FAQ
I AM A MUSICIAN
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I AM A PROFESSIONAL IN NEED OF ORIGINAL MUSIC
YOUR QUESTION NOT ANSWERED? info@tribeofnoise.com |
| Can I join with my music? | back to questions |
| If you are an independent musician, vocalist, singer songwriter and/or composer. Any genre, any part of the world. You are welcome! | |
| Why should I join Tribe of Noise today? | back to questions |
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| What do I get for signing up as artist? | back to questions |
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| Why should I upload my music? | back to questions |
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| What is the difference between uploading to the Tribe community and Tribe of Noise PRO? | back to questions |
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| Can I upload the same song to Tribe of Noise Pro as to my profile in the Community? | back to questions |
| Preferably not. Because there is a difference in licenses and the terms under which you upload your music to the Community and Pro, it can get messy when you upload the same song to both pages. Read about the difference here. Want to hear more about why you have to choose between the community and Pro? Contact our community managers via info@tribeofnoise.com. | |
| What happens when I upload my music to Tribe of Noise PRO? | back to questions |
| Once you have successfully uploaded your song to Tribe of Noise PRO via the UPLOAD MUSIC button on your Account Home, your music is first up for review. Your songs will be listened to by our music supervisors for quality control and tagged by style, feel and best fit. If your song meets our quality and music style standards, it will be added to your Tribe of Noise PRO page. It might take up to a month before the selected songs are available on the Tribe of Noise PRO website. | |
| How can I see my music is accepted to PRO? | back to questions |
| It is very simple: once your music becomes available on Tribe of Noise PRO, the PRO badge on your Tribe of Noise profile page will become active. Simply click on the badge and you will be redirected to your Tribe of Noise PRO page. | |
| Do I get paid when my music is used by media professionals? | back to questions |
We don't pay you upfront but if your music ends up in one of our licensing deals yes you do! Your share is 42,5% to be precise. Below are two examples showing how this works:
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| Why does Tribe of Noise pay 42,5% as opposed to a 50/50 split? | back to questions |
| We want to be as open as possible about this so if other services out there claim they do a 50/50 split, pleaaaassse read the small print. How we figured it out: Take 15% off from 100% to secure bouncing credit cards and other unforeseen costs and split the other 85%. So 42,5% to you and 42,5% to us. Most of our 42,5% will be invested in Tribe of Noise anyway to build a stronger Tribe community, connect with more media professionals and work on more deals for our members. | |
| How do I get paid when my music is licensed by media professionals? | back to questions |
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Every month our system calculates the money generated through our services. Your share will be added to the "Tribe calculator" visible on your account home page. The moment you hit the 100 Euro mark you can request for a pay-out. In most countries we work with Wise (formerly Transferwise) and PayPal to transfer your money. You can (but do not need to) open a Wise account. When selecting Wise for your pay-out you will receive an email with access to a secure online form to transfer the money to your bank account. If you prefer PayPal, you need to have a PayPal account up and running. Be aware: Paypal's processing costs and exchange rates result in lower payouts. The pay-out can take up to two weeks because we manually check your pay-out request and our datasets before we approve the final step. |
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| When can I upload my music? Any restrictions? | back to questions |
| You can upload all songs you own provided you wrote/composed/recorded them, or you have all rights to act as the rightsholder and if you didn't sign away exclusive distribution and/or exploitation rights. No other organization looks exclusively after your rights or limits your rights. You understand and agree with the terms and license agreement of Tribe of Noise. Catch our drift? You are in 100% control! | |
| Can I upload music when I'm registered at a performance rights organization or signed to a record label? | back to questions |
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It's not uncommon for performance rights organizations (like Buma/Stemra in the Netherlands), record labels or music publishers to sign contracts with you based on exclusivity. Therefore, they might not allow you to upload your music to Tribe of Noise. Make sure you are properly informed about their policies and your contract with them before you start uploading. Please be aware of your responsibility when uploading your music to Tribe of Noise. We don't want you to run into trouble because a 3rd party is limiting your chances of getting exposure / making revenue. If you are registered to a collecting society, but you wish to license some music directly via Tribe of Noise, be sure you opt-out for those songs, when possible. This way they will not collect money from the party that used a license for your song directly via Tribe of Noise. Contact the collecting society your music is registered at to ask about their policy about this and the possibilities to opt-out for songs you want to license directly. Make sure you have a written statement from them. |
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| All or some of my music is registered at BMI, ASCAP or another collecting society. Can I still upload my music to Tribe of Noise? | back to questions |
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Be careful! If you are registered exclusively with a collecting society, you could get in trouble with them for uploading to licensing platforms like Tribe of Noise. Only if you're 100% sure about your deal with the collecting society. If it's really non-exclusive, make sure you get this proof in writing. This could be via e-mail or in the contract you have with them. If (some of) your work is registered with BMI/ASCAP/SESAC you can inform them that you are licensing specific material to companies like Tribe of Noise directly on a non-exclusive base. They need to know this otherwise they might end up "defending" your rights while you signed a direct deal with us. How? Click here for BMI Click here for ASCAP Click here for SESAC (scroll down to 'direct licenses') For other societies, please make sure you check the terms of their membership. |
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| What does Creative Commons mean? | back to questions |
| Creative Commons is a global organization helping you to share your creativity with the world. In our case the Creative Commons license gives you the opportunity to share your music legally and for free while still owning the song. The license we use enables you to authorize certain uses of your work, including commercial use. Read more about the Creative Commons 4.0 By Share Alike license. | |
| What is a CC 4.0 BY-SHARE ALIKE license? | back to questions |
| This specific Creative Commons license gives you the opportunity to share your music legally and for free while still owning the song. The license enables you to authorize certain uses of your work, including commercial use. Read more about the Creative Commons 4.0 By Share Alike license. | |
| What is a NEEC? | back to questions |
| NEEC stands for Non Exclusive Exploitation Contract. This contract is designed and used to license your music on Tribe of Noise PRO so Tribe of Noise can connect you with professionals ready to license / pay for your work. Download and read our NEEC. | |
| Can I upload covers (new recordings of someone else's song)? | back to questions |
| No! Even if you have the right to make a recording of the song and distribute it on a sound carrier. You probably did not get permission to sign our agreements on behalf of the original rightsholder(s). You may only upload a cover of a song that is in the public domain. Make sure you triple check if it is! | |
| What is public domain music? | back to questions |
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Music of which the copyright of the original owner has expired. This happens 70 years after the death of the original composer. All compositions that are not protected under copyright law are said to be in the public domain. Make sure you only work with a copy of the original publication of a song, as derivative works can still be protected under copyright law. Make sure you do some research on the copyright protection of a work to make sure it’s in the public domain! You can find more about identifying and using public domain work here. |
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| What should I do when I suspect a copyright violation on Tribe of Noise? | back to questions |
| Tribe of Noise is a community for musicians and media professionals, not for evil copyright infringers. When you hear a song and suspect a copyright violation please hit the 'Flag' button. Our team will get your message and take appropriate action. Thanks! | |
| Do I have any obligations towards Tribe of Noise? | back to questions |
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No, your music is uploaded to Tribe of Noise on a non-exclusive base. If you want to share your music with similar services, please do! It will increase your chances to get exposed and/or earn money. Yes, we are very serious about ownership and copyright. Only upload music you own and only after reading, understanding and agreeing to our terms and license agreement(s). |
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| How can I upload my music? | back to questions |
| Sign up first, it's free. After you have read, understood and agreed with the general terms and our license(s) you can upload your songs. As many as you like. Already a member? Start uploading your music to the Tribe community or send in music for PRO. | |
| Help! I cannot upload my music, what can I do? | back to questions |
| Have you used the right file format for your tracks? For uploads to the Tribe of Noise community your files have to be MP3 files and for Tribe of Noise PRO we ask you to only upload WAV (16bit) and AIFF files. That isn't the problem? Are you on the upload page for Tribe of Noise PRO and maybe forgot to check the boxes (Agreeing to our terms)? Still having problems? Oops, sorry about that. Please contact us and we will try to fix it for you: info@tribeofnoise.com. | |
| What type of file should my track be? | back to questions |
| When uploading to the Tribe of Noise community, please make sure to upload MP3 files only. For Tribe of Noise PRO platform we accept WAV (16bit) and AIFF files. | |
| How can I share Tribe of Noise with others via the Tribe of Noise invite center? | back to questions |
There are four easy ways to use the Tribe Invite Center:
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| Where can I find good DIY tips for musicians? | back to questions |
| There are many resources out there but hopefully you will find our blog posts useful. We try to concentrate on adding DIY tips and instructions useful for emerging artists like you. We also showcase some of the success stories of our artists. Check it out: http://tribeofnoise.tumblr.com | |
| Can I help to get my music heard? | back to questions |
| Never underestimate the key role you can play yourself. Make sure your profile page looks inviting, share links to your music or profile page through your social networks, participate in our Tribe contests, read and reply to our newsletters, make sure we know about your gigs, music placements, album releases etc. The more our music supervisors and community managers learn about you the better we can go out there and make Noise! | |
| How do I enter the Tribe music contests? | back to questions |
| Check out our Contests/Opportunities page regularly. When you selected a briefing perfect for your music you can click on 'submit music' via the contest page. Log in with your Tribe of Noise account and make sure you read and understand the general terms and license agreement. Check the boxes, upload your music and you're in. All songs uploaded will be listened to by our team so we might even get back to you during the contest asking you to upload different versions, more similar music or suggesting you should also participate in other opportunities. | |
| I want to be featured on your YouTube channel. How do I do this? | back to questions |
| Check out what we do here. If you're interested contact our community manager about the opportunity at community@tribeofnoise.com. | |
| What is the in-store music service of Tribe of Noise? | back to questions |
| Tribe of Noise is a leading content provider when it comes to in-store music. We offer individual shops, retail chains and outlets quality background music, without having to pay their national collecting societies. Our music supervisors are briefed by our clients or resellers and select the best possible music from the Tribe community for bespoke music channels. In the backend music is distributed via the internet to restaurants, stores, shops etc. Once a month our database will calculate your earnings based on the amount of songs you have in a music channel and the number of stores broadcasting these channels. Every month your generated revenue is added to your "Tribe Calculator". | |
| What will this service give me and my music? | back to questions |
| Two things: exposure & money! Not only will your music be heard by millions of shop visitors around the world, you get paid for being played! | |
| Who will be listening to my music? | back to questions |
| Millions of shop visitors all around the world! At the moment we're live at 7-Eleven, SUBWAY, Staples, Clas Ohlson and many more. | |
| How does it work exactly? | back to questions |
| You write and record great music and upload it to your Tribe of Noise profile. Our music supervisors listen to every song and will select the right music for our in-store music channels. Once a song of yours is used, you will see the "in-store" mark behind the title of the song in the player on your artist profile. When your song is used in one of the music channels, you will get paid via your Tribe Calculator on your account home. Next to this you will also receive the "Heard By Millions badge" to show off with! | |
| How can I apply for this service? | back to questions |
| After you've created your Tribe of Noise account, upload music to your profile via the UPLOAD MUSIC option. | |
| Is it free to upload my music for this service? | back to questions |
| Totally. | |
| Do I get paid? | back to questions |
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Yes. We don't pay up front, but when your music ends up in our in-store music channels you get paid indeed! Your share is 42.5% to be precise. Here's an example of how you get paid: A few of your songs, for example five in total, are selected for a bespoke in-store music channel broadcasting at a large retailer with 1,000 stores nationwide. In this case the overall playlist contains 350 songs so your share is 5/350 = 1.43% The license fee agreed with this retailer is US$12 per month per play-out. So if 42.5% is shared with the Tribe musicians in this playlist and your share is 1.43% you end up with US$12 * 1000 stores * 0.425 * 0.0143 = 73 US$ per month The more stores connected, the more music uploaded by you and selected by us, the more money you generate. So tell your supermarket manager, favorite clothing shop manager, hotel manager etc. to give us a call for in-store music featuring emerging artists like you! |
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| When will I get paid? | back to questions |
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As soon as the Tribe Calculator on your Tribe of Noise account hits €100. You can then click the option to pay-out after which you will receive the money in your bank account (via payment provider Wise) or PayPal account. We work with Wise (formerly Transferwise) and PayPal to transfer your money. You can (but do not need to) open a Wise account. When selecting Wise for your pay-out you will receive an email with access to a secure online form to transfer the money to your bank account. It works very (cost-)effective. If you prefer PayPal, you need to have a PayPal account up and running. The pay-out can take up to two weeks because we manually check your pay-out request and our datasets before we approve the final step by Wise / PayPal. |
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| I've registered my songs with a collecting society/publisher/label, can I still upload my music for this service? | back to questions |
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Be careful. Probably not. In many countries it is common for performance rights organizations (like Buma/Stemra in the Netherlands), record labels or music publishers to sign contracts based on exclusivity / your full repertoire from the past/now/future. Therefore, they might not allow you to upload your music to organizations interested in a non-exclusive exploitation right only, like Tribe of Noise. Make sure you are properly informed about their policies and your contract with them before you start uploading. Ask for the option to opt-out specific songs or a written statement that songs not registered with them are not part of the agreement. Good news: In those cases you as the rights holder have more flexibility to decide what to do with each song you own. In any case, we don't want you to run into trouble because a 3rd party is limiting your chances of getting exposure / making revenue. So investigate your rights and/or contact us for advice. |
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| I don't want my music in any in-store playlist anymore, what do I do? | back to questions |
| When uploading music to Tribe of Noise we are offering you two options. The Creative Commons license or the non-exclusive exploitation contract. When you've uploaded the music to your profile under Creative Commons, the songs can always be used under this license. By deleting your account your music is not automatically removed from the playlists which could result in you missing out on payment for it. If you have a legitimate reason why your songs shouldn't be in the playlist anymore, please e-mail our Head of Music at marko@tribeofnoise.com. | |
| What about my rights? | back to questions |
| You stay 100% in control of the musical rights to the work. By uploading to your profile you simply give us the non-exclusive right to make your music available and to use it in our in-store music service. Find more information about uploading to your profile under Creative Commons here. | |
| What kind of music is used in the in-store music channels? | back to questions |
| The genre varies per store and target audience of course, but we do only select the music with great sound quality. Make sure you upload the best mixed and mastered versions of your tracks! | |
| I have a great song but it needs to be mixed/mastered properly, can you help? | back to questions |
| Sure! Check out our Golden Ears option. | |
| My question was not answered here, now what? | back to questions |
| Sorry about that! Contact us at info@tribeofnoise.com. | |
| Can I join if I just need great music? | back to questions |
| If you are a video producer, game developer, animator, creative director, brand manager or other professionals in need of original music for your project: Welcome! If you need music NOW, stop reading our FAQ and sign up on PRO: https://pro.tribeofnoise.com/ | |
| Why should I use Tribe of Noise music as a media professional? | back to questions |
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| What should I do when I suspect a copyright violation on Tribe of Noise? | back to questions |
| Tribe of Noise is a community for musicians and media professionals, not for evil copyright infringers. When you hear a song and suspect a copyright violation please hit the 'Flag' button. Our team will get your message and take appropriate action. Thanks! | |
| Can I download music from Tribe of Noise? | back to questions |
| As long as you are human and not one of these scary robot scripts you can download, remix and share songs you like. If the song is located on our community website it will be licensed under Creative Commons 4.0 By Share Alike. Read more | |
| Are songs on Tribe of Noise artist pages free of charge? | back to questions |
| You are allowed to use these songs for your projects for free, even on a commercial base. Just make sure you respect the Creative Commons 4.0 By Share Alike license. Read more | |
| How do I license a song on Tribe of Noise PRO? | back to questions |
| Add the song on PRO to your shopping cart. When you are done shopping click on "Buy all songs in cart". Log in with your Tribe of Noise PRO account, choose the appropriate license, finish your payment and start downloading. You will also receive an e-mail with a project description document. For your license to be valid, fill in this document and fax this to us within 10 days after your purchase. | |
| I cannot find the song I need! Help! | back to questions |
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The main difference with other online professional music databases is that Tribe of Noise PRO is connected with thousands of emerging musicians, composers and singer songwriters around the world. So hit the "Briefing Center" button on Tribe of Noise PRO. Tell us all you can share about your project like target audience, music style, budget, deadlines etc. and send your briefing to us. We will fine-tune your briefing and send it asap to all artists on Tribe of Noise asking them to participate / help you out. You can cherry pick the ones you like most or we can make selections for you. It's up to you who will get the deal in the end. |
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| How can I share Tribe of Noise with others via the Tribe of Noise invite center? | back to questions |
There are four easy ways to use the Tribe Invite Center:
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