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Newbie Questions

One of our readers, Ev, came up with the suggestion to have a section devoted to newbie questions regarding music libraries, music licensing, copyright, music publishing etc. There a lot of experienced people on this site and many are happy to share their wisdom. So, if you are a newbie (or not), and have a question, try leaving it here.

Of course many questions have already been answered here. First try searching in the search bar in the upper right hand corner. Also Google is your friend! I have found one of the best ways to search a site is use site specific criteria at Google’s web site. In other words, to search for a specific keyword, say “contracts”, type it in at Google like this “contracts site:musiclibraryreport.com”. Do not use the quotes.

If you still can’t find your answer then leave a comment here and someone will most likely come to your rescue!

1,260 thoughts on “Newbie Questions”

  1. Hello.
    I have a newbie question about PRO royalties so I tried to write this to receive some advice.

    I submitted several music to exclusive RF library and am also planning to work with other non-exclusive RF and licensed libraries.
    The thing what I’m wondering is who register composer’s music to PRO. I think that composer basically register his music to PRO but also think that RF library(publisher) may register composer’s music to PRO. So I’m wondering which one is right in the situation that is working with exclusive library or non-exclusive library.

    Second question is about tracking service. I’m considering to join tracking service such as Tunesat and Digsound. but before I decide, I just want to hear about it from you(composer) if it is worth to join or not.

    Thanks.

    JunL

    • @JunL. Generally the music libraries register with the PROs if they are collecting the Publisher’s performance share. If they are not then you should. In any event, if your music is used on TV the writer and publisher will be picked up off the cue sheet, if the cue sheet has been filed. Which leads to Tunesat.

      I have a Tunesat account so I can reconcile my BMI statement and my Tunesat detections. Probably only worth it if you have a fairly large catalog and getting regular placements. Recently I collected $1500 from an unauthorized use that Tunesat picked up. I would have never known about as it never appeared on a cue sheet.

      • Hey Art, how is tunesat working out for you as far as your re-titles go? (Or maybe you don’t do re-title libraries?)If it picks up a placement that doesn’t reconcile with your records I guess you have to track down where out of multiple possibilities it came from? Probably by contacting the shows producers somehow? Is this a hassle? Thanks, Michael

        • Hi Michael, I do re-title and I do have to track them down. At this point I have a pretty good handle on where the placements come from and it does involve finding the producers and contacting them. In the two years I’ve had my Tunesat account this has only happened twice. The most recent one took a bit of detective work, a few months and a number of phone calls but for $1500 it was worth it. Maybe a couple of hours work at most.

  2. Question for you guys.
    I have my first 2 cues I want to submit to an exclusive library.
    Do you guys wait to hear from them before submitting to others or do you do multiple (exclusive) submissions and just say no thanks if if it’s already accepted?
    The problem I see having with exclusive submissions is possibly waiting and waiting and worse than a reject is no response at all when I could’ve been submitting all along. Just wondering what your general practice is. I don’t have a ton of cues so I want to get the most milage fron what I have but at the same time, explore outside of dealing with only non-exclusive libraries.
    Thanks!

  3. For me, I got more out of this site than I ever did paying all that money to Taxi for so my years. I get something out of this for my money and there’s no maybe.

  4. I can imagine that it does take a lot of time to manage a site like this, imagine doing it totally for free, i mean, if you just left it then i guess its going to slowly fill up with swear words, people spamming how amazing their library is and lieing about it and the supposed sales coming from owners of such libraries, also trolls just coming to be annoying, and before long advertising for”chat on line to girls” all over the place – i have amazingly seen that done on another music library forum ( listed here ) somehow every single post has got several posts advertising chat on line to girls , i guess some kind of automated bot does it… its a really tricky thing.

    • Yep, I hate when I go to those sites that have turned into spam sites. I’d rather close MLR down then let that happen.

  5. It was fun while it lasted for me. But I respect your decision.

    Funny, I just started posting links to this site on a few sites I visit. To let other musicians know…

    I wish not every site was always trying to charge, but build by the brand letting sponsors come in within that industry to hold it up.

    Thx for the repsonse

    • @steven. MLR has been around for almost two years and the brand is fairly well known throughout the world. Unfortunately not many are interested in advertising. A number of kind souls have made donations (a few very generous) but all in all it’s a huge time suck with many, many hundreds of hours spent. So it’s time to for it to stand on it’s own or go away.

  6. Hi Matt,

    I just got an email with your great post, but I’m locked out and can’t see it here – guess this is a loophole and so my time is limited … just wanted to thank you for the insight and good info about the libraries vs buyout scenarios. I’m encouraged by your post during a difficult time, so maybe that’s why I was able to see what you wrote.

    I feel my music, although specialized, will be picked more – Crucial, Magnatune, and Music Loop to name a few, have already been very good to me. I would love to visit with you more sometime. You can reach me through my web site: http://www.carilivestudio.com and I totally understand if you pass.

    Thanks again for the info you shared.

    Cari

    • Hi Cari, I’m not sure if you got this message on your site – this is what I wrote:

      I really like your tracks, they definitely serve a niche market – spas, and other businesses needing relaxation music.

      My advice is that you completely embrace your ‘market’, and work on the musical bed that accompanies your beautiful flute performances. Some more live elements – gentle acoustic guitar, harp, maybe some Tibetan bowls, and some live strings would significantly boost the production value of your tracks.

      A professional mix, dripping in (high quality) reverb would give your music the polish it deserves. This all costs money, but I believe you’d make it all back (and then some).

      • Hi Matt,

        Oh my! Thanks for the feedback! I will definitely make the adjustments and also feel really good about staying in my niche! You are very kind to take the time to comment and it was great to see the message through my website! As I progress, I hope to write for other genres. Sharing your experience and advice is very cool. If ever you need anything, (like Flute!) I owe you big time ..it’s on the house!

        Would love to hear your music sometime!

        Thanks again,

        Cari

  7. Post date: 6/25/2011

    Thanks Art for the great service!
    I recieved your Lifetime membership invitation this morning and had NO problem with registration and login. I was also able to change my assigned password to a new one which will help me remember it.

    Looking forward to the input, feedback and discussions here on the MLR forums!

    By the way, will you bring post dates back or should we just enter them manually as we post? I think having a small (automated) post date is helpful to put dated comments in perspective, or does that only come with the Premium service? 😉

    Michael Borges – CEO, LicenseQuote.com

    • Thanks Art.I’m in ok now but I did notice my lifetime membership expires June of 2061. Uh, who’s lifetime are we talking about? Maybe I’d better get a checkup. lol.

  10. Just what I thought. This site isn’t about helping, it’s about earning money. You need a subscription to enter? What the xxxx. I will look for another place to hang about.

    What a xxxxx xxxx site this is.

    • Yeah and you’re the same guy who’s been posting under various names (all from the same IP address), leaving phony e-mails and telling people they suck. So, GO AWAY!

      [Edit]

      On more reflection.

      There are still many free areas on this site with a lot of useful information.

      You obviously are a composer and visited this site to help increase your earnings potential. You probably picked up a lot of useful information here and expect to get paid for your creative endeavors. Yet you would deny me any compensation for my creative endeavors.

      • Well that’s always the risk but it’s more than time for MLR to become self-sustaining. If it’s meant to survive it will. If not it just gives me more time to write music!

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