Family, Tuesday's class started with a confession. Twelve songs got placed in a film project this summer. Ten of them are mine, two belong to other artists, and as the music supervisor I am responsible for clearing ALL twelve. Real money, real deadline. And when it came time to prove ownership on my own records, my own lawyer told me the sentence that built this whole class: "Kosine, I can't help you. I was never in the studio. Only YOU have this information." Twenty years in, multi-platinum, and the wall I hit was not talent, not access, not relationships. It was DATA. Mine and everybody else's. Now I am chasing writers, producers, splits, and sample answers across twelve records on a clock. So Tuesday we made sure nobody in this community ever hits that wall, from either side of the table. THE FOUNDATION: ONE SONG IS TWO PROPERTIES. Every song you make is not one thing. It is two. The COMPOSITION, the melody, lyrics, and chords, the pen, owned by the writers. And the MASTER, the actual recording of that performance, owned by whoever made or paid for the record. Two properties. Two owners possible. Two separate paychecks off the same three minutes. Most creators only ever knew about one. THEN WE COUNTED THE DOORS. ALL TWENTY. Nine doors on the pen side: streaming mechanicals through the MLC, writer and publisher performance royalties through your PRO, sync fees, covers, samples and interpolations, print and lyric licensing, international collections, grand rights. Eleven more on the master side: streaming and downloads, physical, master-side sync, SoundExchange, sampling of the recording itself, YouTube Content ID, social platform licensing, trailers and promos, compilations, neighboring rights, stems and remixes. When I asked the room how many doors they were actually collecting from, the honest answers were two. Sometimes one. Sometimes zero. That is not a talent problem. That is a paperwork problem, and paperwork problems are the cheapest problems to fix in this whole business.

My apologies, everyone! I was working under a tight commercial deadline yesterday, and class completely slipped my mind. I’ll be traveling back from New York next week after taking my son home. I’m hopeful we can make class happen, but if not, we’ll be back stronger than ever on August 18! I’ll keep everyone posted. Thank you for your patience and understanding! 🙏🏾 If you have any questions, please feel free to message me directly. 🔔🔔🔔

Family, tonight was one of those classes. **THE READING.** I opened with a new piece, "On Your Spirit." The short version: inspire literally means to breathe into. Music is breath transfer. Mouth to mouth resuscitation for the spirit. And the truth about my own ears right now: I am not riding around studying charts. My car plays a radio station I built myself, 195 records I have curated for years for my kids. I control the aux. I curate the crazy they hear so it is healthy crazy. The full piece is attached. Read it slow. **THE VILLAIN.** OVERTHINK JONES. The characterization of doubt. The one who shows up when the idea is warm and asks "are you sure?" He has killed more records than any bad mix in history. The answer stays the same: I can do all things. You do not argue with Jones. You move faster than he can talk. **THE KITCHEN.** We broke down why the no-hesitation moment looks like a miracle and is really mise en place: the chef chops before service, the producer vets sounds before pressure. The gourmet is the preparation. The ratchet is the party when the plates come out. Same kitchen. That is why the house is called what it is called. **YOUR HOMEWORK, due before next Tuesday:** 1. Post in the group: WHAT SONG IS ON YOUR SPIRIT THIS WEEK? First answer, no overthinking. This is now a weekly ritual. 2. Build or refresh your template: five vetted sounds, ready before the pressure ever arrives. 3. Shuffle YOUR OWN catalog for 30 minutes. Post the record you forgot you made. **AND THE DOOR STAYS CLOSED ONE MORE WEEK.** Next Tuesday I am opening up the most important playlist I own. If tonight was about guarding your breath, next week is about what I feed the two most important listeners in my life. Do not miss it. **LAST THING. SATURDAY. AUGUST 1.** New music from me, everywhere you stream. If you are in LA, pull up to the Afro-Latino Culture Fest. The house makes history this weekend, and you are part of the house. Prepare in private. Guard your breath. Do not give Overthink Jones a chair.

Family, last night was one for the books. Here is what happened, for everybody who was in the room and everybody who needs to catch up. THE READING. I opened class differently. No slides, no screen share. I read you a brand new think piece out loud: "The Weight of the Listen." The short version: when you hand somebody your music, you are not asking for three minutes. You are asking for a lifetime. Piano lessons with Mr. Robertson. My mother giving up her Saturdays to drive a kid to a maybe. Saxophone in fifth grade, drums in eighth, jazz and classical training, church stages next to legends. All of that is what a real listen is made of, and that is why a real listen is never casual. The full piece is posted in the group, updated with a story I did not even tell in class: the time I wrote a full report on somebody's whole project, a paragraph on every song, for free, and a year later he asked me if I ever checked out his music. Read the piece slow. Especially the part about the hundred dollars. THE ANNOUNCEMENT. 2 TONE is real. Me and Trap Beckham. Ten years after "One Time for the Birthday Chick" went platinum, we locked in this week in LA and pulled up 22 song ideas in a day and a half. And this time the paper came before the music. That is not a side detail. That IS the lesson. Talent gets the record. Paper gets the future. THE CONVERSATION. This might have been my favorite part. Taurean broke down listening versus hearing. Zarena spoke on the emotional labor inside honest feedback, which is exactly what the piece is about. We went around the room on the songs that made us: Alexander O'Neal "If You Were Here Tonight." Jackie Wilson "Lonely Teardrops." Jacob Collier "Never Be Alone." Prince "Insatiable." And we talked legacy through the story of the great LaShawn Daniels, because the goal was never just placements. It is music that outlives us. YOUR HOMEWORK, due this week: 1. Write your IRON RULE. One sentence. The thing you will never do again for free, or without paper, or without

One of my hard rules is receiving clean vocal stems.