In the past threads have cropped up regarding the viability of contacting film and TV production companies (or networks) with ones own music library, thus bypassing having to deal with the middlemen of a traditional music library.
Setting aside the difficulties of contacting these entities and actually making a deal I’d like to explore the “nuts and bolts” of preparing ones own music catalog for delivery to a potential production company or network.
Some of the things I’d like to explore, in no particular order, are:
1.) How large should your library be?
I would think you would need at least 500 unique pieces of music covering many different genres. I would also think you would need alternate mixes of each, including a full mix, DnB and a bed. What do you think about the average length and mixes beyond that? 10 second, 30, 60, loops? Some people advocate 30 and 60 second mixes but wouldn’t a music editor rather cut their own?
2.) Deliver via web or hard drive?
3.) How would you set up your hard drive as far as file structure?
4.) aif or wav files? 48k – 16 or 24 bit?
5.) Best way to Embed metadata in aif and/or broadcast wav files.
6.) App for searching metadata. iTunes, Soundminer or?
7.) What would a blanket license fee be for our 500 song library? Pricing for a low cost network such as Scripps or a higher end network.
8.) What would the license terms include?
9.) How would you label each track? Composer name and title? Underscores in place of blanks in the file name?
Just a few questions and I’m sure there are more!