Leaderboard

Everything else aside, I think we can agree that Brandon is a force of nature when it comes to these kinds of projects. No one is happy with how the last week has gone, and it sucks that he and OCR are going to part ways. That being said, we're excited to see this album get completed, and I hope that you (the remixers) all want to stay on board with us and see it through. Let me know if I can be of any help or assistance.

@djpretzel @zircon @JJT Well shit. Thats sucks. I don't know what happened or what was said but for someone who has given a lot of time to this community and then be cutoff is rough. Hopefully bridges can mend in the future, but its nice that you guys want to keep this going. I also do hope that @OA @Sam Ascher-Weiss can get back on the project cause I was rather looking forward to their tracks. I appreciate Brandon and his hard work but lets move forward and see this through for the community. We're all welcome to release our music elsewhere but contributing together is what makes it special here.

Okay folks, we're one month away from the second check-in deadline, so here's the obligatory reminder. We've been making good progress with the album, but you know what would be awesome? A new update from @Jorito, @GaMeBoX, @evktalo, @zykO, @Audiocolor, @Chernabogue, @DusK, @Lucasonic, @Tuberz McGee, @~Faseeh~, @generaloffensive, @Bowlerhat and @Unknown Alias! You know what would even be more awesomer? A WIP from @KingTiger, @WillRock, @wildfire and @jnWake! Eager to see what they come up with, I bet it's gonna be fab Me and Black Doom are happy to give you feedback on your tracks and help you remove any roadblocks. Since this is the last check-in before the final deadline on October 30, this check-in would be a good opportunity for you to catch up with your friendly album directors and make the album the best it can be! Oh... and we may or may not have some other progress to share with you in the near future

I will be back on the project. The reason I left was strictly personal between Brandon and I, and we can leave it at that.

It's a shame to see that things got so bad that Brandon had to be banned, but I trust in the decision you guys have made and I'm totally still down for doing the album - being on an OCR album release has been a bucket list item for me for a long time, and especially a Final Fantasy one given how important those soundtracks have been to me! Let's get it done

Opting in. Who knows, maybe the hate on ads will draw away the hate on my vocal mixes.

Well, to be fair, if you strip an arrangement down and take off the elements that make it different from the source, very often you get something that is... well, not interesting and too conservative. That's probably why YoshiBlade added all of those cool, interesting elements on top of the arrangement. There are mixes that change up the form of the track, but that's not a requirement for a track to be posted - it just can't be a straight cover with nothing added to it to make it really stand out as his own. As far as I can tell, it's not against site or submission policy to have a mix that stacks a whole lot of other elements over a relatively straight arrangement, as long as the source isn't straight sample'd from the game itself throughout (which isn't the case here). In this track, all of those extra elements, the gating of the theme, etc., add a lot of extra atmosphere. Changing the atmosphere of a track (or making it so much more intensely "that atmosphere", like in this track) does count as change, as far as following OCR standards is concerned, and adding elements on top of a straight source certainly counts as "adding a personal touch", as well. This is a good example of a track that's extremely conservative that got posted (along with the judge decision that lead to it being YES'd) - very conservative, as far as arrangement goes, but it adds so much flavor in how it presents the material, in the little bits added on top, that it got a pretty solid pass from the J's. Following the form of a source isn't an issue as long as you do something to it to really make it your own. On that front, anyway, I think YoshiBlade would fare alright.

Who is going to MAGLabs next month? http://magfest.org/maglabs It is the newly-named MAGFest Classic at the old location! Besides the elevators, the hotel was super sweet, and the smaller crowd it holds is a lot better for general chilling. Nothing can take the place of the legit main MAGFest, but the theme this year is sort of like Portal, and features a lot of experimentation. OverClocked ReMix is going to be there as well, experimenting with some new and cool panel ideas. Also, OverClocked community people performing there: DJ FLEXSTYLE OVERCLOCKED UNIVERSITY STARGATE Confirmed OverClocked community attendees: Arrow Bahamut DarkeSword Detective Tuesday djpretzel DragonAvenger Flexstyle Geoffrey Taucer Level 99 Neblix OA theshaggyfreak Tom the Drummer If you are coming to but aren't on the list, let me know so I can add you!

So the last constructive part of the YT monetization thread was that mixers were letting djp/OCR that they were fine with OCR running ads on the YouTube videos with their mixes. This, so that OCR could gather more data on the effects of enabling ads. The thread was closed because the discussion got WAY out of hand, but since Dave said he would appreciate if we opted in, this thread is relevant in my eyes. Just to make it clear: THIS THREAD IS NOT MEANT FOR DICSUSSION Just state here if OCR can use your mixes for this test run. And obviously, I opt in

Personally I'm with Mirby on the statement that the involved artists should be asked about this. We had experiences with Brandon to varying degrees around the site, though like djp stated in the FF8 thread post it's best to remain professional and make OCR solely about the music. As I have a finished track on this album, I'd prefer to remain on the album regardless of who's running it or whether it would be an OC Remix album at all, though I can imagine for some that there'll be grief no matter what happens.

@Zeba and I did the Odin FATE yesterday. It was incredible, and loads of fun, and I died like 8 times but the 50 of us just barely managed to beat him with 10 seconds left on the Zantetsuken clock. Great stuff. We didn't get any of the drops you can turn in for Chocobo branding though.

Sad to hear that it came to this, but I'm happy with the proactive and open way you guys try to move things forward.

That piano is SUPER mechanical. Not sure how I feel about it. It doesn't sound like it's trying to be real but it's so exposed. I like what you're trying to do here, but I think Larry and Kris are right. Guitar sounds great but there's weird balance issues. Some of the synths get a bit messy and piercing. Needs another look. NO

I'm okay with this.

you have my axe

Even if it's not technically a thing, that deadline should still hold. It'll probably be the thing to finally push me to get something going, at any rate, lol. But yeah, this really is a huge bummer, but at the same time it's not hard to argue that it's for the betterment of the site at this point, too. You can't let people do what he was doing without repercussion.

Awesome, glad you're still down! YES, the Sep. 12th WIP deadline remains in place. No need to change it, let's keep things moving forward, and once the poll has a majority of votes, we'll be modifying the roster accordingly, reaching out with new contact info, etc. No worries, we can make that happen.

Whoa huge bummer to see how he broke down like that and it got to the point of a perma ban . I was hoping things would just kind of mellow out after a bit. The entire time I was reading his posts on that thread I just kept thinking about how I hope the album projects stay in tact. I'm definitely still in, but still need to get a WIP together for my claim. Is the September 12th deadline still a thing? I will also probably need some help/guidance when it comes to mixing/mastering/anything production related for my track. I'm not so good at that stuff as arranging and playing are my specialties (still new to the whole recording aspect of music) and Brandon was going to do that for me. If anybody wants to mix my track that'd be rad probably won't be necessary for at least a few months.

Clicking that link (poll) gives me a "site can't be reached". Naturally, really bummed to hear it came to this. Brandon was one of the few people who instantly gave me his approval&trust when I first auditioned to him a long time ago, and he was always proactive, inviting me on projects and trusting me with key songs... Now I can't rely on that anymore, gotta try and get posted at long last lol. What will become of the FF3 project? I've been involved with it quite a lot, with 2 key songs to my name, would be a real shame to see it cancelled.

No restrictions. You can do an arrangement that covers several sources as long as it's cohesive and doesn't feel like a medley. My only posted mix that I arranged is of that type!

The purpose of this thread is to give people a clear idea of how OCR operates, how revenue is generated (and where that revenue goes), and the relationship between OCR, its operations, and the people that contribute to it. Is content on OCR licensed? No. We do not license the ReMixes distributed on our site (and through channels like YouTube). (There is one exception, which is described below.) Why aren't the remixes licensed? It's simply impossible to do this for several reasons. 1. Mechanical licensing via the compulsory licensing permission (the one that does not require publisher permission) requires that the source material be published commercially in the United States prior to licensing. Many remixes on the site are of source material never released in soundtrack form in the US, therefore they cannot be licensed. 2. Even if the music could be licensed, since OCR is founded on the concept of distributing music for free, it would be impossible to support the massive licensing costs necessary for all remixes on the site. To use some napkin math: assume 3400 remixes are each downloaded 100 times per month, which is a gross under-estimate. At 9.1 cents per copy downloaded, this would require licensing fees of over $30,000 a month - for downloads alone. 3. No established license mechanism could cover free downloads of MP3s and ad-supported streaming. Compulsory mechanical licensing only covers downloadable copies; as a result, custom licensing agreements would need to be made with every publisher (which they could simply reject, unlike a compulsory license.) For total emphasis, there is no conceivable way that the content on OCR could be licensed, and especially not while remaining compatible with the site goal of distributing free music. Does that mean OCR is illegal or infringing copyright? By default, any use of copyrighted material without express permission of the copyright holder is considered infringement. However, US copyright law makes provisions for "fair use" of copyrighted material as a defense to infringement in a court of law. Fair use is the legal principle that allows for things like educational usage, commentary, parody, and satire, among other uses. While fair use cannot be established except in a court of law, and there are no strict guidelines allowing anyone to decide whether a use is fair or not outside of the court system, it's possible to make an educated guess as to whether a use is fair or not. This educated guess is based on an evaluation of the factors evaluated for determining fair use, and precedent. The biggest of these factors are whether a work is transformative, and whether it is 'commercial'. These are both loose and nebulous terms, but that being said, our strongly-held belief (reinforced by the belief of consulted legal counsel) is that OCR's distribution of fan-created arrangements for non-commercial educational purposes is fair use. This has been discussed at length in other posts but suffice it to say that when analyzing all these factors, we've made a very strong case for this if a court case were ever to happen. Isn't it worse to upload music to YouTube, especially if it's monetized? No. If fair use applies to OCR's activities, it would certainly extend to YouTube. If it doesn't apply, then the site's current activities (on and off YouTube) would be considered infringement, in which case it's a moot point. YouTube is actually a better place to address issues of infringement than elsewhere, because Google provides content creators with several tools: the ability to claim a video (which grants the publisher/claimaint all further revenue from the video) or issue a takedown. Both of these would not entangle either party in the court system, as Google/YouTube mediates any disputes, avoiding a costly legal battle. In short, we'd much rather defend ourselves to YouTube, ON YouTube, with the assistance of YouTube specialists who have extensive experience in copyright disputes. Also, keep in mind that on YouTube (and off), a creator can claim infringement regardless of whether someone is generating revenue from a work or not. My own personal experience with YouTube claims and takedowns has exclusively been with un-monetized videos. In short, if a publisher took issue with OCR, not running YouTube ads would not protect us in any way. Does OCR generate revenue from its content? Yes. Since the early 2000s, ocremix.org has run ads throughout the site. Other revenue is generated from sales of OCR merchandise (not music; music on the site is not sold commercially) such as t-shirts and hoodies. Within the last few years, OCR launched a Patreon page which also generates revenue. Ads were also enabled on <1% of videos on OCR's YouTube channel from June-August 2016 for testing purposes, which has also generated a small amount of revenue. Until OCR officially becomes a registered non-profit organization, and YouTube ads are discussed further with the community, YouTube ads will only be served on the videos of ReMixers who have given OCR their explicit permission. Why does OCR need to generate revenue? OCR as a website has technical costs, such as the cost of a dedicated server, mirrors, and bandwidth. These expenses are necessary for the basic operation of the site. Revenue is also needed to create promotional materials for the site: that includes merchandise like t-shirts and hoodies, as well as strictly-promotional physical copies of album projects. (These promotional physical albums are not sold, and the content on them is available for free on ocremix.org. They are given away at conventions). OCR has also been attending conventions such as Otakon, MAGFest, and PAX (among any others) to evangelize video game music, promote recent album releases, and give away free stuff. Expenses directly related to OCR panels at these conventions (such as technical equipment needed for panels) are sometimes covered by OCR as an organization. There are also many plans for the organization that require revenue to achieve. For example, the OCR YouTube video template has not been updated in many years and looks dated. We're in the process of commissioning custom visualization software to produce better-looking videos strictly for the enjoyment of viewers and fans. Also, we're looking to obtain true non-profit organization status, which we believe will take a substantial amount of money to file and maintain properly. Where does surplus revenue go? For a long time, there was no surplus revenue. Expenses were often paid out of pocket by Dave and other staff. Now that revenue is exceeding expenses, the revenue... isn't going anywhere. It's staying in OCR's accounts until it is used for purposes like those described above. The aforementioned non-profit filing process will likely take most if not all saved money. So is OCR a non-profit organization? From our submission agreement: OCR legally cannot distribute submitted materials for for-profit endeavors. Furthermore, OCR is legally bound to spend any revenue on costs directly associated with operation and promotion of OverClocked ReMix. However, OCR as an entity does not have true non-profit status - 501(c)(3) - which is why achieving that official status is a major goal. Are any ReMixers or site staff paid for their work? No. Nobody has been paid for their work contributing to the site either as a remixer, staff member, or administrator, djp included. (Fine print: OCR has released one commercial album, For Everlasting Peace: 25 Years of Mega Man, as an officially licensed release in partnership with Capcom, with Capcom retaining ownership of the music. ReMixers were paid for this release, which was licensed directly with the publisher. This music is not available on the site and was not submitted through the normal channels, so it's an outlier.) Will ReMixers ever be paid? Not for regular submissions to the site, which are distributed for free. Not only would the logistical overhead be unmanageable, but it would invalidate our fair use case, as it would be impossible to justify those payments as necessary to the direct operation of the site as a non-profit entity. However, we'll continue to explore separate licensed projects like MM25, or officially licensed commercial albums through our sister site OverClocked Records. We view these as separate from the core work that OCR does: distributing and evangelizing free music. Will site staff ever be paid? There is absolutely no plan to do this, nor has it been seriously discussed among site staff in all years of operation. It's conceivable that it could happen someday, after 501(c)(3) status is achieved and we're complying with all regulations for transparency, corporate bylaws, etc. djpretzel wants there to be a plan for the site should anything ever happen to him, and operating a 501(c)(3) will require more administrative duties for things like bookkeeping and accounting. Again, if it were to ever happen, it would be executed properly to the letter as per federal guidelines for non-profit organizations and in full compliance with our own legally binding submission agreement. Is there anything to prevent revenue from being distributed as profit to staff now?! Of course. Just because OCR is not a 501(c)(3) yet does not mean our submission agreement isn't legally binding: it is. And that agreement, which applies to OCR as an organization, strictly limits how revenue can be used. Again, site staff have never been paid nor are there any plans to do so.

Alright, a bit of time has passed, and I think we've got an established track list set up. Before I type it in though, a reminder: If you have an orange-colored entry, I need you to send a .WAV (must be a WAV) to me asap. If you've already done so, ignore this message. The track list is: Megaman 3 - ** ~Sagnewshreds Tetris - ** ~ Chernabogue Metroid - Title Theme ~Trev MegaMan III - Title ~Trev Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters - Fight Music 4 ~Mak Eightman Battletoads & Double Dragon - Missile Mayhem ~Sbeast Contra - Waterfall ~jorito Bubble Bobble - *Undefined/No Specific Track* ~YamaYama/milothefultz Super Mario Bros. 3 - Athletic Theme ~Mak Eightman Note that this is not track order. That'll be decided after all tracks are orange and received on my end.