Hey! How are ya! Welcome back to AaronPlease.com; the coolest website ever. We are currently in November, the month of giving thanks. It's not Thanksgiving yet, but I can definitely feel that vibe moving around in the air right now. It's crazy because people see the end of Halloween as the beginning of the Christmas journey, but they always seem to bypass Thanksgiving, which I consider to be quite the W of a holiday, providing us all with food, family, & Black Friday. Personally, I feel as though we shouldn't just hop over Thanksgiving to Christmas after Halloween because there's really so much there w/ Thanksgiving. Speaking of Halloween, I really hope you all enjoyed "Halloween Is Cool", which I created as a piece of music focused on percussion mastering & instrumental storytelling. If you really listen to the song, you can hear the progression of the song's spooky story. To some, it might just sound like some noise but I know that there are some people out there who understand what I was trying to convey musically. Anyways, that song is available for purchase for $1 & 🆙 until further notice, similar to how "Eagle Trilliano" was, which has now has been set to the price of $2000; hefty price, right? I know some people may think "Who is buying a song for $2000?" Well, I would combat that by telling that person that they underestimate the value of buying a digital copy of music.

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When someone makes music & distributes it for purchase, it is has two protected rights: the copyright & the phonorecord rights. The copyright is the written work of the music & what has been originally created as the music itself, & the phonorecord is the physical format to which the copyright is being exhibited. When you own the copyright (publishing) of a record, you have exclusive rights to reproduce, adapt, publish (distribute for money), perform, & display. When you own the phonorecord rights (masters) of a record, you can print & distribute (for money) physical & digital copies of the record. I put "for money" in parentheses because that is very important. Providing a published version of your copyright from an original phonorecord for purchase automatically protects it. From that point forward, you or whoever owns the copyright & phonorecord rights, otherwise known as "publishing" & "master" rights, has allowed the record to enter the public forum. Once that happens, no one other than the owner can use or redistribute that song for commercial purposes (for money), with the exception of "fair use" purposes (commentary, parody, educational, etc.), which is extremely important in the game of "sampling". However, arguing "fair use" for copyright can get tricky @ times. If you ever want to learn more about how hip-hop, sampling, & fair use, I encourage you to look up the court case of 'Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.', which is a very important case in copyright law. Most of the time, if you want permission to sample music, you would go for a mechanical license, an agreement the allows a sample to be "cleared". However, as seen in the case above, you do not always need a mechanical license to distribute music commercially.

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When I digitally distribute music (or write {type} anything really), especially for purchase, exclusively on AaronPlease.com under my company, Windicate Entertainment Inc., I put myself in a position to protect my art from any type of illegal distribution of my copyrighted works. By setting the price of my music @ whatever price I set it to, I also set the price of how much I would receive in damages each time my copyright were to be infringed, or redistributed for profit. Copyright infringement is the trickiest part of making music because it is an extremely layered discussion. What is & is not considered copyright infringement has been debated for decades. However, the damages for illegally distributing or "bootlegging" an original work has historically been set as the price of record itself. I'm sure that if you've heard some of my music, you can hear samples on there. Would that be considered copyright infringement or be protected under "fair use" law? Well, the answer to that would be that it depends. For example, there are songs on my ATMIXs (ATMIX III coming soon) that sample & cover songs, but are intentionally not available for download or purchase, which could be argued as protected under "fair use". However, I have other songs like "Eagle Trilliano" & "Halloween Is Cool" that are fully original works of copyright created & distributed by me, & have a set price. This would mean that any illegal redistribution or downloading of that song would entitle me to damages based on that set price & how many times it was illegally redistributed.

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I bring this up to point out a blatantly obvious loophole & grey area surrounding copyright law. The DMCA (Digital Music & Copyright Act) tried to tackle this issue in 1998, but there have still been websites like Napster, DatPiff, Spinrilla & LiveMixtapes that have been able to hurdle over these laws. A lot of those mixtapes that we know & love from the Mixtape Era included samples that were never cleared because they could have been argued to have been under "fair use". Not only were these songs available for free, but those samples were so morphed & changed that you couldn't really make a valid infringement claim. However, if some of those same songs were to be distributed on streaming services like Apple Music, Tidal, or Spotify, they would require a mechanical license to be distributed because they would be generating money. Issues & grey areas like these are the reason why the formation of a Musician's Union is extremely important. The rights of music have been violated for decades, & an agreed upon non-profit organization that sets a standard of mediation for musicians & the business of music is very much needed for everyone within the music industry. Too many artists waive, or aren't even aware of the rights of their music due to lack of information & slight of word. Many of the organizations already in place to help artists don't do enough to help. That's why you see so many artists fucked up in the game; because the game is rigged. If you leave it to the people @ the top to do all the work, you will be @ the mercy of their decisions. That's a huge reason why I have protected my music from external record labels, & will probably continue to do so until there is a proper Musician's Union in place to help all artists thrive with their music. Personally, I feel as though the American Federation of Musicians doesn't do enough to help with the many problems within music industry, such as the revenues coming from streaming services to artists, advance traps, & so much more. I decided a long time ago that I would rather distribute my music on here than on streaming services because the RoI just isn't worth it, in my opinion. I could debate about this all day, but I'm just writing all of this to say that purchasing the digital copy of a song is way more impactful than streaming it. Once you have your digital copy & RECEIPT of your digital copy, you now own a copy of that original piece of art. To me, I think that's pretty cool. It's like buying a Rolex. However, I'm not just going around buying everything because streaming music is extremely convenient, but what if streaming companies go away? Then what? It's all one big mess tbh. An official Musician's Union with proper bylaws & quarterly meetings would solve so many issues within the entertainment industry. Maybe I'm not informed on the diligence of the American Federation of Musicians, but I'm very open to learning more & helping to set new precedences for all musicians.

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Speaking of unions, the SAG-AFTRA came to an agreement with the major film production companies regarding their fair residuals & working conditions 🎉🥳👏. It's great to see actors get the equity they feel as though they have deserved after all this time. I don't know the specifics of the agreement because the contract was agreed upon last night, but I'm eager to learn more about the agreement as time progresses. I'm very sure I will. However for now, I applaud SAG-AFTRA for remaining strong in unison & being able to reach a common ground with these companies. These moments in history are important because they reset the precedence for decades to come. Striking absolutely works btw. More workers should unionize against companies who treat them unfairly. It's pretty cool to see actors band together & stand for the profession that they love.

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Alright, well I'm about to get some food in this tummy of mine. I kinda wanna cook something, but I gotta see what I have to cook. I'll figure it out. Also, I'm working on some other stuff that I'm really excited about. I'm aiming to get that 🆙  on AaronPlease.com very soon. It's not ATMIX III, but that's definitely coming. For now, purchase "Halloween Is Cool" for $1 & 🆙 (although Halloween is over 🙄), & stay tuned for what's to come next. Have a wonderful nite & day, and Al B. Sure to get back @ y'all soon <3

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Sincerely Handsome,

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Aaron T. 🤵🏽‍♂️

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