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My royalty free sales went constantly down since almost a year now. Anyway, I used the royalty free market to make some extra pocket money. I have a catalog of around 100 songs for this market.
Normally 95% I focus on exclusive production and trailer music for well known companies.
I think a couple of these hyped RF sites will be out of business pretty soon. Really just a handful of guys can live from RF sales. I rather focusing on the TV market because for me it`s very stable.
I’ve only been in the RF world for about a year, so not enough data for me to tell yet. Sales have been increasing, but I am also slowly rolling out tracks from a large back catalog…
I think we’d all be interested if any brave library owners on here would share their thoughts/experiences?
Wildman said “I think a couple of these hyped RF sites will be out of business pretty soon. ”
So what happens to our tracks if they do go bust and are exclusive with that particular company?
John:
So what happens to our tracks if they do go bust and are exclusive with that particular company?
If you haven’t assigned copyright to them and you are not locked into a term, nothing happens. You still own the works.
If you have assigned copyright then those cues are assets of the company. Unless the catalogue is sold off to pay creditors, I would think you’d have a fairly good chance of getting the contract cancelled but you’d have to get legal advice for that specific situation. There are so many variables that could affect the outcome.
I’ve narrowed it down to four RF libraries these days, but only one generates steady sales. Although fairly consistent, it’s still just extra money.
I had my hopes a bit too high for the rest but it’s been like an empty cavern.
However, my focus has been in a different direction like most. So far so good.
Things have slowed down dramatically despite a few faithful standbys that always do well for me ….Overall I would say the RF market is in decline. Too saturated imo.
I suspect a few well known “cheap” sites have managed to pull business away from the ones that historically did well on here. The reality seems to be that people specifically looking for RF MUSIC will always prefer to pay the lowest price possible, even if it means it’s bordering on mediocre. And with a few that are selling tracks for $10 or less, it’s not rocket science to guess where they’ll go.
I also suspect that the marketing tactics of sites that sell specifically non-PRO registered music, or feature those tracks; has cast its’ ‘voodoo’ on those of us who sell PRO registered music (even if under an RF license agreement …)
I find myself answering this question at least a few times a month – “If your music is registered with BMI do I have to pay royalties?”
The average youtuber does not understand backend and I suspect this lack of knowledge has been very shrewdly exploited by a few of these monolith vendors.Yes, I agree with Soundspot. Just out of interest, there is a well known, low price RF site that posts the number of tracks they have for sale on their front page. I noticed that number jumped up by 200 since I looked yesterday! Not sure if they update it daily, but I suspect they do. Wow!
Sales have absolutely slowed down, and I’ve fed them (though not as frequently) with much higher quality music. I’ve stopped submitting to most and have pretty much switched gears to exclusive this year.
For me, sales are up from a year ago but my sales are starting to get stagnant over July and now part of August. I am hoping that this is just seasonal, but over the past 6 months I’ve started to re-focus on building up my own site to license music and break more into the television market instead of the corporate/advertising market. So I think switching gears a little bit has something to do with the sales leveling off. Hopefully it’s short term pain, long term gain, but you never know. I guess it’s just important to stay on top of what the market is doing and to keep making music.
Personally my 6 month goal is to sign with an exclusive pma library, cut out all but maybe 3 non-exclusive libraries, focus heavily on my own site with exclusive music, and drum up more custom work.
This year has been very up and down for me, as opposed to the past couple of years. I have only been selling RF tracks for a little over 4 years now. This summer has been particularly bad in general. But I keep writing and uploading, as you never know……
My RF experience has been unusual throughout 2014. I have had periods of steady income happening each day and then it dries up for a week or two where only two tracks sell. The problem with royalty free is the algorithms on many of these sites. They are set up to favor older tracks that have sold well when a buyer searches keywords. New up-loads rarely catch fire it seems. I also conclude that the guys that do the best are really very talented hit song writers. Some of these guys just have an amazing knack for writing what should amount to top 40 hit songs. These tunes are catchy, up beat, positive, joyous, etc. Those kinds of writers seem to really have a grasp of these markets as well as a huge fan base on these RF sites. They also know how to promote their works to drive traffic to their portfolios. Their stuff lands on popular items pages and stays there for months and years it seems.
Writing for TV is very different than RF, you can explore a lot more styles for TV such as blues, “bluesy” rock, whimsical, tension and suspense cues, heavy rock, happy pop rock, and these will do well on TV. My experience has been that these same cues just do not catch fire on royalty free. It seems like catchy pop in a major key written by guys that probably once were “in house” major label song writers (or should be by now). I also have noticed that “techy groove minimalism” does well on RF. Writing for RF is it’s own art form and you have to give it some thought. I actually think writing cues for tv is easier and I happen to be earning a lot more in the PRO/ TV back end royalty markets when compared to RF.
Wow, the overall trend seems to be one of declining RF sales… i guess the market is getting very saturated with new music and the demand does not seem to be picking up. I totally agree with @Glen regarding the styles that do well in RF land vs TV. Keeping that in mind, I am going to start withdrawing tracks from libraries that have not been performing. Hopefully it will reduce the glut in the market. I used to have the philosophy of “Whats the harm” or “it may just sell, you never know” but there is a harm because of this glut, which is devaluing your own music. The future is with the exclusives, but what do you do with the tracks that are not good enough for the exclusives ? for me, most of those missed tries end up in RF land. I suppose the thing is to withdraw from libraries that are not working, given a reasonable length of time.
RF is actually better for me this year. Probably because I’ve changed my focus over to RF libraries and are writing more specific cues for that market. The blanket licens cable TV libraries did not work out very well for me.
@ Glen – You bring up two very good points.
1. Knowing the market you serve and writing specifically for it, and well.
2. Tracks that ‘catch fire’ overshadow most others.
I’ve noticed that when I study carefully the types of tracks that are best sellers in certain RF’s, I’ve done well. And to the second point, I’ve been fortunate enough to have 2 tracks ‘catch fire’ this summer (45+) and they have overshadowed all other sales in that particular library. In fact, if it weren’t for those two tracks, sales would be pitiful. The algorithms must written in such a way that the more you sell, the more you will sell.
Overall, sales are up in some RF’s and down in others.
Great Post!
Wow, the overall trend seems to be one of declining RF sales… i guess the market is getting very saturated with new music and the demand does not seem to be picking up
It’s not a good idea to conclude that there is a general trend based on the responses of only a handful ( 20 or so) out of the literally thousands who participate in this industry.
There are too many variables that account for individual success, failure and market fluctuation.
The problem with royalty free is the algorithms on many of these sites. They are set up to favor older tracks that have sold well when a buyer searches keywords.
I don’t know about that, but Google changed its search engine algorithm last December, which has affected search results.
Writing for TV is very different than RF, you can explore a lot more styles for TV such as blues, “bluesy” rock, whimsical, tension and suspense cues, heavy rock, happy pop rock, and these will do well on TV. My experience has been that these same cues just do not catch fire on royalty free.
I am a firm believer that this is mostly true. The basic idea is correct, while the analysis may not be completely accurate. TV music and RF music can be two different animals. Yes, some “TV ready” music will sell on RF sites, but IMO it’s a market with different needs.