Below You Will Find A List Of The Questions Most Often Asked By New Clients, Artists And Labels. If You Don’t See An Answer To Your Question, Try Searching Our Site. If You Still Can’t Find An Answer, Feel Free To Contact Us.
How Much Does Your Service Cost?
The Retention Fees Are Usually Agreeed At Time Of Service And Cover The Cost Of Administratively Representing Your Interest And Fielding All Types Of Enquiries Agreed For You On A Day To Day Basis. In The Event Of Bookings And Gigs Etc The “Cost” Of The Services Is Based On A Percentage That Will Usually Be Negotiated At The Time Of Drawing Up Your Contract. Generally, 15% Is The Asking Price For Most And Will Be Detailed In Your Contract Or Working Agreement Or Working Plan/Agreement Specific To That Particular Show. Often We May Initiate Work With Clients Using What Is Known As A Strategic Plan Agreement. It Is Important To Note That Efficacy Of A Campaign Can Only Be Measured If A Plan Over A Period Of About 3 Months As A Minimum , So We Use This As A Guide To Intending Clients With An Option At The End Of That Term To Cancel By Giving A 1 Month Advance Warning By Either You Or Us. Some services are Fixed Cost, The
price lists on the site are a helpful starting point. if you cant find what you need,
ask us
Are You Talent Spotters
No. We Do Not Have A Talent Agency Status, But Will Represent You As A Booking Agent, Business Manager, Public Relations Manager, Personal Manager, Promotion Manager, Campaign Manager, Project Manager, Marketing Manager, Advisory Manager, Merchandising Assistant Or Any Combination Herein. Our Job Is To Spread The Word Of Your Band, Make Contacts For You And Get You Scheduled Performances At Area, Regional And National And International Venues. We Do What We Can To Connect The Industry To You, And You To The Industry. From Time To Time We Do Cast For A Variety Of Roles Such As Models, Backup Singers, Dancers, Extras And Runners, In Such Situations, We May Retain Some Of The People We Have Cast Under A Separate Arrangement
Can You Legally Represent Me
No. We Are Not Registered Lawyers Or Barristers. We Will However Assist You In Finding Legal Counsel. We Reach Out To Law Firms Who Specialize In The Music And Recording Industry To Insure That Your Counsel Is Knowledgeable In The Laws Surrounding Recording Agreements. If You Already Have A Lawyer Or Attorney Who Is Interested In Representing You, We Welcome Their Assistance. We Can recommend you To Expert And Established Copyright, Trademark, Company Registration, Nafdaq Registration And Music Solicitors And Barrristers In Nigeria, Ghana, Sa And Europe And Usa And Will Always Work With You To Seek A Resolution For Matters Simply Without Legal Action First Before Onward Referral With Your Consent.
Do You Manage or Act As Agents
We Are A Broad Spectrum Brand, Artiste, Person, Actor, Service Management Service; Business And Personal. We Represent You As An Agent May, We Will Not Deter You From Hiring Another Third Party Agent And We Will Work Closely With Them To Make Sure Your Best Interests Are Always Looked Out For.
What You Do/Can You Do For Me/My Brand/Band/Music
Whether its Business Or Personal Management, Public Relations, Music Distribution, Web Mangement, App Design And Building .We provide all; As A Business Management Company We Also Assist In Lining Up Lawyers, Accountants, Booking Agents When Needed, Tour Personnel, Web Site Development, Recording Agencies, Merchandising Experts And So Forth.
As A Personal Manager We Assist In The Think Tank Process Of What Is Best For Your Music Or Product Or Service And Or Talent And Band, Helping To Plan Gigs And Tours, Creative Input, Scheduling Certain Locations To Play, Discussing Future Growth Ideas, Developing New Music Paths To Consider, Stage/Set Ideas And General One On One Discussions With You On How To Approach The Next Best Step For Your Music Or Product Or Service And Or Talent. When Necessary Mediation Of Disagreements Also Come Into Play And At A Personal Level These Are Often Solved Within A Short Period Of Time With A Simple Discussion.
As A Website Management Provider, We Acquire, Maintain And Update A Clients Webspace As And When They Require With Whatever Information Needed As Best We Can And Promptly, As A Webdesigner, We Constantly Work On Websites And Work With Client To Deliver Their Dream Online Presence And To Present Their Service In The Best Way Possible. This Means That Our Webbuilding Role May Move Into The Area Of Brand Management, Brand Image And Presence And Much More.
What Services Do You Offer?
The Services Range In A Multitude Of Ways From Booking Gigs, Designing Or Developing Fliers And Posters, CD Covers, Artwork, Imagery And Photo Shoots, Replication And Copying Of Data For Video Or Music, Getting Together A National Street Team To Help Spread The Word Of Your Band, Hiring Business Professionals To Assist In The Business Portion Of The Music Such As Lawyers, Accountants, Recording Studios, Sound And Lighting Engineers. We Also Assist In The Development Of The Merchandising Of Your Band With Items Like T-Shirts, Stickers, Hats Or Whatever You Want. Personally Assisting In The Decision Making Process When Needed With Recording, Touring, Hiring Or Anything Else That May Come Up As A Difficult Decision Is What We Do. Additionally We Distribute Music, Ebooks, Audiobooks And More, Check Our
Our Services List For Information.
How Far Can You Take My Brand
That Is Entirely Up To You. If You Focus On The Music As A Career, Putting In The Effort Necessary To Reach The Top, We Will Also Do Our Part To Give You That Status. We Am Only Limited By The Success Of The Music Or Product Created. Work At This As A Career And You Will Climb The Ladder Naturally. Part Of The Service Is To Introduce Your Brand Or Music To Industry Professionals, Assist In Booking Your Band With Regional And National Acts To Put You In Front Of Larger Crowds, Advertise And Merchandise Your Band And Brand As Often Possible. You Create The Music Or The Product And Show Up When Required Keeping A Sound Mind And Try To Expand Your Reach As Well, Give It All You Have Got, Stick To Plans And Work Cohesively With Us And Never See Us As An Intruder But As A Guide, Support And Someone Who Has Only Interest In You Getting Bigger And Better And You Could End Up With A Platinum Record Or World Rated Brand
Event Technology, Venues, Event Promotions, Can you help me with that?
We Retain A Contact List Of Venue And Event Location Business Development Managers And Work With Them And A Team Of Staff From Decorators To Flexwork Fitters, Ushers To Ticket Designers, Flyer Designers And Much More To Make Your Event A Reality. In Nigeria we preferentially prefer to liaise on jobs that require meticulous event technologies with Aardvark Productions.
Who Do You Use In Alaba
We Work Exclusively With Iyke The Don Entertainment At Present. Together We Usually Confer And Discuss Work Pre Release, Pre Promo And During Development. Iyke The Don Entertainment Is An Established Alaba Distributor And Marketer, With Several Years In The Business Of Working With Clientele Internationally. His Professionalism, Expertise And Reportology Is Reliable And He Works With Us On Promo Distributions, Release Tests, Full Distributions And Much More. We Also Work With Highkay Dancent Who Is Also A Well Established Marketer Distributor In Alaba. This is not to say there are no other promoters and distributors, however these two are the ones we deal with.
Who Does Your Make Up Artistry
Our Main Providers In Nigeria Are Beauty Diva And Blushes & Me, Based In Lagos. Beauty Diva And Blushes Are Experienced Artists And Diva Also Provides Hair Styling Services And They Works In All Parts Of Africa.
Who Does Your Videography
We Work Exclusively With Karlmani Pictures – Henry Adedeji – Lagos And Inpired Studios Francis Nnamdi In South Africa ; Awizzle – Opere Ayoola Lagos and Douglas in London All Are Experienced Videographers who Able To Work On And Direct short or long Movies, Adverts, Music Videos And Turn Out Brilliant Visual Effect. Implement Exclusive Conceptualism And Prompt Service Delivery. We Tend To Work With The Videographers Concentrating On Developing Story Boards, Storylines, Agreeing Terms, Developing Concepts, Selecting And Fielding Locations, Casting Extras, Lobbying Support For Videography Sets And Also Work Very Closely On Reviewing Footage, Renders And Much More, We Really Don’t Step Out Of The Picture Until We Are Happy That The Videographer Has Given The Client The Best Of What Is Available Allowing US To Sign Off The Job With Ease. We also work closely with services provided by Radar and Only4Videos
What is Digital Distribution
Digital Distribution Is The Method By Which Your Music or material such as eBooks are Distributed To Various Digital Music Stores Which Then Sell Downloads Of Your Music or books For Ipods, Iphones, Zunes, Sansas, Or Any Other Number Of Portable Music or reading Devices. Where A Traditional Distributor Would Ship Out Your Physical Album To Stores, We Will Distribute Digital Copies Of Your Music To Stores Such As iTunes, Rhapsody, Amazonmp3, Emusic, Zune, Spotify, Etc. Major Digital Music Stores Such As iTunes Require Artists And Labels To Use A Digital Distributor Such As DuchessPR To Make Their Music And Content Available In Their Stores.
How Much Does Your Distribution Service Cost
We Charge A One Time Setup Fee For Each Album or eBook Submitted For Digital Distribution . After That, We Pay You 100% Of The Royalties Received From The Respective Music Store. There Are No Hidden Fees. For Example: If iTunes Sells One Of Your Songs For .99 Cents. And Pay Us .70 Cents, And We Would Then Pay You 100% Of The .70 Cents. Long Track Notice If You Submit A Single Track Album That Has A Track That Exceeds 10 Minutes In Length, It Is Classified As A Full Album And You Will Be Charged The Standard Full Album Setup Fee. If You Submit An Album With Multiple Tracks That Exceed 10 Minutes In Length, We Charge An Additional Fee Per Each Track That Exceeds 10 Minutes In Length.
Where Do You Distribute Music / eBooks to?
Currently, We Offer Digital Distribution To All Of The Major Music Stores Including: iTunes (All World Stores) Rhapsody Emusic Amazonmp3 Zune Spotify And Many More… While iTunes Continues To Have The Predominate Share Of The Music Download Market, DuchessPR Is Always In Negotiations To Provide Even More Distribution To Other Major Online Music Stores To Maximize Our Artist And Label’s Sales.
Click To View The Stores We Distribute Music to Click To View The Stores We Distribute eBooks to
What If My Album Contains Cover Songs? Can I Still Use Your Digital Distribution Service?
In Order For Us To Distribute A Cover Song (Ie: A Song You Didn’t Write) You Must Purchase A License From The Owner Or Administrator Of The Song In Order To Use It On Your Album.
How Long Does It Take For My eBook/Music To become available
Once You Have Uploaded Your Album’s Assets (Ie: Audio Files And Cover Art), It Normally Takes 1-4 Business Days For Us To Encode The Audio, Process The Cover Art, And Digitally Distribute All Of The Album’s Metadata To iTunes And The Other Music Stores Around The World. From There, Each Music Store’s Time Frame Is Different. Currently, We Are Seeing Albums Appear In The iTunes Music Store sometimes Within Only 1week Of Delivery. The Other Music Stores Can Take Up To Around 1-8 Weeks. This Delay Is Due To Each Music Store’s Own Unique Ingestion Queues And Processes and is standard accross the industry
Do You Take Ownership of My Music/Do You Buy My Music Rights & Royalties Out
No We Don’t. We Have A
Non Exclusive Agreement With You And By Utilizing Our Distribution Service, You Allow Us To Digitally Distribute Your Music Until You Terminate The Agreement. We Do Not Take Ownership Of The Music, But Only Help Facilitate The Process Of Spreading Your Music Digitally.
I Don't Have A CD Of My Music, Can I Still Have My Songs Digitally Distributed?
I Don’t Have A CD Of My Music, Can I Still Have My Songs Digitally Distributed? Yes. You May Digitally Distribute Any Of Your Music Even If You Have Never Had A CD Printed. You Will Simply Submit An Album Via Our Submission Tool And Then Upload The Audio Files And Cover Art.
Do I Have To Have A UPC/ISRC/EAN/ISBN Or Barcode To Have My Album Digitally Distributed?
Yes. UPC/ISRC/EAN/ISBN as relevant Are Required By Every Major Music Store. It Is The Universal Method By Which Various Companies And Organizations Are Able To Uniquely Identify A Product. If You Do Not Currently Have A UPC/ISRC/EAN/ISBN For Your Album or Book We Can Provide You With One For During The Album Submission Process.
Is There A Phone Number I Can Call To Talk With Someone At DuchessPR?
We Regret That The Nature Of Our Business As Well As Our Incredibly Discounted Payment Rates Do Not Allow For Us To Field A Call Center For Questions Pertaining To Our Digital Distribution Service. All Pre Purchase Questions Must Be Submitted Via The “Contact Customer Service” Links Located On Our Homepage Or From Within Your Dashboard At DuchessPR. Once An Inquiry Is Received, A Representative From DuchessPR Will E-Mail You Back. You May Telephone Us Using The Numbers Provided But During Busy Periods, You May Have To Leave A Message.
Can I Get A Media Player For Pasting On My Website(S)?
Yes. Once Your Album Has Been Distributed, You’ll Have Access To Html Code For Pasting The iTunes Media Player On Your Own Website(S).
Can I Still Sell My Songs On My Own Website(S)?
Yes, But You Cannot Submit Digitally Through More Than One Aggregator, So If You Want To Submit The Song To iTunes Via Another Provider, We Have To Take Down Your Music First, It Takes Up To 90 Days For iTunes And In Some Cases Depending On Age Of Ingested Music, They May Refuse The Request.
How Long Will My Item Remain Distributed.?
Your Album And Single Will Remain Distributed In The Music Stores Until You Choose To Terminate The Distribution For Your Item With Us.
Do You Offer Volume Discounts
If You Are A Label Or An Artist With More Than 10 Titles In Your Catalog, Please Contact Customer Service Regarding Our Volume Discounts.
Can I Submit Music To Distribute Under My Own Label?
Yes, But There Is A Registration Fee To Register Your Own Label Exclusively Or You Can Use Ours At No Cost To Cover Your Digital Submission.
How Often Will I Be Paid?
Royalties Are Paid Monthly, Although We Don’t Pay Out Until The Balance Owed Is More Than $100.00 (Or Equivalent Other Currency Value) – So If You Earn Less Than That In A Month, Whatever You Have Earned In That Period Will Be Carried Over To The Next Statement, And A Payment Will Then Be Issued If The Total Is Over The $100.00 Threshold. We Disperse Payments To Our Artists And Labels Once A Month. Each Music Store Is Different And They All Have Their Own Payment Intervals (Monthly, Quarterly, Etc), However, Once We Have Received Payment From A Music Store, We Will Then Pay You At The End Of The Next Month For The Previous Month’s Sales. We Set A Release Limit Of $100 As It Is Only Reasonable We Do Not Send You Trickle Payments And Also To Offset Disbursement Costs As Our Services Are Already Heavily Discounted.
How Will I Be Paid?
We Pay All Of Our Artists By Way Of Paypal, Cheques, Bank Transfers Or VTM And Vogue So Options Are Available To You. If You Choose Paypal, Once The Money Is Transfered To Your Paypal Account, You Then Have The Option Of Depositing It Into Your Bank Account Electronically For Free, Or For A Small Fee Paypal Will Mail You A Check. Visit Paypals Website For their information
How Can I Monitor My Sales
When You Login To The Dashboard, You Will Be Able To Review Sales Figures In The Latest Statement Section.
How Can I Monitor Which Songs Have Been Downloaded?
Yes,You Can Log Into Your Dashboard And View Detailed Reports Of Your Sales Figures For The Previous Months.
Can I Put the Words iTunes Version or iTunes Logo Or Digital Version On The Cover Art?
No. Apple Does Not Allow The Use Of The Word iTunes On Cover Art, And The Product Should Not Refer To It Being A Digital Version Either. Additionally, the same cover is used for all the stores you cannot designate one cover for iTunes separately.
What Are Cover Requirements For my Music?
All Artist Names Displayed On The Cover Art Must Also Be Listed In The Metadata. No Urls (For Instance, Links To The Artist’s Website Or Facebook Page) Are Allowed. Unauthorised Use Of Corporate Branding And Logos Is Not Permitted Either.
What Format Should My Cover Art Be In?
The Cover Art Should BenJpeg Minimum 1400×1400 Pixels At 72 Dpi In Rgb Format – Not Cmyk. Please Also Make Sure Image/Artwork Must Be Square – 1:1 Aspect Ratio.
Ideal Size Is 2400×2400 Pixels, And It Must Not Be Blurred.
It’s Best To Use The Original Digital Source Artwork, But If You Need To Scan The Printed Sleeve Then Please Make Sure You Set Your Scanner To 300 Dpi With The Descreen Option ON,If Available. For An Explanation Of DPI And Its Relevance To Digital Artwork, Please Read This Article. Cover Art Should Not Be Pixelated When Viewed At Its Normal Resolution Or It Will Be Rejected. Do Not Convert From A Lower Resolution File To Meet The Requirements Or It Will Be Rejected By The Music Stores. File Format Must Be .Jpg (Jpeg) Cover Art Cannot Contain Information Normally Found In The Liner Notes Such As: -Track Listing -Biographical Information -Contact Information -Copyrights -Website Links -Production Notes/Credits Cover Art Cannot Contain Any Time Or Date Related Information (Ie: Release Dates, Etc) Simply Put, Cover Art Should Have Artiste Name & Song Name /Album Name or You May Add The Name Of A Featured Artiste Eg Artiste Name Feat Artiste & Song Name/Album Name, nothing else is allowed on the cover. If you add something else, it will go through the process and come back to you and you have to start all over again.
Can I Submit A Single Song?
Yes, You Can Submit A Single (Ie: An Album Containing Only One Track). Please Note That Since “Singles” Are Still Albums, They Still Require Their Own UPC Code (Which We Can Provide During The Album Submission Process) As Well As Unique Industry Standard Cover Art.
Can I Submit A RingTone?
Yes, You Can Submit A Ringtone. Please Note That Ringtones Also Require Their Own UPC (Which We Can Provide During The Ringtone Submission Process) As Well As Unique Industry Standard Cover Art. Only One Ringtone Can Be Submitted At A Time. If You Have Multiple Ringtones That You Wish To Have Distributed, You Must Submit Each One Invidually And Each Requires Its Own UPC. Unlike Albums And Singles, Ringtones Are Only Distributed Into The iTunes Music Store And A Few Others And For SMS Download, Note A Ringtone is what people hear when their own phones ring, it is not a Caller Ringtone i.e one that people hear when they call you, that is a separate service which is provided through a different channel, not iTunes etc. (As Most All Other Music Stores Do Not Offer Ringtones To Their Customers).
What Format Should My Audio Files and eBooks be in?
You Can Upload Wav Or Mp3 Files (.Wav Files Are Recommended For Posterity Since They Are Not Compressed And Offer The Highest Quality Possible To Encode Into The Various Formats For Each Music Store). You Should Prepare The Audio As 2 Channel Stereo,16bit / 44.1khz Wav Files For Digital Submission If Not A 2 Channel Stereo Mp3s 48000hz/320kbps. If Your Audio Is Not In The Right Format, We May Convert It At Our Own Cost, But If You Repeatedly Do This, We Will Charge For The Privilege. For eBooks, simply send us the txt/word/pdf and we do the rest
Can I Submit An eBook?
Yes, You Can Submit An eBook To our Partner Stores
What Are The Requirements For eBook Submission
Your book in txt/word/pdf format, we convert to ePUB and Mobi for free Your Cover Art Writer Details as specified Ebook Specific Metadata (for ebook retailers and subscription services) • ISBN (for ebook, required) • Ebook seller name • Ebook Format Type (i.e. EPUB, PDF) • Ebook URL (either a generic landing page or a title landing page, whichever you prefer) • Collection Name (i.e. Academic Complete) • Price (up to 3, can include single license, multiple user, agency, retail, net, or institutional) • Countries and territories where each price does/does not apply
Where Do I get an ISBN
You can provide your own or we can get you one.
Can We Provide Our Own ISRC Codes For Our Album's Tracks?
Yes. During The Album Submission Process, You Will Have An Opportunity To Submit Your ISRC Codes For Each Of Your Album’s Tracks. If You Do Not Have ISRC Codes For Your Tracks, You Can Buy One From Us, Simply State At Purchase And Buy As Applicable During Processing.
Can We Set The Street Date / Release Date For An Album Or Single or eBook?
Yes. During The Album Submission Process, You Will Have An Opportunity To Set The Street Date For Your Album Or Single. Please Note However, That While iTunes And Amazonmp3 Are Very Quick In Ingesting Albums (Normally Only A Few Days), Many Of The Other Music Stores Can Take Several Weeks, So Even Though You May Choose A Street Date, It’s Entirely Possible That The Album Will Not Appear In Some Of The Stores Until They Complete Their Own Processing And Ingestion. If You Are Choosing A Street Date In The Future (Rather Than Just Having The Album Or Single Go Live As Soon As Possible), We Suggest Setting The Street Date At Least some Days Out To Give Time For iTunes And Amazonmp3 To Ingest The Album. Additionally The Guidelines We Currently Have To Comply With Require Us To Submit A Song Giving At Least 4 Weeks In Advance e.g. If You Send Your Song To Us On 1st January, The Release Date Cannot Be Earlier Than The 30th, As We Process Within 48 Hours And The Stores Require Us To Give A 4 Week Advance Notice.
What If I want My Song To Be Given Away Free
Unfortunately, No You Cannot Offer A Track For Free In The Music Stores. The Music Stores Do Not Allow Tracks To Be Made Available For Free In Their Stores (Or neither You or They Would Not Make Any Money).* *Sometimes Music Stores Do Offer Tracks For Free In Their Stores As Promotions, But This Decision Is Solely Determined By Each Music Store’s Editorial Departments And Is Normally Reserved For High Profile / Top Billboard Artists.
Can I Distribute Karaoke Songs?
The Music Stores Have Placed Extreme Restrictions On Karaoke Albums And Tracks, Therefore We Do Not Support The Distribution Of This Type Of Content.
Our Album Has Been Delivered To iTunes But Our Dashboard Is Showing That It Is Being Reviewed By iTunes. What Does This Mean?
When We Deliver Albums And Singles To iTunes, Most Content Goes Live In Their Store Within Only A Few Days. However, A Small Percentage Of Content Is Randomly Selected By iTunes Staff To Be Reviewed Manually By Them For Quality Control. This Manual Review Is To Ensure That Your Content Conforms To Their Guidelines And Does Not Violate Any Of Their Standards.
Unfortunately, When Content Is Flagged By iTunes For Review, It Will Take Additional Time For Your Content To Go Live In Their Store Since An Actual Human Will Be Reviewing Your Content And Its Metadata. The Time Frame For Their Review Averages Around 1-10 Days.
Once iTunes Completes Their Review Process, Your Content Will Go Live In Their Store.
*DuchessPR Has No Control Over The Timing And Speed Of This Review Process.
Will Customers Be Able To Purchase Individual Tracks On An Album Without Having To Purchase The Whole Album?
Yes. Customers Will Be Able To Purchase Individual Tracks On Your Album Without Having To Purchase The Whole Album. However, In Cases Where A Track Exceeds 10 Minutes In Length, Some Stores Will Flag The Track As An “Album Only” Purchase Which Would Require The Customer To Purchase The Entire Album In Order To Download That Specific Track.We Are Not Able To Flag Tracks On An Album As “Album Only” Purchases.
How Do I Submit My Data
Music Is Submitted Exclusively Via Our Website Using The Upload Tools. You Will Receive Login Details Via Email Once We’ve Processed Your Agreement. Use These To Login To The Website And Access The DuchessPR Uploader, And Follow The Onscreen Instructions.
Please Note That We Do Longer Accept Submissions Via CD, Except From Premium Clients So Please Do Not Send Any Audio In The Post Unless We Agreed That With You Already.Othewise,You Must Upload Your Audio Files And Cover Art Via Your File Uploader At DuchessPR .
Once I Submit My Music What Happens Next
Your Product Will Be Checked By A Member Of Staff At DuchessPR And Then Sent To The Stores. You Will Receive Your Client Login, If You Don’t Have One Already, Within 2-5 Working Days.
How Do I Get Login Details
If You Have Signed An DuchessPR Agreement And Have Not Received A Login, Firstly Use The Password Reset Function. If That Doesn’t Work, Please Contact Us To Check That We Have The Correct Email Address Set Up For You. If You Are Having Problems Logging In, Make Sure You’re Using A Current Browser.
How Long Will It Be Before I Can See My Music On iTunes And The Other Stores?
We Usually Process Releases Within A Couple Of Days. However, All The Stores Have Varying Processing Times (We Say A Blanket Of 6-8 Weeks To Cover Them All). iTunes Is Fairly Quick, But Spotify Can Take Up To Six Weeks. It’s Always Best Of Have A Longer Lead Time To Enable Proper Promotion Of Your Release
Is Promotion of Sales Part Of My Fee
For the fee you pay we offer a basic promotion, however we cannot offset costs of ongoing promotion of your links in several stores, you can however purchase additional promotional services from us, such as google ads, blog and press release bursts and ePresskit distribution, submission does not equal sales, submission+marketing+promotion = sales
Is You Tube Content ID Royalty Collection Part Of the Scheme
All Music Submitted via our service is automatically enrolled in a youtube content scheme except if 1. your notify us otherwise or 2. if we are notified that your royalties are already signed to another licensor. Please note critically on this point that we specifically advise customers who use content management services such as Iroking not to use our service without first ensuring that they have not signed off their rights and been paid upfront or otherwise, if you pay us to distribute and collect your royalties and we create any video previews for you we cannot refund you if it is deleted due to a copyright additionally if this takes place, we reserve the right to withhold your revenues to pay for any claims made by any third party who claims ownership of the rights or royalties and or who makes a claim against us. We may also hold you liable for costs as such. We do not negotiate rights revocation unless you pay us and provide us with sufficient evidence to do so on your behalf, Rights Revocation and Copyright Disputes are not part of our digital distribution service. This is another service you can negotiate upon and requires a retainer fee to conduct negotiations and work on your behalf
Can I Handpick Which Stores My Music Goes To?
We Believe It Is Beneficial To Have Your Music On Sale In As Many Places As Possible, So As Standard We Deliver Your Music To All These Stores. This Provides Maximum Exposure For The Artist, And Widespread Availability Of Your Music For Purchase Helps To Reduce Piracy – Particularly In The Case Of Streaming Stores Such As Spotify, Where After Previewing Your Release Listeners Will Be Able To Directly Purchase It. If There Is A Particular Store/Country You Do Not Want, Let Us Know When You Submit.
How Do I Get My Music On Beatport
Beatport Cherry-Pick Only The Best Dance Music, And To Help Them Identify Which Releases They Would Like To Offer They Require That Each New Label Applies For Inclusion On Beatport Via Their Distributor. An Application Form Is Available To Begin This Process Once You’ve Signed Up With DuchessPR.
How Do I Submit/Amend My Biography Information On The Various Stores?
Many Stores, Including iTunes And Spotify, Use Rovi’s Allmusic Database As The Source Of Their Biography Information. In Order To Submit Your Release For Consideration, Please Visit The Allmusic Website. Allow Plenty Of Lead Time To Ensure They Have A Chance To Review Your Submission Prior To Release. Amazon Use Their Own Proprietary Artist Central System, See The Website For Details On Submitting Information.
Which Web Browsers And Operating Systems Do You Support?
The DuchessPR Website And Uploader Is Compatible With Most Modern Browsers And Operating Systems. We Recommend Chrome, Firefox Or Safari For An Optimal User Experience. If Using Internet Explorer, Version 8 Or Higher Is Required.
Do You Do Anything To My Tracks? Are They Compressed Or Turned Into Mp3s By DuchessPR?
The DuchessPR Upload Tool Doesn’t Apply Compression Or Any Other Form Of Additional Processing To Your Audio Files. Identical, Checksummed Copies Of The Wavs You Submit On Our Website Are Sent Via Ftp To Each Of Our Store Partners, Who Then Use Their Own Processing Methods To Transcode Your Audio Into The Formats They Offer To Their Customers. If you submit MP3 tracks, we have to convert them to wav. If they are rejected for poor quality we let you know and you can remaster or pay to remaster with us.
Are There Any Other Requirements For Audio?
Remember That You Are Selling These Tracks, So The Audio Must Be Of Commercial Quality. There Should Be No Excessive Silences At The Start/End Of A Track, And There Must Be No Technical Glitches Or Distortion. Remember Also That Any Samples Used Must Be Cleared By The Original Artist Or Their Label. Please Listen Critically To Your Finished Tracks Before Sending Them To Us, As Any Problems Will Delay Distribution Of Your Release.
Can I Sell My Video On iTunes
We Can Have Videos Encoded For iTunes. However, There Is A Cost Involved. We Pass This Encoding Fee On To You At Cost. NOTE We cannot download or scrub videos off youtube for the purpose of submission to iTunes, we need the data.
First, of course, you need that all important content in the proper format. For iTunes this includes .mov, .m4v and .mp4 so you’ll need to be sure you have your content in a ready-to-use state for the iPods out in the world. Secondly you will have to have that content on a publicly accessible server as iTunes won’t host it for you. So you need some online storage location which we provide for a one off fee of $275.
- Technical problems
- Requirement of a login or password to access the feed.
- Strong prevalence of sexual content.
- Use of explicit language in the title or description of the podcast.
- Use of explicit language in the podcast when the
<explicit>tag is not set to “yes”.
- Apparent misuse of copyrighted material or other violation of third party rights.
- Inclusion of offensive material, such as racist content or child pornography.
- Misrepresentation use of Apple copyright, including “iPod” and “iTunes.”
Play by the rules and your video content should be approved and available in no time.
Be sure your content is fully compatible with iPod and iPhone by using one of the following codecs:
- H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 x 480, 30 frames per sec., Low-Complexity version of the Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 kbps, 48 KHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
- H.264 video, up to 768 kbps, 320 x 240, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 kbps, 48 KHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
- MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 x 480, 30 frames per sec., Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 kbps, 48 KHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
- Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format
For a complete listing of iTunes specific tags, format options and submission information check out the iTunes store, where you can get all the information you need to make sure your video content is successful on iTunes.
What Is Metadata
Metadata In This Context Refers To The Important Information About Your Release Which We Require To Distribute It To The Download Stores. This Includes Track Titles, Artists And Copyright Information… And More.
What’s A UPC Code? How Do I Get One?
UPC Stands For Universal Product Code, It’s Essentially A Barcode That Identifies Your Release. We Assign These Automatically (At No Charge) If You Don’t Have Your Own.
What Is An ISRC code? How Do I Get Them?
ISRC Stands For International Standard Recording Code. It’s A Unique Identifier For A Recording (Not The Song; Different Versions Such As A Radio Edit And A Live Version Would Have Different Codes).
What is the difference between a Single and an EP
In Digital Terms, A Product 1 Normal Length Tracks Is Classified As A Single, And 2-5/6 Tracks Is An EP. An EP Cannot Exceed 30mins. The Standard Format Is Product Title – Single Or Product Title – EP. The Upload Wizard Will Add These Terms Automatically Once Your Submission Has Been Processed.
What Does Number Of Discs Mean, In This Context?
For A Digital Release, This Is The Number Of Virtual ‘Discs’ (Or Playlists) The Release Contains. It Does Not Refer To The Number Of CDs The Physical Release Is Distributed On. In Most Cases, In This Context This Will Be One. A Digital Double Disc Release Costs Twice The Standard Pricing; Three Discs Is Three Times The Standard Price Etc.
What Does Preview Time Mean?
This Is The Point In A Track (In Seconds) That The Audio Preview On iTunes Begins. As Standard, Customers Can Listen To 90 Seconds Of Each Song Before Purchasing If The Track Is Over Two And A Half Minutes. If It’s Less, Then The Preview Length Is Reduced To 30 Seconds. The Preview Will Start At 45 Seconds If This Is Left Blank.
What If I Don't have a registered Digilabel?
Put Your Label Name If You Wish And Pay To Register It Or Select the Option Be A Sublabel To DuchessPR
I Chose A Particular Genre For My Music, But It’s Been Changed. Why?
Any Genres Specified Are Subject To Approval By Us And Our Store Partners, And Occasionally We May Need To Alter Them To Ensure Your Content Is Allocated To The Most Appropriate Area Of The Store. For Instance, Music Should Only Be Tagged Inspirational If It Is Of A Religious Nature, Such As A Performance By A Church Choir Or Recital Of A Hymn.
I’ve Spotted A Mistake In My Submission. How Do I Amend It?
We Absolutely Recommend That You Check Everything Thoroughly Before Sending It To Us. Once Uploaded, Errors Take A Lot Of Time And Energy To Rectify. If You Have Discovered An Error In Your Submission To Us, Please Notify Us As Soon As Possible.
What Does C Copyright Mean
This Is The Copyright For The Release. It Is Not The Publishing Credit.
What Does P Copyright Mean
This Is The Copyright Of The Sound Recording. Again, It Is Not The Publishing Credit.
Do I Need Permission To Include Samples Of Other Peoples’ Music In Mine?
Yes, You Must Obtain Written Permission From The Rightsholder Of The Track You’re Sampling In Order To ‘Clear’ The Sample. Without This, You Are Committing Copyright Infringement, Which Is Against The Law. We Take This Issue Very Seriously, And Not Only Will This Result In Immediate Termination Of Your Agreement With DuchessPR But May Also Result In Legal Action From The Rightsholder. If Your Music Contains Samples, You Must Provide Proof Of The Relevant Licence Via Email Before Submitting.
How Do I update my payment details
You Need To Login To The DuchessPR Platform And Update Your Bank Details/Payment Type In The My Details Area. All Payouts are in USD$
What is Intellectual property?
Intellectual property is a legal concept referring to the protection of works created by the human intellect. It consists of an exclusive right conferred upon the creator or/and the owner of an intellectual work. The owner can be the creator of the work (most usual case) or a transferee, in the event of a transfer of copyright.
This protection extends, with certain conditions, to:
-Scientific or technical inventions (patents) and technical know-how
-Trademarks for the identification of companies and products (trademarks)
-Other artistic and intellectual works developed, such as books, paintings, music, pictures, teaching material, IT software, etc (these types of works comprise the intellectual property / copyright in the strict sense).
Intellectual property is divided into two categories:
-Industrial property, which includes inventions, trademarks, industrial design, and geographical indications of source;
-Copyright, which includes literary and artistic works such as novels, films, musical works, paintings, photographs, and architectural designs.
Rights related to copyright include those of performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, producers of first fixations of films and those of broadcasters in their radio and television programs.
How does Copyright come into being?
Two conditions are required for the work:
-Tangible form
The work can be protected once it has come into existence in a tangible form. This tangible form exists when the work is given physical expression. For instance, copyright protection can not be conferred upon an abstract idea, or ad lib comments made during a talk, but it can upon a speech based on brief notes. The work in question has to be “tangible”.
-Originality
The work must also be original, to allow it benefit from copyright protection. Originality is a tricky concept insofar as it is difficult to define, and can be interpreted in various ways. For example, the French law accepts that a piece of work is original provided it “carries the stamp of its’ author’s personality”, while in UK a criterion might be the likeness of the product to interest a prospective buyer. The work has to be “original”.
Does copyright need to be registered?
No, copyright with the work comes into being along with the creation of the work, provided it fulfils the requirements of being tangible and original. Registration is not necessary to establish this right. (The opposite is true of trademarks and scientific inventions; in such cases the right of industrial property as such exists only as from the time of registration of the make and the issuing of the patent by an official body.)
However, there remains the problem of proof. It is essential to give the work a precise date so as to prove in the event of litigation that the product developed pre-dates any pirate version. Therefore it is rather necessary to register the final product developed. The institutions, formalities and costs involved in this registration procedure vary from one country to another.
Copyright does not need to be registered in order to exist (i.e. be valid), but registration is highly recommended for purposes of proof and better protection.
What type of work can copyright protect?
Copyright can protect a wide range of creative activity, such as the following types of work provided they fulfil the two conditions mentioned earlier:
-Written material, including letters, lists, tables, compilations, lengthy text extracts -Theatrical works
-Computer programs (software)
-CD-ROMs, DVDs, etc.
-A piece of music or combinations of sounds
-Artistic works, such as paintings, photographs, cards, and even diagrams and graphs
-Films and videos
-Radio and TV programmes, cable broadcasts
Who may hold a copyright?
The author of the work himself
In most cases the copyright owner is the first person creating the work.
Two or more authors When the contributions of different authors cannot be distinguished from one another in the final piece of work, it is considered as a “co-written work” over which the authors own copyright jointly. Typically, each joint author can enforce the copyright individually. However, certain national laws such as German law provide that if parts of the work are identifiable but not suited for separate exploitation, the creative contributors who have worked a common goal, jointly own copyright in the work but may not assign rights in their contribution.
When an author makes a contribution which can be clearly identified, a separate copyright may be negotiated. All the creative contributors are then considered as author and owner of their respective contributions, unless the authors have explicitly agreed by contract to “associate” their individual works in view of joint exploitation.
There is also the concept of “collaborative work” for creations in which more than one natural person have participated and their contributions may be identified separately. Typically, the work becomes the joint property of its authors and can to be exploited collectively.
The original right owner – the creator – may also transfer ownership of the right, for instance to a publisher.
Basic rights involved in intellectual property:
Respect of the author’s moral rights (in accordance with the applicable law) may have important consequences for a project, in that they enable the author to oppose changes in his work if he has not expressly authorised them. This must be borne in mind in the event of work carried out by an employee or a subcontractor during a project.
During the implementation of a project the author’s moral rights can easily be infringed, particularly within a transnational project and in case of subcontracting parts of the project work to a third party. This may have serious consequences. Therefore, it is preferable to make a provision by agreement with the author (orthe subcontractor ) that the material he/she will create may be the subject of subsequent manipulations by the agency/organisation, whichincludes understanding that some work such as radio airplay, use of music in jingles or movies may alter to a certain extent, the integrity of the work.
The management of Intellectual property rights has nowadays shaped a whole new legal area, which is continuously developing. It deals with managing various categories of rights, such as neighbouring rights in artistic productions or mechanical rights to recordings of a performance.
There are IPR collective rights’ management companies – or collecting societies – which take care, on request, of the attribution of rights and the distribution of credits to all participating members of a work. Collecting societies shall exist worldwide, and often they cooperate between them. When a new music CD is produced, for example, it has to be registered with a collecting society before being released in the market or otherwise distributed.
What are royalties and licence agreements?
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party, the licensee, to another, the licensor, for the use of an asset, like an intellectual property right. They can be determined as a percentage of sales or as a fixed price per unit sold (e.g. per CD). These arrangements take the form of a contractual provision into a licence agreement, which defines the terms and conditions under which intellectual property rights are licensed by one party to another.
How much does it cost to get a complete custom web site?
A web site’s cost is based upon many factors, including design, graphics, style, compatibility with browsers and mobile devices, complexity, and amount of content. If you have a very small site that is static, does not have a lot of pages and is mostly non-interactive, the site can be developed in a relatively short time and will be less expensive than a site that requires many hours of complex programming, creation of graphics and design.
Contact us for a free estimate.
Why should I pay you for a web site or mobile application when I can make it myself using off shelf products?
A common misconcepetion a lot of clients have is that when a CMS such as wordpress or drupal is being used that there is little work to do. On a regular basis clients are also misled by glamorous demo versions of web templates based on CMS or are steered by Television marketing. However it takes a significant amount of work to get templates and themes to work exactly to the needs of a client and requires many hours of finetuning, alterations using code, implementation of adjustment plugins and much more.
Where it is correct that there are a lot of programs including and apart from CMS’s which have hit the market that allow users with little computer experience to build very functional web sites and mobile applications the service you get from hiring DuchessPR as an app developer, web developer or designer is completely different.
Not only are you are paying experience and their expertise you are paying for a team who provide a plethora of skills to make sure we are not trying to fit your app or website into a box which may not fit, but rather we creatively design and develop an app or website which is yours.
A designer will know what looks good, what works for users, what will serve you in the short term, how to leave room to expand in the long term, and will be able to leverage their knowledge to consult with you and build you a quality site.
As Web an App designers, we are aware of current and future trends, fads, laws, and accepted practices and therefore are a great resource for you.
What do I need to tell you, or know about getting my app or website done
When you contact us, we will consult with you to establish your needs, We will assign a designer to work with you and will let you know your point of contact for all matters.
We will provide you with an overview of our policies and depending on the scope of work provide you with a proposal of work which incorporates a contract.
Who owns the copyright to the app or website
In most cases clients are happy to have content that is copyrighted to a designer, but some may want to buy out our copyright to graphics, app or web content, web imagery and we are able to sell that to you.
How Do I update my website
We provide maintennance licence contracts where you request this and also provide you with editing access to CMS based websites. We recommend to clients to consider maintennance contracts when and where they lack expertise or knowledge of basic coding as this is needed to update websites, even those based on CMS. When clients opt out of maintennance contracts, we may in your interests restrict alteration to core files to prevent loss of data and crashing your website, however if you so request and agree to our disclaimer, we are quite happy to hand you your complete website which is signed off as delivered and you are free to do what you want with it.
What is a CMS
A content management system (CMS) is a system used to manage the content of a Web site. Typically, a CMS consists of two elements: the content management application (CMA) and the content delivery application (CDA). The CMA element allows the content manager or author, who may not know Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), to manage the creation, modification, and removal of content from a Web site without needing the expertise of a Webmaster . The CDA element uses and compiles that information to update the Web site. The features of a CMS system vary, but most include Web-based publishing, format management, revision control, and indexing, search, and retrieval.
How Do I update my mobile app
We provide on request quotes for mobile application updates dependent on scope of updates, we are unable to provide maintennance contracts to update mobile applications as the scope of updates requested may vary significantly to the original app and in some cases require a complete rebuild.
Is hosting included in the price you quote me for my app or website
You should ask about hosting. Web site design and app design contracts and cost estimates do not always include a place for your web site to be stored so it can be viewed by the public unless you request this
How do i increase my website ranking an make sure it is found on google?
We offer Copy and content writing with emphasis on keyword density, keyword submisions, DEO pa per click nd pay per impression advert and handle submissioon to over 200 serch engines fo indeing.[/gn_spppoileeer]
We will give you a turnaround time and agree time milestones with you and also send you screenshots and test builds etc including load demos of work in progress to show you so you will be able to monitor progress of your project.
What is a web host ?
A web host, or hosting provider, is a business that provides space to store your web site on the Internet, where other people can view your pages. Without a web host, you won’t have a usable web site.
Some web hosts offer free services, but often times you are required to place advertisements or popups on your web site in exchnge for the free space.
We partner with The Website tool a hosting provider with servers located in USA, UK and Australia. They offers affordable, reliable hosting for customers. If you already have your own web host, we will work with that host as well. Working with hosting means we will need access to the cpanel for your hosting from you.
Web hosting costs are separate from any contracts we offer, and recurring monthly service fees are your obligation.
What is a domain name?
What is a “domain name?”
A domain name is the “www” or “dot com” address that will be associated with your web site. You need one of these if you’re going to have a web host.
A domain name points to a web host, and that’s how users on the web can access your pages.
Domain names can cost anywhere from £5 to £50 a year, and they must be renewed when they expire.
We can assist you with registering your domain name and getting web hosting and recommend www.thewebsitetool.com for your needs if you want to od it yourself.
Do you offer web hosting and domain registration like other web design companies?
Yes we do, however, We feel that a domain name and a web host should be your property, not ours. That gives you the freedom to control your domain name and your web host. You’re not “locked in” to our services once we’ve finished designing your web site.
Also, our competitors often charge three times as much for domain registration and monthly service fees for web hosting. This usually only becomes apparent when a website hits the limit on email quotas, domain storage space and bandwth. By partnering with a large web host such as The website tool, we can pass the savings on to you. We feel that this gives our customers the most flexibility and the most control.
Do you offer application submission to app stores?
Yes we offer competitive rates for submissioon of mobile apps to googleplay,microsoft, apple and blackberry
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