Big shoutout to those of you who’ve supported my work though affirming-encouragement, and/or monetarily. In celebration for the new paid subscription, Pąșśìóň Pïț I have decided to included a treat for all of you at the end. The support that you all have show has strengthen my resolve and has allowed me to further invest in independence. I can now say I am much closer to owning my own Master Recordings. However, I wouldn’t have known how to do this if I didn’t almost quit on one of the songs off the EP titled, “Lucien’s Revenge (Marie Antoinette).”
The song sounds like something off of A Tribe Called Quest’s Peoples' Instinctive Travels & the Paths of Rhythm (1990). I wanted to reinterpret the French speaking immigrant protagonist, Lucien, who Q-Tip pokes fun at on the track titled “Luck of Lucien.” My song loosely ties the Haitian Revolution (1791—1804) which is represented in the titled by the name Lucien and colonial monarchs, represented by Marie Antoinette (1755—1793). In short recasting Lucien from a cornball to a corner stone. This song sets the tone for what I am doing as an artist. (I am a huge A Tribe Calle Quest fan, but, subverting/overthrowing is what Hip-Hop is all about, right?1
Please consider supporting my work by either Buying Me Tea or Purchasing a Zine. The money generated goes straight into putting out this EP and creating more art.
Scroll to the bottom to catch a sneak peak of off the EP, “Lucien’s Revenge (Marie Antoinette).” I placed the snippet of my track “Lucien’s Revenge” (2025) next to A Tribe Called Quest’s “Luck of Lucien” (1990).
Why The Song Almost Did Not Make It:
My intention was to respectfully flip the idea Lucien’s luck but in the middle of July, 2025, I ran into a big issue. We—the Mixing engineer I am working with—had been about 95% done with mixing track 4 of 5 for the EP when I realized that I might not be able to legally put the song out.
I had sampled a song that would no longer be available to license through a service I use—TrackLib. I felt like Lucien’s bad luck had struck me.
I was feeling defeated and put this note out. @Drew did me a solid by responding with clarity:
I reached out to TrackLib and learned that I could still obtain license even though the song was no longer available on the platform. However, I would need to submit my request to license before July 29th.
TrackLib asks for the International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) in order to license the song. An ISRC is like the VIN number of the final, published, recoding of your song—a unique identifier for a vehicle (recording), even if other cars (versions—like a radio or explicit vs clean version of a song) look similar.2 This number is helpful form a metadata perspective—counting streams, plays, ect.
In order to obtain an ISRC under my pervious setup, I would need to upload the Master (completed song) onto my digital distributer, DistroKid. DistroKid would then generate an ISRC—which they own. Currently, I am waiting to mix all 5 songs before moving on to Mastering. The plan is to have a cohesive sound throughout all 5 tracks. Since ISRCs are specific to the Master Recording I was worried that if I uploaded an unmasted version to the distributor Distrokid, I thought that the ISRC assigned to a version of the copy uploaded would be linked to that version. I was wrong about worrying as there is a workaround.
To summarize, I needed an ISRC code for songs that used samples so I could provide that to TrackLib in order to link the ISRC to the license agreement for the sample used. The plays attached to that ISRC number will generate the metadata needed to calculate splits—I believe.
The workaround using DistroKid allows you to upload your music for distribution as a scheduled release, they will then generate the code. Once you obtain the code, you then would need to delete the release. It is important to NOT release the song if the version you upload isn’t the final/Master version.
Above is what I planned on doing for the tracks that need to be cleared via TrackLib before July 29th was using ISRC codes owned and assigned by my current distributor, DistroKid.
However, I did not like this option when I learned that I could generate my own ISRC codes. The fact that the distributor owned the unique identifier for a song that I produced felt like a trap. So I learned how to generate my own code—it cost a one time fee so that you for those who’ve put money up to support this project.
WHERE I LANDED:
While I was writing this I had to show gratitude to Drew as well as J.D. Housley:
I applied to be able to generate and own my own unique ISRCs on July 25th and was approved on July 28th, (the last day to request license from TrackLib for the specific sample noted above). I opted for the one time payment of $95.00 USD to have the ability to assign my own ISRCs rather than feel locked into a yearly subscription with DistroKid. DistroKid will be listed as the owners of any ISRC codes that are generated through their service.
I learned managing your own ISRC codes gives you control, ownership, and professional autonomy over your music. You don’t rely on distributors to ‘own’ your master identity.
PS. Much love to Jacquie Verbal and Chakayla J. Taylor for purchasing the recent lyrical poetry zine, “The Bluest.” Also, thank you to good friend M.P. Fitzgerald! Huge thanks again to Pąșśìóň Pïț for the Sub.
Without Further Delay…
Here is a short clip of Lucien’s Revenge (Mari Anttnet) played along side A Tribe Called Quest’s 1990 track, “Luck of Lucien.”
Support the EP we are bring to you all live and direct. Show some love buy dropping by the store.
See the post titled “Ace [of] Trumpets.”
In the music industry, a master recording is the final version of your song — the actual audio file. Each master is identified globally by a unique ISRC (International Standard Recording Code). That ISRC becomes the “ID” for: Streaming royalties (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) Sync licensing (TV, film, etc.), Performance and digital royalties, and Metadata linking to your rights
This is amazing, Miguel! I had no idea about the ISRC until now, thanks to you. Did that come about when music became digital? Anyway, thanks for giving us a sneak “speak” into Lucien’s Revenge. Loved this inside scoop into music production and love your art.
Also, how cool is that, Passion Pit, subscribing!
“Quit trying to talk to me like imma be the hype man” come on!!! I need to listen with my headphones and come back with a real comment. Thank you for the shoutout your zines live perfectly on my work desk to keep me inspired!