Depeche Mode Remix Contest with Decent Prizes

[contakt321]

Just wondering how do those T&Cs compare with other major band remix competitions, e.g. that Radiohead one. Is this standard stuff, or are DM being especially greedy?

probably par for the course. a lot of these types of agreements are overwritten in order to avoid any possible claims down the road in a 'better safe than sorry' sort of way. what people need to understand is that you're signing away ALL rights to any potential profit the remix makes. e.g. if a car company wanted to use the remix in an advertisement for $150,000, depeche mode and mute split the money and the remixer gets nothing. if the remix ends up getting airplay, depeche mode receives royalties and the remixer gets nothing. so dm/beatport/mute are making money off the front end by selling the stems, and then making 100% of whatever back end profit may occur. to top it off i'd be willing to bet that jazzmutant and NI donated the prizes in exchange for the publicity.

That is my understanding as well.

[funky shit]

Anybody downloaded the parts?
Not paying for fuckin stems of songs.

it's 4 goddamn dollars!! that's like half a Euro!! leave the fries off your Happy Meal at lunch FFS ya fat bastard and it's paid for!

How about you actually pay for the .WAV files. Then send them to me.
And throw a happy meal in there also, with fries.

fuckin smart ass

[nbinder]

fuck this greedy bullshit. even an amateur producer/remixer deserves to get paid for their work...not with some bullshit prize that is meager relative to the potential profit for the other parties involved. from the fine print:

1. all rights in and to any remixed versions ("Remixes") of the song "Peace" ("the Song") created by the Entrant shall be owned by Grabbing Hands Music Ltd ("GHM") and to the extent necessary the Entrant hereby assigns all rights in the Remixes of the Song to GHM throughout the World for the full life of copyright and any and all extensions and renewals thereof. If requested by GHM or EMI Music Publishing Limited ("EMI"), the Entrant shall complete and sign a formal assignment of copyright to give effect to the foregoing;

2. Martin Gore will be registered and credited as the sole writer and EMI the publishers of the Remixes of the Song created by the Entrant;

3. the Entrant will not acquire a copyright interest in the Song by virtue of creating Remixes of the Song;

grabbing hands, indeed. contributing to the writing of a song (even in the form of remixing) and then signing over copyright is considered unethical by performing rights organizations (ASCAP, BMI, SOCAN, etc).

And this is the final reason why I won't enter the contest. When I write/create music, in this case a remix, the original composer might be a co-author but NEVER the sole writer/author. NEVER.
This contest is a shame.

If anybody thinks he'll win the contest, go release your music elsewhere, because if you're really good enough to win this bullsh*t, other labels will be interested, too. And they will respect your publishing and copy rights. If your song is really good, most probably you'll earn an equal amount of money compared to the prizes.

[mkelly]

Just wondering how do those T&Cs compare with other major band remix competitions, e.g. that Radiohead one. Is this standard stuff, or are DM being especially greedy?

probably par for the course. a lot of these types of agreements are overwritten in order to avoid any possible claims down the road in a 'better safe than sorry' sort of way. what people need to understand is that you're signing away ALL rights to any potential profit the remix makes. e.g. if a car company wanted to use the remix in an advertisement for $150,000, depeche mode and mute split the money and the remixer gets nothing. if the remix ends up getting airplay, depeche mode receives royalties and the remixer gets nothing. so dm/beatport/mute are making money off the front end by selling the stems, and then making 100% of whatever back end profit may occur. to top it off i'd be willing to bet that jazzmutant and NI donated the prizes in exchange for the publicity.

If you get your name on it, then at least you're getting some publicity for yourself as an artist. I keep seeing opinions (in media and on forums like this one) about how making money as an artist these days is shifting towards live performance (and merchandising) and that the releases (singles or albums) are just promotional material. Probably the best way to get people to your shows is to get namechecked by a big artist. After that, getting your name on a remix is probably pretty close.

So yeah, entering this competition means you sign away income from the track - as long as you get your name on it, you could seriously enhance your career in the long run.

[wildcon]

Hi,

I can't access Beatport from work, but i'm asumming from the comments that the parts add up to £4?

Now I agree that the principle of getting no royalties pretty much sucks, but hey I'm going to have a ball remixing this. I have 'Zero' chance of winning the prize, but £4 is close to the price of a small bottle of beer in London so I have absolutely no problem paying. however i can understand other peoples views. I would imagine that this is pretty much driven by a management and especially Beatport who seem to cream off a vast amount for doing little more than providing a portal for downloading!

I must say that DM are possibly my favorite band so I may think differently if it was another artist.

[mkelly]

I can't access Beatport from work, but i'm asumming from the comments that the parts add up to £4?

£3. I bought them also - might have a blast at doing a remix, but i figured 3 quid wasn't much to pay to get a Depeche track dissected so I can see how they build their sounds up to a finished track.

[TekMonki]

Just wish there were more than the 2/3 meager vocals they included.

[funky shit]

Hi,

I can't access Beatport from work, but i'm asumming from the comments that the parts add up to £4?

Now I agree that the principle of getting no royalties pretty much sucks, but hey I'm going to have a ball remixing this. I have 'Zero' chance of winning the prize, but £4 is close to the price of a small bottle of beer in London so I have absolutely no problem paying. however i can understand other peoples views. I would imagine that this is pretty much driven by a management and especially Beatport who seem to cream off a vast amount for doing little more than providing a portal for downloading!

I must say that DM are possibly my favorite band so I may think differently if it was another artist.

Dont want to sound like a massive audiophile here but for remixes, you really want to be using raw .WAVs.
Nasty thigs can happen recommressing mp3s

[8O]

Dont want to sound like a massive audiophile here but for remixes, you really want to be using raw .WAVs.
Nasty thigs can happen recommressing mp3s

Maybe...

[contakt321]

I was hoping to give this a go, but I couldn't get into the track.

I like Depeche Mode but I didn't love the lyrics.

That being said $4? Pretty inexpensive for some fun and a chance to win cool stuff.

If you don't like it...DON'T ENTER.

[Jarvisimon]

Anybody downloaded the parts?
Not paying for fuckin stems of songs.

it's 4 goddamn dollars!! that's like half a Euro!! leave the fries off your Happy Meal at lunch FFS ya fat bastard and it's paid for!

it's not the price that's stopping me. i just think competitions should be free. It's not as if you're getting a great deal for your money. Are the samples license free once you have them? I doubt it.

if NI, Jazz Mutant and Beatport are behind this competition then they shouldn't be having to raise funds to pay for the prizes.

[funky shit]

Anybody downloaded the parts?
Not paying for fuckin stems of songs.

it's 4 goddamn dollars!! that's like half a Euro!! leave the fries off your Happy Meal at lunch FFS ya fat bastard and it's paid for!

it's not the price that's stopping me. i just think competitions should be free. It's as if you're getting a great deal for your money. Are the samples license free once you have them? I doubt it.

if NI, Jazz Mutant and Beatport are behind this competition then they shouldn't be having to raise funds to pay for the prizes.

/argument

[aqua_tek]

I'm not sure how i feel about people having to pay for the stems. I understand arguments coming from both sides.

Doesn't really affect me much, since I'm not planning to enter this. Nothing to do with the money. I'm just not feeling inspired to remix that track. Cool prizes though

[beats me]

I look at it this way, there are people that get discovered and rise to fame and fortune by starting with remixes, and some of those were white label "zero pay to the remixer" releases. So if you have to fork out some minimal money, and even if you don't win this contest, it could still springboard you further along. Probably the most famous case of this is the DNA unauthorized remix of Suzanne Vega's Tom's Diner which almost turned into a lawsuit but in the end helped both artists' career. Maybe it would start by you just spinning it yourself or you and your other DJ buddies.

Learn to look past your nose. I really don't understand producers getting all upitty by small print and "rights" in an increasely harder industry to get anything accomplised in. You aren't special. There's 100 other you's out there that don't give a shit about the things you are whining about.


And I have absolutely no interest in remixing this track. Major artists always make stems available for their crappiest songs, which I think is no accident.

[Tone Deft]

You aren't special. There's 100 other you's out there that don't give a shit about the things you are whining about.

lmfao!! agreed, I also look at it as the dramatical suffering artist type, it's all so very serious.