.
I know people do it all over the place but it is poor form to use the logos of another business to promote yours. It suggests that you are official or endorsed by them as that is the only time you are legally allowed to use a logo in this fashion.
Make sure it is neat as these aren’t which suggests that if I got a website from you alignments would be all over the place. Not a great plan.
Personally I prefer the orange one as at least it is bold and cheery, but none of this is the right way of going about finding high quality clients. Maybe I assume wrongly and you don’t want that in which case go nasty, go big.
Instead show your actual work. Show something unique not cover art.
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No actually is not it compulsory to maintain a 4.7 rating for 60 days for maintaining level 1? I have got no rating in about 58 days and that is what makes me think that it will affect my Level. Please guide me if I am wrong.
Fiverr is different from some other places and Coarse Ogre is actually right - if not flippant as his habit these days Grrr
Once you have attained a Level, so long as you do not do anything to make your stats dip below the thresholds you don’t lose the level badge.
So if you don’t get any reviews or any reviews that take you below 4.7 there is no drama.
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What makes you think a client not giving you a Review/Star Rating affects your account Level?
I have a sneaky feeling there may be more to this story than you have typed. You mention what could be a sign you got desperate and did some thing - maybe took on a client you should not have??
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I am already shearing my gig on social media but don’t improve.
Well it is not surprising as Shearing means to cut the wool or hair from an animal. If everyone is busy cutting their pet’s hair, they are not working on making Gigs that customers would actually be interested in.
Accuracy is important.
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I am already shearing my gig on social media but don’t improve.
Well i tis not surprising as Shearing means to cut the wool or hair from an animal. If everyone is busy butting their pet’s hair, they are not working on making Gigs that customers would actually be interested in.
Accuracy is important.
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Just give me a solution how to get my gigs back , they fell from 1k impressions a day to 18 impression within 2 days. Should i talk to the customer support? This can be a bug , as i got a bad review on one of my gigs others had 5 stars reviews , why they disappeared
This is exactly what I am trying to lead you to. Some things cannot be solved head-on.
If you change how you see a thing, your options change.
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But my buyer did not do justice with me or the work i did. I looked up for my gig till the 20th page and its no where. This is why i am getting panicked.
I being panicked helping you in any way?
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Yes i am doing my best , I don’t know why he gave 3 and ruined my profile. But still lets hope for the best. 🙂
Thank you for taking out time to respond.
Best not to see it as “ruined my profile” as ruined is a final, fatal word.
Your profile took a hit, that is for sure. We all take a hit now and then.
Our job in business is to work out how to rise from it. How is it that this happened? Did you let the wrong one in? Could you make Red Flags easier to spot with better a) Requirements Form, b) courage and willingness to bring out the word “No” (as expressed through the sniper rifle, machine gun, flamethrower - or perhaps more conducive to longevity on the platform the Block button)?
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2021 Ferris remake
Wait!
We mustn’t throw such violent thoughts into space. It’s relativity. It’s mutant manifestation. Sometimes, a wish is the chime heard on the wind. Depending on the listener - that wish may come true. Depending on the wind, it can be brutal.
Do you realize what sort of disorganized, fragmentia could emerge by remaking Ferris Bueller?
Ferris Bueller is the guardian to the cosmic portal. A teenage movie about delinquency with a moral center and grade - A humanity? That’s not a movie. That’s a miracle produced by the universe, sent here to protect us from ourselves. An audio/video ancient scroll, translated into 80’s lingo, complete with a modernized monastic chant:
(Bow Bow chick … chick-a-chick ahhhhh)
Ferris is a modern translation of Fergus. Fergus in Irish culture can be traced to Fearghuis (or Feargus) a giant appearing with mortals as a protector. Some believe him to be a spirit - or God- protecting the realm for those that share his story. His forms have included a lengthy run as protector and king of Ulster. Sworn to always protect - until he was replaced. Needless to say … they weren’t so protected after that.
(There’s also a lot of “Lengthy” information on the size of his … let’s call it “Manhood.” Like, an uncomfortable amount of info. Like… who was asking to this extent?)
By now, I’m sure you’ve made the connection. In its current form, “Ferris Bueller’s Day off” is our protector of this realm. Remaking it would act as a symbolic “replacement” ceremony, causing the realm to be totally susceptible to all sorts of badness.
I ask you, “in the name of O’ Fearghuis, where does it stop?
We, the small and pitiful of this fleshly tribe, have already tempted the fates by remaking Psycho.
(Pause Scene: Seriously, does anybody remember that? The time that Gus Van Zant lost his ever loving mind, got drunk while watching “Swingers” and thought, “This loud kid would make an amazing Norman Bates?” Was that a fever dream?)
It’s a commonly known fact that ideological and mythological deities loath the remake. We’re bending the spatial and temporal dimensions by eroding the ecosystem of preservation currently provided to us by such diverse and complex beings.
Rumor has it, upon seeing the live action remake of “Dumbo,” Perun, Slavic God of Sky, returned to the Pantheon and denounced Polytheism. Denounced it! Reason cited?
“There’s no amount of deities that can undo this dumpster pile. I’m out.”
Great! So let’s hope the sky doesn’t need tending to.
Pangu, the Chinese horned beast that came into existence from the same egg that birthed the universe watched thirty minutes of the “Carrie” remake and immediately posed the primordial existential question. He posed it directly to the Jade Emperor! The actual inventor of “something.” Who was all like, “because I said so.”
Do you see the consequences of these actions? Remakes aren’t just bad movies, they’re a declaration of a divinity lost. It’s humans run amuck.
Our muck runneth over.
Please, please never suggest, even in the most hypothetical and passive sense, that “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” could ever be remade.
But, if it pleases the God’s, I’d definitely listen to a sequel pitch.
I’m with him ^
Maybe not as mentally magnificently but I agree that Ferris is not one that should be remade. The Footloose remake worked. The Valley Girl remake barely did (actually it was p poor) but the girls thought it was ok. It sure wasn’t no Pretty In Pink.
Ferris is too unique to remake and have any way to equal, let alone add to it. Esp seeing whoever remade it would not be able to help but try to make it modern and that would send it the way of Post Break (that movie that probably single-handedly caused Patrick Swayze to die).
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I was raised by workaholic and I enjoy working.
Like if I had to pick between working and relaxing with friends and family I will always pick working.
I do not drink coffee or alcohol, never did, nor need for that.
I have skills in multiple areas and I also teach them which keeps my skills fresh.
Imagine teaching lectures and how to make PPT or video or similar every day for 15 years and also be surrounded with talented people that give you new ideas on how to approach your design and also zero talented people and because I am teacher I can not just say “you stup__ you quit” but I have to find what they are good at and by searching also expanding my knowledge.
I can improve your PPT or create something on the point much faster than most because I have seen people fails everyday.
You know when people come here and say “I have 5-10-15 years of experience”.
That is only you, working alone or with your team. Your 15 years.
As instructor I make thousands of designs and I see thousands of design and I know which one worked and which one did not. Times 12-20 times 6 every day (20 students in 6 classes).
So my mind works differently from classic “freelancer”.
When I see problem I do not only work on solution. I am also thinking about how can I teach this so it doesn’t happen again and put it in the next course lectures.
My biggest problem in progress is that my mind is working faster than I can deliver.
And I can’t stop it.
Your question is too broad for me.
Give me a specific example and I will tell you my process.
@marinapomorac ASD?
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somemorecharacterstoletmepost
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Thanks for the @
Hmm. I am like you and really want to feel a connection to the project (and by that, person, team, company, world they inhabit). This is increasingly difficult when people think talking is wrong, creepy, or that my asking Q makes me some sort of Principal Frye, and therefore worthy of ignoring or insulting.
If I can get through that briar patch with something resembling common decency and a sense of what the greater (and specific) Story is, I move to assessing the materials sent. If they pass muster I open the project.
I will have already had morning coffee and my loins are as girded as I can get them with intestinal bluffing that this is worth doing. In good projects, this process is easy as the above has gone swimmingly and I can already hear the beauty hiding in the raw work.
Rather than trying to be immediately creative, I lay my field of battle by arranging the material. When Mixing that is the Stems in an order that makes sense, which oddly enough is not alphabetical!. This helps me have some idea of what is in here, what may need help, what screams Story.
With songs, I usually start on the Vocals first. Despite the common misunderstanding, Drums are a dime-a-dozen, the singer is the unique bit of it all. The person most clearly carrying the Story. I look for how to bring the unique beauty of this singer even if they sing like Lou Reed - yes today from his pine box.
Vocal parts singing nice enough to call it a single just as it is, I turn to the next most musical - storytelling part. I make that so it sings almost as nice as the vocals and balances to support the singer/s. I work that down to the last part and then go watch TV for the evening. It is most of a day’s work if it is a full track with many Stems.
After TV is done and the Ghost Whisperer has kissed her wonderfully tolerant dish of a hubby, I listen to what I have Mixed, right there in the lounge on a system that wouldn’t know a 1kHz test tone moments after they were formally introduced by The Queen. I see if the track works. What does, what does not translate.
Tomorrow I open it up and make those adjustments. I may re-check in the lounge. Off to Delivery it goes whilst I try to do anything but think of what the customer will say.
This is one I did recently where I got nothing but the vocal and a bassline. I built everything up around those parts (even the video). This is a case of a singer with a powerful Story to tell but no official “merits” past that passion. My job was not to hide his flaws but to push his passion forward. Those who want to snipe will, those who want to engage will. Our job (his and mine) was to get that story told.
I think we did pretty well with that. We had a fellow come to us with thanks as his family lost a daughter to a slavery gang in Eastern Europe for several years (see Taken with Liam Neeson).
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Wow, thanks for sharing. Pretty good voice over there! 🙂
And or course good job from you 🙂
Karen is a powerful vocalist. My challenge (after having to mainline such anguish for 8 hours) was that the music wasn’t equal to the vocal.
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Hi Everyone out there!
I am a singer from Hungary, so my motherlanguage is hungarian of yourse, but I can speak english as well.
I want to make some very nice music for rock, metal or blues songwriters and bands.
Contact me if you want some powerful and unique vocals.
I have 3 different offers in a gig but if you don’t find the perfec for your music, just let me know and we can talk about anything 🙂
I am very glad about this website and blog, I am in to talking and getting new reationships as well because I love meeting new people even if it’s just online.
I can show you some more music I made if you are interested 🙂
Have a nice day and listen to some juicy music!
\m/,
Kate
Welcome Kate
Nice work.
If you ever need someone to mix a track of just vocal stems, I would be interested. i mixed a similar singer recently.
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YAS!
It’s just my starting point to test my skills, so $5 suits my needs fine. I’ve raised some to $10, which is pretty a large amount of money for me.
See it this way. If you found a diamond in the mud in the poorest of African nations and you know that particular size and quality of diamond sells internationally for $10,000, what do you offer it for sale for? Sanity says about $10,000.
Maybe you allow for the costs for some DeBeers guy to drive over to get it from you but that is only a few hundred dollars, not $9,995 in petrol for a sale price of $5.
Putting your $10,000 diamond on the market for $5 because you have not sold diamonds before and want to be seen as a Playa is totally mental. If you want to be seen as a professional in the diamond game, you sell for as close to real market value as possible. Otherwise you say that you are a chump.
Even if your diamonds are a bit brown and have inclusions, you still work out their real value and trade at that or you are simply being a sucker for some kind of nasty numpty and no one decent will work with you.
The reason I choose diamonds is because they are an international trade. They are valued internationally, as in, it matters not where the diamond was found, how, or by whom, it is the quality of the rock itself that determines its value to the market. Music is exactly the same. White people, black people, brown and yellow people can all make equally great music.
- If your music is cracked and broken, $5 may be its true value. Accept that and be that kind of composer - call it Retrowave 😮
- If your music is quality, no matter how unique, price in a way that makes it clear that it is real work.
Sure those nasty numpties will come tell you all their machete mania stories to make you bend to their nasty numpty ways but remember good traders never deal with bad traders as they are too dangerous and unreliable.
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Thanks Frank
Makes a lot of sense.
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You have consider everything to analise something, for example, but reality still…
I am from a third world country, and $5 is kind a good money here.
A new seller have to low your offer, because a buyer will not buy something from a non rating new seller, if the seller has a 5.0 rating at least. Of course, some buyer will buy something from a new seller, i am not generalizing that, but you must have a good reputation after all.
So then, not always a composer is charging $5 because he is does not know the time which takes to compose something and his hard work.
consider everything to analise something
You assume that these things have not already been considered. Maybe you are letting your fear guide you, rather than what will help you long-term. I wrote on this already above.
If you dug up a diamond that is worth $10,000, how much would you sell it for? The sane answer is ~$10,000. Would you sell it for $5 because you have never sold a diamond before? You may end up with that outcome, but only because you let some unscrupulous dealer tell you lies.
@damooch916 has interesting points. I have no issue at all with beginners. I often reach out to help them, as I am here - an attitude rarely returned I will say 😦
If some kid arrives and lands a film layering loops, good on him (her/it - not discussing gender). The moment they claim to be delivering the same (or better) quality as me for the $5 they stupidly charged, I am not impressed. I don’t claim to be Zimmer. Matter of fact I lose work because I decline to do clone work from people who want Zimmer but are unwilling to a) pay, b) be open to what I could really do for them.
It is that narrow-mindedness that I want to see addressed. It is hard to do that with filmmakers, but if musicians (of any stripe) keep perpetuating the mindsets that we have had over the last 20-30 years, it cannot do much more than get worse and the whole business will be nothing but Artgrope, Spotifry and $5 for 10 hours work from people too silly to realize they are shanking themselves.
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oof that’s me lol
Personally, I charge $5 because I’m not a professional by any means - merely a student, and this is for me, a way to challenge myself, learn more, share music, and help others in the process but I don’t want to charge too high because if I’m not sure if I’m not sure how “qualified” I am. I don’t want to oversell. My only edge would be the fact that I’m affordable and that I can get the job done relatively well.
That said, I’m also not very familiar with the average and reasonable price point for people my level selling their services (despite the research I’ve tried to do), so I’m starting small and as I get more familiar and better, I’ll (maybe) raise my price a bit.
I’m currently test-running my value, so to speak, so I start with the smallest price and see how sustainable it is and if other people might think I’m worth more.
That’s my reasoning – I do think that pro sellers also have a place here. People know that they will get what they pay for, so they’ll probably pick higher rated or more expensive sellers if they’re looking for a very professional job done, and they’ll pick cheaper options if they’re budget isn’t as large but they can’t do it themselves.
(Note that I don’t think that just because a service is cheap, the seller is automatically not as good or professional. Perhaps it, like I said earlier, could be them not being able to value themselves properly, or perhaps a cheaper price is their only edge. But I’ve seen good sellers for cheap prices)
You’re right, though - when it comes to our time, we shouldn’t undersell. But I don’t want to “oversell” when it comes to my qualifications as well.
Just the two-cents of Fiverr noob, hopefully you get what I’m saying haha XD
I will say take care.
If you are $5 because you know you are selling garbage, it is easy to think that is between you, your customers, and your God.
But it is also between you and other sellers who are working to be professional and be paid as such. Sellers selling for $5 makes people think it can (and therefore should) be done. Bargain basement sellers affect everyone negatively. Especially when they write Pro on their product like it is a real Ferrari for $5 as buyers then see pro everywhere and can’t tell why the prices are not the same. Hans Zimmer, why is he not $5, the utter, utter, scumbaggery of him for ripping everyone off. I better write and tell him to fix his game. Wrong.
It is also between you and your future. You start out selling at $5 (a stupid price) so how do you transition to $50, $500, $5,000? You really can’t very well. If you start where you should at say $150 then $200 is not a great jump. Sure, maybe do a student collab for $0 but that is still a value exchange. If you value your time so low, how do you ever value it properly - fairly? How will anyone else?
I have not looked at you Gig, I have only responded based on what you wrote. You might be doing great work. You are however pricing destructively for all (incl customers who are encouraged to think all things are the same).
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I will add another
Please Knock me?
What on earth does this mean? I know what you think it means, but the problem is that it does not really mean that at all and only indicates a very poor use of language, especially professional language.
- Knock, to bang on, knock on a door = Please hit me
- Knock, to deride or sledge (ask the cricket fans) = Please say bad things about me
- Knock, to um, er, do “it” 😉 me
Please contact me. Please speak with me. Please ask me questions are all good ways to say what you really want here
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Thanks so much for your message and honesty. It’s both reassuring and disappointing to hear at the same time, if you get my drift!
I can’t afford to work for next to nothing and nor should anyone! Our studio is a financial drain and, like many, we have bills/wages to pay.
We made a decision not to undersell ourselves on here or elsewhere. If that means we don’t get the new work in from these newer places (well, new for us) then I guess that is our hard cheese. I’m beginning to think that may well be the reality on Fiverr!
Are you now receiving decent / fair payment for your gigs (if you don’t mind me asking)?
Thanks for the (sane) response. Sorry I just got a gobfull for not waxing about how amazingly amazing “Rocket Man” (the Elton John hipster travesty flick) was. It was rotten food. I have a right to say that, esp if someone has the right to say how amazing it is. I am adding this here as it is very relevant to the broader topic.
Sadly I have only written one piece of music here at Fiverr and I don’t even want to say for how low a price I had to do it to get the business. It was simple work in many ways but still 1/10th of what it should be for the time invested. So, no I can’t really answer the question properly.
I do get some Mix & Master work but even there (on every platform) pretty well only with some hack n slash of pricing which still tends to come with mutterings of how I’m the most expensive.
In another place I recently mixed a track for my full $150. There was another version of the track being mixed by another person who cost a lot less. My mix was nailed first time and the customer loved it. He also noted that the other guy needed 5 revisions to get to acceptable. That guy has lots of sales even tho his work is not half as good as mine - to justify his “cheapness” - despite all his claims of “pro” status. Customer noted that while he was nervous about the extra spend with me, he did see the difference in the results.
I wish I could just say to you, as yeah, you’ll do fine. As I am not doing fine here (or anywhere to be brutally honest - which is prone to causing me issues despite my passion for what I do). All I can say is draw your lines in the sand and only cross them when there are no Red Flags. Maybe you will find a path here.
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As a fellow composer, I hear you. Sadly most of these freelance places seem more a pit of fools than a temple of commerce.
While in some ways I respect the rights for every seller & buyer to set their terms, there are some real problems here in that a $5 seller who claims to offer music as good a John Williams but delivers something not fitting for Williams’ dead cat’s deader rat to eat - totally unchallenged & unchallengeable - is a problematic thing. As it lowers standards for all.
Some say, if the buyer is happy… Sure, but this is not right. Imagine if is was a cafe serving rotten food, people eat it but it creates failure in them. Would that be ok?
Like you a piece takes a couple of days to create well. That is at least 10 hours of specialist, skilled work to create something that is not just formulaic loops and blarts from a sample pack, but real melodic storytelling.
This stuff about other countries is a strawman argument to disguise poor form. If a person from Utter Flurthervilleland can sell their thing for $500 why would they ever sell it for $5? Not even because they are just starting here. A thing worth $500 is worth $500. Selling it for $5 only shows that it was never worth $500 at all as the $500 buyer passed it over for the 💩 it really is.
Places like Fiverr should let anyone from anywhere sell equally. instead they have allowed us to drag everything and everyone down to level of the worst among us. Not a thing any should be proud of.
I have done stupidly cheap work here and in other places. It has never benefited me in any way.
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When to copyright my music when giving it to Sellers
in Music & Audio
Posted
If you don’t know what sacrifices you would be prepared to make then you are not ready. I guess you haven’t seen any of those Rocumentary films where the wife says to the musician hubby, if you go on tour we are done. And he goes on tour. it may seem brutal on her but if music is what he does, music is what he does. Same with all them Rodeo songs like George Strait “I Can Still Make Cheyenne”. Another song with this message is The Cult “Heart Of Soul”.
You may think it irrelevant I list these songs you probably don’t even want to like. See em this way, they are like little TED Talks from specialists in the field. Not just some 30+ year vet who almost got signed then ended up on Fiverr, but people who made it to the top and stayed there. Learn from your history, the people who went before and worked out how it works and passed that forward to you.
Vanilla Ice probably had no idea that most of his song was “borrowed” or if he did at that time probably didn’t care. He seems a decent chap now but back then he was a total paddle pop. His record label would have made the song and at that time, sampling was still a fairly open playing field with many still believing that this was fine, noble even. Or, they may have known it would get a demand from Queen and figured the song would Hit so fast that it would be worth it for the extra publicity and sense of naughtiness it added to Ice’s public bad-boy persona. There is still plenty of value in the example. Not that stealing is ok, but that it is not always the end. Go ask Flame 😉
Again, again, again, you need to step away from this thought process. This is fear alone talking. If you can write hit songs, even if someone else nicks it, it only proves that you are better than they are and that you can do it again. The thief can never do anything so they are easy to ride over. Willie Nelson used to sell songs for a few bucks. Do you think he regrets that? I doubt it. he has enough of his own hits that he or someone else wrote. The song is what counts.
Besides, and this is the really important thing you are not getting through you, you cannot control what has not happened and might never happen, and if it did, might be the greatest gift from god if it did. Garth Brooks had a hit with a song all about that.
The song is what counts. How you let the song lead you is what counts. KISS learned this under Bob Ezrin as he had them re-purpose a song into “Beth” and their first real Hit. They spring-boarded that even further with Pau’s “I Was Made For Loving You”.
Forget all this fear. Or better, let yourself see and and shrug it off so you and the songs that chose you can do their work.
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