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@MichaelL – I’m fairly new to library submissions, and as a result I’m not sure if I should place my tracks in NE or RF libraries. I’d like to try to avoid “putting my eggs in the wrong baskets” as you have described. What’s the best way to determine where my music fits? Should I browse libraries listening for tracks that sound like mine and submit to those, or should I do the opposite – submit to sites that don’t have tracks like mine? It seems like I should do the latter – I get the feeling my music would fill a hole in their catalog, but the fact that they don’t have anything like it in the first place could mean that they don’t intend to place my type of material.
@Steve, there’s no easy answer for that. There’s a famous quote by a US Supreme Courts justice the essence of which was “I know pornography when I see it.”
The only reason I know what corporate and business type prefer is because I wrote music directly for them for many years. I would guess that most people don’t get exposed regularly to what one client of mine used to call “forward motion” music.
I could make a general statement like there’s probably not much call for “hick-hop” …think Duck Dynasty in the corporate world (except upon occasion). So, that goes into the broadcast pile.
Conversely, a repetitive underscore with a science edge would be too dull for Duck Dynasty, so off to RF land it goes.
But, those are really broad generalizations.
This is probably one of the major differences between pros and non-pros. Pros just write more and move on. Non-pros often have limited output and they try to compensate by spreading it around.
A bit of a leap and a bit elitist methinks.
@ BT – Thanks for that thorough explanation. MLR proves to be more invaluable every day.
A bit of a leap and a bit elitist methinks.
Didn’t mean it to be.
I just think there may be more of an impulse to squeeze everything out of every track, when you have fewer of them, which may ultimately be counterproductive.
Does that make sense?
This is probably one of the major differences between pros and non-pros. Pros just write more and move on. Non-pros often have limited output and they try to compensate by spreading it around.
The latter is an uphill climb, because you waste a lot of time putting your eggs in the wrong baskets. (IMO)
OK Art. Read the complete statement in the context of your current strategy, i.e. pulling tracks from underperforming libraries and focusing on two exclusive libraries.
Why has your strategy changed? Because putting everything everywhere is a waste of time the does not necessarily yield greater returns?
I think throwing around the “pro” vs “not a pro” thing is dangerous.
The one thing we almost always can agree on, as I mentioned before, is there is no one size fits all strategy that works for everyone.
More productive (as you have already done at times, Michael) is to discuss what qualities and attributes of music tracks make them work best in which markets (in general!)…
I think throwing around the “pro” vs “not a pro” thing is dangerous.
Why does that have to be the case in this business? It isn’t that way in any other profession that I know of.
My wife and friends think I’m a pretty good cook. That doesn’t make me a chef. 😉
Consequently, to take that one step further, I wouldn’t open a restaurant.
I think throwing around the “pro” vs “not a pro” thing is dangerous.
I think it at least ignores some real world nuance. I’m personally acquainted with quite a few folks who are professionals in music production. Several participate in the library world but it’s a sidebar for every one of them, including me. That’s one of the things I love about library. It’s always there to keep me productive and give me an outlet when there’s a lull with my regular gigs. I attempt to approach it with the same professionalism I would anything else and I believe my output is of professional quality but it’s only a supplement income-wise.
I have no way of knowing but I have a feeling there are a lot more people like me out there than there are folks who do nothing but write library music for a living. I marvel at and completely admire those of you who can pull it off but trying to rely on library alone in its current state is way too scary for me. Besides, in my little world the diversity of work keeps me sane and engaged.
I don’t know that this has anything to add to the discussion regarding strategies and approaches but I think that maybe it adds a perspective as to the role library music fills with many people.
The original definition of pro (as in professional) is someone who earns their living doing the activity in question. I just stick to that definition. And by earns their living I mean earns the bulk of their annual income from that profession. There needn’t be any connotation attached.
I have no way of knowing but I have a feeling there are a lot more people like me out there than there are folks who do nothing but write library music for a living. I marvel at and completely admire those of you who can pull it off but trying to rely on library alone in its current state is way too scary for me.
I feel the same way. This is a lucrative side gig. But I don’t make enough to be a full time composer. I am not really worried about being labeled a “pro”. I just make what I make and push it into the best libraries that cater to my brand.
I know Michael, you don’t mean “pro” vs. “non-pro” to be derogatory. In literal terms, it simply means those who make a full living with music vs. those who don’t.
But the linguistics serve no purpose except to offend and alienate *SOME*. There will be folks who will take it negatively and the result can be lots of posts with no value while people bitch at each other.
And don’t forget that many of today’s part-timers may be tomorrow’s pros.
Much more constructive is a discussion of the various markets, types of music that serves those markets well, general strategic advice for going after those markets, etc. That can be done with the angle of helping people make a full time living at this one day– no labels on people needed.
Full disclosure: (1) I was not personally offended. (2) I am a part timer with no goal to make a full time living in library music.
You’re correct, no derogatory meaning at all Advice. That was read into what I said.
The general point was that I think when writers are new at this, and they have fewer cues, they tend to be more precious about each cue.
But…when you’ve got a 620 track template, and you’re cranking out 4 cues per day, like one of the composers on the VI link:
1) you write and move on
2) you don’t have the time to put your cues everywhere, you put them in the places that make you money.I would say that is NOT the approach that every library writer takes, or should take. That approach probably works best if you are writing for reality cable, where the low payouts require high volume.
On the other hand if you are licensing trailer cues for 20K, you can afford to spend weeks on a cue.
As you said, it’s not one size fits all.
I think throwing around the “pro” vs “not a pro” thing is dangerous.
I don’t think it’s particularly dangerous but I wouldn’t want composers, just starting out, to think that there is a “us” and “them” mentality here. I may have overreacted but for what ever reason I’m sensitive to anyone that might feel slighted.
Why has your strategy changed? Because putting everything everywhere is a waste of time the does not necessarily yield greater returns?
My strategy has changed for a number of reasons.
1.) When I started down this road about 6 or 7 years ago spreading the music around yielded better results than today.
2.) Many libraries are getting too big and bloated to yield anything meaningful to an individual composer.
3.) Keeping up with the administration of so many libraries is exhausting.
4.) Proliferation of so many new libraries with high hopes and not much else.
5.) I enjoy working with smaller libraries with experienced “hands on” owners.
This is all from my perspective. Any one of the above may or may not be true for anyone else.
Art, you have always been a music pro. But…I would say that your path over the last 6 or 7 years follows the general transition from library newbie to library pro that others have followed, which, basically was my point.
The closer you get to the “pro” end of the spectrum the impulse to put everything everywhere diminishes. Call it the library learning curve.
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