September 27, 2014

Individual Track Download vs Virtual CD

In today's world folks like to download individual tracks to meet an immediate need.  They tend to ignore the "Lifetime Blanket" each track comes with and treat their downloads more nearly as "needle drops".  Are they building a useful library for the future? Maybe.  They trade off higher unit costs for cash flow budgeting.  No real problem and from a fiscal point of view perhaps the best course.  But what about building a library with lower unit costs?  Two ways to do it.  Buy a CSS bulk download plan and save up to 90% (yes 90%) or buy virtual CDs (we call them Q-Discs).  The old rule of thumb on a CD volume was if 3 tunes were immediately useful, the disc was worth buying on the assumption that sooner or later a client would want the unused tunes in a project.  Remember another rule of thumb: there ain't no accounting for taste.  So taking this to its final conclusion, you can lower unit costs with a bulk download plan ($7 unit costs are easy to achieve and as low as $3 is very doable) or buy a Q-Disc.  As an example, a Q-Disc of say Super Themes vol 1 would cost $99.  If you like 3 tunes and buy them individually you would pay $120.  But with 36 tracks on the Q-Disc your unit cost vs individual download would only be $2.75 ($8.25 if you only count the 12 base tracks).  And what if you bought 2 Q-Discs?  The 2nd one would be 50% off and the unit costs go down again.  Something to think about.

September 25, 2014

What Does "Royalty Free Music" Really Mean?

Royalty Free Music is a body of works which is licensed with a bundle of rights for one up front fee.  Generally the term is 50- 99 years hence the alternative term "Lifetime Blanket".  When music is licensed by the individual use or production, it is "needle drop" or "laser drop" music.  Challenge those that call themselves "royalty free music" libraries when in fact they are "needle drop" libraries.  Be wary of re-titled music and music simply being merchandised or retailed by "libraries" that have no actual involvement in music creation.

September 22, 2014

Self Editing Music Coming to CSS?

Self editing music has been around for about 20 years but what if it were available to everyone regardless of music library and at little or no cost?  Stay tuned, you may find it soon at CSS.  No expensive software to buy and freedom to buy music from any library.   Let us know what you think.   If enough of you would find this feature useful, it might worth our development cost.   We brought you waveform search -- this could be the next "big thing" or would it be a big yawner?

September 20, 2014

Does Waveform Analysis Really Work?

The short answer is yes.  It can detect the unique "fingerprint" of any musical track, even buried under voice or crowd noise.  It can also compare a waveform to locate material with similar waveforms.  If you'd like to try the wave form search system at cssmusic.com, go to the site and click "music search" on the top menu bar.  This will take you to our 4 search systems, one of which is waveform.  Give it a try and take a few minutes to play adding keywords to refine your search.  Call us at 800-468-6874 with any questions or suggestions.  We love hearing from you!