St. Valentine’s Day or Valentine’s Day is an annual holiday held on February 14 celebrating romance and affection between lovers and significant others. With Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2014, less than a month away, we thought that we would highlight some of the royalty-free music on MusicRevolution.com (www.musicrevolution.com) that would work for your ad campaign, production or for background music on Valentine’s Day. We have some excellent royalty-free Valentine’s Day music. A search on MusicRevolution.com for “Valentine” yields 86 royalty-free music tracks-

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=Valentine&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=43&y=5

A search for “Valentine’s Day” yields the following 32 royalty-free music tracks–

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=valentine%27s+day&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=38&y=4

A search for “romantic” yields over 1.200 royalty-free music tracks—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=romantic&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=48&y=7

A search for “romance” yields nearly 400 royalty-free music tracks—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=romance&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=23&y=8

A search for “sentimental” yields over 5,000 royalty-free music tracks—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=sentimental&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=23&y=5

A search for “love” yields over 1,400 royalty-free music tracks—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=love&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=34&y=5

A search for “passion” yields nearly 400 royalty-free music tracks—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=passion&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=34&y=5

A search for “dreamy” yields nearly 400 royalty-free music tracks—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=dreamy&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=-104&y=-419

MusicRevolution.com also has a number of CDs, available in both physical and download CD format, with hand-selected royalty-free music tracks that are perfect for Valentine’s Day multi-media projects, including “Sentimental, Vol. 1” —

http://www.musicrevolution.com/cd_details/sentimental_vol_1/

With nearly 28,000 tracks of royalty-free music online, there are many other possible music choices to set the right mood for your Valentine’s Day ad campaign or project. MusicRevolution.com (www.musicrevolution.com) has some of the best royalty-free music available anywhere.

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Chris Cardell is the co-founder of MusicRevolution.com http://www.musicrevolution.com, a royalty-free music marketplace with nearly 28,000 tracks online where media producers, video producers, filmmakers, game developers, advertisers, businesses and other music buyers can license high-quality, affordable royalty-free music from an online community of professional musicians. MusicRevolution.com also provides custom music production and custom music streams. The entire MusicRevolution.com production music library is available for third-party distribution and bulk licensing for background music for retail, restaurants and businesses, and for other commercial applications. Cardell has been involved with digital content and E-Commerce since the mid-1990’s.

We receive requests on a regular basis for suggestions for royalty-free music that would be appropriate for “sizzle reels”. Sizzle reels, or demo reels, are a great way for organizations to provide a dynamic, multimedia overview of what they are all about. In addition to helping convey a corporate message and branding, sizzle reels can be very effective for keeping people engaged while they are waiting to hear a speaker at a corporate meeting, conference or tradeshow.

Of course, music to be used for a corporate sizzle reel needs to be cleared for commercial use, otherwise the organization risks copyright infringement and incurring potentially significant expenses. A popular song on iTunes for $0.99 is great for personal use, but it is not cleared for commercial or business use. An organization could pay significant fee (in the thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars) to use a recognizable popular music track in their sizzle reel. In addition to the prohibitive cost, a recognizable track of popular music could potentially be a distraction in delivering your corporate message or overview, since popular music like a song by Coldplay might be more memorable to your audience than your corporate message. 

When we think about sizzle reels, descriptive terms like “motivation, “inspiration”, “energy” and “upbeat” come to mind when selecting the right royalty-free music. After some of these recent requests, we specifically tagged a select group of tracks that will work well for many sizzle reels. A search on MusicRevolution.com (www.musicrevolution.com) for “sizzle reel” yields the following 26 tracks—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=sizzle+reel&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=40&y=8

Some of my favorite royalty-free music tracks for sizzle reels include—

Successful in Business (#01035391) by matsteiner-music

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?trackid=45295

Hope (#0050200) by Sheyn Love

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?trackid=19422

The Optimist (#00139668) by T. Brown

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?trackid=22321

Live Wire (#00001222) by Shockwave-Sound

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?trackid=1195

Be The Best (#00076784) by soundroad

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?trackid=20063

Reach the Top (#01043440) by run.fire.stop

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?trackid=45378

A search on MusicRevolution.com for “motivation” yields over 700 tracks, many of which could work well for a sizzle reel—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=motivation&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=44&y=3

A search on MusicRevolution.com for “inspiration” yields over 400 tracks, many of which could also work well for a sizzle reel—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=Inspiration&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=41&y=5

A search on MusicRevolution.com for “upbeat” yields over 1,600 tracks, many of which could also work well for a sizzle reel—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=upbeat&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=-104&y=-419

A search on MusicRevolution.com for “energy” yields nearly 1,000 tracks, many of which could also work well for a sizzle reel—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=energy&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=-104&y=-419

With nearly 28,000 tracks of royalty-free music online, there are many other possible music choices for sizzle reels on MusicRevolution.com.

A high-quality, royalty-free music track can keep your company legal and can help to complete your sizzle reel without breaking your budget. MusicRevolution.com (www.musicrevolution.com) has some of the best royalty-free music available anywhere.

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Chris Cardell is the co-founder of MusicRevolution.com http://www.musicrevolution.com, a royalty-free music marketplace with nearly 28,000 tracks online where media producers, video producers, filmmakers, game developers, advertisers, businesses and other music buyers can license high-quality, affordable royalty-free music from an online community of professional musicians. MusicRevolution.com also provides custom music production and custom music streams. The entire MusicRevolution.com production music library is available for third-party distribution and bulk licensing for background music for retail, restaurants and businesses, and for other commercial applications. Cardell has been involved with digital content and E-Commerce since the mid-1990’s.

I once had a perfectly-lit dinner with a woman far out of my league. She had sustained just enough emotional scars to not give a flip whether or not she made me look like a billionaire (she did).

Growing up her father had owned a piano store which I think heightened her sensitivity to chord changes. And she was the kind of woman who would listen to you talk about the things that had happened during your day and then feel what you should be feeling about those things. It was what psychologists would technically call a crap-load of empathy.

The music they played at this restaurant (The Grape, Atlanta, Georgia – circa 2006) was perfect. It was ambient. It was sexy. It was slow. And it had chord movement that made us feel like secret messages were being communicated to us.

Here’s a playlist for you, dear customer. For scenes in your video productions that need the kind of music perfect for well-lit, empathy-filled dinner dates :

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?
keyword=well+lit+conversation+blog&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instr
ument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=0&y=0

_

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Mike Bielenberg is a professional musician and co-founder of http://www.musicrevolution.com, a production music marketplace with over 28,000 tracks online where media producers, video producers, filmmakers, game developers, businesses and other music buyers can license high-quality, affordable royalty-free music from an online community of musicians mbielenberg@musicrevolution.com.

We’re proud to say that jazz music, like baseball, is an American invention and revolutionized the concept of improvised music. Jazz often conveys the same kind of timeless feeling as classical music, but without any of the pretense. Our production music library contains a huge collection of jazz music. We thought that we would highlight some of the royalty-free jazz music on MusicRevolution.com (www.musicrevolution.com) that could be used for a variety of purposes including film/movies, documentaries, TV and radio commercials, online video ads, corporate videos, web videos, trade show videos, animations, background music, on hold music and other multimedia projects.

A search on MusicRevolution.com for “jazz” yields nearly 4,000 royalty-free music tracks—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=jazz&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=34&y=4

A search on MusicRevolution.com for “swing” yields over 600 royalty-free music tracks—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=swing&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=47&y=8

A search on MusicRevolution.com for “fusion” yields over 200 royalty-free music tracks—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=fusion&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=41&y=5

A search on MusicRevolution.com for “big band” yields the following 84 royalty-free music tracks—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=big+band&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=44&y=5

A search on MusicRevolution.com for “ragtime” yields the following 45 royalty-free music tracks—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=ragtime&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=48&y=2

A search on MusicRevolution.com for “bebop” yields the following 16 royalty-free music tracks—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=bebop&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=35&y=7

MusicRevolution.com also has a number of CDs, available in both physical CD and download CD formats, with hand-selected royalty-free music tracks.  We have a great collection of royalty-free jazz music on “Jazz, Vol. 1” –

http://www.musicrevolution.com/cd_details/jazz_vol_1/ .

The jazz grooves in this collection, which include genres like acid jazz, fusion and big band, are classy and relaxed. This is a collection of royalty-free jazz music tracks that is really worth checking out.

With nearly 28,000 tracks of royalty-free music online in our production music library, MusicRevolution.com (www.musicrevolution.com) has some of the best royalty-free music available anywhere.

_________________________________________

Chris Cardell is the co-founder of MusicRevolution.com http://www.musicrevolution.com, a royalty-free music marketplace with nearly 28,000 tracks online where media producers, video producers, filmmakers, game developers, advertisers, businesses and other music buyers can license high-quality, affordable royalty-free music from an online community of professional musicians. MusicRevolution.com also provides custom music production and custom music streams. The entire MusicRevolution.com production music library is available for third-party distribution and bulk licensing for background music for retail, restaurants and businesses, and for other commercial applications. Cardell has been involved with digital content and E-Commerce since the mid-1990’s.

2013 was a very good year for MusicRevolution.com. Our community of professional musicians has helped us to create one of the most comprehensive and fastest growing production music libraries available anywhere, adding nearly 8,000 new tracks this year. MusicRevolution.com (www.musicrevolution.com) now has almost 28,000 tracks of royalty-free music online. And MusicRevolution.com’s high-quality music is being used in more media projects and in more retail and business locations for royalty-free background music.

MusicRevolution’s growing royalty-free music library includes every genre and style of music, including: On Hold, Fun, New Age, Rock, Comedy, Corporate, Drama, Energetic, Orchestral/Classical, Christmas/Holiday, Acoustic Guitar, Hip Hop, Retail, Sentimental, Advertising, Electronica, Country, Jazz, Piano and Vocals.

MusicRevolution.com has a very intuitive online search function, “Advanced Search,” that enables users to search by a range of criteria including application, mood, genre (20 genres), instruments, vocals or no vocals and influences, to find the right production music for their projects.  

We’ve helped hundreds of companies like IBM, Coca Cola, Microsoft, Ford, The Cartoon Network and many others with their music projects. With nearly 28,000 tracks online and access to hundreds of professional musicians, MusicRevolution.com (www.musicrevolution.com) has some of the best royalty-free music available anywhere. Single tracks start at just $9.99. Most tracks are priced at $49.99.

With our community of professional musicians, MusicRevolution.com can also help you to find the right musician for any style and genre of music to affordably meet your custom music production needs.

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Chris Cardell is the co-founder of MusicRevolution.com http://www.musicrevolution.com, a royalty-free music marketplace with nearly 28,000 tracks online where media producers, video producers, filmmakers, game developers, advertisers, businesses and other music buyers can license high-quality, affordable royalty-free music from an online community of professional musicians. MusicRevolution.com also provides custom music production and custom music streams. The entire MusicRevolution.com production music library is available for third-party distribution and bulk licensing for background music for retail, restaurants and businesses, and for other commercial applications. Cardell has been involved with digital content and E-Commerce since the mid-1990’s.

Location: Southhampton, Hampshire, United Kingdom

Member since: April 5, 2010

Tracks in portfolio on MusicRevolution.com: 886 (click here to hear all tracks) http://www.musicrevolution.com/search?artist=126

Background—

Colin Willsher has been writing music since the age of twelve. After progressing through various bands, he worked for ten years as a music librarian/copyright officer for ITV and is now a professional music composer for television and multimedia with countless broadcast & library placements.

Colin’s music spans all genres and he is equally comfortable writing contemporary film music or floor-quaking drum & bass. His music has been widely used by major television broadcasters and production companies including BBC, ITV, Channel 5, Discovery Channel and Sky, together with high profile corporate and commercials for companies such as Speedo, Twinings, Ernst & Young and a £6M advertising campaign for 888 Poker. Colin has been published by EMI and contributed to many of the top production music libraries.

–High profile projects or clients you have worked for?

I have completed over 200 commissions for the likes of ITV, BBC, Discovery Channel and others.

I haven’t done an awful lot of commercials but have enjoyed a few nice ones such as Speedo, Twinings and a multi-million pound campaign for 888 Poker. In fact that’s a much longer story of how it came about than it took to write it and quite a proud moment. The advertising agency were struggling and had trawled around all the top production music libraries and composers before they called me late one Friday afternoon and asked if I had anything suitable. I said, “Not really, but I can write you something now”. It was delivered within an hour, agreed that very night and on air by the Monday morning!

–Primary instrument?

I am foremost a keyboard player but also took up the saxophone about seven years ago when my son started learning it. It was always an instrument I aspired to but I didn’t get the chance at school and played trombone for a few years instead. I’m still not an amazing saxophonist but can make a reasonable sound and really enjoy it. My son however has literally taken off with it. He had passed both his Grade 8 Jazz and Classical exams by the age of 11 and has since been studying under Mornington Lockett at the Royal College in London. He has only just turned 15, so watch this space!

–Favorite music-making piece of gear or software you currently use?

For composing I now use Logic X having migrated from Cubase (which I had used since the ATARI ST) a few years ago. I am lucky to have a number of great sound libraries and software instruments at my disposal but I particularly love all the Spectratsonics stuff. STYLUS, OMNISPHERE and TRILLIAN are really my go to instruments for popular styles. For orchestral arranging I have the Vienna Symphonic Cube which I supplement with East West Symphonic Orchestra Gold.

I must also mention Melodyne which has been a very rewarding piece of software to own. I once had to do a soundalike of a Salvation Army Band to play over some archive footage on a BBC Documentary. The whole thing (Trumpets, Baritone Horns and even Tuba) were created from recordings of a single trumpet player.

–Piece of gear or software you wish you owned?

My KORG Triton Studio used to be my master keyboard and it still does a great job for live performance but that is probably the next thing that could use an upgrade. Not least because it is so heavy – it weighs the same as my 88-key weighted piano! I would really like to slim everything down a bit and start taking some of those gorgeous software instruments on the road but I haven’t really found an answer to it yet. Until they can squeeze a decent 88-note weighted keyboard into a backpack which can hook up to an iPad packed with the same instruments I use in the studio, there’s nothing that really excites me.

–Film score or song you admire? Why?

Having brought up two kids I have learned to appreciate a lot of the Disney works – particularly the lyric writing which is just sublime. Then “The Incredibles” was a fantastic score (by Michael Giacchino) which brought the big band back into play in a soundtrack – just awesome. His subsequent work on “Ratatouille” was also impressive but stylistically very different. Randy Newman is another who consistently comes up with amazing songs and scores that really hit the mark and touch you emotionally. Is that too many?

–Music education background?

I am largely a self-taught keyboard player, composer and more recently saxophonist and never took any official exams but returned to higher education at the age of 23 to study for a Professional Music Diploma. I was already composing professionally by then but wanted to see if there was more I could learn. This was a fantastic experience and my jazz piano and theory improved a great deal under the tutorship of renowned jazz pianist Liam Noble and course leader Charles Beale (who subsequently wrote the jazz syllabus for ABRSM).

Traffic was always a nightmare driving into London, so I would always arrive early and practice for an hour or so, then do a full day of lessons in composition/arranging, performance, recording, musicianship etc. and then practice until late before returning home. I was one of only four keyboard players on the course but was much more involved than most and said “yes” to everything – usually a last minute call for a drama show, big band performance or recording session. Good times.

–Memorable “Aha!” moment during your musical education?

Two really:

1. Firstly, I was a late starter musically speaking but had been messing around with a home organ, learning tunes I liked by ear (The Commodores, UB40). It wasn’t until I had a few keyboard lessons at about 13 that I realized all the chords I had been playing had names!

2. I was only just getting into jazz piano when I went back to music college and I think the eureka moment there was really when I discovered tritone substitutions. It opened up a whole new world of harmony to me that I had been completely unaware of. Much fun to be had with those!

–Most embarrassing music-related moment?

I would love to tell you about one nightmare gig with a celebrity singer who hadn’t bothered rehearsing with the band prior to an important event but I can’t mention any names which makes it kind of irrelevant. I just remember driving home going through all the songs we played and thinking, “did that really just happen?”.

–If you had a time machine and could record or perform once with any artist, who would it be?

Quincy Jones is really ‘the daddy’ as far as I’m concerned. Such a prolific arranger and musician across so many genres – I think I could learn an awful lot from working with him for a day.

–Moment you first knew you would be a musician?

I don’t remember ever having that realisation and am still reluctant to take it for granted, even today. You just never know what’s around the corner and things are getting tougher all the time. But I am really lucky to be doing what I am doing and earn a reasonable living from it. Just to have got so far through life, have a decent home and studio and having been able to bring up a family doing what I love doing is just a delight. I am living the dream!

–Advice you would give to a younger family member interested in a music career?

Well I have two, so I can answer that (at least the way I see it now). I just believe in trying to keep as many options open as possible but to follow your dreams as far as they can take you. There may come a time when you have to have that reality check and think seriously about getting a ‘proper’ job but you can always make that change and luckily for me that time still hasn’t come yet! As a self-employed musician you have to be adaptable, do your own marketing, accounts etc. I’ve got involved in video production, multimedia, all sorts of things, so you develop skills along the way that you can use elsewhere if need be.

–Five songs or albums you’d take with you to a desert island?

Way too difficult but I would need some Luther Vandross, Will Downing and Jamie Cullum.

–If you could master another instrument, what would it be?

Saxophone (I’m working on it!).

–Favorite time of day to work in your studio?

I am still very much a night owl. My best ideas come late in the evening and then I struggle to rest until it’s finished. When I was about 18, my dad (bless him) took a photo of me (which I will never allow to be released) sat at my keyboard, composing something which came to me in the middle of the night – stark naked!

–2 or 3 of your favorite tracks that you would want us to feature in the blog.

“20s Bash” http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=20s+Bash&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=48&y=4

“Meet The Gang” http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=Meet+The+Gang&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=48&y=3

“I Remember When” http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=I+Remember+When&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=28&y=5

–Which of your tracks sell well?

I worked for a number of years in the Music Copyright department of my local TV station, so I think I have a bit of an idea of the sort of music the editors will always be looking for – even if it’s just a little soundbyte, effect or drone. Tracks like

“Loser” http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?trackid=33628 and

“Heartbeats” http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?trackid=33531

are prime examples which have been downloaded an awful lot.

Strangely, my most popular track is probably “20s Bash” http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?trackid=32788

“20s Bash” is a 1920’s style piece featuring live trumpet and sax. The thing I’ve discovered with a lot of my music is that using ‘live’ instruments makes a huge difference to the perceived quality and longevity of a track. Samples can sound out of date very quickly.

We thank Colin for sharing some of his musical background with us and for contributing his tracks to MusicRevolution.com, the Royalty-Free Music Marketplace. Colin’s music spans all genres and he is equally comfortable writing contemporary film music or floor-quaking drum & bass. Colin is now a supplier to only the very best royalty-free music sites, like MusicRevolution, where his music can now be purchased and incorporated into virtually any media project for very little cost. Check out Colin’s music and I’m sure you will find something to suit your project.

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Chris Cardell is the co-founder of MusicRevolution.com http://www.musicrevolution.com, a royalty-free music marketplace with nearly 28,000 tracks online where media producers, video producers, filmmakers, game developers, advertisers, businesses and other music buyers can license high-quality, affordable royalty-free music from an online community of professional musicians. MusicRevolution.com also provides custom music production and custom music streams. The entire MusicRevolution.com production music library is available for third-party distribution and bulk licensing for background music for retail, restaurants and businesses, and for other commercial applications. Cardell has been involved with digital content and E-Commerce since the mid-1990’s.

Location: Takoma Park, Maryland, U.S.A.

Member since: April 5, 2010

Tracks in portfolio on MusicRevolution.com: 29 (click here to hear all tracks) http://www.musicrevolution.com/search?artist=129

Background—

Steve Steckler is a composer and musician who creates original music and sound design for commercials, long-form television programming, film, radio and the web.

–High profile projects or clients you have worked for?

I co-wrote the series music for Discovery Investigation Channel’s “Real Interrogations” and “Main Street Mysteries”, and the opening theme for Discovery Green Channel’s “Total Wrecklamation”.  I scored National Geographic shows “Cuban Crocs”, “Climbing K2” and “Diving Shark Alley”.   Advertising music includes TV and radio spots for DC Lottery, Boscov’s store, Comcast, Pennsylvania Health and numerous political ads.  I also wrote music for several documentaries – most recently a film called “Shattered Sky” about global warming and the ozone layer.

–Primary instrument?

I’m an old-school rock and blues guitar player, so it’s always a blast when a job calls for guitar – maybe some slide, or a straight-up Les Paul plugged into a Marshall.  I try to have a few uncommon stringed instruments lying around for inspiration, like I picked up a mini-bouzouki from Athens last year (a tzouras).  I have no idea how to tune it properly, but it makes amazing resonant sounds.

–Favorite music-making piece of gear or software you currently use?

For scoring I rely heavily on Spectrasonics Stylus, Omnisphere and Trillian.  I also use Kontakt for orchestral parts.  But I’m a studio owner in the Washington DC area and know a lot of incredible musicians.  So when budgets permit, I love to bring in live drummers, horns, string players, etc.

–Piece of gear or software you wish you owned?

Well, a vintage U47 would be nice…Although I’d be psyched to own a new Neumann M-149, or maybe a few more API mic pre’s.

–Moment you first knew you would be a musician?

I always played music since I was a kid.  My parents signed me up for piano lessons, and that was cool but I found myself spending a lot of time zoning out and letting my hands randomly fall on the keyboard.  I would make up my own rhythms and scales – they made sense to me at the time.  Now sometimes if I need a burst of inspiration I’ll go back to that approach – just bang and create sounds.  Then I’ll work through them with the editor and try to extract moments of inspiration, giving both halves of my brain a chance to participate.

I remember the first time I walked into a professional recording studio and what it felt like.  The quality of silence when the doors shut, being around the dazzling array of technology, and how huge the music sounded through those speakers.  I knew I wanted to spend a lot of time in that environment, and work with other people who were passionate about music.

Now of course, there are so many tools for creating music that composers couldn’t have dreamed of 10 years ago.  The last scoring gig I did the producers were on the other side of the country, and we sent audio and video clips back and forth very early in the production.  I was dynamically involved in creating the moods of the film, and even though we were far apart geographically, it really felt like I was part of the team.

I am thankful every day to be able to work in this environment, doing what I love!

Some of your favorite tracks that you would want us to feature in the blog.

“Home Run” http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?trackid=29755

“Freedom” http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?trackid=29753

“GroovyBath_extendedmix” http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?trackid=434

We thank Steve for sharing some of his musical background with us and for contributing his tracks to MusicRevolution.com, the Royalty-Free Music Marketplace. Steve’s music is anything but stock music. Steve’s music has a great sound for corporate and retail use. If you need original music for commercials, long-form television programming, film, radio and the web, give Steve Steckler’s music a listen.

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Chris Cardell is the co-founder of MusicRevolution.com http://www.musicrevolution.com, a royalty-free music marketplace with nearly 28,000 tracks online where media producers, video producers, filmmakers, game developers, advertisers, businesses and other music buyers can license high-quality, affordable royalty-free music from an online community of professional musicians. MusicRevolution.com also provides custom music production and custom music streams. The entire MusicRevolution.com production music library is available for third-party distribution and bulk licensing for background music for retail, restaurants and businesses, and for other commercial applications. Cardell has been involved with digital content and E-Commerce since the mid-1990’s.

In January 2013, TuneCore, a giant of independent music distribution, made industry headlines when it’s founder/CEO Jeff Price was ousted by the company’s new group of investors. The reason? A $500.00 bed & breakfast charge on Price’s expense report that the new owners insist was fraudulent because the receipt was in Word format*.

Employees were shocked and angered. Assumptions were made that venture capital firm Opus Venture had planned this from the start. And Price publicly asked the obvious question: “If they’re capable of doing this to me, what are they doing for artists?”

*(The charge was legitimate according to a Techdirt Journalist who spoke to the bed & breakfast owner).

Despite the new owners’ desire to remove Price from company leadership, they are moving forward with his vision to offer performing rights organization (PRO) administration services to TuneCore artists.

TuneCore is calling this service “Music Publishing Administration”. For a $75.00 fee they will assume control of 50% of your performance royalties. The strategic assumption is that by leveraging their size, TuneCore will get money flowing OUT of ASCAP more effectively than you can, just as they got your music flowing IN to iTunes more easily than you would have wanted to do yourself.

The math behind performance royalties is complicated so I’ll explain. Any performance royalties collected by a songwriter’s respective PRO (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC) are viewed as a “two pie” scenario that totals up to 200%. One of those pies is the 100% “writers” share which is normally divided between the people that made a valid creative contribution to the song. Co-writers and band mates are an obvious example, but many cronies, studio owners, managers & girlfriends have also enjoyed portions of this pie. The second pie is the “publishers” share which goes to the businessmen and women who promote, exploit, market and often finance the music.

The language of business is a different language than that of music-making. The people who speak the language of business have their own culture and set of norms. And thus they have their own pie.

TuneCore’s new product only addresses the “business” pie. They take 10% off the top and remit the rest to the artist (unless TuneCore’s licensing team secured the project. In that case TuneCore takes 20%).

At this point I should raise my hand and say that MusicRevolution.com also has PRO publishing entities (Meeped Publishing/ASCAP and Bimean Publishing/BMI) that can act as publisher for MusicRevolution musicians who do not already have that set up. And for this we do NOT charge a $75.00 fee. I should also say we recently launched a sister company, NonProMusic.com, to exclusively serve clients who wish to only use music created by non-pro musicians (hint: it’s a lot less red tape)

Also, TuneCore only pursues TV licensing deals for tracks that are enrolled in their Publishing Administration service. If you don’t let them handle your publishing, their TV/film team won’t seek licenses on your behalf. In contrast, we pursue every kind of sync and background music license for our musicians regardless of whether or not we are listed as PRO publisher of a track. We believe that if a musician has taken the time to set up their own PRO publishing entity, they can keep that money. They’ve earned it.

Here are some highlights from TuneCore’s Terms and Conditions of which artists should be aware:

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“The ‘Administration Term’ of this agreement shall be for an initial period of one (1) year, commencing on the date the Set Up Fee is received and processed by Company. After the initial period, the Administration Term shall automatically renew and extend for additional one (1) year periods unless you give Company written notice of termination at least sixty (60) days prior to the end of the period then in effect.”

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“The rights granted under this Agreement shall be assigned by Company to one or more of its affiliated music publishing entities. These include TuneCore Digital Music (BMI), TuneCore Publishing (ASCAP), TuneCore Songs (SESAC) and other similar companies organized for affiliation with existing collection organizations and societies throughout the Territory.”

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“With the respect to any Song(s) that are not currently owned by or registered to a company previously established by you, you appoint Company as the designated publisher of such Song(s) during the Administration Term.”

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“Concurrently with your execution of this amendment, you will supply Company with copies of any existing licenses or other agreements concerning the Songs.”

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This last one should give musicians pause. I’m not saying that TuneCore isn’t offering a bad service here. 10% is not an outrageous commission. But I think TuneCore’s product is targeted towards music that is “fresh off the bus” and has no previous licenses in place. If you’ve got music that is already earning PRO income, signing up for the TuneCore’s new publishing administration product means they’ll start earning 10% of work they didn’t do. Whether or not that’s ok depends on how much money that particular track has earned for you so far…and whether or not you think TuneCore will be able to move that needle in the right direction.

Location: Bucharest, Romania

Member since: September 20, 2013

Tracks in portfolio on MusicRevolution.com: 183 (click here to hear all tracks) http://www.musicrevolution.com/search?artist=79618

Background—

Andrei Vladulescu, AKA Livingroom Classics, is a musician who is keen to express himself artistically.  Livingroom Classics’ music is suitable for a range of productions including films, TV, documentaries, commercials, website audio, corporate videos, music videos and other new media applications.

–Primary instrument?

The guitar; I am more attracted to the acoustic guitar, but the guitar in general.

–Favorite music-making piece of gear or software you currently use?

My favorite piece of software is the EWQLSO Gold vst plugin.

–Piece of gear or software you wish you owned?

Actually, I wish I had a Fender Precision bass and the blue Classic Vibe Squier.

–Film score or song you admire? Why?

I’m a fan of the 1978 “Superman” soundtrack.

I’m also a big fan of Thomas Newman’s ‘Scent of a Woman’ soundtrack and James Horner’s ‘Star Trek – The Wrath of Khan’ and ‘The Land Before Time’.

I’m also quite attached to the ‘Drive (2011)’ soundtrack – Kavinsky’s ‘Nightcall’ and Desire’s ‘Under Your Spell’.

They all send chills down my spine.

–Most embarrassing music-related moment?

Pretty much all my stage related moments when I played as a guitarist in my ex-band’s concerts. I was always very awkward and rigid while playing. The public pretty much always intimidated me. There were, of course, the classic moments when my guitar strings would break in the middle of the song, or the moments when the audience would boo us (but that was with another band).

One embarrassing moment was at a concert when during a song that I forgot a part of it and thought I had finished the song and just stopped playing. The other members were caught by surprise and everything quickly fell apart. The audience thought it was over so they began applauding but I then remembered I still hadn’t done the solo so I made desperate signs to the audience to stop applauding trying to say it’s not over yet. I began playing again (after some laughter from the audience) from the solo onward, but the singers didn’t know what to do because I also kind of messed up the structure of the song so it was all just an embarrassing mess, with everybody just kind of playing whatever they remembered until we finally ended it and wiped the sweat off our foreheads feeling relieved that we managed to pull that off and quickly going for the beers sitting in front of us 🙂

–If you had a time machine and could record or perform once with any artist, who would it be?

Well, I’m not as good as any of my favorite artists so I couldn’t pick one to perform with, but I definitely would’ve liked meeting Elvis in his prime: sort of hanging out with him backstage before a concert, when nobody knew him, like in 54 or so.

–Moment you first knew you would be a musician?

I’m not sure that moment has arrived. I had music in my mind since like 15-16 (I’m 31 now), but I don’t think I ever knew as a certain thing that I would be a musician and I still have lots of doubts. There were and are, however, many moments when I realized that there’s nothing else I’d rather do. For now, I’m more like a musician wannabe.

–Advice you would give to a younger family member interested in a music career?

Yes: start early I would say, and always choose the right people. Like if they were to play in a band, always be wary when choosing band members. Also, I’d tell them that if they know they would rather do music than anything else, then they should not compromise at all – like taking a job to support them self while pursuing their dreams or pursuing education that’s not related to music or something like that, that would ultimately just distract them. I would also tell them to think of music like they would of any other career – as something that requires work and dedication and decency – like any other career option. To not get into the illusions of fame or drugs/money and to just try to earn a decent living from it and to limit his earnings to that– to use his future music career as a means to express his feelings and not as a scheme to get rich. To treat it as a 9 to 5 job, but a job that he would enjoy. This is the advice that I’d probably give to me too, because I’ve yet to follow them.

–Five songs or albums you’d take with you to a desert island?

– A compilation of ‘The Ink Spots’

– An album of Chopin’s nocturnes

– Elvis’s Christmas album 1957

– Tiesto’s ‘Elements of Life’ album

– Elvis’s ‘The Sun Sessions’ compilation

And if there is room for a sixth, Led Zeppelin’s live double album ‘The Song Remains the Same”.

–If you could master another instrument, what would it be?

The piano seems quite interesting.

–Favorite time of day to work in your studio?

Around 10-11 a.m.

–2 or 3 of your favorite tracks that you would want us to feature in the blog.

‘Broken Love’ http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?trackid=43537

‘Sunshine Carousel’ http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?trackid=43441

‘She Touches’ http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?trackid=43443

We thank Andrei and Livingroom Classics for sharing some of his musical background with us and for contributing his tracks to MusicRevolution.com, the Royalty-Free Music Marketplace. If you need guitar-based music for a project, then give Livingroom Classics’ music a listen.

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Chris Cardell is the co-founder of MusicRevolution.com http://www.musicrevolution.com, a royalty-free music marketplace with nearly 28,000 tracks online where media producers, video producers, filmmakers, game developers, advertisers, businesses and other music buyers can license high-quality, affordable royalty-free music from an online community of professional musicians. MusicRevolution.com also provides custom music production and custom music streams. The entire MusicRevolution.com production music library is available for third-party distribution and bulk licensing for background music for retail, restaurants and businesses, and for other commercial applications. Cardell has been involved with digital content and E-Commerce since the mid-1990’s.

The “Select Influences” feature is one of the innovative aspects of the “Advanced Search” function on MusicRevolution.com. While musicians and music buyers may describe music by using terms such as orchestral, “rock”, “energetic” and “electric guitar”, they often think of the production music that they are looking for based on the sound and feel of a popular artist or band, such as The Rolling Stones, or a famous composer such as John Williams. This is why we built the “Select Influences” feature into the “Advanced Search” on MusicRevolution.com (www.musicrevolution.com).

As an example, if you are looking for a royalty-free music track that sounds or feels like music by John Williams of “Star Wars” fame, click on “Select Influences” in the “Advanced Search” on MusicRevolution.com, scroll down and click on “John Williams”, then click “Search”. The search for “John Williams” returns the following 373 royalty-free tracks that were influenced by John Williams—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=john+williams&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=40&y=6

A search for “Hans Zimmer” returns over 500 royalty-free tracks that were influenced by Hans Zimmer—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=hans+zimmer&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=24&y=4

A search for “Philip Glass” returns 77 royalty-free tracks that were influenced by Philip Glass—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=philip+glass&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=26&y=6

A search for “Vangelis” returns over 150 royalty-free tracks that were influenced by Vangelis—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=vangelis&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=27&y=5

A search for “Danny Elfman” returns over 700 royalty-free tracks that were influenced by Danny Elfman—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=danny+elfman&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=39&y=2

A search for “Aaron Copland” returns over 100 royalty-free tracks that were influenced by Aaron Copland—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=aaron+copland&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=44&y=7

A search for “James Newton Howard” returns over 400 royalty-free tracks that were influenced by James Newton Howard—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=james+newton+howard&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=36&y=5

A search for “Howard Shore” returns 71 royalty-free tracks that were influenced by Howard Shore—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=howard+shore&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=46&y=5

A search for “Morricone” returns 41 royalty-free tracks that were influenced by Ennio Morricone—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=morricone&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=28&y=6

A search for “James Horner” returns 68 royalty-free tracks that were influenced by James Horner—

http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?keyword=James+Horner&application=0&mood=0&genre=0&instrument=0&influence=&vocals=1&results=20&x=39&y=5

While we don’t represent these great modern composers, MusicRevolution.com has an extensive selection of royalty-free music that was influenced by these and other famous composers and musicians.

With nearly 28,000 tracks of royalty-free music online in every genre and style, MusicRevolution.com has the production music that you need.

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Chris Cardell is the co-founder of MusicRevolution.com http://www.musicrevolution.com, a royalty-free music marketplace with nearly 28,000 tracks online where media producers, video producers, filmmakers, game developers, advertisers, businesses and other music buyers can license high-quality, affordable royalty-free music from an online community of professional musicians. MusicRevolution.com also provides custom music production and custom music streams. The entire MusicRevolution.com production music library is available for third-party distribution and bulk licensing for background music for retail, restaurants and businesses, and for other commercial applications. Cardell has been involved with digital content and E-Commerce since the mid-1990’s.