Q'z thought

Every path we ultimately take, leads us to where we are supposed to be......However some paths take us the LOOOONG way, so take life's turns with your heart, this way EVERY experience has purpose.....

What's up with that Wednesday

Loved ones, I never lobby for anyone to read my post, but YOU MUST READ AND SHARE THIS WITH EVERYONE!!! 

If you live on the west coast of Canada or the United States, you’re probably already been subject to radiation at this point thanks to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami that hit the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant in March of 2011.  Radiation levels are already increasing in the food and water, babies born with thyroid issues linked to radiation are rising quickly and governments in Canada and the United States are raising the “acceptable levels” of certain toxic substances in the food being shipped in from Japan.

This isn’t a conspiracy theory, this is happening and it’s happening right now.  However, it’s your choice to either heed or dismiss the information being supplied here, which is for editorial purposes only.

The fancy little picture at the top of the article isn’t showing you the flow of happy fun time thoughts from Japan back in March of 2012, it’s showing you the flow of radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant after the devastating earthquake and tsunami of 2011.  Yes, that sharp pain you just felt in your chest is the sudden realization that the image shows the radiation reaching almost past Hawaii more than a year ago.

Do the math – If that radiation screamed across the Pacific Ocean that far in one year, just how far do you think it has gotten since then?  Look at what SHTFplan.com  is saying and then you decide.

Samples of milk taken across the United States have shown radiation at levels 2000 percent higher than EPA maximums.  The reason that milk is so significant is that it is representative of the entire food supply.  According to an article published on Natural News, “Cows consume grass and are exposed to the same elements as food crops and water supplies. In other words, when cows’ milk starts testing positive for high levels of radioactive elements, this is indicative of radioactive contamination of the entire food supply.”

The  Food and Drug  Administration and the Environmental Deception Protection Agency, instead of refusing to prohibit the sale of tainted foods and mandatory testing of foods produced and harvested from the Pacific Coast, have simply raised the “acceptable levels”  of radioactive material in foods.

If that doesn’t wake you up, then take a look at the list of foods you are now supposed to be wary of, you know, for only the next 30,000 years.

How can we protect ourselves? First, be aware of what items are likely to be highly tainted.

1.)  SEAFOOD:  Question the origin of ALL seafood.  Fish and crustaceans from the Pacific Ocean should all be considered to be poisoned with radiation.

2.)  WATER:  The rainfall and snowfall are all radiated.  Do not drink any water that has not been filtered.   The tap water that flows from your faucet has NOT been treated to rid it of radioactive particles. A recent report from the NY Times stated, “A rooftop water monitoring program managed by UC Berkeley’s Department of Nuclear Engineering detected substantial spikes in rain-borne iodine-131 during torrential downpours …

3.) DAIRY PRODUCTS:  Milk and milk products from the West Coast states currently have the highest levels of radiation in North America.

4.)  PRODUCE:  Leafy Vegetables, Wines, Tomatoes, Strawberries….all produce from California or any other West Coast State are also likely to be tainted.

5.)  MEAT:  If an animal eats any leafy vegetable all along the West Coast, that animal has consumed radiation, and is poisoned.  This is any animal from cows, pigs, goats, sheep to wild deer and other game.

If you eat the above foods from areas with high radiation levels, you are eating radiation and feeding it to your children. Slowly the radiation levels within your body will build up.  This is PERMANENT. You can find sources from other areas, BUT YOU HAVE TO BE A DEDICATED SHOPPER.

Infant mortality rates across the United States have increased by more than 35% since the nuclear disaster, according to a court statement by Dr. Sherman with independent scientist Leuren Moret, MA, PhD.  A study published in The International Journal of Medicine indicates that more than 20,000 deaths right here in North America can be directly attributed to the release of radioactive material from Fukushima.

Radioactive isotopes of the type released from Fukushima have a half-life of 30,000 years.  This means that we must permanently change the way we prepare our food.

Wash your food with soap and rinse it in filtered water. 
Be aware of the origins of your vegetables, fish, game and seafood. Shop Consciously
Keep abreast of radiation levels to help monitor where your food is acquired.
Use only filtered water for drinking, cooking and ice.
You think there would be more awareness to this issue.  What up with that?

Q'z Lounge former guest Artist

Crystal Knighton

Get music here.... https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/crystal-starr/id356546952

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw5iU5bEODI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Q'z Motivation Monday

"Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value." - Jim Rohn

Bring in the new year means a lot of things.  Reflecting on our lives up to this point. Assessing where we are and if we are content.   Finally thinking about what we need to do to change something about ourselves.

It's the last part that keeps us stagnant!!  Why?  Because although we know that we need to do something else to make a change, it remains just that.....A thought with no urgency behind it, so ultimately our will to change losses it's value. 

Make plans for change in your life today!!  Be committed to doing "something" everyday to until change becomes habit!

Q'z Lounge Entertainment-Biz Article

Legal Basics for Songwriters & Musicians

Robert Rosenblatt

The purpose of this column is to provide career guidance from the perspective of an entertainment lawyer. The information presented here is not intended to be legal advice nor an overview of how to write, negotiate or interpret contracts. Rather, each month's column focuses on career guidance and legal fundamentals, involving areas such as business relationships, considerations when seeking legal advice, and in general, a "backstage" informal dialogue about the realities confronted in pursuing a career in today's and tomorrow's business of music.

We recently wrote an article concerning songwriting and publishing basics. We will continue on that theme by pointing out some basic concepts in publishing you should be aware of if you are not already. Like any other discipline, knowledge is cumulative, and you should have a grasp of the simple basics before you try to tackle the more complex issues. For each one of you who may have previously learned this information, there is always someone new who is trying to grasp this information for the first time, so here is their opportunity to learn these concepts. So let's look at the basics of writing, owning, and being paid for writing songs.

The first concept is ownership, so let's start here:

Copyright Holders. Who Owns the Song? Most everyone is familiar with the word if not the concept, of "copyright," which in the business of music, refers to government sanctioned, legal ownership of the various types of intellectual property such as the song, lyrics and music. Copyright also extends to legally and contractually authorized arrangements and adaptations. The owners of the copyrights are referred to as the "authors." There can be one author or multiple joint authors, with ownership of each work apportioned by percentage by agreement of the joint authors. In other words, the originals writers ("authors") can agree exactly in what percentage they will apportion or "split" the song. If one writes lyrics, and the other the music, the split is often 50-50. If two write the lyrics and one the music, the split may be 50% (for music), 25% (for lyric), and another 25% (for lyric). It could also be a third-a third-a third. The "song-splits' are completely up to the writers, there is no rule. There is a humorous story we tell about a very successful rap crew. The star artist did his lyrics...he was owner of 50% of the song for that; plus, he wrote part of the lyrics, so he got another 25% of the ownership; the producers who usually did half the music would then end up with 25% of the overall song. However, in this case they wanted someone's lesser contribution to be rewarded for 5% and another for 5%, which was all fair, generous and decent of them. It's also possible that the delivery man who brought the deli spread to the session may have gotten 5% for showing up when everyone was hungry!

Four Major Sources of Songwriter Income. Income is earned by songwriters as a result of various licenses by which licensees are able to use the song in question. There are essentially four revenue sources for publishing rights.

Mechanical Income. This is the income derived from using a song on a record, CD, cassette or other form of release of the song. The name "mechanical" is derived from an earlier time, not so long ago, when piano rolls were commonly distributed "copies" of the song were piano rolls, and were mechanical reproductions of the song. To this day, then songs are reproduced for commercial release electronically on vinyl, tapes, and digitally on discs and DAT tape, these are still "mechanicals," and that is what the publishing royalty checks are for from record sales.

Performance Income. This is the income earned from "performances" of the published work from radio, television and live performance. It includes music played in amusement parks on background PA systems, and on music-on-hold (telephone) services, and in bars, restaurants and bowling alleys, as well as the stages of clubs and arena shows alike. Money is collected in the U.S. from licensee users by BMI, ASCAP and SESAC, which are known as performance rights societies.

Sheet Music Income. This is the income derived from licenses granted to especially the major print publishers, such as Hal Leonard, Cherry Lane and Warner (formerly CPP/Belwin). These are the individual sheet music and songbook folios you buy. The books range from Irving Berlin and Cole Porter to Nine Inch Nails and R.E.M.

Synchronization Licenses. This is income derived from uses of the published work utilized in television shows, movies, commercials. In other words the producer, or owner of the program licenses the right to use the music within the intended work. The respective "blanket" performance licenses referred to which allow the use of BMI's, ASCAP's or SESAC's catalogues does not grant the right to use the song "fixed" within a program. Howard Stern can play White Zombie on his radio show under the performance society's license, but if he wants their song in "Private Parts," the movie producer has to negotiate the "sync" license with the administrator/publisher of the song, which may likely be a completely separate company and not his friends at White Zombie.

Songwriter and Publishing Contracts. The contracts common to publishing relationships and situations are essentially some form of the following arrangements. If you or your self-owned publishing entity own the whole song and have not assigned any rights, you have essentially "self-published" and are entitled to all the income, half of which is the publisher's and half of which is the songwriter's share. Since you are both, you get it all.

If you legally assigned all publishing rights to a publishing company, large or small, you have likely changed your status from "owner" or original publisher of the song, to the writer of a "work for hire." You no longer own the copyright, but you are entitled to half of the revenue (after the publisher's administration fees, if any, and allowed deductions) as the writer.

A better situation would have been if you retained part or all of the publishing, so that you would be entitled to half the revenue as the writer, plus a share of the publishing revenue. In a "co-publishing" deal, you split the publishers share anywhere from 50-50 to any other split to the benefit of you or the publisher. These are co-publishing agreements and they are quite desirable. Of course, if you can own your own publishing company, and limit your grant of rights to the "administration" of the copyrights, that will generally yield more money, since you essentially will own the whole song, although you will be giving up 10 to 25% to a better equipped publisher who will "administer" your catalogue of songs.

So there you have a basic primer of the types of income, terminology and thumbnail descriptions to discuss (and ask questions) about publishing and to compare the various legal relationships. If you look at the credits on new or old recordings, you may see a story revealed for each artist at different career stages. Earlier in their career, the Beatles, Dylan and Stones, gave up publishing rights. As they went on they retained more and more. Publishing is perhaps the most common way people, creative and non-creative, get rich in the music business. Maybe you may want to read up some of our past articles about learning to write great songs. Most aspiring artists have a long way to go. In the music business, when someone says, show me the money, " a discussion of publishing will usually follow. "Show me the money?...Play me the songs!"

Those of you who think you can get around this or know a better way are California Dreaming. There is not much more worth knowing in this business except for learning to tune your instrument and playing it, too without driving the record executives out of the room before the song ends.

Thanks for taking the time to visit. If you like this column,
please share it with a friend. Feel free to write with your
questions and comments for future articles to:

Robert Rosenblatt
 
24/7 entertainment legal consultation at a low monthly cost…..at www.legalshieldassociate.com/hardys

 

Its Finally Friday

That point of the week we relax and reflect. Taking inventory on what happened and what's to come. 

But the next two or so Friday's, mean something more. It means the end of another year, it means coming to terms with promises we made ourselves, our successes, our failures. 

Now it's time to redefine who you intend to be, it's about going back to a time when you aspired to do many things and life was not so predictable!

A time when we dreamed and took chances that would create an opportunity to start over, to fail, and by doing so, finding new purpose,
a new adventure.........A new love for life!!

If you are moved by these words, and actually ready to take action, commit to yourself!!!!

Place your right hand on your heart after prayer, every morning from now on and say,"
Today is the beginning of a new day. This day I commit to accomplishing the next step in my life. Although I think I believe I know what I need to do to succeed or accomplished my dreams in life; I haven't made it yet! It is with that understanding that I will commit myself to be open to opportunities that take me out of my comfort zone in life and establish relationships with successful/positive people, so that I can learn how to follow through by being associated.

Why? Because no matter what the outcome is it won't be the life I live now".

Be sure to listen to the video, Happy Holidays, and God Bless!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-jwWYX7Jlo

Motivation Monday

"Until you start believing in yourself, you ain’t gonna have a life.” - Rocky Balboa

Belief is arguably the most important indicator of success. If you believe in yourself and in your dreams, the chances of you succeeding are FAR GREATER.

Believe in yourself. You are great just the way you are. You can move mountains. You can do anything you want. We all can, but the difference between those that do and those that don’t lies in their level of belief.

If you believe you are capable of succeeding, you will succeed.

Stop letting others blur your vision.

Don’t Confuse Dreams and Goals
Dreams are easy. They are free, too.  However, dreams by themselves are just that… dreams.

They are imaginary. And they don’t produce tangible results.

Turn your dreams into action. You need goals to make the visions of your dreams real.

Goals are dreams with deadlines. - Diana Scharf