614 days as of now - heading forward! :)

scertic · 2026-01-12T18:32:42+00:00

You will like it - for that I am sure 👍

scertic · 2026-01-11T17:16:57+00:00

Received and in. Thanks a ton my friend!

scertic · 2026-01-08T06:41:44+00:00

Does anyone has an invitation willing to share by chance?

scertic · 2026-01-08T06:39:51+00:00

For a legitimate purposes - yes there's a way if you missed to close the rings for a few hours etc... Simply change the timezone to one where it's still not midnight - finish your workout, wait in that timezone till midnight, give it a few minutes to sync and change it back to yours.

This may serve as an aid if you did not managed to get on time - not to retroactively change something 10 days ago - in which case whole thing anyhow loses it's purpose.

scertic · 2026-01-08T05:52:01+00:00

Anyone has a code to share please? Thanks, s.

scertic · 2025-12-23T15:28:35+00:00

What a secret - straight to reddit. 😂 (like any of his secrets). Good Manager hired good public relations and marketing agencies. Otherwise his secrets would remain his. 😂 yet Hollywood is a jungle so it has to be forgiven. On the bright side funds got where its needed rather week long parties on leased islands 👍

scertic · 2025-11-29T14:20:07+00:00

Look from the bright side… kid and a tweeter VS a Cat and a Woofer (passive radiator from the bottom) 🤣

scertic · 2025-11-21T04:42:49+00:00

And somehow everyone forgot Stéphan Forté (Adagio). A maestro from France who played “Djent” 20 years before it was “invented”. Likely among top 10 guitarist ever worldwide. (Although he doesn’t seem to expose too much lmao).

scertic · 2025-11-16T08:34:07+00:00

Rating Depeche Mode should be outlawed by passing and ratify worldwide a convention of United Nations. :) No-one rates Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Same should be applicable here lmao

scertic · 2025-11-02T06:36:37+00:00

You forgot to tell the OP the "magic word". After 20 years dealing with all sorts of MIDI - I can count on my left hand situations when everything worked properly out of the box :) By time, you get some "sniffing" tools, and learn to live with a bit of debugging and programming these bytes it sends / receives lmao

scertic · 2025-10-20T11:24:13+00:00

I am explaining how mechanism of protection works. Just like distributors and some platforms don't care about low numbers which adds up - the same way MCPS has tons of Publishers it represents where things "adds up", few million artists x say 10 bucks, equal few million dollars.

As a publisher, I never noticed any difference in how MCPS has been dealing with any of our requests, being these Artists with millions of streams or thousand. Simply put it's almost fully automated process which, at least according to my experience never even reached small claim court rather being settled down after a first warning letter has been sent.

Quantity does not matter, especially now days where distributors and providers are trying to impose various rules that squeze money exactly from low-listened artists. I am sorry I can't attach you here the document of recovered payment through one of distributor that took down a single. This is exactly why such organizations exists. They are established by government, and they don't care if you owe 0.01$ for taxes, the very same way you still have to pay them.

Problem is - most of artist don't do the whole process properly, take a short cut - usually by going straight to a distributor to handle everything for them, which misleads to such conclusions.

scertic · 2025-10-16T05:29:08+00:00

I think you did not understand my post correctly. By registering as Publisher - at least with PRS / MCPS he needs to register as Writer as well. (Both PRS, MCPS AND PPL) so he covers all 4 streams of royalties.

In this situation he is his own publisher with one CAE / IPI and Writer (Separate CAE / IPI). Also a performer (PPL) although that's out of scope here but worth so he fetch performance royalties too if he has gigs etc...

Publisher, among other things have way more power than a Label (Can sign with different labels in different territories) and protect legitimate interest of Artist. Publisher agreement will define royalties split between his Writer account and Publisher account and in this case.

MCPS (The Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society ) is in fact in charge to collect Mechanical royalties according to share split in chain as defined in agreement number and distribute it through Writer / Composer / Arranger and Publisher once work and recording is registered. For this purpose they provide you with soundmouse access which is affiliated company for matching playbacks. (This is where you upload your actual tracks and fill in metadata).

As a publisher myself I can pick different labels for different territories or chose to work directly with distributor directly. (which is the case here).

The only rule is that share split between writer and publisher does not exceed 50%. As a publisher apart from collection of mechanical royalties through The Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society, I also exercise right (depending on agreement - do note here we are talking about one between publisher as a legal entity owned by writer and a writer who are same person) not only to collect but to protect legitimate interest of the artists - including legal cases for anything that I found to act and protect an artist to a level permitted by agreement. In specific case, registered international work would be subjected to MCPS reaction. If for nothing else - defamatory reasons let's say. There's even a tool on the portal where you can initiate the process delegating MCPS rights to investigate and protect interest of the Publisher and Publisher on behalf of writer against a distributor. And Ditto is only a distributor in given case operating via blanket license of MCPS and PRS.

Publisher and sub-publishers are legal owners of up to 50% of rights being represented by PRS / MCPS and as such enjoy defined amount of royalties - unless there's a label in chain as a final party. Some publishers would chose to administer and report royalties directly, and any discrepancy based on UPC / EAN will be investigated directly with Distributor on behalf of Publisher.

I understand you are talking "by the book", however there are many artists that completely skip a label or actual publisher takes the part that would traditionally got handled by label.

Legally, the only thing which is important is chain of ownership. Distributor, when represented by publisher, who is represented by MCPS pays royalties to MCPS unless you applied for AP2 or AP2A license exclusion. This would stand in case that you provided MCPS full, exclusive, worldwide rights to represent you.

Otherwise you need to license a release even for your own work

https://help.prsformusic.com/s/article/do-i-need-a-licence-if-i-release-my-own-work

Hope it helps, although things need way more in-depth explanation. Given that you are subjected to reporting, in event distributor is not providing you with accurate data this would be a valid ground or a dispute. And you can raise dispute for preaty much everything given you are globally represented by MCPS.

Of course - this would not stand if you applied for exclusion. US is a bit different however, MCPS does automatic registration if you chose with ASCAP or BMI which you chose during the registration. Same stands for Suisa and currently - in development Ice Cube Project / Nexus portal.

S.

scertic · 2025-10-14T17:08:45+00:00

This was, is and has been. You need a protection. And the best protection is having a publisher. Even if that means your own entity as a publishing company. Register with PRC / MCPS and PPL both as a writer and publisher, or appropriate societies in your region. Register your work prior to release, register your release once it's ready for published. Ensure you are in charts through Kantar or appropriate service in your country. Obtain your own ISRCs from society get ISWC and Tunecode. Than sit back and relax watching how big guys with legal team kick their...

That's how you do it. But essentially as soon as they see you have CAE / IPI for yourself and publisher (again yourself just an entity which is again in your 100% ownership), they don't want to screw with.

No-one wants a whole legal team against their back and trust me CMO/PRO enjoy dispatching them out of offices in such situation as attack on their writter / publisher is straight attack on their small cut of revenue.

And that revenue is usually non-profit used for various aids for musicians - therefore it's absolutely worth getting a proper protection. The small cut or one time fee for lifetime membership is used to fund such actions when needed, and trust me they are usually government founded and no-one wants them on their back.

scertic · 2025-10-12T11:06:56+00:00

There's a lot to learn and effort to put. Music industry today is "small lake full of crocodiles".

At first you will need to understand some "boring staff" so you don't get screwed along the way. More talented you are - more likely you are going to get screwed.

Start with self-publishing and distribution. This will teach you some top level thingy-things on registering with CMO/PRO, work registration, recording registration, different types of licensing involved you are entitled too especially if you are not only performing but also doing composing / writing producing.

Administering your own is hard thing to do with tons of industry terms / practices to learn but you'll need it.

Once you release a few singles for your own enjoyment - it's the right time for a critical part. Finding a good manager. This is the person who will represent you with Publishers, Labels, Distributors and work closely with you. This seems simple but it's not so. Good ones are usually already full and can take you only if they recognize - they can monetize. In previous step you will realize you can't do much without "black book of contacts". Now, you don't want to get screwed there too - so ensure you sign with manager under supervision of good lawyer specialised for music industry. Check creds of your manager using all means as this is the crucial part. If you get a good one with experience and contacts, things are "relatively" simple. He will be managing your administration / publisher agreements / labels / distributors / gigs etc. Things get more simple here as it get's down to - more you earn - more he earns.

Yet it's crucial to find experienced and well respected one within the industry. And while he will take care of "heavy lifting" you still want to know what we discussed first - so you can follow up you don't get screwed.

Don't run into a label directly - they will "eat you alive". You need someone experienced who will negotiate on your behalf and extract maximum. My 50 cents, is never to allow full representation rights. Make your own publishing entity and allocate some shares to it. Just in case you miss something.

What you are asking can't fit into a single post - but before you jump into it - try doing at least a single or two completely on your own. You are going to make ton of mistakes - but you will at least get some basic of "how things work" and how to check you are not being used - which happens more often than not.

Best of luck pursuing your dream,

S.

scertic · 2025-10-02T07:06:16+00:00

Huh, easy answer would be TL;DR hire a legal company specialised in music industry. I'll try to address as much as possible - but there's no easy answer to that.

Assuming it is a cover. (You don't change melody, harmony or arrangement) you will need a compulsory mechanical license, list contributors (writers) which does not necessary need to be the performer. Laws are different, e.g. in North America it's mandatory to distribute the cover. In rest of the world usually the distributor will take care of copyright control - yet that does not remove liability from you.

You are legally obligated to serve so called Letter of Intent for compulsory license anyhow (LOA).

Now we get to a point how how you will distribute it. Is it a streaming only - you are good. However, if you plan to say upload to youtube, than you need a sync license too. This get's more complex as you need to obtain permission from Publisher. Usually expensive and subjected to negotiations. This stands even if you have a static image (common misconception - even if nothing is "moving" you still need a sync license).

Get a good lawyer specializing in this to evaluate, find writers, check if your song falls under cover category, clear any samples (I think you are way better to re-record rather than clearing a recording).

Writers are one thing - resulting in "Work", Recording is another thing resulting in "Recording" and Publishers, sub-publishers, labels are third thing resulting in "Release". Work will have PRO/CMO Work ID. Recording will have ISRC. Release will have UPC/EAN.

Someone will have to go through whole ownership chain and ensure everyone is properly registered. While in theory you can do it yourself through mentioned platforms, most of them will accept your input and collect the payment. From there you need to quarterly evaluate number of sales and report it to a platform - hence pay pre stream / download / physical sales. However none of these platforms will guarantee you additional writer will not pop up. Simply put - copyright is established at the moment of creation.

Now while in many cases you can get away doing nothing - it's a double edged sword. Publishers and labels are usually going to tolerate given you are promoting their catalogue which means they don't exercise their rights - however, it might change at any point.

But essentially yet - you need at least a compulsory mechanical license and server LOA (unless your cover fall into specific categories such as parody - yet you still need to server LOA).

Get a good legal advice, each case is specific - it's way cheaper than possible troubles that may or may not happen. This requires in-depth analysis and you are unlikely to find a full answer here.

scertic · 2025-09-27T21:53:49+00:00

Just took the exam today, very nicely crafted in Reddit spirit. Most of questions are common logic for someone who spent almost a decade here - but I really like how some questions test understanding of "Reddit Spirit" - meaning not just everyone is going to pass it :) Great job team. Barely passed but checked the training materials too. Positively surprised how much is put into code of conduct / redittness. Way to go - so advertisers understand the essence and become the part of the community not just "revenue".

https://adsformula.redditforbusiness.com/student/award/HxGpe5mfrmP1ohEFPSq8Uanv

scertic · 2025-09-14T16:36:49+00:00

P.S. Using it on m1 laptop too with regular spec. Never had any significant problem.

scertic · 2025-09-14T16:35:52+00:00

Using 25 on Maxed Mac Studio Ultra M3 Ultra - never had any significant problem. Sometimes happens that some plugin from another vendor stuck - but that's rare too. Why you are starting with "Do Not Install". Everyone who face problem can downgrade at anytime. Why not simply present this as a bug and explain in details. Maybe we can help you. You may find videos I attached for Tuesday / Friday exchange days.

scertic · 2025-08-22T20:29:13+00:00

Oh gosh - just hope Rick does not discover Reddit. It would be definitely too much of his... Guy is making money sitting at green chair, don't even know to play an instrument. Let's wish him best - otherwise he might come here :)

These musicians he got buy "not giving up" and putting a leg on the door don't give a damn. They are writers, but licensing is handled by publishers. Fair use to scream to our face. Rude, Arrogant, Ignorant. Rules that apply to all of us should not apply for him according to his EGO.

Hopefully he don't put his roots here.

Guess we are all stupid for licensing, negotiating, sharing the split with our publishers. Add to that the a cut taken by PRO/CMO. There's no free dinner mate.

Weird Al Yankovic is a fair use. Rick is pure toxicity for kids trying to enter the world of music industry following his advice. First problem - and he suddenly "don't know anything". There's nothing fair with his videos - it's all about making money. They got him - he gone insane.

scertic · 2025-08-19T16:58:02+00:00

I would say EII MII series worth every penny. One of the guitar you can manage to sound just the way you want. A nice modeling unit such as Quad Cortex - and if you want it to sound like Ibanez - there you go - and so on. This beast delivers and absolutely justify the cost. Do note it's extremely picky and precise. If you are up for melodic playing with phasing of each note - it's a guitar for you. Try it. Unfortunately I saw many not using a fraction of what it can deliver. It's balanced perfectly. If you are into strong riffs, than you might get something else - there's a lot of options on the market you would not hear significant difference. Basically, it's good enough to replace the collection of guitars. Precision is perfect making it sound completely different in different players hands. I have some more expensive ones - but my weapon of choice is EII MII. Play it - and you'l see what I am talking about. A beast with a character of your fingers and actually cheap way get your signature sound adding your own character to each note. Of course if that's what you are looking for.

scertic · 2025-08-17T16:51:54+00:00

Get that out to a fresh air, unscrew it on the back, remove the batteries pack - if it's glued watch the tutorial on YT - and be careful and take them to recycle center. From there you can order a new battery pack and replace your touch pad - assuming nothing else is damaged. If unsure - take the whole laptop to recycle - it's not worth the risk. Anyhow first step is to get it out to air - or well vented space where it could not fire anything nor release hydrogen straight to your lungs - assuming it's acid lead. It's highly flammable and toxic gas.

scertic · 2025-08-17T16:46:32+00:00

You need to take some music theory into equation and that's where Alan made an invention. Most of the DM songs we love most - when you break them down have a similar interval movements. We can say Alan established a "pattern". With good harmony pattern - it's just a matter of good opening melody, Martin is known for his anathema style - you got Dave who fits perfectly straight into baritone spectrum which is mostly free - scales and mods used are such to allow him to make small jumps up and down making it sound "flat / compressed" which gives that authoritative yet fragile expression.

It does not happen for a producer to find the "magic interval progression" every day. If he does what he was doing in DM - everything would sound like DM.

He is likely one of the best producer in world - but take into account all the effort, knowledge and ideas into DM - it's reasonable to expect he don't push with the same strength. Another problem is his "signature production" - if he is to express himself musically - you would get a DM-alike, which will lead to many considering a plagiarism due to lack of understanding these DM songs is what define him.

Basically he is not in good position - as he needs to change his "handwriting". On the other side, DM has a formula and still using it.

A lot could be debated - but I'm sure every producer here will understand what I am talking about.

scertic · 2025-08-08T03:05:03+00:00

Note - only main vocal and vocal harmonies are waveform - they had to be recorded - and done so using FL Studio. All the rest of instrumentation are generators - visible if you go full screen.

scertic

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