For a few months, I have been hearing about the Dr Who adventure game that has been created for Dr Who fans to download for free.

I have read a number of articles about this in MCV, Develop etc. and there seems to be some concern that this free offering from the BBC will be damaging to the games industry. At a time when the games industry is sending more and more development abroad for tax reasons and the supermarkets are squeezing the independent games outlets by offering mainstream titles at such low cost, there is no profit margin. Surely the concept of high-end free games is a worry?

The point that niggles me is that nowadays the term “free” often detracts from the true cost of creating these free things. For instance, the Dr Who game will have taken a large amount of money to develop, just like many other games and many other things of value that are tag’d with the “free” label.

The point that everyone seems to be missing is that the BBC Dr Who game is not really free. In the UK, the BBC is funded by the license payer, like myself, who have to get an annual TV license currently £145.50 per annum.

While I think the BBC is a great service and don’t begrudge paying the license, I think calling the Dr Who game a free game is potentially damaging to other game makers and it is not free as it has been subsidised by the TV license payers.

I strongly suspect that the BBC would not be giving the game away for free if the license payer had not funded its development.

What are your views?

Related articles

• Doc clocks up monster game download stats (go.theregister.com)
• Dr Who – Official Site

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Will the BBC’s Free Game Download Harm the Games Industry?

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For a small company, leasing a phone system for your on hold music and messages can work out prohibitively expensive. Traditionally, this type of on hold service was only available from suppliers that put you in a contract with relatively high monthly payments. Furthermore, you can only use their on hold script and audio as long as you stay in the contract.

Media Music Now’s on hold service makes professional on hold audio accessible to small businesses for a one time payment that includes voice over messages and music on hold. However, a common question we consistently get asked is about the on hold equipment.

What on hold equipment do I need?

If you are a small business with a single incoming line that just wants to place clients on hold, you could opt for a basic setup using an mp3 on-hold player.

These types of on hold players are much more robust than a personal mp3 player and plug into the mains power supply for continuous playback of your on hold audio. In addition to this, the type of office telephone system used is also important, as is the type of phone line.

This is not the type of setup you can buy off-the-shelf at your local office supplies, you will need expert advice in order to get the right on hold system for your requirements.

Although Media Music Now do not supply on hold systems, we are able to refer clients to local suppliers of on hold equipment for further help. They can provide you with expert advice and discuss the options available based on your hardware requirements.

How much will it cost?

This will vary based on your requirements, however, here is an example. Please note, there is no contract with this; this is a one off fee and as with most modern electronics, your on hold system should function for many, many years.

You will most likely need the following items for up to 3 lines…

On Hold Mp3 Player, PABX and telephone handset(s).

Our local contact tells us that this equipment can be purchased from £255 +VAT and takes 10 minutes to setup. The price will vary depending on your requirements and the hardware you already have.

Please contact us for more information and I will put you in touch for a no obligation chat.

In Conclusion…

Although there is an initial cost for the on hold equipment and audio, there are no monthly or annual contracts and you can use the on hold audio and equipment for as long as you like without any further payments. In the long term, this will represent a huge saving on the traditional on hold contract setup.

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Interested in finding out about our on hold audio service?… Find out more and request a quote by visiting our on hold marketing section

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Using a Music On Hold MP3 Player for Your On Hold System

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Interview Q&A: Catherine Cousins, 2QT Publishing

Book publishing with 2QT

Having produced a number of audio books, I have never really had much of an understanding about the process of book publishing or how it works. This indepth blog interview is with Catherine Cousins of 2QT Limited who kindly agreed to answer many of the key questions I had about book publishing.

What is the difference between small/independent book publishers and a major publisher (Publishing House)?

The key difference is, with major publishers (publishing houses) the Publisher takes on all of the costs of the publication – production through to marketing. The author will be paid a royalty on every book sold, and some may receive an up front fee to write the book. As a result the author may find they have less control over their book rights / production – but of course greater potential of sales due to the marketing power that some of the larger publishing houses have.

Smaller publishing companies may not offer up front fees to authors and some may offer a joint partnership where the author pays an amount and the publisher will cover the remaining costs to produce, publish and market their book for a set number of years.  Again, control over how your book is produced is limited and you will need to read the contracts carefully to see what your commitments are and what the payback will be.

You should be aware that a Publishing House would have a greater say in how your book is published and when it will be published. We are aware of one author who was accepted by a Publishing House only to wait 5 years for his book to be published. You also need to be aware that although they may accept your manuscript today they may decide at a later date not to go ahead.

Other publishing companies like 2QT offer more of a self-publishing service where the author pays for what he requires, and in this I would include POD (Print on Demand) Companies. Its great to have all these options for authors – there is something in there for all levels, budgets and aspirations. As with most industries there are good and bad so do look around – their publications will tell you a lot about the quality of a publisher.

How would an Author go about finding the right publisher for their book?

Decide what your aim is in getting your book published, do you want to become the next JK Rowling and have writing as your sole income, is it a burning ambition just to get your book published or maybe you want to pursue writing part time. It’s important to set your expectations on where and how you envisage or want to achieve with your book.

Research, research, research… Have a look at publishers on the internet, in Magazines like Writing Magazine and the many books about getting your works published for example, the Writer’s Handbook 2010, find those publishing houses that publish the same or similar type or genre of book and order one of their publications. Consider the genre of your book.  Some publishers specialise in certain genres so it’s worth doing some research, as you may be more successful with submitting your manuscript to a specialist publisher. If they require submissions what is their process. Some will only accept submissions via an agent.

If you think that in 2009 published titles in the UK alone rose to over 150,000 titles – that was an increase of just over 3% in 2008 – as an author competition for major Publishing houses to take on your book is extremely high. Publishers are also having to contend with a challenging market so they will only take on titles they feel confident will give them a good return on their investment.  It’s quite an achievement to get your book accepted by a publishing house or small publisher. If you have a book about a specific area that is considered a niche market then you have a greater chance. Some publishing houses only look at specific genres e.g. business, climbing/ the outdoors etc.

If you are serious about approaching a Publishing House they advise getting yourself an agent – as many will not accept submissions direct from an author.

When looking at the Self publishing route consider what can you realistically afford – you may have to wait some time to see any returns on your investment so my advice is don’t overstretch. Have a look at what the self publishing, POD and the joint partnership publishers offer – make sure you are getting what you are paying for and again make sure you get independent advice when signing any contracts. Do your sums – what may appear to be a great price for publishing, may not be value in real terms when looking at return on investment over the longer term.

Having listened to authors one of the things they look for is relationship with the publisher. We focus quite a bit on relationships with our authors – for us it’s about creating an enjoyable experience alongside delivering a book they can be proud of. We know authors can be very protective with their work – and why not many hours have been invested in creating the work. We respect that and comments from our authors tell us we manage the relationship side of the service pretty well!

What is self publishing and is it worth doing?

Self publishing is where the author pays in part or full for the publishing of his/her work. There are POD – Print on Demand options at one end of the scale and joint partnership options at the other. For me it does come down to what you want out of publishing your book.  My advice is to look carefully on what’s on offer and do your sums. Look again at the quality of production – remember you are going to be competing with over 150,000 other titles – and this is just for UK market  – so quality is really important in my opinion.

You will need to check on what the publisher offers in terms of publishing and registering your book – for example you may need to obtain your own ISBN  – others may offer this but not register it with the correct agencies. In order to sell your book commercially you will require an ISBN. Some self-publishers may not complete your copyright obligation of sending your book to the National Libraries etc – there is an expectation on the side of the author to research and to know all of this.

Here at 2QT we sit between a POD and the joint partnership – we don’t have any contracts, we offer most of the services a publishing house offers like copy editing, full ISBN registration and listings with all bookshops and online booksellers but with a range of payment options as well as a step by step process where you decide when to proceed and at what pace.

So is it worth doing? – Yes I think so and if you can find a publisher who is professional and passionate about their titles then you have a greater chance of success with your book.  I also think the market reflects demand with the increase in book publications and increase in publishing services. With greater online access it offers a wider audience to promote your book to.

What is an ISBN number and is it important?

ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. It’s a unique 13 digit number that is assigned to every edition/variation of a published book (with the exception of a reprint). It’s primarily used by commercial booksellers for identification and cataloguing. It’s important in that it helps people find your book and booksellers to catalogue your book. If you have the ISBN of a book and go into any bookseller on the high street or online you will be able to access the details of the book. Lots of books have the same title or similar! Some older titles may have a 10 digit ISBN. The 13 Digit came into being in 2007.  Your book could be printed without an ISBN however it will limit its salability.

Do publishers promote and market my book?

That really depends on the type of publisher. If we stick to self-publishing then generally promotion and marketing is down to you. Joint partnership publishing will promote and market your book usually for a period of time – the average being 2 years. Even with this option the author is expected to take their share of promotion and marketing, and will be asked to provide the publisher with avenues, which they can use.

Major Publishing Houses have greater clout both financially and in terms of capacity when it comes to marketing their publications, however, again you are the author so expect to be involved in book signings and other promotions. Marketing books is a costly business and most self publishers/small publishers don’t have the level of financial influence that major publishers have.

2QT don’t offer a marketing package as such as we don’t feel the costing is transparent enough. We have had experience of publishers charging a lot of money for marketing books and not seeing where that’s gone in terms of the return. What we do is offer some promotion at the start in terms of getting the titles listed on most online booksellers and all our titles are listed in book catalogues that all booksellers use.  We are always developing our avenues to market and where we have a success this is shared with all our authors. We also invite authors to share their experiences, tips and successes and are currently developing a platform on our website to capture this.

What format can my book be published in?

A book can be published in many formats and sizes – here at 2QT we produce books for our authors in Hardback, Paperback, and for our books for the younger reader, in PPC – Printed Paper case – which is where the cover is printed directly onto the board. We also publish Audio books MP3 download, e-books. With audio books we work with a producer who manages the readers and editing of the audio recording whilst we manage the publishing, duplication and packaging aspects.

Is there a good market in e-books?

I think it’s a growing market and something authors should consider. There are still some issues with Readers – the hardware designed specifically for reading e-books. However, with big companies like Sony, the Amazon Kindle and now Apple with their new iPad have invested in this type of technology, my guess is that it’s only a matter of time before we see a surge in this format.

What happens to the proceeds of my book?

It can vary from publisher to publisher.  Where the publisher has invested in the publication of your book then they will need to get a return on that. In this case the author will receive a royalty (a fixed fee per book sold). A typical publishing House will offer 7-10% of the Nett value of any sale – each publisher will have their own terms.

By Nett, I mean after any discounts from booksellers (who expect 40-60% discount) and other costs. We personally know of one fairly well known author with a number of titles under her belt and who is with a major publishing house who specialize in her genre and she gets around 40 pence per book sold. Her book retails for £12.99.

With 2QT any profits from the sale of a book go to the author – we do not take any additional percentage other than our costs, which are agreed with the author. Our authors tend to receive pounds rather than pennies from the sale of their books

How would I submit my book to a publisher?

With 2QT we do not accept any book as it’s in our interest and our authors interests to retain a level of quality and integrity. So we do ask that you submit your book – usually in word/pdf double spaced in a font like Times or Arial size 12 and in A4 size. If you have not completed your novel then a chapter with a synopsis will suffice.  A lot of authors ask us about copyright – here at 2QT we assure anyone who submits their work that copyright is not affected and you will retain 100% of copyright/ownership

With other publishers they will have their own criteria so check it out on their website or give them a call. And again many publishing houses will only accept submissions via agents.

What is the process of publishing my book?

The process varies from publisher to publisher. With 2QT it usually follows that: -

• You get in touch with us either by telephone or by sending us your contact details (via our website).
• We will send you a form to complete, which just gives us some initial information to provide you with a quote. You will also need to send us a copy of your book or at least an excerpt and synopsis of your book.
• If you are happy with the initial estimated quote we would need a full electronic copy of your work, if you have not already submitted it.
• We can then complete a full review of the book and make recommendations on whether it requires any additional services like a full edit. We provide you with a quotation on this. You are free to use your own editor. We do recommend that you do have your work edited. All our titles are proofread as standard practice before going to print.
• Design – we will help you decide on the format of your book – size, type of font and layout. With the cover – we will work with you to design a cover for your book. Again you may already have a designer or you can use our designers. We do have a standard of cover that we will accept as again it’s in all our interests to have a cover that looks professional.
• Once we have agreed on the format and layout, 2QT will typeset the book and cover ready for final sign off and for the printers. We also allocate an ISBN and register the title with the agencies that provide the listings titles for all publications. We try to do this in advance as booksellers like to get the information as soon as is possible.
• The books usually take around 14 days to print. 2QT retain a number of copies – for posting to the national Libraries as part of Copyright Act and for any initial orders from online booksellers, the rest we send on to you.  We also enhance the listings on Amazon for you. For example, activate the ‘search inside‘. We will also talk to you about other ways we can promote your book that you can opt in to.
• We have a number of options on how to manage the sales of your book and how we can assist.
• Throughout the process you can have as much involvement as you like and we also offer a stage by stage costing to fit in with your budget.
• It can take approximately 6-8 weeks from initial contact to delivery of your published book. However you set the pace and it may take longer.

What are the costs involved?

It really depends on what route you take. If we look at self publishing then the costs can vary from £500 – £5,000 depending on the service you are looking for.

Most joint partnership publishers will charge more to cover the marketing/ promotion of your title.
We are very transparent with our costs – and provide a breakdown of each process.  We have authors who have paid as little as £450 for 100 books.

Main financial costs involved with 2QT are: -

• ISBN allocation and registration
• Copy editing and proof reading
• Cover design
• Typesetting of book and cover
• Printer costs (includes a barcode)
• Postage and Packaging

Why choose 2QT?

2QT Publishing is about offering flexible and affordable publishing services to authors, writers and businesses. It also offers authors an additional route to market/selling outlet through our online shop (as well as an online resource).

Our aim is to publish and produce a quality product that matches if not exceeds that of major publishing houses. Our approach enables writers to retain control and ownership of their work throughout whilst offering them a range of publishing services that include editing, proofing, cover design, ISBN registration, copyright and printing. We continue to develop our services and now include audiobooks and eBooks offering a wider range of published mediums / services. To encourage and support writers in their development and success we also plan to offer an online platform that will promote the sharing of knowledge and experience from ourselves, writers and those involved in the publishing world. It will become a valuable resource for anyone looking to publish his or her work.

We want writers/ authors to be proud of their published work and receive value for their work. 2QT Publishing want to become known as a publisher that is transparent in its intent, professional yet personal in its approach and demonstrates integrity and passion in its delivery.

Feel free to comment and discuss below. You can contact Catherine Cousins through her website www.2qt.co.uk

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Find Out About Independent Book Publishing

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The inspiration for this post came from reading a news item about the film ‘Twilight’. It is reported in MCV magazine that publishers missed out on a seven-figure sum income because the publishers / copyright owners did not even consider letting computer game developers create a game version of the film.

The crossover from film release to video game has become very popular in certain film genres, however, the lost millions for the Twilight property owners is said to be down to a lack of knowledge in regards to licensing for games.

I can see a parallel to this in book publishing. It seems that the majority of titles seen in print are still not available in audio format. Furthermore, it seems to me that there is a lack of competition for serious contenders in the audio book download market. Yes, there are a small number of independents, but Audible seem to be the dominant force.

As an Audible customer myself, I feel that the service they offer could be improved in a couple of significant ways, (not a topic for this post though) and for this reason, I would be happy to try a good alternative. The problem is that I am not aware of a credible alternative for audio book downloads and do not wish to buy CD audio books…for a start, the first thing I have to do is convert it to mp3 for my portable player.

My observation as an audio book listener is that nearly all of the books I listen to are from American publishers narrated with American voice overs and although I enjoy listening to these, there are numerous UK published books that I would like to listen to but can’t.

It seems to me that there is a slow uptake on the audio book business model, which is surprising when The APA reported the industry to be worth $923 million in 2008.

An added complication to this matter is to do with intellectual property and copyrights. For example, I was not able to purchase a US audio book download but had to order it on a CD, which was classed as an import. This was because the publisher had only given download permission for the US, but was happy to sell the CD version globally.

At the other side of the scale, I believe that independent book publishers may be in a better position to exploit this format, but many seem resistant due to the audio book production costs. As an audio book producer, a number of my quotes have fallen by the wayside due to publishers not wanting to take the plunge. Although the upfront production cost can be relatively expensive, the cost is not dissimilar to having a large run of printed books produced and distributed.

Now, I could be completely wrong here, but, I feel that there is a knowledge gap that could be responsible for publishers losing revenue and missing out on a completely new demographic. Will the independent publishing industry be able to grow from a very traditional business model to incorporate a new digital one? Will the different marketing and delivery methods elude the majority of small book publishers, leaving money on the table to be collected by the likes of Audible (now an Amazon company)?

What do you think? Feel free to discuss

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Millions Lost Due to Audio Book Knowledge Gap?

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Let me tell you a story that will convince you that Royalty free music is by far the better option for using in your online video.

I posted a tweet recently that reminded me of a conversation I had not so long ago. My client, who  has given me permission to tell this story, purchased a royalty free music track from us to use in his promotional videos and he was very annoyed that he was having to do them all over again.

Yes, that is right. He was producing all of his videos for the second time, more precisely, he was paying his staff to re-produce and re-upload them. Quite simply he had mixed a mainstream music track behind his voice to give his video that extra bit of professionalism. They did sound good, but unfortunately he had no permission to use the copyrighted track.

Initially, this was not a problem for him as he saw that everyone else was doing it and getting away with it, however, not so long ago YouTube changed this when they introduced YouTube Content ID.

This is basically where a copyright owner can register their content with YouTube so that Youtube’s system will automatically recognise it as copyrighted material. The copyright owner can opt to block the content completely or to monetise it. I am sure you have seen those videos… the ones with no soundtrack or the ones with adverts displaying, well, that is the result of the content ID system.

Well, my client was upset as all of his videos had no soundtrack and he was now having to re-produce them with a royalty free track and re-upload them to YouTube.

In my opinion, this will become common place on other video platforms in the future.

If you are thinking of using copyrighted music, take my advice and invest in a royalty free music track today. It will save you loads of time / money in the long-run.

More about YouTube’s content ID

Related Articles on Others Blogs

• Bogus Copyright Claim Silences Yet Another Larry Lessig YouTube Presentation (Mike Masnick/Techdirt) (techmeme.com)
• Japanese Collection Society Wants To Charge You For Tweeting Lyrics (techdirt.com)
• Google shakes empty YouTube piggy bank (go.theregister.com)

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Using Royalty Free Music Can Save You Time and Money

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Time to funk it up a little with a cool, retro and funky royalty free jazz style track called That’s Cool, from Media Music Now’s funky groovy royalty free music category.

The electronic groove of the jazz organ and soulful sound of the sax create a hip, energetic and up tempo feel, making it suitable for television game shows, quiz shows, funky corporate videos and presentations.

If your production needs a theme that is fresh, fun and full of energy, That’s Cool could be the perfect fit to your production.

Let its funky rhythm and groovy beats give your project the cool confident edge it needs.

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Please feel free to leave your comments, bookmark, retweet and ShareThis.
If you would like to review a royalty free track from our royalty free music library, please contact us for more information.

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Royalty Free Music That’s Cool

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In this royalty free music review, I thought I would pay homage to those classic Hollywood adventure movie scores with an exciting and uplifting piece of royalty free orchestral music.

The track is called ‘Prince of Ponds‘, a happy and positive orchestral soundtrack suitable for family adventure films, Westerns or Disneyesque movie productions, any type of film or TV project that needs to create a sense of adventure, the great outdoors, big open landscapes and new frontiers to explore.

Give your production the Hollywood movie style treatment with ‘Prince of Ponds‘, the perfect big orchestral score without the need of a big budget.

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If you would like to review a track in our royalty free music library, please contact us for more information. Also, feel free to leave your comments, bookmark and ShareThis royalty free music review.

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Royalty Free Music – Hollywood Movie Style

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As it’s Valentine’s, I thought it apt to review a royalty free music track that evokes emotions of love and romance. One track that certainly does this is Dream Zone from MediaMusicNow’s royalty free romantic music category.

Tender, gentle and loving, Dream Zone is perfect for a romantic production or project. An emotional teenage drama, television show or video that needs to portray feelings of love or perhaps daydreaming about that special someone, possibly an unrequited love. The track also has a nostalgic and heartening quality, looking back on fond memories.

Whatever the production, Dream Zone has the ability to enhance those romantic scenes and sentimental moments.

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Please feel free to comment, bookmark or ShareThis royalty free music review.

If you would like to add your own review of a track in our royalty free music library, please contact us for more information.

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Royalty Free Music for Romantic Moments

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Royalty free classical music as background music fits a variety of broadcast and media productions including movies, TV, Commercials, Exhibitions, Tradeshows and music on hold.

Classical music has often been used in films, for example, the opening fanfare of Richard Strauss’ ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra’ became well known for its use in the film ’2001: A Space Odyssey’ and ‘O Fortuna’ and Carl Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’ were used in the movie ‘Excalibur’.

Other recognizable classical pieces used in advertising, television and film include Edvard Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King (from Peer Gynt Suite), Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Pachelbel’s Canon in D. Classical music has even marked major sporting events such as Nessun Dorma from Puccini’s opera ‘Turandot’ as the theme for the 1990 World Cup.

Royalty Free Classical Music is perfect for professionals wanting to add striking and emotional background music to their project.

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If you would like to review any classical pieces from our royalty free classical music library, please contact us. Also, feel free to bookmark and ShareThis royalty free music review.

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Give Your Project the Classical Edge

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An uplifting and positive pop rock track is the subject of today’s royalty free music review.

The track is called, ‘Take Me Higher‘ from MediaMusicNow’s royalty free rock music category. Although a rock track, it has pop elements to it and is perfect for any corporate production that requires bright and optimistic background music.

This includes motivational seminars, corporate presentations, music on hold, corporate video projects and any production that needs to inspire and motivate.

This light and inspirational rock-pop track will compliment and add energy to the overall impact of the production.

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Feel free to comment or bookmark this royalty free music review and if you would like to add your own review of a track in our royalty free music library, please contact us for more information

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Inspirational Music for Your Corporate Project

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From all of us here at Media Music Now, we would like to wish all our readers and clients a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2010!

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Happy New Year 2010!

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Following on from yesterday’s post, I found this really interesting video about the Neumann U87 microphone. Pretty expensive but definitely a classic mic.

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Neumann U87 microphone being Made

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Currently, I am debating whether to buy a new microphone for podcast and video-casting purposes. I can get by without another microphone, but I do like to buy new equipment when I get chance.

Also, I am looking for a mic that has a USB interface. Basically a plugin and record solution.

Anyway, during my research I found this great video that compares several microphones ranging form very expensive mics to the cheaper Rode Podcasting Mic

The video also contains good information about vocal processing, although it does assume you already understand a number of advanced audio production techniques. The video host is clearly an experienced engineer as he exhibits the ability to adjust controls and achieve optimum results without giving the parameters of the processors any real thought. It is all achieved with experienced ears!

A great video in my opinion, and speaking as a fellow audio producer a joy to watch.

Feel free to leave comments about your microphone preferences and experiences… enjoy!

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Microphones and Vocal Processing

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With winter on its way and the Christmas TV commercials promoting the holiday season, I thought it would be a good time to review a collection of festive holiday music from our royalty free Christmas music category.

Whether involved in film, television or any other type of media project, you will find an excellent choice of royalty free music perfect for corporate and commercial promotions during the Christmas holidays.

Add some holiday cheer to your music on hold production or give your Christmas holiday film or television program a festive soundtrack with some beautiful arrangements of traditional Christmas Carols including Silent Night, Jingle Bells, O Holy Night and lots more.

Also in our royalty free Christmas music are original music pieces composed for the holiday season. Your project may be a Christmas promotion, TV commercial or film project in need of some musical originality and what better way to add that festive cheer than with some original royalty free Christmas music.

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Looking for Christmas music for your own listening pleasure?

One of our composers ‘Christopher Page’ has his own beautifully recorded and produced Christmas album ‘The Greatest Christmas Cd Ever!’ available for personal listening from Amazon MP3 Downloads.

Click here to listen to Christopher Page’s Christmas album at the Amazon MP3 store.

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Christmas Tunes for the Holidays

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Using royalty free music is a straightforward process most of the time, however, complications can arise due to the complexity of the historic copyright and music licensing laws globally. This article outlines what the common issues are and what can happen.

Many independent composers earn money from royalty free music licensing, but many also register with a performance royalty organisation so that they do not miss out on any potential royalty from their music being broadcast on TV or Radio.

The performance royalty organisation (PRO) is primarily concerned with collecting royalties (charging licenses) to venues and broadcasters who use mainstream music. This makes sense as mainstream music is big business, however, the problem arises when music is being played that is not recognisable as mainstream. The PRO still has an obligation to charge a venue / broadcaster a license fee on the assumption that the music being played may be registered with a performance royalty organisation.

So, what does this mean for you?…

When you use royalty free music there is always a chance that a PRO may try to charge you an additional license if the music can be heard by the public, for example, music on hold, at trade shows, online use etc. For these types of uses, the composer receives a payment from their royalty free music distributor and would not benefit from this additional PRO license. PRO’s pool license fees for public performance and payment to composers is worked out statistically, which means that independent composers usually get little or nothing.

It should be sufficient enough to tell an enquiring PRO that the music was acquired on a royalty free license and according to the lawyers I know, the PRO would have to prove that is in their database. Obviously, if they can recognise it as mainstream music you will have to pay the license fee, whereas, if it is an unknown original piece of music, PRS don’t have an obvious reason for asking you to pay a license.

Typically, an issue arises when a PRO is given the track and composer name and finds it registered in their database. At this point, they will insist that the music user has to pay them a license fee to continue using it.

It is worth noting that when a composer joins a PRO, some of the PRO’s small print has a clause (dating back to the 1920′s) that means the composer signs away some of their copyrights over to the PRO. Technically, this means that a PRO could take this kind of licensing issue to court, but, it is yet to happen. Could you imagine it?… the very organisation whose purpose it is to collect revenue for composers would be suing the composer!

Usually, if the PRO can establish that the music is royalty free and that the composer has been compensated accordingly, they exercise common sense and pursue it no further.

In summary, there is a potential problem with using royalty free music that can be heard by the public, but it never seems to have amounted to more than a grey area in copyright law and an inconvenience to the composer, distributor and end user.

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I am interested in hearing your views and opinions on this topic so please feel free to leave a comment.

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Understanding Royalty Free Music: Music in the Ears of the Public

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The original audio books were only available on audio cassette and for the benefit of younger readers, the audio cassette was a magnetic tape sound recording format. Here is a picture of an audio cassette courtesy of wikimedia.org.

For more information on cassettes see the Wikipedia resource link at the end of this blog post.

Audio books on cassette tape required turning over midway as each side was typically 30 minutes. Not a format I was particularly fond of.

CD Audio Books

Audio Book CD format is a vast improvement lasting up to 74 minutes and at digital quality standard. However, you will find that some large CD audio books run across many CD’s, the biggest I produced was a total of 13 CD’s.

Also, it does require that you sit listening to it on your home stereo system or your car CD player. I suppose you could also listen to audio books on CD Walkman, although I am not sure many people use these in 2009.

MP3 Audio Books

MP3 players have revolutionised audio consumption and mp3 audio books are my favourite. Most inexpensive players can easily hold a high quality audio book that you can listen to anywhere. Additionally, the mp3 format is flexible and can be played on most computers and mp3 players, including iPods.

MP3 audio books are easily available to download and can also be sold as an MP3 CD. This is basically a CD ROM that contains the whole audio book in a folder. Unlike a CD audio book, you don’t have to keep changing CD’s to listen to the whole book. The MP3 CD saves me lots of time and is my second favourite format.

If I do have to buy audio books on audio CD, the first thing I do is convert the files to mp3 and add them to my MP3 player so that I can listen whilst on the move.

My favourite little MP3 player is the Sansa Clip from Amazon – click here to see a selection of Sansa Clip MP3 Players

iPod Audio Book format

This format provides one or two benefits over mp3 audio books, in the fact that chapters can be saved as a single audio book file, whereas mp3 chapters tend to arrive as many separate files. Despite the benefits, I don’t like this format as it restricts you to using an iPod and most MP3 players don’t play the .m4b format that is used by audio books downloaded from the Apple iTunes store.

Audible Audio Books Format

I am a subscriber to Audible UK as they seem to be the only serious downloadable audio book seller that I am aware of in the UK; however, I am not a fan of their proprietary format .aa.

This format was created by them to stop file sharing using strict DRM (Digital Rights Management). Without going off topic, DRM in my opinion hinders the honest buyers of audiobooks and music as it makes the file unplayable until you verify your account. I could share many stories about DRM validating errors and know numerous people who have bought files that they can no longer play… but that’s another topic altogether.

Needless to say, Audible’s audio book format is my least favourite, but until a better option comes around, I will stick with it, plus they do have one of the UK’s largest selections of audio books online.

Click here to view and browse downloadable audio books on Audible’s UK site

Click here to view and browse audio books on Amazon.co.uk

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References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Cassette

Are you an author or publisher looking to transform your book into an audio book?… Click here to find out more about our audio book recording  and production services

I am always interested in hearing your views and opinions so please feel free to add your comments below.

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My Quick Guide to Audio Book Formats

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Halloween is just around the corner and for those of you looking for spooky background music to add chills to your Halloween production may have just found the right track in today’s royalty free music review. The track is simply called ‘Halloween’.

‘Halloween‘ is a creepy track with lots of haunting and scary sound effects; a menacing laugh, thunderous lightening, a werewolf howling and church bells striking, There’s a graveyard out there with ghosts and ghouls at play.

The big church organ and thumping percussion also add to its unsettling and disturbing feel. This spine-tingling and menacing royalty free music track has all the chilling sounds needed for your haunted Halloween production.

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The Real Sound of Halloween

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The games industry has long explored and developed computer game music that interacts and evolves with the action and scene of the game. I understand that this practice is commonly known as stems and layers.

In the computer game industry, these stems are custom written by a composer to give the game a unique soundtrack. The music is composed to work as a complete piece, but is also separated into many layers of audio files so that elements can be dropped in and out in reaction to the game play.

I know that many audio producers often find frustrating limitations using off-the-shelf royalty free music. These frustrations could easily be overcome if royalty free music was available in stems and layers.

Limitations that I often experience…. Sometimes I sync a piece of music to a video and end up realising that in order to make the scene work well, I need a few more seconds of introduction before the melody starts. In this case, a precise and time-consuming splice of a wave form is required.

Also, I sometimes find myself wanting to use a track of music without the instrument solo or random instrument that obscures the section I want. Although using quality royalty free music is a great way to minimise expense, there can be many compromises if you are trying to get a tightly synchronised video soundtrack. Sometimes the video frames have to be synced with the music to avoid this.

Can you imagine if every royalty free music library offered music in stems and layers. How great would that be?

If this concept could be borrowed from the computer / video games industry and adapted by composers, it could become a new era in royalty free music. Just a thought!

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I am interested in hearing your thoughts so please feel free to add your comments. Perhaps you are a composer experienced in writing music this way?

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Post from: MediaMusicNow Blog - Royalty Free Music, Voice Overs, Audio Production

Adaptive Royalty Free Music?

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For today’s royalty free music review, I have picked a happy and positive track, aptly named ‘Happy Moments‘.

This royalty free music track has an acoustic sound with a country-style feel and it just can’t help but make you feel good. I think it would work well in any film or TV production to highlight scenes of uplifting and happy moments.

With its country-style tones, I could see it being used in a Southern-set sweet romantic comedy, one for all the family, much like the film ‘Sweet Home Alabama’.

Also, this track would be ideal for any up-beat advertising and television projects such as commercials, sitcoms and programmes for all ages.

If you are looking to create a positive, uplifting and happy mood in your media production, then ‘Happy Moments‘ could just be the perfect fit.

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Add Happy Moments to Your Project

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Well, the track in today’s royalty free music review certainly is.

The track is called ‘Up to the Challenge‘ from Media Music Now’s corporate motivational music category. This royalty free music track is great for inspiring synergy, building confidence and creating a positive attitude.

You may have a powerpoint presentation or corporate video that needs to be uplifting and inspirational; a corporate training event, trade show or seminar where you want to motivate and energise your audience or perhaps you are looking for a piece of background music to blend in perfectly with your on hold production.

The answer is simple, ‘Up to the Challenge‘ is the perfect choice of background music to liven up your project.

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Are You Up to the Challenge?…

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