Audiosocket Music
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| If you are a composer and/or songwriter, please leave your comments and experiences with this company. We want to hear the good as well as the bad! Please rate, from 1 to 10, by clicking on one of the stars. Below is some general information but we make no guarantee of accuracy. Check with the company for all details. Please contact us for any corrections. | ||
| URL: | http://audiosocket.com/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Accepting Submissions: | Yes | |
| Submit Via Uploads: | Yes | |
| Submit Via Mail: | No | |
| Submissions Reviewed: | Yes | |
| Types Accepted: |
|
|
| Charge For Submissions: | Yes | |
| Up Front Money: | ||
| Royalty Free: (non-broadcast use) |
Yes | |
| Exclusivity: (Exclusive, Non, Semi) (Semi = Free to place on own but not with another library) |
Non-Exclusive | |
| Re-Title: | Original - plus code | |
| Set Own Price: | No | |
| Contract Length: | Unknown | |
| Payment Schedule: | Bi-Annual | |
| License Fee Split: (writer/library) |
50/50 | |
| PRO Split Based on 100%: (writer/library writer/library/publisher or writer) |
50/50 | |
| Requires Licensee To File Cue Sheet: | Yes | |
| Notes: | ||
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Categories: Music Libraries A to A | 
Tags: composer, music, music library, songwriter | 
96 Comments »
$5.00 for them to consider your music?
C’mon!
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Ed, February 11th, 2010 at 11:46 am Reply:
This company is growing! They are getting me increasing placements. I recommend them. $5 is really nothing compared to what I spend on TAXI, Sonicbids, etc. Keeps the riff-raff out.
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I’ve got about 120 tracks in the Audiosocket catalog. The $5 is OK, if you consider it an application fee… i.e. send in 4 tracks with the $5 and if you are accepted, you can then give them all your available tracks. You can also continue to send them tracks without paying anything more. They have to pay someone to take the time to go through the mountains of CDs that get sent, so it’s a way for them to weed out the people that aren’t serious. I understand your hesitation, but I can vouch for them.
They have licensed my music for amounts ranging from $600 – $1000 a pop.
Payments take a while, but nothing out of the ordinary for this business (they wait to get paid, then their accountants cut a check).
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Good company, I have received a placement also. They are working hard as a library, and also as a music community leader in the NW. (events, promotions, etc.)
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audiosocket keep 50% of publishing , but you retain 100% of perf/writers share, which suggests retitling. Is that the case, guys?
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I stongly dislike the practice of charging for submissions. I think I already had tracks signed with them before they started charging- don’t recall. If I went to their website cold and saw the $5 fee, I wouldn’t have submitted. BUT…
That being said, they are extremely professional to deal with and I’m happy to be with them. Their contract is one of the most artist friendly ones I’ve looked at– every item that I normally look for was right there.
I tend to like it when libraries are very diligent about dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s on paperwork– tax ids, co-writers, sound-likes, PRO CAE/IPI #s etc. When I’ve signed and been ask for none of this, I am more concerned. Paperwork is a good thing.
And they have a track record of placements.
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i found this on the ‘net about audiosocket. Scroll down to about halfway. It doesnt make for a good picture.
http://www.velvetrope.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=306087&page=1&fpart=16&sess=c...
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Yeah, I’m always turned off when there’s a submission fee.
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They were recommended to me by a composer that does well with libraries (he’s obviously talented!). When I submitted one year ago the fee was $15. I never heard back whether I was accepted or not. I wrote them after a few months and again, did not get a response. I just figured them to be a rip off and wrote them off as a lesson learned. Just yesterday I received an email from them stating that I had been accepted and wondered why I had never sent in any material!
Now I’m not sure what to think about them. I may give them the benefit of the doubt since who knows what happens to email floating around in cyberspace. And since they were highly recommended from a composer I respect.
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$5 for 4 songs doesn’t really bother me if they actually listen. It used to be $15 which was a bit much. I just submitted 4 songs
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They don’t let you know much about what is happening with your stuff. They are happy to send an email about their wonderful placements though, and the parties they go to.
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Not saying that’s good or bad but none of the libraries I’ve worked with tell you what’s going on with your songs. And most of the time you first hear about a placement 6-9 months later (U.S.) when your PRO statement arrives.
If by not keeping composers in the loop they are spending more time pitching music, that’s OK with me. Emails about placements? I like them. I’d rather know the library is having some successes. Beats wondering if a libary ever makes a placement…
I do know that some libraries will tell composers about placements, especially bigger deals.
Like everything else, the number one priority is getting placements, making money (no debate about splits here, LOL), and often just as important– credits. They mean a lot.
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Hello everyone, I just came across this web site. I love the service and the information it’s providing to the community. In full disclosure, my name is Brent McCrossen. I’m the CEO of Audiosocket. Thank you all for your thoughtful comments and healthy criticism. It means a lot to me.
To provide clarity on some of these statements, I offer this brief history. In the very early days we had no submission fee. We were getting hit with over 30 submissions a day and so many songs were cover tunes that people didn’t have the right to. Many more songs were just awful or poorly recorded. This was taking time away from our music departments ability to classify the music we had signed. Music we know was up to snuff.
After much internal debate we decided to enact a submission fee of $15. We got some backlash as is outlined in that really nasty velvetrope post that’s linked in this comment chain. Still, since then haven’t had a single person upload someone elses songs that they don’t have the right to.
After more internal debate we dropped the fee to $5, assuming that would be enough to prevent people uploading work they don’t have the rights to. It was…
Believe it or not, we’re about to make another change. We about to launch a new brochure site and we’ll be removing the fee all together, again. I realize that we’ll get more people uploading horrible music or, even worse, music they don’t have the rights to. We’ve done the comparison and I’m fine with it. It will take us a lot longer to get back to people with a yes or no but that’s the way it goes. I’d rather that than have a group of trusted musicians associate us with a scam. It’s not like $5 submission fees are our revenue model. We’re after real placements that garner real licensing fees. Our artists will attest to that.
We value our musicians more than anything in the world. Simple fact, we wouldn’t be here without them. We strive to hold music industry seminars on a quarterly basis and provide knowledge and contribute to the community. All of this is free and our way of giving back.
In the 2 years we’ve been in business we’ve made great progress. We’ve secured a substantial amount of placements for major brands, TV shows, Films and video games. We have been able to grown our sales team in NY, New Orleans and LA and those cats are push our artists music every single day with more passion than you can imagine. We’re making waves in the worst economy in our lifetime and building value for our artists and our customers. Thank you all for your considerate response and contributions to this post. I know we can’t please everyone but we work hard to be fair and lobby for our artists. I wish you all the best with your carriers. If anyone on this list would like to submit to Audiosocket and avoid the $5 fee (while we wait to tun on the new site) please send me 3 MP3′s to music@audiosocket.com I’ll review it personally and get back to you as soon as I am able.
Warm Regards,
Brent
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Their LA sales team are great people and get the job done.
Their sales team are experienced and would have no problem getting jobs at large publishers/libraries, but they choose to work at Audiosocket. This alone should tell you that Audiosocket are LEGIT, and miles ahead of many other licensing companies…
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Has anyone else taken Brent up on his free submission offer?
I sent him three tracks the day he posted the offer, but haven’t heard back from him yet. Probably swamped with submissions from his free offer.
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Art, January 25th, 2010 at 9:54 am Reply:
I sent him a link on the day he posted it but never heard a word back. It always bugs me when people don’t respond as I never know if they ever got the e-mail in the first place. In this day and age of very robust spam filters it’s even more important. It’s not that hard to set up an auto-responder!
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I agree Art. Maybe he’ll see our posts here and give us a confirmation email.
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Gang I did not get your emails. Send the songs to my personal address. It’s brent@audiosocketmusic.com
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Art, January 25th, 2010 at 1:21 pm Reply:
Hi Brent, thanks for responding. In your original comment you left the e-mail address as music@audiosocket.com. I’ll re-send to this new address.
Thanks again.
Art
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Thanks Brent. I re-submitted to the new email address.
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Got turned down by Brent at Audiosocket but, as promised, he did listen right away. He sent an e-mail on passing and that the door was open to send more. Fair enough. If one is to get rejected you can’t get much better than that! Very straight ahead.
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At least you have an open door Art. After Brent listens to mine, he’ll probably tell me “please don’t send anymore”.
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All kidding aside… I’d rather be rejected than to have my tracks gathering dust on a library’s shelf. I’m sure the libraries know from experience (and their clients past activities) what they can move and what they can’t.
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Re-submitted to the new email address and got a positive response very quickly directly from Brent. Seems like a good company on the up & up.
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I have 25 tracks with this library and have nothing but good things to say about them and Brent. They are legit, easy to deal with and are moving up the ladder very quickly.
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Thanks for the offer.. sent 3 mp3′s… David
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I have been accepted and I’m sending my whole catalogue. I will let you all know how it goes as the process unfolds.
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Been with AudioSocket since 2008. Only had 4 songs registered with them and received a placement in Japan. Great feeling. Shipped 27 new tracks over to them immediately after.
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Here we go!Just submitted four tracks myself !
60 days before a response?Seems like a long time but then
things move rather slowly at this point in the game.
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Well I had the last post here and they already accpepted my submission and they just gave me a heads up today for the 4 cds I sent them!
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payment schedule is twice yearly.
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Art, March 6th, 2010 at 5:42 pm Reply:
Thanks, updated.
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Matt, March 6th, 2010 at 11:16 pm Reply:
Hey Art, in my experience they also have not re-titled – this company is going after the license fees, not royalties.
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ErikMusic, March 7th, 2010 at 7:31 am Reply:
Hmm…but there is a clause in the contract that mentions re-titling. Also, in order for them to collect their share of publishing, they would need to do a re-title to get that setup, right?
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dp, March 7th, 2010 at 7:55 am Reply:
Not necessarily!Another company right here at MLR said they are not retitling but putting their name at either the begining or end of your song title and that info was current within the last month.I believe he said BMI is requiring this and it makes sense so they can ditinguish between publishers who are representing the same material.
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ErikMusic, March 7th, 2010 at 7:57 am Reply:
Well, that still is basically a re-titling, though. Crucial Music is doing the same thing.
Whether they are adding to the title or creating an entirely new one, it still functions the same way.
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dp, March 7th, 2010 at 9:08 am Reply:
If your original title is in the name,then its an addition like you said and pro’s will be able to pay the publisher who is representing you the writer,I dont see how you think that is called retitling!
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ErikMusic, March 7th, 2010 at 10:44 am Reply:
In the their contract it says “assign a new and specific title”. If that doesn’t mean the same thing as “re-title”, I guess I’m missing something?
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Art, March 7th, 2010 at 11:10 am Reply:
Ok, “Re-title” set back to “Unknown” until definitive answer.
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ErikMusic, March 7th, 2010 at 11:17 am Reply:
I sent an email to them asking for clarification…if/when I hear back from them, I’ll let you know.
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Art, March 7th, 2010 at 9:26 am Reply:
Thanks Matt, got it fixed.
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Hey gang, it’s Brent – CEO of Audiosocket. I saw this new thread and wanted to provide some clarity. Audiosocket does register each song as the publisher. You could technically call it re-titling. We keep the original song name intack and add the track ID and our Publishing name behind it. This allow us to track the the performance royalties for each placement that Audiosocket makes on your behalf.
Hope this info helps. Thanks to all who have sent me their songs directly. I found some great music via this community. We’ll be launching a new brochure site soon that will have a free submission process. I’ll let you know when that goes live. For now, if you’re interested and haven’t submitted to me already, please send 3 MP3′s to brent@audiosocket.com
Also, for those indoctrinated in the tweet nation, you can follow us at twitter.com/audiosocket. We often send out post for new music we or clients are looking for, provide links to cool music related articles and of coarse keep you up to date with our general insanity
Warm Regards,
Brent
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Art, March 7th, 2010 at 11:36 am Reply:
Thanks for the update Brent!
Art
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I know the guys at Audiosocket. They’re good people and really care about the musicians they work with. They’re selective but they’re serious about the quality of their catalog.
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Paid the $5 submission fee at their website about a month ago and was accepted. They got back to me the next day with an email. Getting masters together to submit for catalog. Excited to work with them, I’ve heard good things from some friends who use them.
Tyler
http://www.solocomusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/audyssey
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Got a reply within 24 hours using the link that Art got. Sending stuff over now. First impressions are very good. Very together with contracts and info. We shall see.
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I’m hosting an Audiosocket party this Thursday May 20th at The Libertine in Hollywood, CA
FREE ENTRY
COMPLIMENTARY SNACKS
COMPLIMENTARY DRINKS
Flyer is up at http://www.johnfulfordmusic.com
Come say hi…
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Art, May 21st, 2010 at 11:11 pm Reply:
Thanks John, had a great time at the Libertine last night. Robin and I enjoyed meeting you Scott and Trig. Also had a nice chat with Mike from Audiosocket. Anybody in L.A. should make sure to get to the next one!
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John Fulford, May 22nd, 2010 at 7:15 pm Reply:
Thanks for rolling through Art, it was fun. The next one should be in August…
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I just had a placement thru audiosocket that earned a $250 license fee. Thanks Brent & co!
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Hey gang, it’s taken months but the new Audiosocket brochure site is up. We have removed the $5 submission fee. I realize this will flood us with submissions and potentially delay our response time. However, we will strive to get back to artist in 14 days with a guarantee that you’ll hear from us in 60 days. Obviously we’ll aim for the 2 weeks. Depends on the influx.
Thanks for your patience. I know I offered everyone here the opportunity to submit directly to me via email till we got the new site up and running. If you haven’t already sent me your tunes, please submit via the site directly. It will help streamline the process.
Give it a look and let me know what you think. We are proud of the design. While our “Featured Artist page” is up the “listen now” link will not go live till Monday. Still, we got eager and pushed it anyway. Hope y’all are doing great.
Cheers
Brent
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John (the other John), July 29th, 2010 at 11:52 am Reply:
Your website is looking good Brent!
However, the $5 submission fee is still there.
John
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Brent McCrossen, July 29th, 2010 at 12:00 pm Reply:
This your hitting the old site brother. That’s still live. You’ve got to go to audiosocket.com
not audiosocketMUSIC dot com. We’ll yank that one down on Monday.
here’s the direct link to the submit page on the new “Free” site
http://audiosocket.com/submit
Cheers
Brent
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John (the other John), July 29th, 2010 at 12:15 pm Reply:
Okay, thanks Brent!
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Colin O'Dwyer, July 30th, 2010 at 10:35 am Reply:
Hey Brent,
I joined on as an artist this past winter. I submitted about 60 tracks and was told they were all being added. I was just wondering if there was a way to hear/see/track myself at the site. I was just curious to see the tags that were created etc.
Thanks and Cheers!
Colin O’Dwyer
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brent, July 30th, 2010 at 10:37 am Reply:
Colin, you can contact me directly regarding this.
brent@audisocket.com
thanks
Brent
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Aaron Jones, August 3rd, 2010 at 9:49 am Reply:
Brent,
I don’t think brent@audiosocket.com is a working email. I tried sending one there and it bounced.
I just resent it to brent@audiosocketMUSIC.com and we will see if that works.
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brent, August 3rd, 2010 at 11:12 am Reply:
Aaron, just test my email and it’s working fine. I also sent you a message earlier today with Justin CC’d on it. Try again and let me know if it continues to fail. Should be fine.
Thanks
Brent
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I submitted my music to Audiosocket for consideration and was approved the next day. Am preparing my songs and finishing up paperwork to send in. So far so good. I really like their vibe. They seem quite professional, but more than that passionate about their work. I’m excited to work with them.
JR Rhodes
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Do you send mp3′s or actual .wav files to these libraries for submissions and if mp3 what kbit? 320?
Thanks!
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JR Rhodes, August 23rd, 2010 at 12:00 pm Reply:
Hey, Pat.
Here’s Audiosocket music submission info below.
Hope it’s helpful to you.
We require audio CD’s because we rip your album with certain metadata that we need for our catalog.
If you burn your music to a CD, MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE that:
! • It is in WAV file format – CD Quality – 44.1khz
• The songs appear properly labeled, and in the correct sequence.
• If available, please supply us a printed J-card (not hand-written)
displaying artist, album title, and track name.
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Pat, August 23rd, 2010 at 2:03 pm Reply:
I appreciate you taking the time to post the info JR.
Just another quick question, Is a single song submission acceptable and is there a minimum song length?
Thanks again
Pat
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JR Rhodes, August 24th, 2010 at 8:29 am Reply:
Hey, Pat. You’re most welcome. It’s all about helping each other out, I say. I just submitted 11 songs – 22 total, since I included instrumental versions of the 11 songs. You might want to talk to Audiosocket directly to confirm if it’s OK to submit 1 song. What I see on the site is a request to submit up to 4 songs for their initial review, as opposed to a minimum of 4 songs. So you might be fine sending 1 song.
Here’s the link to the submission page for submission info:
http://audiosocket.com/submit
If you have more specific questions, I’d recommend calling or emailing them. Here’s the contact page link:
http://audiosocket.com/meta/contact
Although I haven’t yet been in contact with them directly, I’ve heard great things about them.
Good luck to you, Pat, and have fun!
JR
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Pat, August 24th, 2010 at 10:07 am Reply:
Thanks again JR. Very nice of you. I’m new to this site and the library business in general. It can be a bit overwhelming reading about all these different contracts and claim etc so it’s great to see people willing to take a minute and share what they know.
Good luck to you.
Pat
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JR Rhodes, August 24th, 2010 at 10:47 am Reply:
Sure thing, Pat. Also, if you find you want help with contracts, there are lots of folks out there willing to help when you’re willing to do the work. For Washington state there’s Washington Lawyers for the Arts:
http://www.thewla.org/Contact.html
They hold clinics for artist to review contracts for a very reasonable price. They also have informational seminars from time to time. If you’re living in another state you still might contact these folks to see what similar resources are available to you in the state where you live. They’re good folks.
All the best. Ciao for now, Pat:)
JR
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I submitted 4 tunes but all were rejected but I have to say, that was the fastest response time in the history of music. I didn’t hit the upload button more than an hour ago before I got a thanks but no thanks email.
Only thing worse than being rejected is being rejected after waiting a long time so I can’t complain. I kind of wish I knew if I was in the ballpark at all so I knew how to up my game but at least they gave a listen so I appreciate that.
I guess it’s ok to submit the same tunes to multiple libraries at once.
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anonX, August 25th, 2010 at 4:53 am Reply:
Pat,
The best thing to do is get some feeedback from successful peers to see where your tracks may fall short. A big part of whether or not a large catalog library such as Audiosocket signs your tracks is whether or not they are Broadcast Quality enough.
Best of luck
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Pat, August 25th, 2010 at 9:05 am Reply:
That helps. Thanks anonX.
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Greg, August 25th, 2010 at 9:16 am Reply:
anonX, do you have any suggestions on where to get that type of feedback?
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anonX, August 25th, 2010 at 10:16 am Reply:
I’ll answer that but again pleeeeeeeeeeeease… I hope we can leave the Taxi debate out of this. This is MY OPINION…
Taxi (critiques) and even more so, feedback on their forum have been very helpful to a great many composers. On the forum, Taxi members including quite a few successful composers regularly offer up their time and energy to help other composers. Personally, I haven’t found any place on the net that comes close.
That doesn’t mean that’s the only way. What matters is you get feedback from truly experienced folks, not just random opinions on ANY forum.
Pat, I think you said you are a Taxi member. Have you posted links to your tracks on their forum asking for feedback?
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b, August 25th, 2010 at 10:47 am Reply:
Funny, I was about to suggest this exact same thing when I saw anonX post come through. I didn’t realize there was TAXI debate here and you can keep me out of that also. But…
Taxi’s forums free and you do NOT have to be a taxi member to join them, nor do you even have to like Taxi. Those forums are filled with extremely talented and very generous folks who can answer any and all questions about your music. I joined the forums a few years ago and based off of the feedback from the forums alone, my music went from non-broadcast quality to signed and sitting in many libraries.
If you want uncensored, honest feedback I’d go and check out:
forums.taxi.com
In the interest of full disclosure, I am a taxi member and I have 16 pieces in Audiosocket. I do not work for either company.
B
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John (the other John), August 25th, 2010 at 11:39 am Reply:
Yep, as I said before; don’t start debates on politics, religion, or TAXI, especially TAXI.
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Just a quick note – I finally got around to submitting to AudioSocket and used their way cool web interface to submit four of my tracks. They wanted MP3 format and I was not charged anything to submit.
A very polite “Thank You” screen popped up when the upload completed, stating that they would get back to me anywhere from 14 to 60 days from the date of submission.
So I dunno – things must have changed with regards to the submission fee. I’m feeling good about this one and will followup later after I hear back from them.
– Symon
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So far all my submissions have been turned down which I’m used to that.
Got the “Sorry but this isn’t what we’re looking for right now” email so I responded nicely saying maybe if they would tell me what they’re looking for right now I can better suit their needs. Just seems to me that if they were willing to spend one more minute to do that, they would save lots of time in the long run not listening to submissions from writers who aren’t even in the ball park because of material or production or length or whatever (with the exception of different style needs at different times ofcourse)
No response.
I do give them credit for being faster than most to listen to the material and initially respond back regardless of the outcome. Saves you from wondering for months.
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brent, September 1st, 2010 at 4:14 pm Reply:
Pat, It’s Brent McCrosen – CEO of Audiosocket. Thanks for the post and thanks a million for submitting your tunes to us. Sorry you were turned down. I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately, as I’ve been doing a good bit of the reviewing since our new site went live.
We can’t possibly provide feedback for every submission. I don’t attempt to sound harsh when I say it’s not the business we’re in. We license music. There are other companies / professional sites that provide critique services. I wish we could do it all. But, as a scrappy start up, we know death comes by trying to do all things – instead of one thing really well.
Still, that being said, we’ve clearly listed what we’re looking for when reviewing a submission. It goes as follows.
1. song writing skills
2. quality of sound banks used
3. quality of recording.
The thing I’ve been scratching my head over lately is number 2 and 3. It breaks my heart to get a submission from an artist that obviously is a good musician but they haven’t fulfilled numbers two and / or three. I’m a drummer. Basically that makes me not a musician in the minds of many
But seriously, I know the difference between great sound banks and cheap ones. I know the difference between a professional recording and one that was done with little attention to detail / minimal effort. I also know that top notch gear, sound banks and the rest can be very expensive. Such is the path of the creative entrepreneur. Money is always an issue. Regardless, I recommend that every musician invest as much as they can, not only in their skills but in the tools they use. It will increase all chances of success.
I hope this info helps to some extent. I saw your post and felt your thoughtful note warranted a response.
Warm Regards,
Brent
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dblock, September 1st, 2010 at 4:28 pm Reply:
Hi Brent,
I appreciate you taking the time to give your input. I understand that it’s not realistic to expect a critique. Hopefully my next submission will be closer to what you’re looking for in all three values.
Until my next submission thanks anyway for considering my music. I’ll just try again.
Pat
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Rob (Cruciform), September 1st, 2010 at 6:16 pm Reply:
Lol. What’s confusing is when I have tracks signed to high end libraries on exclusive deals and very similar ones get turned down by Audiosocket. I’m hoping it’s as simple as the tracks don’t fit their market.
Oh well. That’s the game.
(It’s a curious observation, not a complaint. I have good vibes about Audiosocket and hope to enter their catalogue eventually).
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anonX, September 1st, 2010 at 6:42 pm Reply:
This is something I think we all deal with in this business. One library turns a piece down, another picks it up and places it. It’s frustrating but it’s just the way it is. We have to accept rejection and move on to the next submission. It’s not a perfect, clear cut, black and white world when it comes to judging the marketability of a given piece of music.
One thing that I strongly suggest is forging relationships with peers to get honest feedback on your music. Network, get to know folks including some more successful than you.
I feel fortunate that audiosocket signed a bunch of my songs a while back. Recently they made a placement with one of my tracks. Thank you Brent, Sarah, and the audiosocket team.
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Rob (Cruciform), September 1st, 2010 at 6:49 pm Reply:
Thanks anonX. All very helpful advice which is already implemented in my business.
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Pat, September 1st, 2010 at 7:03 pm Reply:
Congrats to you. Can you share how the music you had accepted was recorded? Self produced using something like Cubase then mastered by a pro or $1200 in studio time hiring musicians?
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anonX, September 1st, 2010 at 7:37 pm Reply:
Hey Pat
First I want to say that no matter how you record music, rejection is still very possible. You certainly can increase your odds but even excellent composers with top notch production chops get rejections. And sometimes it doesn’t all make sense— Lib A says no, B says yes, etc.
My tracks were recorded by hired professionals with home studios. Mastering is not required for film/TV– just a really good high quality mix.
If you have home studio gear and are developing your skills there, keep at it. Obviously it’s more cost effective to ‘roll your own’. Again, networking with other composers is key. Find out what the difference is between your mixes and ones that tend to get signed. Use forums, critique services, network at conventions, etc…
And don’t forget it still starts with a good SONG or instrumental. Good production on a not-so-good song rarely cuts it.
[Reply]
Pat, September 1st, 2010 at 7:46 pm Reply:
Hi anonx,
Thanks for your input. This is a forum I’m using and you are one who got signed so I thought that was a great place to start. That’s good advise and pretty much common sense.
I agree, a crap song doesn’t care if it’s played by a diamond needle.
Rejection is my middle name but I’d do this anyway so I don’t have much to lose.
I’ve had contracts before with DSM years ago but no uses.
I’m a Taxi member also and have had a million critiques but the game is changing. Broadcast quality now is the norm where it wasn’t not long ago. I did find it interesting that you say mastering is not required.
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Art, September 1st, 2010 at 7:59 pm Reply:
There are a lot of things to keep in perspective. One is a “crap song”, that’s merely subjective. Also “mastering”, again subjective. I have some things running on a major network that I wrote years ago for another project and had to get done in a hurry. Certainly not my best work as a player, engineer, producer or writer. Turned down by a lot of major libraries, never got forwarded by Taxi but I kept submitting to libraries. They are now earning a nice sum every day and have been for the last year. As my dad use to say “there’s a butt for every seat!!”.
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dblock, September 1st, 2010 at 8:09 pm Reply:
LOL! “A butt for every seat” I’m gonna have to remember that one.
I enjoyed reading your post. Tells me the possibilities
I’m pluggin away and concentrating on writing and making the music as good as I can while trying to make my production stand up. Don’t have money to hire pros so I’m trying to become as self contained as possible enough to suit “most” peoples subjective idea of good broadcast quality music.
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anonX, September 2nd, 2010 at 4:36 am Reply:
Pat
If you’ve had tracks signed by DSM years ago, you certainly are on the right track (they were fairly selective) even if you need to up your game a little.
Broadcast quality was always the norm, it’s just the home technology has gotten better and as a result, the competition stiffer. But one good thing is cable TV has created tons more need for music.
I encourage you to make the best use of your Taxi membership by:
(1) Getting feedback on their forum. Mention that your tracks get turned down a lot by libraries and returned for listings. Post a link to 2-3 tracks and ask for input as to what you should improve.
(2) Attend the Taxi Road Rally. You will walk away with tons more knowledge as well as great contacts. The other composers you get to know there can really make all the difference in the world. Besides being able to tap friends for advice, collaborate.
Also, Art is right that what is acceptable to one library or end user can differ greatly from what is good for others. Remember there are many different types of uses ranging from instrumental background on cable TV shows to network TV vocals/instrumentals to feature films, etc. The “bar” is different for each and hence, library’s and user’s bars can differ depending on what their main market/use is.
Also if you get turned down by libraries that others have tracks in, sometimes when the submissions were made is a factor. When a library is early in it’s existence, for example, they are more in a ‘catalog building’ mode and will tend to sign more tracks. As the library becomes more established, their selectivity increases. My songs were placed in audiosocket a long while back.
Regardless of all that, keep getting better! Don’t just do the same things as far as composition & production but shotgun out to more & more libraries, at least not in the longer term.
We all must not lose sight that the end game is not to FINALLY get SOME library to say ‘yes’, but to get our tracks actually used.
Good luck!
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Pat, September 2nd, 2010 at 7:02 am Reply:
Thanks anonX for laying out an excellent overview. You make great points. I’m definitely ramping up my efforts in all aspects of this game.
I’m sending in another tune to Audio Socket this morning which is far better or I should I say more usable I believe than my previous attempts.
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I actually had some turned down by audiosocket that were used on TV etc a few times…I use professional soundbanks but guess my production wasnt up to par…maybe i will get in one day
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I just got accepted on my third try. Lol. It was only 7 days ago I said I hoped to enter their catalogue eventually.
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Pat, September 7th, 2010 at 4:52 pm Reply:
A hearty congrats to you Rob. Having had all my submissions to them rejected so far, I can appreciate how you must feel. I’d love to have that feeling. Keep pluging away at it though.
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Thanks Pat.
If it’s any encouragement to you, I only bought my first midi keyboard in Feb this year and started the production music journey in March. I’ve had dozens of rejections (to be expected) and I’m now fine with them (99% of the time – some simply don’t make sense), especially now I know that it isn’t always the quality of music that is the cause of rejection. It also has to be just the right fit at the right time.
I have switched from the noob mindset of “What! Don’t those people know what they’re missing??” to “What can I learn from this?” and taken a few big steps back to really try and hear my music from a client’s P.O.V. instead of from “My precious…gollum, gollum!”
Returning to some of my earlier music I’m now embarrassed by what I tried to submit. I was definitely in a state of naive beginner’s delusion to think anyone would accept that crap.
So a rejection to me means…
1) Is there something wrong with song structure?
2) Is there something wrong with the sonic quality?
3) Do the instruments sound fresh and modern?
If those things are fine, then it must be just a case of not being right for that client/library.
Keep improving your production skills (I haven’t listened to your music so I don’t have any idea how good/raw they are) and keep plugging away. Good luck mate!
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Pat, September 7th, 2010 at 6:55 pm Reply:
Thanks for the encouraging words Rob.
When you say,”…if those things are fine..” there’s the rub. You don’t know because the opinion on what’s fine or not shifts from yours to theirs and they won’t tell you (though I can understand that they can’t critique submissions).
What did you use on your project like daw, vst instruments, live? mix it yourself? would love to hear what you think you did to get accepted this time.
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Rob (Cruciform), September 7th, 2010 at 7:47 pm Reply:
Pat,
Do you use the Taxi forum to get constructive feedback from other composers? Regardless of one’s opinion of Taxi itself as a service (and I refuse to debate that with anyone), the peer-to-peer forum is a great place to develop your production skills.
My DAW is Mixcraft 4.5 and 5. VST instruments are all the usual suspects: EW Silk, EW RA, EW Goliath, EW Storm Drums, EW Voices of Passion, Komplete 6, Kore 2, some from Camel Audio, heaps of expansion packs from NI, and so on. Nothing unique, but all good quality.
I also play guitar and record it direct. I do everything, although with a deal I just signed (not Audiosocket), the library itself will be getting mastering done on the tracks I’ve submitted to them.
I also keep heaps of notes – what’s been submitted where, what gets rejected, what gets accepted, listen to music from others that has been accepted, look for trends in my rejections, etc. I do this to continually improve my skills. If you don’t know where you’re coming from, how can you map out where you’re going? This is a BUSINESS and it will quickly separate artists who act like ‘business owners” (that includes planning and review) from hobbyists. 95% of small businesses fail in the first five years, and IIRC the majority of those that fail involved poor or nonexistent planning, goal setting, regular reviewing etc.
In this case with Audiosocket, I would take a stab in the dark and suggest that it was about 50% production and 50% tracks they could use. In other words, my abilities have improved to a level where I can produce the quality they require and this time around the particular songs were also ones they could use. But that’s just a guess. On the other hand, the exclusive deal I’ve just signed is fantastic as the supervisor is giving me very useful feedback.
I consider myself a novice, definitely no expert, however I do run a successful unrelated business so I know what it takes to succeed. Business skills are transferable – the principles of quality, planning, professionalism, marketing, integrity etc work in any industry. That’s why CEOs of major co.s can move from say a mining co. to a bank and stay relevant.
……and that’s my 2c FWIW.
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Pat, September 7th, 2010 at 9:37 pm Reply:
Sounds like you have all the right elements going in the right direction there Rob.
Just happened to sign up with the Taxi forum the other day. Useful stuff there.
My setup is somewhat similar to yours and I also play guitar direct on some tunes as well as bass and some triggered drum pads (not great but enough to hold the “it’s too synthetic sounding” critics at bay just a tad. I also am keeping tabs of who songs go to and when, when they come back and any feedback. Sent a country tune out, funk tune, electronic orchestra type tune and I’m finishing up a raggae. The Raggae one I’ll try Audio Socket once again. The others they already said no but there are others, plenty of others. Ran into this site by accident. Now I know for sure I won’t be renewing Taxi when it runs out.
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