SOTW cd?

[Mope]

Has anyone thought of making up a sample cd of recordings of some of the forum heavyweights to sell to members? It could be a great way to raise money for the forum, expose the newbies and beginners (like me) to who's giving you advice, and it would be a little promotion for you guys with pro recordings. Just an idea.

[Chris S]

Not a bad idea. It would take a lot of time and work, so there'd likely have to be a LOT of interest before any steps were taken.

My logistics concerns:

Royalties
Mastering
Cover Art
Licensing


That's just the initial concerns. It'd take probably.... more than a year to get out.

If there's enough interest, we'll talk.

Chris S

[Merlin]

Not a bad idea. It would take a lot of time and work, so there'd likely have to be a LOT of interest before any steps were taken.

My logistics concerns:

Royalties
Mastering
Cover Art
Licensing

Chris S

Royalties/Licensing - stipulate PD material or original material with the contributors waiving the rights for the CD issue.

Mastering - I'm betting there's someone on the board who can do this or knows someone who can.

Cover art - KCP!

[Bill Mecca]

they would have to be original tunes, that would get around the majority of the licensing issues.

cover art? hmmmm do we know any illustrators/artists? :)

Mastering? I know of at least one member who could probably handle that.

The bigger concern is who decides just who are the "heavyweights"

[Chris S]

they would have to be original tunes, that would get around the majority of the licensing issues.

Touche.

cover art? hmmmm do we know any illustrators/artists? :)

Touche

Mastering? I know of at least one member who could probably handle that.

And touche

The bigger concern is who decides just who are the "heavyweights"

Poll? American Idol style? Quick everyone grab your cell phone and call 1-800-SAX-PROS if you want to vote for.... :)

[tjontheroad]

Great idea, but to throw an iron in the fire... How do we pick who's on the disk and who's not?

Edited... Woops, same thought same time Bill :)

[Bill Mecca]

stop touching me!!! oh, wait nevermind :lol:

[HUTMO]

I know we need to crawl before we can run. BUT I WILL BRAINSTORMIN.

How about a companion CD for playalong? If they are original tunes it would not be too difficult.

I try to visit the sites of our members who have music posted and there are some really fine players among the ranks. Who knows, maybe we have a few lackluster musicians who can compose? I like the idea of some sort of voting poll.

Perhaps instead of a CD they can be uploaded on a site like many of our members do. The BRAINSTORMING never ends!!!

HUTMO

[Fred]

It would actually be less personal than determining the heavyweights - it would also include quality of recording, arrangment, quality of the composition, etc. So the best player out there might not necessarily make the CD if the supporting factors weren't as good as some of the other submissions.

I love the idea.

[Bill Mecca]

yeah brainstorm (ouch!)

once mastered Harri could upload the tracks and art to his cafepress site and have them make the CD's as well, (he already uses it for the T-shirts and hats etc)

[pauld3]

I think its a great idea, Id buy one

[Al Stevens]

they would have to be original tunes, that would get around the majority of the licensing issues.

There are no insurmountable licensing issues. You get a mechanical license from the Harry Fox agency that covers all previously recorded non-original, non-public domain tunes. You pay for it. It isn't all that expensive. They cannot deny you the license.

All participating musicians sign a "work for hire" agreement with whomever produces the CD. That covers that.

[Al Stevens]

To choose heavyweights, here's one way:

1. Everyone who wants to votes for their favorites here on the board. No poll or nominees, just post the names of players you think ought to be included. A member may vote for many players but only once for any given player.
2. Someone counts the votes and selects the dozen players who get the most votes. Obviously, the selected players have to agree to participate.

[Jimmy O]

Great Idea......I would buy 2.....of whatever you think of......Can I be on the, Back again/latebloomer/needs to practice more and get a better drummer, cd?

[Gandalfe]

Actually, getting enough submissions of the quality necessary for a CD might mean we barely have enough songs. So we might not need to vote.

If we did get enough we could provide samples for SOTW members to vote for.

[Merlin]

My only remaining concern is how things are split between styles...

[Bill Mecca]

Maybe we should just solicit tracks and see if its worth proceeding?

If we don't get enough we can bag it, if we get too many, we might have enoughfor more than one CD and can divide by styles? It's really open ended to my mind, if we get submissions, and that might be a bigIF

[Pete]

Because I've done a couple fundrasing type things with SOTW folks, I might have a bit o' insight.

And no, you wouldn't be hearing me on this CD. At least not playing: I am not that good.

ALL of the picture donations I've gotten for my calendars have been from SOTW members and ALL had to be massaged a bit to make them look "OK" for the calendars. With audio, I think you'd have to go a couple steps further:

* $Person would have to send in a really well-recorded non-copyrighted song. A well-written release saying that $Person owns the rights to the song and gives SOTW permission to copy and distribute would be needed. Plus, I suppose, the song would have to be in the "right" format.
* $Another_Person would have to make sure the recording's recorded "professionally" enough. Hey, even if you're a monster player, I really don't want to hear you play "Tequila" as recorded on a 1982 Radio Shack mono cassette player through the built-in condenser mic.
* $Another_Person would have to sort through all the "professionally done" enough recordings and decide which ones to include on a final album -- and what styles. Personally, I'd rather any project not be *just* jazz, but it'd have to be based on what's submitted.
* $Another_Person compiles and finishes the final album and y'all sell it through someone. Interestingly enough, www.lulu.com (http://www.lulu.com/products/digital/music.php?gclid=CP35v8ex_4cCFSLQYAodKW3UFA) DOES do on-demand CD publishing.

(BTB, I know that KCP's really busy 'n' stuff -- you might want to ask her before you volunteer her. I also have some idea how much something like, say, a calendar page would cost, if she charged me her regular rate. I couldn't afford it. Knowing this means that I'm really, really, really, eternally grateful for her past contribution to the 2006 calendar.)

Sounds like that you need to ...

a) Decide on whether or not this should BE a project. If yes, then ...
b) Find someone to do the final compilation (mastering, whatever you call it) AND to take care of the paperwork.
c) Find someone to write a good release form. Preferably someone in the legal profession and conversant with international laws.
d) Decide on a distributor. I've already mentioned one. And they do international shipping.
e) Decide on what to do with the profits, if any.

... before worrying about submissions. My opinion is "if you build it, they will play". There are dozens, if not hundreds, of pro musicians on this 'board and I'm sure a percentage of them have decent recording equipment -- or access to it, at least.

I'd also recommend one CD, to start. I'd buy one -- and you can fit, what, 80 minutes on a CD. If there's good response, maybe do one every year or every month.

Of course, just my opinion only.

[Al Stevens]

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of pro musicians on this 'board and I'm sure a percentage of them have decent recording equipment -- or access to it, at least.
But most don't have access to good quality, royalty-free backing tracks.

Sorry, but BIAB just doesn't get it, and Aebersold playalongs are copyrighted.

Which means recruiting volunteer rhythm section players, which means more releases to be signed, the union to deal with, etc.

Lots of hurdles to overcome. But possible.

[Pete]

But most don't have access to good quality, royalty-free backing tracks.

Sorry, but BIAB just doesn't get it, and Aebersold playalongs are copyrighted.

Which means recruiting volunteer rhythm section players, which means more releases to be signed, the union to deal with, etc.

Lots of hurdles to overcome. But possible.
That's why you can play classical. No worries about copyright. :tongue1:

Going a little further on the list, "There are dozens, if not hundreds, of pro musicians on this 'board and I'm sure a percentage of them have decent recording equipment -- or access to it, at least. And of that, I'm sure there's a percentage of those folks that have some compositions of their own they wanna try out on all of us."

[DukeCity]

That's why you can play classical. No worries about copyright. :tongue1:

There are plenty of issues regarding copyrights and "classical" music. Since most "classical" music written especially for the saxophone has been written in the last 75 years, it is copyrighted. If one is recording a published arrangement of a transcription of an older work (a Bach piece arranged for saxophone and piano), that arrangement may have copyright restrictions.

That being said, securing rights to any of that stuff is fairly easy, although it may cost a few bucks.

[Pete]

There are plenty of issues regarding copyrights and "classical" music. Since most "classical" music written especially for the saxophone has been written in the last 75 years, it is copyrighted. If one is recording a published arrangement of a transcription of an older work (a Bach piece arranged for saxophone and piano), that arrangement may have copyright restrictions.

That being said, securing rights to any of that stuff is fairly easy, although it may cost a few bucks.
I once played a Bach cello suite for a competition on bari and read off the original Bach manuscript. It really isn't THAT difficult :).