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I thought this would be an interesting thread. Name at least 3 things a composer can do to increase licensing income right now (not necessarily increase income tomorrow but things they can do to increase income over the long haul. ). Assume you are talking to a broad audience of composers, both newbies and people that have been pursuing this 5 years or more. No need to limit yourself to just three if you don’t want . I was going to name it 10 but thought that would put people off. Input?
My three would be:-
Don’t be lazy – work harder and write more tracks (still struggling on this one 🙂
Have a good look at search ‘tags’ (you use in libraries for your tracks) to see if you can make them more relevant to your music, and maybe use more popular ones people search for. (another thing I have got to do 🙂
Spend more time playing music / practise / learning new ideas / listening to loads of music – to become a better musician and hopefully write better music.
Other ideas ummm..
Add tracks to new promising libraries – have given the far east one -Motion Elements a go, bit like P5 – no success so far….
Experiment at changing price point for tracks (up or down)
Listen to your old tracks ( I was shocked at some of my older ones – especially the distortion on a chorused fender rhodes EP sound I use quite a lot – have managed to fix this issue)
My friend Chuck. We are on some of the same Libraries. I really enjoy your work!
I have a couple of ideas to share..1) Continually update your “Sound Portfolio”. It’s like a painter having new Canvas’ and Brushes.
2) Branch out, and try working on different styles that are in trend.
3) Re-address older portions of your catalog that are close to being finished. try adding New/timely drum programming. As well, a couple of additions here and there could bring them to life!
1) Commit 5 years to learn a new instrument. I mean weekly private lessons with a pro and 1-3 hours practice per day. I did it and it changed everything.
2) The next time you come up with that “special” track that you think will do well and have longevity, invest in it by hiring (Or bartering) a few session musicians.
3) Try a new genre. A year (or two?) ago a popular library asked for bachata music. I had no clue what it was but decided to explore it. I spent an hour listening to google, amazon and pandora results to figure out what makes a tune bachata then wrote two of them. The experience added some new colors to my pallet and both tracks were even accepted by that very picky library that starts with “C.” Of course they haven’t made me any money yet, ha.
1) Commit 5 years to learn a new instrument. I mean weekly private lessons with a pro and 1-3 hours practice per day. I did it and it changed everything.
In the era of keypad composing and loops, learning an instrument, any instrument, would increase one’s musical skill set and vocabulary exponentially.
1) Learn how to write for instruments not for “sounds.” Trumpets, violins, percussion, guitars, etc., are instruments, not just sounds on a keyboard. If you don’t write for the instrument instead of just using sounds your tracks will sound synthetic no matter how good the samples you use are.
2) Write music with function in mind. If you don’t know what your track can or could be used for no one else will either.
3) Get a brutally honest evaluation of your music. Most people have no idea how good or bad their work is and they look for external explanations when their tracks don’t sell…usually blaming the library.