[Author Note: MASS RELEASE, 5 Chapters for the week]
"Was that an original?"
Entering the back office, the first thing that Carlie asked Jonathan was whether the song he sang was original or not.
After all, it was impossible for one person to know all the songs that exist, and Carlie was familiar with all the songs she had applied performance rights for.
"Yes…"
Jonathan hesitated for a split second but he ultimately decided to take the credit.
This was not his original world, it was a different one. He did not know what kind of pop music existed in this world but his research allowed him to know what songs he knew existed in this world and which ones did not.
Right now all he could do is hope that his act of plagiarism would spawn better music should the original artist be present in this world.
At least, his initial research showed that they were still not that famous or chose a different path entirely.
"Tell me you applied for copyright…"
"You don't need to apply for copyright… normally at least… well I did plan to apply for recordings and-"
Jonathan was not unfamiliar with copyright law, as a student, a computer science one at that, his lessons were always drilled with this law.
Intellectual Property rights were important not only as a source of income but also for your own work.
As someone who was technically just copying, Jonathan had a bit LOT of hesitation in taking such actions, that is not considering the fact that he had no money to apply for the rights.
But now, after seeing the reception of the song, Jonathan felt that he had to apply for the rights.
Although it left a lingering bad taste in his mouth, he would feel even worse if the art he copied was abused by corporate bastards.
"THEN LET'S GET THEM SORTED IMMEDIATELY!"
As Jonathan was lost in his own thoughts, Carlie snapped at him.
"Huh?"
Carlie grabbed Jonathan's hand and dragged him out-
"Gwen! Handle the rest, I'm taking Jonathan out for IMPORTANT BUSINESS!"
To both Gwen and Jonathan's shock, Carlie quickly dragged the young man out of the bar and to her car. She then started to drive towards the copyright office.
"Uhm… isn't the office closed?"
"Nah~ its open 24/7"
Jonathan did not know what to say, a weird silence hung in the air for a moment before-
"So… uhm… Why are you helping me?"
The young man asked, the actions Carlie took was quite- sudden but the response she gave was short and answered his confusion immediately.
"You have talent, there are thousands of musicians trying to make a name for themselves but few could bring in a crowd with just their music and performance."
Carlie's explanation, although somewhat vague, made Jonathan quickly understand what she meant.
"Are you trying to be my manager or what?"
"Well it depends, I'm helping you out and investing in you so what do I get?"
"... how about exclusive performance rights, and I'll perform in your bar?"
Jonathan's answer made Carlie pause a silence hung over the two of them until they reached a red light.
"Pretty low returns don't you think?"
Carlie asked but Jonathan shook his head as he responded.
"Well, I'm not planning to be a huge celebrity, at best I'll make a few bucks with these songs but I won't really gate keep them… I plan on making my work, its publishing rights under creative commons, people could perform the songs but need to attribute them… maybe something Share-Alike?"
Jonathan knew that what he was doing was wrong but, he can't wait years for the original artist to perform or publish their songs before he starts to make covers now can he? Moreover, who was to say that these artists were sure to pop up?
'The year is 2008 and JB has yet to become famous, in fact, Justine Bieber did not even seem to exists'
Recalling that the famous teen pop star should have started making songs and covers on youtube by this time, Jonathan tried to search him up but was unable to catch any news or information about him.
Though for now he's holding back on songs made by JB, he still had a long list of artist that did not seem to exist or had taken a different path in this world.
'Ed Sheeran is one of them…'
Jonathan loved Ed Sheeran's music but the man did not appear or start a career in the entertainment industry, instead, the mad lad had become a businessman, a successful one at that.
'I can't really force them to become singers now could I?'
In this reality, Jonathan had traced a few artists he had listened to and whose songs he had practiced by virtue of liking them.
With enough practice he could perform better and earn money that way as such he chose to go with this line of thought but he can't really shake off the bad feeling in his stomach.
This is why he decided to keep only the masters and just throw away the publishing rights to the CC by SA.
In this way, he allowed other artists to use these songs, improve on them, and play with them. He made sure that truly creative artists could use these songs to become better while he would only profit on his own performance, his own "covers" to say.
He won't earn anything from others making covers and some may even make better versions than his own performance. At best, he earns money by performing, during concerts or gigs, while competing with others through performance not as the original artist.
In a way, he could at least call himself a cover artist-
'I won't earn passive income from these works since it's not mine after all so…'
Some may say that it was a loss but Jonathan could not really calm his own mind when he thought about the fact that he was basically copying music from his original world.
'At least in this way people would focus more on my own performance than the music itself…'
He won't focus on one single genre, he was someone who listened to all kinds of music. He even practiced heavy metal pieces.
But unlike Jonathan whose mind was now calm, Carlie just looked at him with confusion. The light had turned green and she continued to drive towards the copyright office and upon hearing Jonathan's words she asked him-
"You know, your songs are gonna get big, movies, tv shows… if you put it all in creative commons you'll lose not just hundreds of thousands, maybe millions even billions…"
Hearing her response, Jonathan just smiled as he said.
"Well I will have normal copyright on the masters, so as long as they record a cover they can use it freely, I'm basically going to protect my own voice and performance…"
Jonathan recalled Taylor Swift re-recording her songs, right now he was going to protect his own performance, his own voice at least.
What he planned was a simple system for the copied songs, that was-
'Songs are under Creative Commons while my own recordings would be under General Copyright'
Of course, any sane musician would say that his plan was both smart and stupid, smart in that he at least tried to protect his own talent but stupid because the song would ultimately be used by others for free so long as producers ask other artists to perform it…
In a way, it was like Jonathan tried to protect himself with a shield but the shield had countless holes.
But… he didn't really plan to earn money through the songs themselves, he was just planning to use them to get some fame and also to ensure that he could perform these songs without worrying about copyright himself.
From there, he would use his own live performances as a source of income.
He won't be able to earn money doing nothing but it's not like he spent months crafting the songs that may bring him fame.
In fact, Jonathan still had a bad taste in his mouth at the thought that others would associate the songs with him.
'But this is the only way I could quickly accumulate the funds I need'
Recalling the missions he was left with, Jonathan could not help but sigh.
"What? You also realized how stupid your thoughts were?"
Carlie asked upon hearing Jonathan sigh.
"Nope, I just had some things in my mind"
"Well, I'll handle the payment for the songs, but… how many songs do you have?"
Taking her chance, Carlie asked Jonathan how many songs he actually had in store.
The way he spoke of his plans, she could tell that he had this planned already, although she wasn't really sure of it, she had a feeling that Jonathan had more than just the two songs he performed prepared.
"Well… how about let's start with 12?"
Jonathan's words shocked Carlie so much that she almost swerve into oncoming traffic, fortunately she was able to quickly calm herself down as she gulped before asking-
"For now?"
"Well copyright is expensive… isn't it?"
Although he had never really experienced filing for it, as he had never really done anything big enough to warrant a copyright, he was aware that there was quite a fee.
"Well… now I don't really know what to say"
Carlie sighed in exasperation but she still continued to drive.
Although she felt Jonathan's plans were wasteful, she didn't really want to force him. After all, she believed that it was an artist right to make such a decision. Not to mention, she wasn't Jonathan's manager.
At best she was an early investor and having Jonathan perform in her bar plus the exclusive performance rights were already a LOT.
The moment the few people who were recording published those videos and recordings online, her bar would start to get famous.
From what she understood of Jonathan, he was looking for a job which meant that at least for now, he would most likely perform at her bar most of the time.
'Just one song got dozens of people downing drinks… a song is great and all but it also takes a certain kind of charm, charisma and talent to make people react that way to a performance.'
Carlie did not gamble on Jonathan for no reason, she saw how the kid drew in people into her small bar with two songs.
She saw the people trying to get inside and find a chair, she could increase prices and even set up special menus and drinks for Jonathan's performance.
Right now, Jonathan is not yet famous but when he does, her bar would also be in the spotlight.
Fame was like that and Carlie was taking advantage of this, but at the same time she's helping Jonathan so he won't feel like a tool.
'I wonder what other songs he has in store?'
Carlie recalled the feeling she had listening to Jonathan's first song.
His second song was powerful as well but it didn't hit her as much as the first song did.
Though she knew that Jonathan's first song was probably something based on an external experience. Probably a story or an experience of someone close to him, but the second song… it felt more internal.
The feelings she felt as she listened to Jonathan sing was the talent that made Jonathan different from others.
It was what Carlie was banking on and the reason she wanted to help the young man.
Minutes passed and the two finally reached the office, Carlie found a parking spot and then dragged Jonathan in.
The process was both simple and complicated, the complication came in the fact that neither Jonathan nor Carlie were prepared for the application and this really delayed them.
Fortunately, the office had facilities they could borrow, this allowed Jonathan to quickly write down lyrics and scores for 12 songs.
After that Carlie dragged him to a nearby recording studio where he recorded the twelve songs.
What was interesting was that his performance was so great that the music producer got lost in his own emotions and this made the whole process even longer.
Interestingly, each song took barely an hour to record, all 12 songs were recorded in just 8 hours.
The problem was mostly with the instrumentals, but…
'Is it just me or is my grasp of music just… really extreme?'
Jonathan thought as he took over the whole recording process, the tools were unfamiliar to him but he was able to record all the melodies and instruments with just a few takes.
Mixing was done by the producer but with Jonathan's direction, the producer found that an hour of work was compressed to just a few minutes.
The vocals were even more extreme as he only took one take for Jonathan to get the perfect record.
After the recording he even helped with the final mixing of the songs and after recording and mixing 12 songs, Jonathan left the studio. As he did, the producer looked at him like a God.
"With your talent I can't believe that you're not yet famous"
Carlie said as she drove Jonathan to Gwen's apartment.
"Well, that makes the both of us"
His comment made Carlie turn to him with an astounded expression on her face as she spoke, her words filled with disbelief.
"Seriously?"
"I had it all in my mind but who thought I could get it done that quickly…"
Jonathan could not believe it himself, but as the studio charged by the hour, he really went all out. He wanted to finish quickly.
Fortunately, both Carlie and Jonathan were unaware of how long the process of recording music was.
If they knew… well it really was fortunate that they weren't familiar.
Although Jonathan was copying songs, it wasn't like he had the originals to listen to. He was basically pulling from memory and even the most seasoned artist would find it hard to copy songs on the fly even with the music continuously blasting in their ears.
Much less recreation based solely on memory.
'Was it the ability?'
Jonathan thought but-
'Nah~ the ability let's me control stuff with sound, it doesn't improve my own musical talent… probably'