Good night, Rosegarden in linux has the same quality what cubase. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ken" <renueden(a)earthlink.net> To: "A list for linux audio users" <linux-audio-user(a)music.columbia.edu> Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2005 10:37 PM Subject: Re: [linux-audio-user] Linux-Music and making a living...

On Wednesday 07 September 2005 11:51 am, Jay Vaughan wrote: What about composing and recording music, and selling it? Randy Kramer

Jay Vaughan wrote: I am not so sure. Do concert goers really have the abilty to discern the music made on one violin from another? Would the performer? Does it matter in the hip hop mixtape community that the majority of music is made with uncleared samples? But of course you are not referring to a particular instrument, but an operating system. I could (attempt to) construct an argument here about how an operating system could be viewed as an instrument, but no. I'll just say that when I heard how fantastic the Hydrogen drum machine sounded recently, it mattered to me. So I think it is fair to say, to some performers, and some listeners, it does matter what tools you make music with. The composing and recording part of your question should be fairly straight forward. If you are unsure of anything about that, you have come to the right place. The selling it part perhaps less straight forward. I guess there are two ways to look at this. One is that you'll make a career out of Linux and music using both as tools to provide a service. For inspiration consider replacing the word Linux with 'General Computing,' and take comfort from the fact that some of the finest minds on the planet are working together. The other alternative would be that your music is a product. (I hate that term.) This is a ramble, and I hope it is of benefit, here goes... There is the traditional legacy system of established music industry companies that you may wish to consider. If you are not already aware of it, Creative Commons (CC) can advise and help you to set up legally binding prononcements on how your content can be used and abused. If this is the way you wish to go there are a few CC aware labels (who may be interested in your work). Fading Ways and Loca are both excellent. Magnatune are also commited to CC and have an interesting pricing mechanism. There is a minimum, suggested and maximum price; Most people pay more. So far I think Magnatune are the only ones to have experimented with a differing price mechanism and CC content. More recently it is becoming apparent just how many companies are grabbing as much CC content as they can. Some doing so with pages that have very small print. I would advise you to treat such group with no less caution than you would another label. But what if you want to start up your own label? That would be a pretty cool way of selling your music right? I am amazed that there are not more labels around now that CC is available. Perhaps the last big hurdle to creating a label (the cost of legal documentation and taking payments) it still beyond most people. I am similarly amazed that this information is not more widely available. Whether we like it or not, every action we make has a commercial resonance and an element of cultural capital. Playing an ancient and expensive violin, or wearing your baseball cap at different angle, or even a pair of white headphones all have a signifigance. It is this information that is economically important. The sad truth is that most of the largest record labels really do not care what they sell, as long as the information available to them suggests it will sell . The music industry is like the rest of the economy in that works by selling 'bundles.' In reality what you don't want pays for what you do. In the past this was seen clearest by ' the album track paying for the single.' Today, you may consider that you dont really want Apple to know everything about your listening habits, you just want a particular tune. However, Apple will make far more from licensing playlist information than they ever will from selling "mp3s". I am sorry I have no answers for you but I can offer some questions; 1. Should lists of freely available content be covered by a licence? 2. Should access to a list, or the items within it, be charged for? 3. How about if the charge was shown with the the percentage donated directly to the artist? 4. Could such a payment gateway be built using open source tools, and made open and secure? 5. Should access constitute right to copy, and is there any need for DRM in this system? Or in any other? Big questions I know, but they are worth considering, particularly if you are looking to make a living out of Linux and music. Hope that helps John

Thanks to all of you for your replys! Up to now I've been using Linux mainly for learning Csound and for making electroacoustic "academic" music (as I'm mainly a "classical" music composer). I recently moved to Canada and while waiting for my immigration documents (and stretching my savings) I've been thinking about how am I supposed to make a living as a composer. I was considering to compose and sell some "commercial" music (sorry for the quoting but I just want to enfasize that I'm using the therms in a conventional neutral way without judging the value of the different music styles) for TV or film. I really support the open source concept and the Linux culture but through this short time that I've being discovering the Linux-Audio world I found that for electroacoustic music Linux is excellent and powerful and that I wouldn't switch back to Windows. On the other hand, regarding making commercial music for media (what could possibly give me a way of making a living) I found that there is a big lack of tools that can help you to produce within the demanding time lines of this kind of productions. There are not enough virtual synthesizers and not enough ways of synchronizing them and automate them. The sampler area is also not very strong (LinuxSampler seems very promising, though). I know that I could easily do everything in Csound but the learning curve is a little bit steep and facing a short time lines I wonder if I will have the skills to program that fast. ... any way, I'll keep the adventure going! Thanks again for your words. Some are very encouraging. to Greg Wilder: I found your personal web site some days ago and it was very encouraging to read your words and listen to your good music! peace, Hector.

Dave Robillard wrote: I totally agree!!! I think GNU/Linux should never become too widespread. Otherwise it will die. It should be an alternative for those who value freedom, those who aren't afraid to learn. Those who value sharing more than selling and buying. Call me leninist. :-D c. www.cesaremarilungo.com

R Parker wrote: I think I've been misunderstood. I just hate those who feel the need to compare Linux to other OSes and argument that it should have that application and those functions and so on to compete. Linux should not compete, IMHO. It should exist. Period. I'm currently using SUSE. Commercial distros apply fair ways of making money out of Linux. And developers must eat. But if you don't agree that GNU/Linux is mainly about freedom, you can use MacOSX which has a *nix core and loads of stable and easy to install apps already here. Do you really think that in a world which kills people for oil (or let them die without helping, because they've nothing) and in which the big media industry forges most people's mind one day we'll see open source software and Linux (like it is now, to just a commercial OS called Linux) on every PC? Yes, the pentagon built the internet. So what? c.