Exclusive vs. Non-Exclusive Strategy?

[Art Munson]

is anyone seeing increased activity in exchange for going exclusive? I guess it’s too early in the game to tell.

Too early to tell for me. I’m not investing too much in it at this point.

[Advice]

One thing I noticed in discussions on this site is sometimes traditional libraries (E or NE) and RF libraries get lumped together in discussions. The word “library” applies to both but they are very different animals and business models.

[MichaelL]

Not seeing the problem, if you are prolific enough, with testing the waters with some of your tracks if the potential to make decent money is there.

Good point Chuck. While I prefer money up front, I think that writers who sweat out every track, and can’t produce a volume of work quickly, tend to be very precious about their music. If you can crank out ten MTV ready cues in a few days, it might be worth a gamble. Would I give them an orchestral cue that I spent a week on? No.

One thing I noticed in discussions on this site is sometimes traditional libraries (E or NE) and RF libraries get lumped together in discussions. The word “library” applies to both but they are very different animals and business models.

@Advice…I’ve smacked my head against that brick wall a million times. Everyone (except you and Art) sees the word “library” and thinks that it means one thing. It doesn’t. Different business models, different goals, different clients AND different musical requirements.

Back to work for me. Finishing a long over due collection for an Exclusive (the money up front kind).

Cheers,
Michael

[Desire_Inspires]

If this discussion is about non-exclusive vs. exclusive music libraries, why did people start talking about royalty free music libraries? They have nothing to do with the discussion.

[More Advice]

@DI, RF has everything to do with the discussion. The topic is “Strategy”. RF is clearly part of the NE strategy, because NE allows you to sell on RF. Additionally, RF deals can be E or NE too on some sites, but is more often NE.

I think the topic has run it’s course for a while now, I just hope the young or new writers take notice of what’s been said. I will close with my final main point (which is my educated and experienced opinion): selling music on the dirt cheap is NEVER a good strategy, nor is an exclusive deal that does not pay up-front work for hire fees.

[Desire_Inspires]

To be honest, I have not discovered any true strategy from these posts. If I were new and read this post all the way through, I would probably be more confused.

I do not think any particular strategy is important until a composer figures out what s/he wants to do in the long run.

[Mark Lewis]

I on the other hand do believe that composers get a lot out of these conversations no matter how heated. There is a lot of truth and experience in these posts Desire_Inspires.
At least it is not a one-sided thread with a few people saying ‘everything but my way sucks’ like most threads I see in other forums.

[Desire_Inspires]

At least it is not a one-sided thread with a few people saying ‘everything but my way sucks’ like most threads I see in other forums.

True. There is still a lot of info to digest. Almost an information overload.

[woodsdenis]

I’ve smacked my head against that brick wall a million times. Everyone (except you and Art) sees the word “library” and thinks that it means one thing. It doesn’t. Different business models, different goals, different clients AND different musical requirements.

Too true and even then every RF library has a different selection of clients and styles. There are no absolutes in this business and even attempting to get a “one size fits all” solution is futile.

This thread has great info in it if you can skip the hysterics.

The music industry, like life, is full of surprises and opportunities, you just need to be ready to grasp them when they are there. I have enough experience of both of them to realize that riches in both take time, patience, talent and luck.

[Jack]

Hi,

First post here long time reader. Probably not the best thread to be starting off in by what the hey.

Here is my take on the whole exclusive business, consider that i am from Australia and we do things differently here (so does almost everybody outside the US mind you). I write for exclusive no money up front libraries and i have no issues with it.
I also only write moody electronica, hip hop and that sort of thing. So i am not paying anyone other than myself in most cases (unless i get a session muso in for some loops, vox etc).

My work flow is as follows;
i write the track, render off the main mix/alt mix unmastered and then put it in the publisher’s dropbox. I then make fixes to parts my publisher dislikes about the track and that’s it. No meta tagging, no descriptions, no edits, no mastering, no promotion. The publisher handles all that (and they push your work because they have a vested interest). The publisher then sends that track out to their worldwide sub-publishers and i write more tracks while they do all of that. And it’s a clean 50/50 split on all royalties.
After personally messing about on the RF and NON EX side of things I think you really have to weigh up all the time put into the whole non ex thing. For me on limited time, exclusive works the best. Yes i have tracks that do nothing, yes i have had issues with getting sync fees out of some of them. But at the same time i don’t have to do the admin, which is time away from composing/making contacts, learning new instruments etc..

It is all a compromise and not black and white, I think composers need to realise this, especially if you are not in the US. Find what works for you, as has been said many times in this thread. If you, the composer, are paying for full orchestration and a weeks work then yes get payment upfront. But for home studio self contained work I wouldn’t fear exclusivity, seriously, it’s one part of the licencing puzzle you as a composer will be missing out on.

[Desire_Inspires]

Thanks for sharing, Jack.

[Kenny]

This is absolutely one of the best threads I`ve read on this site. Lots of experiences and good opinions on different models.

My thoughts is that I would consider going for exclusive no upfront libraries, but only under certain circumstances. First of all I would need to see a good placement record from the library. Then I would only consider doing this with tracks I spend no more than one day or so producing. I don`t do any big orchestral stuff, so making decent pop/rock instrumentals in one day is absolutely doable.
But the most important thing is that I would never ever do this if the library is not willing to discuss a reversion clause in the contract, so that I could get unused tracks back after some years and feed them to non exclusives or RF`s.

Not saying that I would pull all unused tracks after a few years, but I would definitely like to have the option to do so.

[Brian P.]

Hello everyone,

Just to preface I’m a total newbie here and am just beginning to put together my business. Trying to build my strategy when it comes to EX and NE contracts (I’ll be doing both, most likely), I’ve gotten a bit confused of the nature of these business models.

Many responses have talked about using tracks that people have spent a long time on for NE, and those that take a day or so for EX. This is very confusing to me because I’ve scoured through hundreds of libraries, and it seems rather consistent that evidence points to the opposite. I’m not questioning the strategy itself, but noting my own observations. Most of the EX libraries I’ve visited seemed to be very high-end, high-quality boutique libraries, furnishing tracks that I’m sure took a while to produce. And most of the NE sites I’ve visited have tracks that sound like they could’ve been produced in a day – complexity wise.

Is this simply because there appears to be a much larger number of NE libraries in existence, diluting one’s perception?

Thanks!

Brian

[More advice]

Brian,

I do think your perception has some Validity. Visit [removed by moderator] I consider them to be a very high quality exclusive catalog. Yes, you will hear beautiful orchestral scores played by very talented musicians. Hans Zimmer is in there. You probably won’t hear too much of that Live Orchestral in Non Exclusive catalogs. However, if you are producing Rock, Folk, Pop, Hip Hop, electronica, etc…even jazz, your theory is absolutely wrong.

You can find these styles anywhere. E, ne, rf, …and you are not going to find better quality in exclusive libraries. I size myself up all the time with exclusive libraries and often times I believe my work is just as good. Go there, listen to the styles you write then ask: Is my stuff just as good? Be honest with your analysis as you listen and compare.

I am not doing 60 piece orchestral work with large orchestras on Big sound stages. But, I do find myself on cue sheets with writers [removed] …all the time actually.
For the record, I do believe [removed] pays guys to create “album concepts” for their library.

[More advice]

The library I mentioned above will allow you to size yourself up with:

Michael Giachinno
Hans Zimmer
Quincy Jones
George Martin
Paul Oakenfold
and many more….They like to drop names

I am listening to this “Alt Chill” album right now and it is very, very cool!…

[Author]

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