The adventure of my first cover song EP, from recording to getting them onto the streaming platforms.

Today marks a huge milestone in my musical endeavours. I have released my first trumpet and flugelhorn recordings.

I have released 5 covers (Rise, Summertime, Adagio from Concierto de Aranjuez, Nature Boy & The Way We Were) and two of my original jazz recordings, (Reverie, New Horizon) written a couple of years ago.

Arrangements

All the covers are arrangements I've adapted from scores found online. I've given the sources in the details of each YouTube video and shared the scores where I have the capacity to do so under copyright. While licenses are readily available for publishing audio files for a small fee - as blanket agreements have been negotiated by streaming platforms - sharing sheet music arrangements of copyright songs requires permission be negotiated individually with rights holders, something I haven't done.

What I have done is publish audio of the backing tracks created for each song on YouTube (with scores where permitted) so other musicians can play along.

To adapt the scores I find to my needs, I finalise my arrangements in MuseScore, then export the individual instrument parts as .wavs or .midi files which I then import into GarageBand. From there, I record against them then mix and master the track as a whole. I've posted before about this process.

Recording

While I've been releasing original music for the past few years, using virtual instruments with only the occasional acoustic recording thrown in (due my financial limitations), having never properly recorded myself before I was reluctant to invest in a microphone for fear I'd buy the wrong type and/or not know how to use it. I was starting from scrach, having never really recorded myself before.

The first trumpet player I discovered upon reigniting my interest in music during the lockdowns was Aussie Nadje Noordhuis. I was very much into relaxation music and Nadje's music was the first gentle trumpet music I'd been introduced to. Nadje grew up on Sydney's northern beaches before moving to the United States to learn at the Manhatten School of Music where she went on to perform jazz.

So impressed was I with Nadje's illustrious career that I added her page to Wikipedia. When it came to making my own trumpet music I wanted to replicate the gentle sound of Nadje's trumpet but had no idea where to start so I emailed Nadje to ask which microphone she used. Here is Nadje's reply:

Lovely to hear from you. I usually use a Cascade Fathead - a ribbon mic, which is always lovely for trumpets. Lately I've been borrowing an AEA Nuvo N8 which is much more expensive but sounds lovely. Haven't compared both side by side, but either would do a good job, I think!

Best wishes for all your creative projects! Nadje

Following this advice, I found the Fathead on Amazon and placed my order. I was informed it would be a month before delivery. I waited impatiently for that date to roll around and when it finally did was surprised to find that the date for delivery had been pushed a month into the future!

I puzzled over what to do about this given I was now not sure if I was ever actually going to receive my order. I was extremely impatient to get cracking with my recording after waiting so many years to give it a try. I decided the most important thing was that I bought a ribbon mic for the benefits it would give to tone. I wrote to Manny's music who had a ribbon mic for several hundred dollars more than I was hoping to spend.

I received a friendly reply with a helpful suggestion to come into the store and try the mic.

Thanks for reaching out. We have the VR1 on demo and you are more than welcome to pop in and test it out! One of our staff can help you get it setup to listen to your trumpet or flute, no need to bring an interface. I would suggest bringing your instrument in though so you can hear how it sounds!

While this sounded like a good idea, when I found a cheaper ribbon mic on Amazon for half that price I decided to try my luck again with Amazon. I got an MXLR144 ribbon microphone. There's a very good review here.

This time my order was not unduly delayed and with much trepidation for the road ahead (not knowing if my choice had been the right one), I picked up my mic from Auspost.

All of my songs seemed to need different positions with the microphone and I bumbled my way through, starting from Rise which was relatively straight forward through Summertime (which required all kinds of different adjustements due to the variability in dynamics and range), then on to the rest of the tracks.

Recording is an intense process and while I'm not 100% happy with my recordings, by the time I got through all my tracks I was too exhausted to consider starting again to fix whatever imperfections I felt were there.

The mixing process was also exhausting as I would continually find improvements. Listening to each track many times over meant that issues that I didn't notice initially ended up sounding to me like major problems so that each time I thought I was finished with a track, I'd find something new to change. I probably ended spending at least the same number of hours mixing and mastering the tracks as I did recording them.

Distrubution

Once I was finished with the recording and mastering process it was time for the next challenge and little did I know how exhausting this process would turn out to be.

Over the past few years I've released over 60 original classical and jazz tracks and while I do recall having to push my distributor, Landr to accept that my music was original and did not represent anyone else's copyright material, I did not recall this as a particularly onerous event.

As I was about to find out however, releasing cover songs is a whole other ballgame. Add to that, the complications caused by the entry of Artificial Intelligence in the music distribution process and the process has become a difficult challenge to navigate.

Cover songs can usually be licenced for distribution through the music distributor interface where you can purchase a cover licence through Music Pay for $20AUD. Interestingly, while I received an invoice and receipt for my purchase, I received no actual licence which can cause issues.

While my first track, Rise went through with a minimum of fuss, my next three cover tracks received a very strange response:

There's an issue with your release UPC xxxxx. Due to copyright concerns, as well as to remain in alignment with the terms and conditions of the AI music generation services, we do not distribute AI generated cover songs at this time.

We apologize for the inconvenience, but we will not be able to move forward with this particular track.

This response seemed very strange given I've never used AI in any aspect of my music-making. In fact, I'd even written an blog post republished by Independent Australiapraising my music distributor, Landr for offering artists official opt-in to AI and asking the Australian government not to give in to AI companies in their quest to have the theft of all humanity's musical works considered an instance of 'fair use'.

Not only was I being stopped from publishing my cover tracks at the last moment due to Landr's mistaken assumptions about my use of AI, I was also offended at the accusation.

I posted to Reddit's Landr subredit only to find weeks later that they never allowed my post through moderation.

I responded to each of the emails I received for the three tracks Summertime, Adagio and Nature Boy, explaining that I don't use AI and asking why they were claiming I was.

This is one of the responses I received.

I know you have confirmed that the song was made with real voices and instruments, but our analysis—in line with the platforms' guidelines—has identified elements that fall under these stricter detection thresholds. These assessments are based on both internal tools and rules imposed by third parties, and once certain criteria are exceeded, we are unable to change the outcome.

To be clear, this is not a judgment on the legitimacy or quality of your work — it is simply a reflection of an increasingly cautious approach by these platforms.

In your case, could you please send a screenshot/video of your DAW or any means of your creative process for us to properly ensure that is not the case? I'll then indicate it in your profile to facilitate your future releases.

I responded with the screenshots of my process as requested and waited to see if my troubles were finally over.

I received the follow up email:

I've manually disabled the false AI-flag on your track and removed the AI-generated content monthly limit from your account to facilitate your future releases in case other false flags arise eventually. In order for us to deliver your release, you'll just need to resubmit it.

What's interesting about this issue is that I can not see any way in which any of the three songs that raised these 'false flags' could do so given all the arrangements were unique to me, never before shared anywhere, and in one case, I'd written the entire backing track (the Adagio) from scrach with no reference to anything else because I couldn't find anything to work with!

This arrangement simply didn't exist anywhere else on the planet other than my computer, so the claim that it was being matched via digital fingerprinting of the audio seems particularly puzzling.

Eventually, after this long, drawn-out process of having to submit my covers over and over and going back and forth with Landr, I did manage to get all the covers through. Ironically, I'm still waiting on a remix of my original New Horizon to be published because they seem unable to contend with the fact that while this is a 'remix', it's a remix of my own original track released years ago!

it appears you're releasing a remix in UPC 057914693620 (New Horizon). Can you confirm whether or not you have an official agreement between yourself and the original content creator?

If you have an agreement, please attach the licensee contract in the licensed content section at the bottom of the track information: LANDR requires a contract that includes, the licensee, the licensor, the name of the track being leased, the duration (+5 years) of the lease, and the terms of use. i.e. unlimited streams, 2,500 units sold, YouTube monetization, etc.

Proof of payment for any purchased content should also be provided if applicable. We just need to make sure you have the rights necessary to distribute this content.

After waiting through a week of back and forth, Landr finally put through my remix of New Horizon. I've been waiting several weeks to get to the end of this very arduous process so that I can put all the singles into a single EP. With the holiday period now over and not having any time off music I find myself compeletely spent.

If you've come this far and are still with me, I hope you find something you can enjoy among my recordings. I do have a long way yet to go both with leveling up my performance to where I'd ideally like to be and finessing my recording skills but here is my first step.