A producer told me something today that I need to run by you guys...

[Moe Shinola]

I had a meeting today with a guy who's produced a lot of records in Nashville. He said something to the effect that if I create my own backing track using, say, royalty free samples and midi drum loops I bought from Groove Monkee or someplace like that, that record labels, streaming services or radio programmers would not touch it because it wouldn't "scan"; meaning there weren't people who you identify who played those parts, for royalty purposes. But this dosen't make sense with all the people nowadays getting famous off songs they recorded in GarageBand, and surely they didn't use real backing musicians. Sounds to me like a not-very-well-informed opinion. Am I right about this?

[zerocrossing]

The odds of you making money from your music are so astronomically low that I wouldn't worry. On the other hand, to me that seems like painting by number, and not that rewarding.

[christian f.]

This is 100% BS !

[Shabdahbriah]

That sounds really odd, if not completely bogus to me as well. The biggest (though remote) potential down side in using "royalty free samples" to me, would be that if they are (particularly) 'melodic', they may have already been used, and you might get an infringement "claim" by that user, or a hit by some streaming algorithm. Youtube has had some issues with this. (IIRC) Still, dismissing an entire (and currently predominant) production methodology seems way off base. I'd do some research into some independent Nashville artists production techniques. I suspect more than a few do what you are intending to do. {2c}

[mjudge55]

Was he just saying it's better to have name artists on your tracks rather than just being some lone rando programming everything using prefab loops? I can see that for obvious reasons.

[Moe Shinola]

Was he just saying it's better to have name artists on your tracks rather than just being some lone rando programming everything using prefab loops? I can see that for obvious reasons.

I guess. But I like being a lone rando. Besides, I can't afford all those name sidemen, I've been resigned to doing it all myself.

[Constructed Identity]

I had a meeting today with a guy who's produced a lot of records in Nashville. He said something to the effect that if I create my own backing track using, say, royalty free samples and midi drum loops I bought from Groove Monkee or someplace like that, that record labels, streaming services or radio programmers would not touch it because it wouldn't "scan"; meaning there weren't people who you identify who played those parts, for royalty purposes. But this dosen't make sense with all the people nowadays getting famous off songs they recorded in GarageBand, and surely they didn't use real backing musicians. Sounds to me like a not-very-well-informed opinion. Am I right about this?

99% of what you hear from producers is bullshit- not me though, I come here to be honest and get flamed for it.

[mjudge55]

Was he just saying it's better to have name artists on your tracks rather than just being some lone rando programming everything using prefab loops? I can see that for obvious reasons.

I guess. But I like being a lone rando. Besides, I can't afford all those name sidemen, I've been resigned to doing it all myself.

Yeah I mean most people don’t buy sidemen. It’s more like through years of building community these musicians become your friends and you make music with them and a scene sort of builds and the label is like ‘yeah I think there’s an audience for this’.

[thecontrolcentre]

But this dosen't make sense with all the people nowadays getting famous off songs they recorded in GarageBand, and surely they didn't use real backing musicians. Sounds to me like a not-very-well-informed opinion. Am I right about this?

Yes

[PatchAdamz]

I have been asked this question by record labels.
Apparently, they do take this into consideration.
I thought it was an odd question as so much music made today uses loops and samples.
I wasn't too concerned, but there are some loops and samples that a lot of people have used.
Perhaps those overused loops and samples are more of an issue, then using loops and samples for music making.

[zerocrossing]

Was he just saying it's better to have name artists on your tracks rather than just being some lone rando programming everything using prefab loops? I can see that for obvious reasons.

I guess. But I like being a lone rando. Besides, I can't afford all those name sidemen, I've been resigned to doing it all myself.

Yeah I mean most people don’t buy sidemen. It’s more like through years of building community these musicians become your friends and you make music with them and a scene sort of builds and the label is like ‘yeah I think there’s an audience for this’.

Yeah, but you can easily buy a multisampled drum kit and make your own beats from scratch in your DAW. That costs very little, and in the end you will have something unique that you actually made .

[mjudge55]

Was he just saying it's better to have name artists on your tracks rather than just being some lone rando programming everything using prefab loops? I can see that for obvious reasons.

I guess. But I like being a lone rando. Besides, I can't afford all those name sidemen, I've been resigned to doing it all myself.

Yeah I mean most people don’t buy sidemen. It’s more like through years of building community these musicians become your friends and you make music with them and a scene sort of builds and the label is like ‘yeah I think there’s an audience for this’.

Yeah, but you can easily buy a multisampled drum kit and make your own beats from scratch in your DAW. That costs very little, and in the end you will have something unique that you actually made .

Right well a lot of these incompetent Nashville producers just assume some guy who can actually play drums live on a drum kit and has fans who will instantly buy anything he's associated with is a hotter commodity than me and Kontakt in a basement in Spanaway, WA and I just think that's very stupid and/or unfair. The real victims are the producers' kids though, they probably have no money for food, their dads being all incompetent like that.

[osiris]

Probably because the Groove Monkee User Agreement is so clear:

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