Music and Song Production

Writing a good song is a common goal for both beginners and professionals. Everyone has a unique creative process, but there’s no doubt that having fresh ears to review your ideas, consulting with other musicians, or working with a vocal coach can greatly improve your results. Craig has collaborated with many professional and renown singers and songwriters worldwide. Whether starting from scratch or refining an existing piece, Craig can assist as needed. Paxus offers a full music production suite and recording studio to help turn your song ideas into a polished, mixed, and mastered recording.

The Process

1. Chat

We invite you to the studio, if possible, to discuss your plans. This helps ensure we share the same vision. We’ll review the budget, agree on any copyright splits if needed, and set timelines. We can also listen to any song references or demos you have. Once we understand the project, we’ll ask you to leave it with us to work on.

APRA: (Australasian Performing Right Association)

Register your songs to protect your rights as the writer. If the lyrics and music involve collaboration with others, agree on the percentage split before registration. Typically, Paxus will negotiate a percentage if we helped develop the lyrics or music. This may also apply if the music production significantly contributes to the song's identity, like unique sounds or themes. However, if we only provide music accompaniment or recording services for an existing fully formed song, just the original collaborators should receive full credit and ownership.

Ownership of the Master

Paxus owns the sound recordings unless or until the full buyout amount is paid. If a lower upfront fee plus a percentage of sales is agreed upon, Paxus maintains ownership, but grants the client immediate use of the tracks to sell and promote. Once the buyout amount from sales and royalties is met, all rights will be transferred to the client. In a full buyout agreement, rights are transferred right after payment is completed.

If you upload the master tracks to streaming sites like DistroKid or TuneCore while Paxus is still the licensor, please inform us of the following details so we can register them with PPCA:

• Title of song (Exactly as presented when uploaded)

• Date of Release

• Your name (Exactly as presented when uploaded)

• ISRC Number (Provided automatically when track is uploaded to DistroKid or similar)

Distribution (Distrokid or similar)

If Paxus has helped with the music arrangements and produced the track, we will suggest a percentage of the revenue from the track for its duration. This allows us to offer low upfront fees for our production services. We will agree on this at the start of the project. You can easily apply the split using most distribution services like Distrokid. Just follow the steps in the "Splits" menu and use the email paxusproductions@gmail.com to set the agreed percentage.

Royalties

Entitlements to royalties and ownership apply to 3 parts of the creative work:

1: The Underlying Composition

This refers to the original song or music composition. The ownership typically belongs to the original writer(s). For a song, this usually means the lyrics and music. Sometimes, arrangers or producers who add important elements to a song may also negotiate a share of ownership.

2: The Sound Recording

Physical recordings are different from music compositions. You will own any recordings made at Paxus once they are fully paid for.

3: The Musical Arrangement

Like the underlying composition, the musical arrangement is a unique creative work and is credited to the creator. If Paxus has arranged or produced the music for your song, it will be acknowledged in the form of a percentage share of revenue received for this iteration of your song.

Credit

Always credit the producer when you can. If you promote the track, please say, "Music produced by Craig Bryant at Paxus Productions." Tagging Paxus Productions in relevant social media posts will help us promote it as well.