Happy New Year all!
Here is my 7 year update as requested by boinkeee2000

Total income – $26K
Breakdown:
PRO – $10K
RF Sales – $10.5K
Sync Fees – $5.5K
Track Count – about 280. I only did 28 tracks this year due to lot a couple of deaths in the family and other “life” stuff.

Thoughts. I should be pretty happy about my progress, it would look great as a graph, but I’m feeling a bit discouraged. I tested the exclusive waters this year and I think it was a mistake. There were a couple of doom-and-gloom threads about the state of the industry by some seasoned vets here on MLR that got into my head too.

I hope to get a fresh start this year and I’m going to focus on writing the highest quality stuff I can, regardless of how many tracks I do.

would you start considering going full time now?

I don’t really have a day job to quit. I have a military retirement pension and a good paying part time gig has a house sound engineer. I think 30-40 tracks a year is about all I can do and keep my sanity.

you also seem bummed out about your exclusive venture…

I think it was a mistake, but I’ve learned I really won’t know for 5 years. They all have a reversion clause, so the bright side is I’ll have a large batch of Non-Ex tracks to send out in 3 years. Most are reality TV types that probably won’t do well, but a couple have potential for long term income.

are you still making $$ now from your first 50 tracks 6-7 years ago?

Absolutely. The old non-exclusive tracks are the majority of my income. Those are the ones that also get the occasional 4 figure sync fee too. I should mention that 4 figures in PRO income from from a track reality TV is possible, it just takes a long time for me (5+ years). That was the reason I did all those exclusive tracks last year, for long term steady PRO income. My January ASCAP just hit the bank today. It is by far my best January payout. Maybe those exclusives will do something after all 😉
Cheers…

I thought the ASCAP statement was scheduled for Monday, you’re seeing yours already?

My direct deposits from ASCAP normally hit the bank as pending deposits 1-2 business days prior to the statement date.

BTW, I am expecting less income next year. I had a couple of big sync fees and the ASCAP survey treated me well one quarter. I doubt that will be the norm though.

Thanks for sharing pike60 and Frequencee. I think it’s important for us to share this info. The newbies need to know that this is a long game and persistence is rewarded with exponential growth. Congrats to you both and keep going!