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!
@ Pat: I plan on sending my songs to any non-exclusive library that I can find. I am not worried about saturating the market with these tracks. It is more of an experiment to see if I can get out a lot of songs in a short amount of time.
I am pretty sure that many libraries may reject most or all these songs. But I am bound to land them somewhere and get some placements. If I get a good deal of these songs placed in a year, I will default to only making 30 second and 60 second songs. Who knows, I could start a new trend!
Best of luck!!!
I just bought Robin Frederick’s new book just out,” Shortcuts to songwriting for Film & TV.
Very good read and full of useful information.
You should pick it up. It’s especially good for those of us starting out in this particular field of composing.
Hey all – Recently got a few exclusive contracts going – Got a few questions:
Where is the majority of your income coming from, license sales, or the publishing? Both of the contracts I have give me the writer’s share of the publishing…
Another question is, what would one recommend to a beginner – place 15 tracks to 3 exclusive libraries, or 45 to one exclusive (assuming they’re all on an equal plane, in terms of revenue).. What are the advantages/disadvantages to both choices?
Thanks
At this stage of the game I’d probably go with spreading tracks over the three libraries, see who can do what. That’d be my game plan.
What are the libraries? Then we can advise.
@ Pat: I am composing tracks that are all 60 seconds long. I have about 30 so far. Now, it is much easier for me to create exciting tracks that are short. I can start off with a chorus, add a verse, and come back to the chorus. Also, I can start with the verse, go to the chorus, do a drum or instrument solo, and then go back to a shortened chorus.
Initially, it is not as easy as you think it is. You are sort of programmed to make tracks that are at least 3 minutes long. But these short songs are more fun for me. I plan on sending out my songs when I get around 50 or so. Hopefully this will increase my output without reducing quality. Most tv shows and commercials play less than a minute of music, so I figure I might increase my chances at getting placements.
Best of luck!!!
I have more interest in writing short pieces but I also have interest in licensing them so I wanted to get some input before I commit to doing a whole lot of them only to find out I may be limiting myself to a very small segment of the licensing market.
Some feel a min of 2 min is sufficient which so far is what I’ve done mostly between 1.45 and 2:45. Others are like “whatever” somebody always wants something.
Have submitted anything? Which libraries do you plan on pitching the .30 /1 min cues to?
I was thinking about doing a bunch of .30 and .60 music bed type music you might hear in the background of commercials. I’m not talking about 3 min instrumentals cut down to hose lengths but rather I would compose them to be .30 and .60 long.
Is there a demand for that and who might be interested?
Are there any libraries that you know of I might have a chance pitching pieces like that to?
It would be a great opportunity for me to get alot of music out in a fairly short period of time just to get the ball rolling in addition to composing longer pieces.
Thanks
Pat
Hi, this is a great site. I’m new to all this and just need help with a PRO question. I’m signed up with a PRO and registered my work. But it tells me if I do not have a publisher I can’t receive royalties. Do I have to become my own publisher to receive royalties? I’m a freelance writer and have my music in a few non-exclusive libraries. Any help would be great. Thanks.
Saint,
Yes you can become your own publisher. Just register it to the same PRO you’ve signed up with.
You can name it what ever you wish. As an Example: Saint Music.
Thanks a lot Steve B.
“I’m a freelance writer and have my music in a few non-exclusive libraries” -Saint
Those non-exclusive libraries should be registering your works with your PRO. They’ll want to register themselves as the publisher (at least most do).
Thanks a lot John. I just talked to my PRO and she basically said what you said. Once again, thanks for helping me out.
Also…
Some libraries will only register tracks when they get placed. You can check with your libraries about that.
Has anybody heard of this company? It doesn’t seem to be listed here.
http://www.ColemanCollection.com/clm/artist/list.cfm
HI Michael, it’s basically another front for Audiosparx. I’ll list it here also.
Hi everyone
I am new here and only starting in composing for Media. I am a bit confused…
I have contacted a company in UK who also has got a music library and they’re interested to put some of my music on their library.
However I understand they want all of the copyrights (I assume both the publisher rights and composer’s rights).
This is our exchange:
“The copyrights will be owned by us, library deals are by their nature in perpetuity. We send out DVD’s and hard-drives of our music so we can’t take stuff out of the library once it’s in, as the tracks are delivered all over the world and we can’t then ask for them back. ”
and also
“Regarding the splits, it’s a 50/50 split on both sides, it’s a standard library agreement. ”
Does that mean both licensing rights+ writers’s rights split equally? or just money made from sync lincensing?
I have been reading a lot about music libraries and I am still confused. I thought that generally if the library wanted all of the copyright, they would give some money upfront? there was no mention of that in our exchanges.
How is that possible to give up all rights and at the same time still get something?
Is it something commun nowadays?
Can somebody please help me with with all of that?
thanks a lot!!
Is that Twisted Jukebox ?
No that’s with Felt Music. Has anyone experience with them??
Very newbie question here 🙂
I have been licensing my music online for about 4 years now and only joined Tunesat last month. In the past month I’ve found 5 uses of my tracks on various tv shows so I can only imagine how many times the tracks have been used over the years. About 3 years ago, I joined my national PRO (IMRO in Ireland). To date, I have never received one royalty cheque ever…
Do I need to be reporting all of the uses of my tracks by sending them my tunesat data each month? Should they be doing something for me? What exactly is the process for getting money from music used on TV? Does the TV channel file a cue sheet with the composer details for each show and then the composer’s PRO is contacted?
Also, if I say to them “x track was used on x channel” – where are my royalties, then what is stopping that channel saying “we bought it from a royalty free website” as I have my music on lots of different libraries that are based on lots of different types of library structures (royalty free, royalty based etc.)
Thanks for any info everyone 🙂
Emmett
HI Emmett,
My understanding of “Royalty Free” does not mean that the end user / broadcaster has no responsibility for back-end royalties. Royalty Free means that the person or entity buying the track can use it again and again without paying another license fee.
I assume that you’ve registered the titles with your PRO. The Royalty Free Library most likely did not. I would contact the producers who used your music and ask for cue sheets. Hopefully, your PRO will accept the cue sheets. Over here you can talk to ASCAP until you’re blue in the face.
“Also, if I say to them “x track was used on x channel” – where are my royalties, then what is stopping that channel saying “we bought it from a royalty free website”
They are likely to say that. If you think composers are confused by the term “royalty free,” imagine what the purchasers think. That is when you diplomatically explain that you need the cue sheet to get your slice of the blanket license pie, which presumably has already been paid. At least that’s my take on it.
Art…what is your understanding?
Cheers,
Michael
Hi Michael and Emmett,
For me, the first call would be to the show to try and find out where they got the music and then get a copy of the cue sheet to submit to your PRO. A couple of times I had to call a show when I discovered detections on Tunesat that I could not account for. In both cases the people at the shows were very accommodating and concerned (though in these instances I did not need cue sheets from them).
And yes, the “Royalty Free” thing is a misnomer and I’m sure confuses the purchaser. I would also contact whoever purchased the music and explain the “facts of life” to them. Maybe they thought they owned it and put themselves down as writers/publishers?
Another thing to consider, if it’s a U.S. show, is there will be a longer lag than normal in getting paid as you are with a PRO in another country.
BTW, many of my cues were not registered with BMI (my PRO) but got picked up off of the cue sheets.
How do I contact the producers though? I had a track used on BET (Black Entertainment TV) for example 4 times in the last few days – how do you figure out who to contact?
If I send all of these usages onto my PRO here, will they follow up for me or is it all up to?
I’d confront your publisher first with these placements Emmett. I had a placement on BET that wasn’t reported once. I contacted my publisher, and he apologized for the mistake. He thought he already registered it with ASCAP (but didn’t).
I then contacted ASCAP and gave them all the info I had. It showed up on my next statement. Work through both your publisher & PRO.
I think Emmett is saying he doesn’t know who the publisher is. He would have to contact all the various libraries he is with to see which one placed the songs. Quicker, I think, to go directly to the show but neither way is easy.
I would start with calling BET (probably Google will help, that’s what I did), get a hold of the music supervisor for that show, get the cue sheet and submit to your PRO. Wouldn’t hurt to establish a relationship with someone at your PRO so you can push from both ends. Takes time and some detective work.
Thanks advice
Hi, A library has requested that I send ” A data-DVD (containing all of your tracks). Uncompressed wave format. The track names , your name, the title and bpm.” What I want to know is does the library want music on the DVDr or data only?
I placed the DVDr in my dvd player, but an error appeared on screen.
Can any one offer some advice?
They want you to put your wav files as *data* files on a DVD. DVDs can be used to store general files of any type. If your computer came with a writable DVD drive there should be a program on it that supports making a data DVD.