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The brochure very briefly outlines, some of the things that I consider to be paramount. I would have liked to have gone into more detail but the specified word count made it difficult to do so. However each section of the brochure does direct the reader to a website where more information on each of the subject matters can be obtained. For this part of the assignment I aim to write an evaluative reflection of the points raised in the brochure and discuss the necessity, usefulness and practicality of them.
Some of the points, for example the business structure and employment law sections of the brochure have been intentionally left out as they are more general points as opposed to being specific to the music industry and I also felt that there was not a lot to be discussed in these areas in regard to their necessity, usefulness and practicality. I have also left out Intellectual Property, as it is such a difficult thing to keep on top of, although I will say that the practicality of enforcing it is very low.
For each section below I have started with a table that shows the necessity, usefulness and practicality for each of the points I will discuss. * Necessity: Is this really necessary? * usefulness: How useful Is this to you as a record label? Practicality: How practical Is this to Implement? Scores range from 1 to 5 with 1 being the lowest. For example: not necessary at all, not useful at all or very difficult to Implement. 5 being the highest, for example: extremely necessary, extremely useful or extremely easy to Implement.
Necessity I usefulness I Practicality PAT Testing 15 13 15 Fire Signs 15 15 1 5 Fire Alarm Checked Regularly 15 15 15 1 Ere law states that if you run a small, low risk business with less than 50 employees then you must have at least one HOSE qualified first eider on site at all times. This is obviously a necessity as well as being very useful in a recording studio because of the high volume of electrical equipment that is used.
The practicality of this did not score a 5 in the table because of the fact that recording studios are often in use 24 hours a day which means that you need to have at least 3 qualified first eiders and one must be there at all times. Portable appliance testing (PAT) is a legal requirement for any company that has any type of electrical equipment in the workplace (even a kettle). Appliances should be tested by a person who is qualified to do so, no less than once a year.
This is not particularly useful to a company unless somebody was to electrocute him or herself, but it is a necessity as well as being easily implemented. In the brochure I also mentioned risk assessments. These were only brief and only aimed at carrying out a risk assessment in the office studio. If this were applied to a live concert situation then there would be a lot more to consider (Information Obtained from “Example risk assessment for a nightclub. ” (Appendix 1). Falls from height * Slips, trips and falls * Electricity * Noise * Violence * Glazing and mirrors * Gas Hypodermic needles * Manual handling * Transport * CO Leakage * Pyrotechnics * Lasers * Smoke and fog * Hanging drapes & inflatable’s NOISE LEGISLATION I Necessity I Usefulness I Practicality I Safe Noise Levels In A Studio | 5 13 1 2 As mentioned in the brochure, it can be damaging to the ear to listen to music for prolonged amounts of time at a high volume.
Therefore it is of course necessary to at least attempt to keep the music to a safe level. This can be difficult to implement for ‘arioso reasons. Some Rock bands might like to listen to there songs loud and as they re paying customers in your studio it is difficult to say ‘no’ to them as they might decide to take their custom elsewhere in future. Also, drums are loud and there is not a lot that can really be done about that and when recording guitars it is sometimes necessary to drive the amps really hard to achieve the tone that you are looking for.
Of course live rooms can be sound proofed but this does not help the person who is in the room being recorded. So although it is a necessity and its also ‘ere useful to apply noise regulations in a studio, for safety reasons and of course so s not to annoy the neighbors, sometimes it can be difficult to do so. The key is to take regular break so as not to prolong the exposure. Nightclubs fall under the “Control of noise at work” Regulation (See Appendix 2).
Clubs must have limiters on their sound system to keep them under a certain amount of decibels. This is the responsibility of the venue and not the organizer of the event, which makes it a lot more practical to implement. COPYRIGHT I Necessity I Usefulness I Practicality Registering With IMPACTS 15 15 1 Sample Clearance | 4 15 12 1 It is the record companies duty to make sure that song-writers (or publishers) get the none that is due to them whenever a copy of their music is sold.
The AMPS Mechanical Copyright Protection Society), is the organization that collects this. In the days when this society was first formed, it was so called because it was based on the mechanical production of physical product like Cad’s and vinyl records. For every intended unit to be manufactured the AMPS would charge a set amount and then Issue a license which would then be presented to the pressing plant, allowing them to press the licensed amount. Today, with the advent of digital media, things work a little bit differently.
It could be argued that because there is no mechanical process used when making an MPH, you should not have to pay for an AMPS license, but of course that isn’t the case. Most reputable digital download shops, tunes included, automatically send payment to the AMPS when a song is sold, this is identified by the songs ISRC code and the money is allocated to the intended recipient. The figures in the above table are related to the new system, as it is a lot more practical to implement now.
Also it is more accurate now as the label only pays for what it has actually sold, as opposed to owe many it pressed, as this could mean the song-writer receives a lot more money Sample clearance is a bit of a grey area, especially where dance music is concerned and there is a saying that goes “if you get a hit you’ll get a writ”, meaning that if you sell a couple of hundred copies you will probably never hear anything, but if you start selling big units then someone is going to come along and ask for their share, if you have illegally sampled them.
Obviously if you steal the acceptable of a whole song it is worse than taking one bar of a simple drum loop, but either way, it is illegal. The legal way to go about it is to clear the sample by contacting the artist, label and publisher and hoping they will grant you permission to use it. But there is of course going to be a fee. Or you could use a company that specialize in sample clearance like Sample Clearance Services LTD. (http://www. Complaisance. Mom) “Sample-clearance companies usually charge a flat rate: for example, Sample Clearance Services’ web site states that their “standard fees for sample clearance are IEEE-IEEE per clearance”. Bear in mind that one sample may require two clearances: en for the sound recording and another for the publishing. ” (Salmon, 2008) So the question is, is there a necessity to clear samples, and the answer really is, it depends what it is. If it were a drum loop I would say that it’s not an issue because somewhere along the line, that drum loop has probably appeared on a royalty free sample CD.