WillRock

I'd also recommend you guys steer away from my remix: OC ReMix #3284: DuckTales 'Apollo Duck' [The Moon] by WillRock I licensed it for my album release Journey to the Centre of the World, so it could also get flagged. Maybe.

yeeeeeeah thanks for the responses guys! Glad you're all enjoying it!

Sup OCR! Journey to the Centre of the World is my second full length original album, and is available for download at Bandcamp! Journey to the Centre of the World is a 10 track album, which i've been working on for the past 2-3 years. The album is a big fat 80's inspired Chiptune/Rock fusion. It has authentic chiptunes, less authentic chiptunes, and big fat 80s production with operatic singing and crazy synth/guitar solos! And it's FREE!!! https://willrock1.bandcamp.com/album/journey-to-the-centre-of-the-world Track 1 features the Vocal Talents of Valentino Francavilla (Best known as the vocalist of ShockFront) and the famitracker chops of @DaMonz and the album also features a Remix by OCRs @DDRKirby(ISQ)! You can download it on Bandcamp, or on overclocked records for the small price of free, but every donation helps me support myself and continue to make great music! If you end up enjoying the music, please consider paying what you think is a fair price for the download Thanks guys! REALLY hope you enjoy this one, a lot of effort went into it!

oh man! I've had this on my computer for years! Seriously, this is one of my all time favourites and you should download this right now

Music is subjective - the closest you can get to perfection is your own perfection, which others would disagree with for various reasons. I'd still argue it is a bad thing with creating music itself because obtaining perfection, due to the subjective nature of music itself, is almost impossible. I've known of musicians - fantastic ones - who are highly adept at their chosen daw/instruments/whatever, and haven't finished a single piece of music. Instead, they have about 200 WIPs all of which have been abandoned too early on because they can't achieve what they want. For me, to strive for perfection in music is to miss the point - music isn't perfect as an art form - and you can create unintended - but amazing - things by experimenting. Music should be a natural process, you shouldn't have to think about it too hard. Even if you have a plan, expect it to change as the track evolves, and don't fight that change because the best music is the music that comes naturally to you imo. In terms of performance, it is a matter of opinion. I still believe that perfectionism here isn't necessary since you can pretty much goof off and make some amazing unintentional magic, but there is nothing wrong with practicing a song to the point where you can play it as close to note perfect as you can - it all depends how much you want to capture the original mood or feel that the music originally conveyed.

I fully endorse this product and/or service. I won't direct it tho, because giving it to me is the same as killing the concept with your bare hands.

I'm Blue Dabadee Dabedaab. (Sorry not sorry - really cool remix too )

No. No no no no no. nuuuuuuuuuuu. This is the one thing you must NEVER do, in my experience. NEVER undersell. Ever. If you're worried about "starting at the bottom and doing it for free and peanuts"... the music should speak for itself. If they like your music, they'll consider you. Doesn't matter how much work you've done in the past, if your music is what they want, they'll pay. Ultimately, doing it for free undervalues your work. Yes seems simple but it does undervalue the work, both for you and the developer, but most importantly, everyone else. See, right now, there is this general consensus from a lot of indie developers that music isn't work paying for. Know what happens when developers don't pay for music? 3 potential things. 1: Musicians actually do a good job and get screwed cause they did all that work for nothing. 2: They do a half-assed job. I once saw a track from a guy in this community on a game I helped score... it was pretty bad. Like... sample quality and mixing were vastly lower than what the developer was asking for. I looked up his stuff on youtube. Was better than what I could do, really high quality, great samples, humanisation and mixing. Asked the developer, he said the guy worked for free and was busy. 3: They just... disappear on you. This is something that developers tell me happens all the time with free people and honestly, why wouldn't it happen? They realise they don't get anything out of it, they're busy with life and just fuck off. Sad but true. See, it gives this idea that not only is music not worth paying for, but people don't give a shit anyway. I've managed to get paid gigs from people who said they only do free simply based on the fact that I promised to keep in contact and do a good job, and of course, when i've stuck to my word, they've kept me around. Depends how savvy the developer is on the whole situation tho. You pay for what you get, and if you tell them that, they'll be 90% more willing to pay you. NEVER undersell yourself.

hmm... I actually think i'm going to have to pass, in hindsight. Love the idea of the compo but I don't realistically have time to do it. Sorry to confuse things darke

I'm being stupid. Sign me up. My personal preference team wise is the shovel knight team, simply because i've done so much bloody mega man - aware and accept it is your decision tho

I’ve read through the whole thread and taken it all in, and this is what I’m getting from all this. The staff tested the waters on this to see how intrusive it was. Fine but surely a month, hell, even 2 weeks, is PLENTY of time to figure that out. The fact it wasn’t made public until it was noticed by non-staff 2 months later is a problem because it is borderline deceiving and honestly, puts a barrier of trust between the community and the staff. The fact that this was done with something so polarising is even worse, which is what I think most people have an issue with. The making money off music argument - some people view it differently, and at the end of the day, we’re all going to have to accept that, and deal with those consequences. If everyone is willing to accept that, then sure. Legally, Staff are saying its not going to make a difference based on stuff that honestly… its subjective at best. There is no absolute guarantee that this isn’t going to come and bite ocr back in the ass in some form. As a staff member and highly prolific remixer, you understand my concern there since I don’t think this makes it entirely your choice. The content isn’t entirely yours. You can say “well it’ll be ok, we’ll deal with it” but what if something unprecedented happens and it involves more than just the higher ups of the staff? Basically, we’re all taking a risk and I think it should be our choice to say if we choose to carry on with that risk. At the very least, allow people who disagree to have their remixes removed maybe? Might seem drastic but some people might feel that strongly about it. Not to mention this is just a backup. DJP said Patreon is covering everything atm so this is potentially needless worry. As you all can gather, this is massive topic of discussion and I think further thought is required here. Just my two cents. Going to bow out now, I’ve said enough

"If I were a copyright holder, I would be much more concerned with downloadable MP3s than streams" - so would I if you had put monitised ads on the download pages. So... to put it simply, you're telling us you think you can get away with it? Like... Thats fine. I appreciate your optimism, even if it is researched... I'd recommend caution. Maybe you can get away with it in court but do you really want to tempt it is what I'm saying.

Well yeah, I think we're all aware that "technically" its all illegal. However, as you say, as a general rule, its left alone, because companies are generally cool with it, its free exposure for game music after all, it does no harm. My concern is that a line is being crossed. One day, website ads go up. Then a Patreon is made. Then youtube videos are monitised. Whats next? Spotify? Maybe you'll sell ocr CDs unlicensed! Hell you might as well since it is all illegal anyway right. I kid but you see my point? My issue isn't that I think its illegal, I know its illegal and i'm worried about how far it can go before they try and shut it all down. We have a good thing I reckon, no one has complained - YET - but this has always been a slightly risky game. Now, I feel this is playing with fire. Just because you think something won't happen doesn't mean it won't. Murphy's law.

There is a limit to what the companies will accept tho. Its a thin line and all these big companies know about ocr. Some we have even worked with. We are treading a thin line on what is legally acceptable and it feels like ocr is on a tightrope, testing how sturdy it is. Eventually, it'll snap, and break, and we'll all fall with it.

It does matter to me. It matters a lot. I don't think it has too much bearing when there are legal ramifications involved however - If Square or Nintendo come knocking and say "hey, you're using copyrighted material and making money of it - that includes my stuff - I am associated with that. I'm a staff member. Thats not what I signed up for. It is relevant to me, i'm suggesting it won't be from a legal perspective. Honestly, I'm a bit worried.

So when I found out about this, I was... concerned. I expressed my thought process and suggested that I might leave staff. The response from staff, long story short, was that I hadn't thought it through. Seeing this come public and having a lot of time to think this through after hearing the arguments... Yeah... I still have some issues On one side of the argument, you have issues with copyright, and it feels a bit morally grey to be profiting directly off someone elses work. You use the website ads as an argument, but I am in the camp that you're making money directly off the music submitted to the site. People go to the youtube videos primarily to hear the music. OCR didn't create that music, it was donated by the many talented people of the VG Remixing Community. Primarily, I will repeat what Neblix said " My music is making money, why aren't I getting that money?" Well, I have never monetised my youtube videos of my remixes - I don't like making money of others work without going through the proper legal channels. OCR have jumped over that hoop and gone for it anyway. The fact that ocr is non-profit, imo - is irrelevant. As for the website... I feel the website is different because thats more than just the music, its a forum, the home of the community, and I am very willing to accept that people donate to keep that going as a whole. That said, the money is going directly to the website. Its not making DJPs pockets any heavier with cash, and yeah... I can see that and thats fine. I guess its a question of this: Do you view youtube ads as OCR profiting from your music, and if so, are you ok with it? Also, are you ok with how the money is being spent? Personally, I think it is both ethically and legally problematic.

You're a wizard flash man

Don't worry guys, i'm alive

https://obxd.wordpress.com/ - thats a free vst based on the ob-x synth, used by bands like van halen and rush. Perfect for brass sounds like you're going for! https://app.box.com/s/krhwp975tvsjaiy86oq7w1hd2xlfq1b7 - thats a WIP I did using primarily synths from the VST, if you want an example of what it can do

oooh I can dig this. Nice work guys!

Short answer - if you want to monetise your content, make sure you own all the content, or get your music licensed. At least I think thats the short answer, it all gets very complex. Honestly, unless your planning on being the next Smooth McGroove I wouldn't worry about monetising.You won't earn enough, and i've heard youtube can be a bit dodgy with that system as it is. As a general rule, I leave it well alone and earn money from my original music, not my remixes.

Whats wrong with OCR Releasing VGM style synths? Does it go against promoting VGM? No? Ok then. From my perspective, the "spirit" of the website is just promoting VGM. Remixes is one part of that, and the main focus but generally, the goal is a bit more broad than that. Also, who said people who worked on this aren't getting financial compensation? I didn't work on this so I don't know honestly, thats not mentioned here did someone tell you that? Even if they aren't, they entered into it willingly, its not like everyone was all held at gunpoint and were told "YOU *MUST* CONTRIBUTE TO THIS FOR FREE WHILE WE TAKE ALL YOUR HARD WORK AND TURN IT INTO MONNNNIES". If you personally don't like it, w/e, you weren't involved anyway so why does it matter. "Claiming to be the community" - Naaaaah. I don't buy that. There are loads of projects with OCRs name on that don't involve everyone. Half the projects on OCR probably have 15 people involved max and you're ok calling that the "community" so why is this any different? What about one man remix albums like AnSo's the Answer? halc's pilotwings album? I KNOW you've shown support for them before. What about the Original Soundtracks with one person involved? They've got the community stamp on them. I'd be more willing to accept your criticism of it not being the full community if it didn't come out of nowhere

Nice track, but the title? Doesn't feel "bluesy" to me really. Really nice ideas tho! Dig eet. Whats it for?

I find musical ideas are open to your interpretation of it. Whenever I was in these compos, I would plan the genre and tempo of all my potential remixes before hand. So for example. Round 1: I'll do a fast paced rock remix. Round 2: a slow synth pop remix. This was regardless of what opponent (and therefore source) I may face. I've never had to change an idea to fit with the opponents source either. I did this for varieties sake cause I didn't want to do the same track twice. In some cases, I purposely chose what parts of my source to tackle for each remix I may do ahead of time too. To try and explain it more simply... to me, source tunes are just groups of melodies and rhythms and you can build a track to work around them. You shouldn't think "do these two tracks work together" you should think "how can these two tracks work together" and experiment. Maybe you need a little variation to make a track work at a different tempo but you can get the core of the idea down regardless. I haven't found 2 tracks I can't combine together, and I don't think I ever will because imo, you can combine everything to everything via arrangements, its just how you go about doing it.

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