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Sean the only constant in life is change. I’ve made some comments on the thread about “gratis” licenses that may be unpopular.
However, the business is changing. Before re-titling, the library business was very different, with respect to upfront money, etc. It was also a business of nearly 100% professional writers. The retitling and RF models changed that. It will be different in the post retitling era.
The JP / SK model seems to be evolving in a very Darwinian way. I’m not sure that it’s going to be a viable model for many, if not most, composers in the future.
I say that because I see professional writers re-tooling themselves for capacity. In other words, writers who are focused on the kind of placements generated by the JP / SK model, and to some extent the RF model, are often working with massive templates of high-quality virtual instruments, in an extremely efficient manner that produces multiple cues per day. Those guys will win the gratis license game.
There’s no point in being angry at the library or licensing agents, as I call them. Gratis licenses are a natural byproduct of retitling.
Broadcast clients are simply not going to pay blanket fees for the same product multiple times, even if it does have different titles.You make excellent points as always, Michael.
One thing I want to add is that in parallel to these developments over the past decade or two (blankets, re-titling, gratis, etc.), has been a large increase in demand for cues due to the explosive expansion in cable television. Lots more channels with more shows need more music.
So while upfront fees were dwindling, the number of placements writers could make for back end only were dramatically increasing.
And yes, with technology came the ability to crank out many decent quality cues (“decent” enough) in short time frame.
😀
Speaking as someone who also works in the UK library market at the top end- in fact I know Daryl and the library he works for – I would suggest that £40k in a year for an album is extremely unusual and exceptional. And actually, seeing as the whole market is only worth a few million pounds yearly, quite impossible given the number of albums out there! And actually the UK has become an increasingly difficult place to be a library composer. Libraries like that one have become so difficult to place tracks in that even getting 2 or 3 tracks on an album has become cause for celebration amongst really top composers.
Also of course, Audio Networks has driven a wedge right in to the market. I don’t think it’s any secret that if you write for that (highly successful) library you will not be accepted in to most of the top MCPS libraries now on principle here in the UK. And as that library grows it is now leaving people out in the cold, unable to write for them OR good MCPS libraries.
Really, it is a difficult environment right now, and I would suggest diversifying in to some alternative areas such as royalty free might actually be a very smart move.
It sounds to me like most of this market can be compared to classified advertizing where there are two options:
1. The free classifieds where you post ads all day in hopes that just one will be seen.
Or
2. A paid ad where you run the risk of making a poor choice, loosing money, and going out of business.
@BT…thank you for your candid remarks. I’m quite frankly surprised, but pleased, by your advice to diversify. More often we get remarks from people like “Humpalumpa”who look down their nose at the rest of the world…which I think is just delusional.
_Michael
Really, it is a difficult environment right now, and I would suggest diversifying in to some alternative areas such as royalty free might actually be a very smart move.
Tx for the insight BT, also what it shows is the fast pace at which things change. Don’t forget this is a global industry and music can and will be sourced from anywhere.
It surprised me to find out that AJ for example is an Australian company. Without getting into a discussion about their music pricing policy, their business model is very clever. By combining a lot of products in a marketplace that cross fertilize each other to an extent, is smart thinking. Gratis licensing is here to stay for certain programming. Royalty free will always have a market. Big exclusives will continue to service a market too. How this global pie is divided will constantly change, thats life and progress.
Diversify carefully with knowledge and information ( thats what we do here hopefully), no one model is immune to change, it called the library music business for a reason. It changes in the way that any other business does over time.
@woodsdenis: Speaking of diversifying, I often see your name on AS and PT along with great music! Has either one been consistent for you? I have high hopes with AS in particular but I still need a lot more tracks I’m afraid. Any advice there?
@AaronM I have no magic answers to give. Luck and timing have got a lot to do with it.
As general rule
Your catalogue needs to be as diverse as possible, what sells today doesn’t tomorrow. Don’t try and write cues in genres you don’t like or understand, I think it becomes obvious and there are to many other better composers out there doing it. Although I have done hybrid orchestral trailer music, full orchestral cues are not my thing for example, I am not saying dont try new stuff, but learn what you are good at and quick at too. I try and turn over 4-5 cues a week. That is not fast compared to others !!!! Most importantly have fun and enjoy what you do.
Listen to Art, MichaelL and Advice to name a few , they have far more experience in this game than I.
Some tracks sell on some sites and don’t on others, it really is bizarre sometimes, all RF sites do not necessarily feed the same client base.
As for AS and PT start writing and uploading the best you can, they are both good straight up companies.
Thanks to everyone who has chimed in – it’s turned into one of the most interesting threads here.
My experience in the library music world is that I started out writing a lot of the ‘disposable’ music Michael mentioned. It was for reality shows, some of it was written specifically for shows that other composers had hired me to help write for.
I ended up writing 2000+ tracks like that over about 5 years. Then I got involved in the trailer side of things. It was frustrating at first – switching to a quality over quantity model is a big change. Every choice you make is different, and I always felt guilty taking longer than a day on a track.
Today I’m thrilled I made the switch to spent most of my time on projects that value quality over quantity. My royalties may have gone down a bit from the days of writing solely for reality TV, but my sync licensing income has more than made up for it.
Also, there’s satisfaction of improving my writing and production skills with every track, simply because I now spend so much time on each one, re-writing and polishing until it’s the best I can do within a reasonable amount of time (usually 5 – 7 days for one track).
I’ve even landed significant jobs through the higher quality music. I’m working on a game right now that I got because one of the designers heard a track of mine on YouTube. As you may know, Ryan Amon scored the film Elysium after being discovered there too.
What is MCPS?
Thanks a lot for the great advice Denis! It makes a lot of sense to stick with what you do best and have fun with it. Like any niche I guess. I know I could do 4-5 tracks per week in some of the genres I write in but I usually only end up doing about 1-2. Perhaps I need to work harder 🙂
As for Art, MichaelL, Advice and yourself, so far so good on a lot of much needed help and direction getting started. I’ve been producing music for several years now and always known it to my end goal in time. That said, the direction I’ve found here over the passed months has been next to none.
By way of confession, I’ve had some pretty decent results with AJ, under a pseudonym with 9 tracks, but I’m considering deleting and moving them to AS and PT where I currently only have about 8 or so. With some of the comments you guys have made, it does seem like it might be better to simply focus on these kinds of RF libraries anyway and forget AJ.
Thanks again,
AaronThat said, the direction I’ve found here over the passed months has been next to none.
Unfortunately Aaron…there really is no direction to give. There is no secret formula, no recipe for success. .
It would be impossible for you to recreate all the steps that took each of us to wherever it is that we are in our careers. A lot depends on an individual’s talent and skill set. Other times, you just need to be in the right place, at the right time…networking.
My first library “album” was for an exclusive music library. That happened because I was at their studio doing the audio mix / layback on a film that I had scored. The head of their library, happened to be the mix engineer that day….and so it goes. You can’t duplicate that circumstance.
Lastly, we all have different resources when it comes to producing music, e.g. our studios, equipment etc. There is wide disparity there.
It is in reality a very individual journey, with as many variations as there are composers.
@Michael: Thank you for the helpful insight as always! Perhaps you’re right about individuality and circumstance. When it comes to creativity, there is no public schooling approach, so to speak, for anyone. Even so, it sure is helpful to hear from someone like yourself, with experience to demonstrate what is possible in a profession like this.
At the end of the day, I would guess that most of the success one finds as a composer, stems from clever talent, decent equipment and efficiency!
On occasion I’ve had to write fast (for me that would be only a cue or two a day) but I’ve never been comfortable with it. Like Mark I like to take time with each and every one. A track a week is my speed and I only work 3 or 4 hours a day on it. I find I’m much more creative and seldom hit a creative wall. Those new tracks are going to two small exclusive libraries with very hands on owners That I really enjoy working with.
The rest of the day I spend on re-tweaking existing tracks with metadata, re-mix, alt mixes, new versions, etc to try and make them more sale-able on RF sites. This has been working fairly well and am seeing a nice uptick in those types of sales.
I’ve also come to the point where I don’t want my NE tracks spread over multiple sites and libraries that generate little if any income, so I am slowly removing them.