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Here is a dose of reality BEATSLINGER:
2% success, yet they keep signing up for his “school”.
Here is a dose of reality BEATSLINGER:
There are WAY more than Him that jumped on this bandwagon. In addition, just the massive amount of advertisement, and attention “making music for TV & Film” got in general. Set a LOT of this bottom-feeding in motion..
As well, commentary like this makes me glad I never responded to requests to “so-called” pick my brain.. 😉
I saw this thread cited in the newsletter, and it moved me to comment…
Music1234,
>> 2% success, yet they keep signing up for his “school”.The scare quotes around ‘school’ there strike me as rather unfair. The guy in question has always offered a wealth of free educational/tutorial videos covering a wide variety of subjects on the business and production side of sync licensing. His paid platform has an enormous amount of similar material that goes into greater depth. It’s oriented towards beginners or intermediate composers, but he isn’t selling an unrealistic view of the business. He has consistently advocated hard work, persistence, and understanding the nature of what works to get placements, and explicitly does not promise success. In my view, he offers a real education and it’s up to the student to put that knowledge to use. He provides a valid educational resource, and I don’t see why it deserves harsh criticism.
I do not have any studies or data to back this opinion, but I think a very large number of people with an interest in a production music career receive no guidance outside of YouTube and forums they happen to find. Nobody is there to lay out what is ‘bottom feeding’ and what isn’t, and there are significant barriers to them even learning about the high-end library world, much less how to get into it. Going along with the fishing analogy, for someone to even arrive at the fishing hole, they have to navigate a dense, byzantine forest without any clear paths or signs marking the way. So, when a new composer hears a bird in the trees saying ‘the fish are over that way,’ of course they’re going to have a look… and if the fish are minnows instead of albacore tuna as big as you are, well, they’re still fish. Catch enough and you eat.
I generally agree that the business models sustaining the royalty free music industry are failing the composers, and that the continual decline in licensing fees makes it tough to advocate participation in that arena. Sync licensing seems more viable if your skills and disposition work for that medium. I make a small chunk of income from sync royalties. I saw the crowds at those fishing holes, left, and hacked through enough underbrush to find my own little pond in the video game industry.
I like working with indie game devs, and in general I’m sure the prices I charge would be disagreeable to you. However, I found a model that works for me and has enabled me to make composing my profession for the last decade plus. More recently, it’s also enabled me to help other artists make a living, and help charities as well. That said, I don’t specifically advocate my approach to others because what worked for me as I moved out of the RF market and into games would be a lot harder to pull off now than it was in 2013.
I see these markets as changing constantly, and nearly anyone looking to stay active producing music for a living has to be agile and have several bodies of water where they cast their lines. There’s always going to be a cream of the crop who can focus on one niche and perform exceptionally, but… you probably won’t know if that’s you until it’s plainly obvious that such is the case.
Finally, Music1234, I do agree with your comments that the PROs should deliver on streaming uses and cable placements (ESPN etc), and composers should always strive to retain ownership of their catalog. But, I won’t condemn composers who find any way to make a living in music, even if it’s through exclusive/subscription libraries. If they are like me, they had no help or guidance in making a career, and if they managed to pull it off, more power to them.
I don’t know if this is a trend, but I’m seeing a real lag in Libraries registering my tracks with a PRO. I don’t think I’ve ever had a label register them in under 6 months, and I’m waiting over a year for some. I take this as a “vote of confidence” that they don’t expect to make money with most tracks…. at least that’s my (possibly naïve) interpretation.
It does feel to me that doing any kind of production music will become an increasingly smaller part of the income pie. I’m not totally convinced of this, but I’m starting to get this feeling.
However, I found a model that works for me and has enabled me to make composing my profession for the last decade plus.
Thanks for the thoughtful post JoelS. I did the same over my career, creating music for educational products. For me, more lucrative than the library business which I worked on when not doing WFH projects.
I have been composing for RF music libraries for just over a year now and it seems to me that the royalty free marketplace is completely dead, especially for newbies like myself who don’t have the sales/reviews from the “good days” keeping their tracks high in the searches. I have found one RF library that provides a fairly regular income but that’s it. If there are any RF fishing holes left that are still proving successful I can’t find them!
The downward trend in RF has pushed me to approach more Production Libraries which I have been getting accepted on, and have already found much more fulfilling than the RF market.
Are people noticing a decrease in placements from Production Libraries to the same extent as Royalty free?
The trend I see is libraries getting pickier.
The trend I see is libraries getting pickier.
There is a lot more supply for right now.
But also, I talk to a good amount of people regularly, and they say that they closed up accepting new composers because they are making sure their roster stays working. I really commend that!
Hey Joel, to be clear, I am not trying to scare anyone from signing up to Jesse’s sync academy. I guess I am just surprised that 5000 folks have even when the odds are 2% success according to his data. I 100% agree that he lays out an intelligent approach to those trying to get into a library that feeds TV shows and TV networks. T**i does this too. They are on youtube every week educating music producers on how to move your career forward with music libraries who service TV shows, video post houses, and advertising agencies. And indeed, this business requires mountains of patience as it will take most 5 years to 10 years to create a situation where they are potentially making full time income.
Anyway, anyone reading MLR should be able to find all the knowledge they will need to get going. But here is my advice; you will need 5 to 10 years to get to full time income, and you will have to compose, record, mix and master a minimum of 500 really useful tracks to get there. You should expect make very little in the first two to three years. If you sign all of your music to an exclusive library without compensation or an “advance fee” and others refer to them as “consideration fees” and you lose control of your own catalog in perpetuity, I do not think you will ever get to a full time income.
I see these markets as changing constantly, and nearly anyone looking to stay active producing music for a living has to be agile and have several bodies of water where they cast their lines.
You are absolutely 100% correct, if you do not create multiple revenue streams for your catalog, you sure do need revenue from several bodies of water. You need to fish in ponds, lakes, rivers, oceans, canals, and even deep puddles if need be. Some may disagree with me and that is fine, but (in my very experienced opinion) if you continue to sign deals with exclusive publishers and eliminate your ability to find multiple revenue streams for your music, I really believe that you will never achieve full time income.
Are people noticing a decrease in placements from Production Libraries to the same extent as Royalty free?
I got info today from the owner of an exclusive library I’m working with and during the pandemic 2020 the advance went down with 80 percent. I guess that is just as bad as for the RF libs.
Are people noticing a decrease in placements from Production Libraries to the same extent as Royalty free?
I have seen a slow down in placements with Production Libraries, but no where as much as the absolute demise of RF libraries. I never got heavily into RF libraries but I use to get about $200-$300 per month from them. This was with only about 275 songs. That was 3 years ago, Today I’m lucky if I even see a $10 from them.
I use to get about $200-$300 per month from them. This was with only about 275 songs. That was 3 years ago, Today I’m lucky if I even see a $10 from them.
Same here. And on top of it Getty terminated agreements with composers and closed down the music portal. They were good for a couple thousand a year.
Even if that one (hypothetical) exclusive publisher bought everyone of my tracks for say $500 per master, I still would have far less income.
Music1234 i’m currently getting about 650 per track with a high placement rate (i’m doing full songs w vocals for a library) and have been going at it for a little over 2 years. I keep my writers share of the publishing. I don’t know how i’d get the placements without going through them though. Would your advice be to just try and send directly to these types of shows or are you saying just spreading amongst diff non exclusive libraries?
justamusicgui1990, I just like having full ownership and control of my catalog in perpetuity because it allows me the flexibility to pick where and how to distribute and license my music to buyers. I also feel as though I can eventually earn the $650 back from sync license sales. “Eventually” can be 6 months, but it may also take 3 to 5 years. It takes a lot of time and effort to write, record, mix, and master a great song. I just don’t think $650 is enough incentive for me at this point in my career.
I would add ESPECIALLY if it’s a vocal song. $650 is not enough.
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