Music and Song Production

Writing a good song or piece of music is the core challenge for both beginners and professionals alike. While the creative process is different for everyone, it’s important to give the material the best possible chance at success.

Having a fresh set of ears listen to your ideas, a musician to make suggestions on melody and chords, or a vocal coach to help you get the best out of your performance, are things every artist should consider.

Craig has worked with some of Australia’s most prominent singers, songwriters and composers and has helped bring countless songs into the world. Whether it be writing a song from scratch or polishing up a developed work, Craig can jump in where needed.

With a well equipped music production suite and recording studio, Paxus provides a convenient one stop shop to help get your song from concept, to a mixed and mastered recording.

The Process

1. Chat

We invite you to the studio (if practical) to discuss what you would like us to do. We make sure we are on the same page, and have the same vision of the outcome. We discuss budget, agree on any copyright splits (if applicable) and timeframes. We can also listen to other song references and any song demos or roughs you might have. Once we are all happy we understand the scope of the work, we will ask you to leave it with us to work on.

APRA: (Australasian Performing Right Association)

If you haven’t already registered the songs, you should. This protects your rights as the writer of the song.

If the song lyrics and music are a collaboration between you and others (including Paxus), a percentage split needs to be agreed before you register. Normally, Paxus will claim a percentage if we have contributed to the song lyrics, melody and/or chords. In some instances, this can also apply if all parties agree the music production itself plays a key role in the song’s identity (eg; signature sounds or themes). If we have only contributed music accompaniment to a pre-existing song for example, or only provided recording and mixing services, 100% would be credited to you and any other collaborators.

Ownership of the Master

As the producer/creator of the sound recording, Paxus remains licensor of any masters we make until they have been paid for in full (The buyout amount). If we have agreed on a reduced upfront fee PLUS a 25% share of sales, the paying client is initially granted license to use the tracks (ie sale, broadcast etc), and all rights will be transferred to the client once the BUYOUT amount is met (from accrual of sales and royalties). If we have agreed to a buyout agreement, then the masters are transferred as soon as payment is made in full .

If/when you upload the master tracks to the streaming sites via DistroKid, TuneCore etc while Paxus is still licensor, you must let us know the following details so we can register them with PPCA:

• Title of song (Exactly as presented when uploaded)

• Date of Release

• Your name (Exactly as presented when uploaded)

• ISRC Number (Provided automatically when track is uploaded to DistroKid or similar)

Distribution (Distrokid or similar)

Unless we have agreed on a ‘buyout’ deal upfront for the recordings, we usually propose a percentage split of revenue of the tracks for the life of the release. This enables us to offer affordable upfront rates for our production services. This would be established with you at the beginning of the work. Applying the split is easily done within most of the distribution services like Distrokid. You just need to follow the instructions in the "Splits" menus, and use the email address paxusproductions@gmail.com to allocate the agreed percentage.

Credit

It’s customary to credit the producer wherever possible and relevent. If you plan to promote the track, we should be credited as the producer…. Something like ‘Music produced by Craig Bryant at Paxus Productions’. Also if you tag Paxus Productions in any relevant social media post, we can help promotion by sending it through our channels too.