Transcriptions for $

[Lori Sweeney]

Since this is a composer's forum, I don't know if this subject is taboo or not BUT I frequent a lot of piano music sites and have been offered payment to do transcriptions. I've done them no charge in the past just for the challenge but I am now in a financial crisis. I found very few sites on the net that will name prices but the cheapest I found was .70 cents per measure, and that's just for a lead sheet. I DO NOT do lead sheets, I do full piano arrangements. I am currently transcribing a complicated oriental piece for my 1st paying customer at .50 cents per measure. A bargain in my opinion but then someone came along and offered me $50 to do a 42 second (approx. 15 measure) transcription. Does anyone know how a full piano transcription by ear should be charged? By measure, by time, by difficulty, etc.?

[Ray Kemp]

Hi Lori,

My opinion is, you'll have to become the hard headed business person that is perhaps hiding behind your 'have a nice day' outward facade. Only you know how much it's worth for your time. On many occasions over the years I've been asked to create mock-up backing tracks (minimum two days work per track) for solo cabaret singers and the only way I could give them a reasonable price was if the track they wanted was useful enough when finished it could be added to my library list and make money from others. I've got to tell you, most were looking for something I didn't think would sell elsewhere and I declined their commission without even quoting money. As this wasn't a main source of income to me, I could make such a decision but if you're really struggling, well... It's up to you.

Regards

Ray

[Lori Sweeney]

Thanks Ray. You are so correct in regards to my "have a nice day" attitude as well. It can be time consuming and at points outright frustrating to do accurate transcriptions and I really should stop selling myself short. I also understand what you're saying regarding declining work but that is not an option for me at this point and maybe this will be the start of something good for me. Thank you for your input.
Lori

[Marius Amado-Alves]

Congratulation for your courage and achievement in a new musical career! I whish you the best of luck.

Why not notes and marks be the units? Probably even accidentals. This should approximate better the real size, complexity, and difficulty of the piece.

Transcription by ear is high calibre skill and should be well payed. Yes 50 cents a measure sounds like a real bargain (unless all measures contain a single breve).

[Marius Amado-Alves]

A "lead sheet" being what? Just the melody?

[Lori Sweeney]

A lead sheet is the melody and lyrics written with the harmony as chord symbols only. What people are asking me to do is transcribe certain songs true to the recording which I am quite good at.

Thanks for the congrats but unfortunately after doing some research of my own, it does not appear to be legal due to copyrights, unless the author has been deceased at least 70 years. The requests I am getting are geared more toward popular songs and not classical pieces, therefore I cannot accept payment.

I can't say I'm not disappointed but if I were the original author, I certainly wouldn't appreciate someone making money off my work, so I completely understand. What I don't understand is how some sites I've found on the net ARE making money on transcriptions. One site even says it charges .70 cents per measure for a transcription of a commercial recording.

I have however received an offer to compose an original piece for payment to someones lyrics. Now THAT I have no idea how to charge for!

[Marius Amado-Alves]

Well, congrats again, now you're a payed composer, a very rare creature!

Yeah it is very difficult define the price. You have to balance the amount of work, the type of costumer, what he or she is willing to pay...

Songify someone's lyrics. A 3-minute song. I would feel well payed with 1000 euros. 500 at least.

You can also negociate with a share of the copyright. Or just the credits.

Philip Glass received 80000 euros for an opera commissioned by the Expo 1998.

[Marius Amado-Alves]

And the copyright issue for transcriptions. Don't let that stop you if you have business. There are all sort of legal ways around that. Including buying a license. Probably what honest transcription companies are doing.

[Lori Sweeney]

Thank you Marius but I have not been paid yet. I will let you know when an official congratulations is in order :)

[Lori Sweeney]

Well I don't know anything about that and I certainly do not need to get into any type of legal trouble. I'll see if I can dig anything up as far as going about it legally but if anyone knows anything on the subject, I would certainly appreciate the input.

[Marius Amado-Alves]

I'm not a lawyer, but I am pretty sure that making a transcription of some recording does not infringe the respective copyright. The copyright is about the concrete artifact (recording, score). And certainly the provider of the transcription service is not the accountable person for any possible infringing use of the transcription. And if you work for hire (you forfeit all copyright) you are completely out of trouble from the start. Please do not loose business because of this (nonexistent) issue.

[Lori Sweeney]

Marius, I am certainly not a lawyer either and I REALLY want to agree with you, but according to just the definition of copyright infringement, it certainly seems relevant to my situation.

Copyright infringement (or copyright violation) is the unauthorized use of material that is covered by copyright law, in a manner that violates one of the copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.

I do however wonder if it is legal to charge someone for your time spent on the transcription and not for the actual music itself.

[Marius Amado-Alves]

Work for hire is legal.

I think that if a client hires you to transcribe a recording, and provides you with said recording, your use of the recording for the purposes of transcription is probably fair use, but anyway it is the client's responsabilty to secure the necessary licenses for transcription purposes, and then for any use of that transcription.

Fair use is a class of uses of copyrighted works that do infringe it. Examples are use for study only, excerpts for critical reviews. I think listening to a recording and transcribing it is fair use. It is what is done with the transcription (performance, sale) that might infringe copyright, but then again, that's your client's responsabilty.

Anyway there should be a written and signed contract between you and your client. A good contract should clear up all these issues. Namely, the contract could state explicitly that the client has permission for the use of the work for the purposes of the work contracted. Or simply that all legal responsability w.r.t to the (c) of the work lies with the client.

Don't loose good business!