What is Kompoz.com?

Kompoz.com is an online workspace for musicians and songwriters. Use it to compose new music with other artists around the world. Got an idea for a song? Record a track. Upload it. Then invite others to add drums, bass, vocals or anything else!

Kompoz.com makes it easy to collaborate with others. You start by creating a project workspace, then add one or more tracks. You can upload MP3, WMA, OGG, AIF, or WAV files to your project quickly and easily. As new files are added, the previous files are given a version number so that you can easily keep track of the history and progress of the work. Your project workspace will include a discussion forum where you can post your ideas for the song, lyrics, chord charts, and more. Others can post questions and replies.

Or, search for an existing project and lend a hand! You can search for projects by genre, by artist (other members), keywords and tags, and license type. Kompoz.com is a community site. Use our public discussion forums to learn more about mixing techniques, hardware and software, songwriting, and just about anything else.

FAQs

	Do I need to ask permission before uploading a track to another project?
	Is Kompoz free?
	What file formats does Kompoz.com support?
	When uploading a file, what's the best file format to use?
	What recording software should I use?
	What's a Sync Track? How do I synchronize individual tracks?
	Who owns the songs that are posted here?
	I have other questions. Where should I go to find answers?

Answers to FAQs

No. Kompoz is an open collaboration community. 99% of the time, people create projects because they want others to contribute. That's why we're all here! Upload your best work and enjoy.

Yes. Public collaborations are 100% free. There are no bandwidth or storage fees. You may create as many public projects as you wish, and participate in as many projects as you wish with no costs. Private project, however, are not free. Learn more about Public vs. Private projects.

You can upload either MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3), WAV (Waveform Audio Format), Ogg, AIF, APE or WMA (Windows Media Audio). WAV and WMA files will be automatically converted to MP3 format for online (streaming) playback (the original format will be available for downloading and mastering).

This is a highly debated topic! MP3 and WMA formats are considered "lossy compression formats" designed to greatly reduce the amount of data required to represent audio, yet still sound like a faithful reproduction of the original uncompressed audio to most listeners. Because the files are considerably smaller than uncompressed files, these two formats are popular for Internet/online usage where download times are an important factor. However, some audio "purists" feel that WAV PCM files offer a better choice for digital encoding since the format offers a "lossless" storage method (all samples of the audio are preserved). Professional users or audio experts may use the WAV format for maximum audio quality, and simply cope with the much larger file sizes. The debate continues. Formal and informal listening tests have shown that MP3 files encoded at the 192kbps (with modern encoders) provide results indistinguishable from the original materials in most of the cases. It is also important to note that perceived quality can be influenced by listening environment (ambient noise), listener attention, and listener training.

Anything that works! Pro Tools, GarageBand, Sonar, Cubase, and others are all great products. Acoustic Labs offers a very nice multi-track recorder for under $50! And there are also open source tools available (for free!), such as Audacity. The good news (and bad news) is that there a lot of options from which to choose. We recommend that you discuss your choice with other users on our Software and Hardware discussion forum.

The original artist maintains the rights to his/her work. The specific details (what kind of rights) are governed by the license adopted and accepted by the project members. When a project is created, the sponsor (the original creator of the project) will select a license agreement that will govern the work for the project. If you decided to contribute to the project, your contribution will be subject to the license of the overall project. In general, the license is defined by one of the Creative Commons license copyright agreements.

Visit our public discussion forums! Chances are someone else has the same question.

Tips & Tricks

How To Attract The Most Collaborators

Upload Seps. Be sure to upload separate tracks ("seps") for each instrument in your mix. Here's a scenario that happens way too often... A new member posts a song idea, which -- for example -- is a guitar melody recorded along with a drum machine. If the guitar track is not isolated and uploaded as a separate track, then it makes it very difficult for another member, who wants to replace the drum track with something better, to participate.   Use Sync Tones. When your drummer lives in Kalamazoo and your guitar player is in Liverpool, chances are pretty good that they'll be using different recording software, and probably different audio encoders and compression algorithms. This presents a problem that sometimes results in the individual tracks of a song getting out of sync -- out of alignment -- with each other. The solution is to use sync tones within your tracks. This is a very important step that will save hours of frustration. Many Kompozers will not join projects that do not use Sync Tones. It's pretty simple to do. More information.   Upload Album Art. Get noticed. There's no disputing the fact that attractive packaging sells. A nice "album cover" for your song will help it to stand out in the crowd of others. But don't go too far -- we will not tolerate porn!   You Help Me, I'll Help You. The best way to get people involved in and excited about your projects is to get involved in and excited about their's. Contribute a track to another member's project, and chances are pretty good that s/he will return the favor. I'm telling you, this works!   Don't Be Passive. Don't be afraid to ask. Send an invite to other members using the "Invite Me To a Project" link which appears on each member's profile page. Be specific in your invite, and be polite (e.g., "I love your kazoo work on your last project. I'm working on a song that could really use your talents!").   Advertise For Free. Feel free to post a message on the Musicians Wanted forum to let people know that you're looking for some help on your project. This is another "invite" method, but less direct. I think "direct" works better, but use both.   Use Our Share Code. On the project overview page, we provide code that lets you embed a Kompoz widget for your project on other sites, such as your personal blog, MySpace page, or other social networking site. We also provide direct links for use with Facebook or any site. This is a great way for others to find your music and contribute to your project.   Use Twitter. If you're a twitter user, link your Kompoz account to your twitter account. When you do, new projects you create, and new tracks you post will be announced on Twitter. This is a great way to tell your followers about your project.

New members may want to review the Getting Started Flow Chart created by one of our members.