Please, Rape Me!

Countless times I have witnessed friends of mine in the game who do nothing but record music all day long. Sweating it out in the hot studio music box while the guy in the other room is on the take.

One story comes to mind of a friend and I won't mention his name so let's just call him Mr.Dumb-Ass. I have to call him that because I always would suggest to him that he really should copyright his music. Music copyright is the first step in securing who controls ownership of your work.


The only thing he saw was the money flowing into his pockets. At that time demanding 2,500 per track on the local scene for an hot unknown producer was considered somewhat normal. On the outside one might say that's pretty good especially if your clientele happens to be repeat customers. But let's look a little deeper into this situation shall we. It just so happens that one of the songs he produced landed on an known regional album that went on to sell close to 175,000 CD Units.

Normally before a record label delivers the final product to be released to the general public, the paperwork on all parties involved needs to be cleared. On the local level it's a little different especially within the Hip Hop game,cause all kinds of crazy shit goes down, but that's another posting. In this particular case this label knew its business and had Mr.Dumbass sign a work for hire agreement. What is a work for hire?

A work created by an employee within the scope of employment or a work commissioned by an author under contract. With a work for hire, the author and copyright owner of a work is the person who pays for it, not the person who creates it.

That means whatever money you got upfront is all ya get.
to be continued...