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Thread My Cousin Used My Beat On His Album, Now He Signed To An Indy, I Didnt Get Credit For My Music

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1 My Cousin Used My Beat On His Album, Now He Signed To An Indy, I Didnt Get Credit For My Music
Basically I produce beats, and have been doing so for a while. I had this cousin of mine who came to me and said " I need beats because I want to start to rap." So I gave him a bunch of Beats to choose from.

Little did I know, that he would commercialize his music and sign to and independent label, "Deka Records".

He has 3 of My beats on his album. I didnt sign anything. And he is making money of the album and he is also performing his album at various locations through out our city.

When i gave him the beats, he knew exactly that they werent suppose to be used for commercial purposes. I'm underground and I'd like to keep it that way for personal reasons.

I was wondering if there was anything I can do, since he didnt and doesnt have my permission to use my beats on his commercialized album.

please inform me. any advice or feed back is and will be appreicated.

Thank you for your time.
They Will Understand When They Die...
2
Wow. first, can you prove that their your beats?
3
I'm really sorry to hear that.

This may seem like an absurd question but: Have you approached your cousin about this and confronted him/her?

If you have and they just don't want to see eye to eye, then that is quite unfortunate. If that's the case then in order to take some sort of action you would really need to be able to prove that you own the beat.

Copyright law says that as long as you've recorded your work (on paper or any sort of other media) then it is your copyright. The main problem is of course proving that you're the one who did the work.

Many people use what's called the "Poor Man's Copyright": They burn their composition onto a CD and send it to themselves in the mail. Unfortunately nowadays it's easy to fake and wouldn't hold up as legal evidence.

So how can you protect your work?

I know of one way, perhaps other people know of others:
I use a notary. Everything I work on - whether it's a finished song, lyrics or production gets catalogued and burned onto a CD (lyrics are printed out) and sent regularly in a package to a notary who then seals it and keeps it in a safe. I receive a legal document stating the date that he received the material and if anyone ever tried to steal my work, I have proof that would hold up in any court that I am the originator of the work. If it ever came to a legal argument, I would be able to let the court have access to the material I protected.

It's unfortunate that something like that is necessary, but it's better to be safe than sorry. If anyone happens to know of a better, simpler way, please let me know.

I hope that you can come to some sort of agreement with your cousin or their label.

-Ruby
Ruby Rough
4

Quote: I use a notary. Everything I work on - whether it's a finished song, lyrics or production gets catalogued and burned onto a CD (lyrics are printed out) and sent regularly in a package to a notary who then seals it and keeps it in a safe. I receive a legal document stating the date that he received the material and if anyone ever tried to steal my work, I have proof that would hold up in any court that I am the originator of the work. If it ever came to a legal argument, I would be able to let the court have access to the material I protected.



that's not bad, but how much does the notary cost? :???:
5
First of all, I want to thank you all for posting.

I have confronted him about it but he ignores my calls, and doesnt reply to my messages ( i think his little contract is getting to him). Furthermore I am trying to get in contact with the other producers on the album to find out their input on the album, because maybe the same thing has happened to them or maybe I'm the only one that got the short end of the stick.

I can prove I produced the beat, because I have the original samples I used. I have all the notes and midi files that I constructed. I have every little snare, Hi Hat, Bass Drum, and VSTi that I used on the track. I have all that stored on my hard drive and in notes that I write when I produce beats.

I made him aware that the beats he was using were to be used solely for his mix tape and that they were non-exclusive because I work with other under ground artists.

As far as proving they are my beats. Thats all i can go by, I have friends that are MC's and other performing artist that can also prove I made the beats, because they were there in person while the beats were being produced.

I heard about mailing it to yourself, and I also heard about using a notary.

I make more then a couple tracks a day, not all keepers, but all of my music has a part of me. I'm not out for fortune and fame, I just want to be recognized for whats mine and respected for my hard work.

I guess the jokes on me.

But our family knows where they came from.

I don't think Deka Records does.
They Will Understand When They Die...
6
If you've got witnesses who saw you produce the track, that's probably the strongest evidence you have going for you.

I can understand that it's important to you that you find recognition, even if you're not looking for fame or fortune.

It looks like you have to weigh a couple of things now: how important to you is your personal relationship to your cousin? Ten years from now, are you going to want to have a good relationship with them, despite the horrible feeling you have right now? If a friendship is really important, it might be time to swallow the anger and accept that it was a painful experience that taught you an unfortunate lesson.

If however you know that you'd never regret it, you could seek out legal counsil an see if they think your proof is strong enough. Especially if you're just looking for credits and no money, a note from a lawyer listing your complaint and your proof that would stand up in court might be enough to scare the record label into giving you props. (A letter from a lawyer is always more threatening than a personal one.) They might even cease working with your cousin, since most contracts that artists sign include the fact that they will only use their own material or material that they have express permission to use. Your cousin might hate you for it, though.

In the future you might want to work out a simply worded contract when you share your work with other artists, stating expressly what they have permission to use it for. It doesn't have to be a long, official thing and you can explain to them why you do it. But your work is important and you should protect it.

as for this:

Quote: that's not bad, but how much does the notary cost?



At least in Germany it's usually based on a percentage of the estimated value of the work. If you're Madonna, it's a high estimated worth because she sells records like crazy. If you're undiscovered, the estimated worth is much much smaller. Try contacting a notary, explain the situation and see what they have to say.

-Ruby
www.myspace.com/rubyrough
Ruby Rough