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There is more than one way of looking at library music. Some view it a commodity, like products sold in a store. For other’s it’s their “art” and they approach it with the seriousness,and treat each composition as if it were a precious gem. The latter seems ironic considering the state of media. I mean, do you really wants your precious gems underneath Honey Boo Boo or the Kardashian’s?
Nonetheless, what is the underlying issue that composers have with “exclusivity” or with RF libraries? Risk. We are afraid that we won’t 1) make money, or 2) make enough money for what we think is the proper value of our music. But, if you produce a piece of music and it NEVER sells, what have you lost? For most of us, just a few days’ time. So, instead we waste time engaging in circular debates about the “race to the bottom.”
Here’s a news flash: if we didn’t take risks, we’d still be living in caves. This article in the WSJ is food for thought.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324031404578481162903760052.html
One of the many valuable lessons that I learned in law school and in practice, was that clear-headed, unemotional analysis succeeds most often. Unfortunately, many musicians are grounded in emotion, it’s what attracts them to music, it makes them passionate, it makes them not so good when it comes to business…sometimes.
TV execs and library owners are not sitting in board rooms trying to figure out ways to make “slaves” out of composers. Really.
_Michael
To all future library composers,wannabes, hobbyists and amateurs(especially those using loops) the library buisness is now closed. There are too many of you, making too much music (most of which lacks artistic merit). Please stop and go away, because you are causing the value of my labor (I use the term loosly) to go down.
Now that was worth the price of admission.
-Mark
The only solution to your quandry would be for Art to post this message: To all future library composers,wannabes, hobbyists and amateurs(especially those using loops) the library buisness is now closed. There are too many of you, making too much music (most of which lacks artistic merit). Please stop and go away, because you are causing the value of my labor (I use the term loosly) to go down.
LOL! Thanks MichaelL, if I had been drinking coffee at the time I read that it would be all over the keyboard. Hilarious and made my day!
@Mark…My comments about being a “slave” to the publisher and ultimately their client does not apply to your Royalty Free model. It applies to the scenario where companies send their “styles we need now” e-mails out for Shows x, y, and z…and then the cues become exclusively the publishers…for no advance fee or work for hire…to the composers that up-load tracks to these requests for free…they area free slave to the publisher. Mark, your model simply allows for a composer to sell their works on your platform at your store and I do believe that you are not a company selling music for $15 a track. Selling music for $15 a track is just stupid ignorance. Stop doing it if you are one of those guys doing it. Trust me, people have more money than $15 to spend for a backing track to their YOUTUBE business presentation video. This is where we can “unionize” without really formally unioninzing. JUST DON’T DO IT. Make the minimum price at least $99. All of us today can just raise our prices and say to the market “take it or leave it”…Just do it today all of you.
We also can “unionize” without really formally unioninzing by no longer sending custom written cues to the e-mail shout outs that say “This is what we need now and once you send it over it will become ours exclusively”…just don’t contribute unless you are getting paid a work for hire fee! Then these companies will lose their leverage and will have to change the way they accumulate music for their shows that they service. Does this make sense? I have no problems with these e-mail call outs for certain styles if the music gets entered in non-exclusively because we can at least send the music into JP or SK, hope it gets on the show, but we can still sell the piece on the RF market….This to me is fair. And Michael…well at least emotions get us talking and thinking…I see you are indeed a man of reason and cool headedness, and all that great stuff…but you have to give me credit for getting us talking and thinking. I really believe the only way we can protect ourselves is to move towards a minimum price on the RF market (I know not everyone will be on board, but if the majority of us say “pay up at least $99 for my track…if you don’t like that, well that is fine…go find a piece of music elsewhere.” Now, that is my solution for the RF world. For the other library world…we all must say “I will not give you my music exclusively for you to own in perpetuity unless you pay me an advance fee and I maintain 100% of my writers share.”
These 2 rules can become rule 1 and 2…Like the SAG actors in LA, NY, Chicago….rule 1 is “I will not do non-union work (Act or record voice overs)” Did you know that the minimum “session fee” for a VO talent is $500 to record a TV or Radio spot?
Why can’t the minimum fee for a track be $99 on the RF market?
Just raise your prices now…and stop feeding those exclusive music boxes up for free…let’s just get this done!
Why can’t the minimum fee for a track be $99 on the RF market?
Because the majority of customers will not pay that much. Simple as that.
And like MichaelL points out as soon as everyone is at $99.00 one composer will start pricing at $89.00.
It is a free market Glen. You cannot control it. What you are talking about is called price fixing.Did you know that the minimum “session fee” for a VO talent is $500 to record a TV or Radio spot?
I did know that and that is why I go to voices.com to hire all my voiceover artists for $150 – $300 a session.
Again, it’s a free market. Welcome to capitalism in the digital age.To all future library composers,wannabes, hobbyists and amateurs(especially those using loops) the library buisness is now closed. There are too many of you, making too much music (most of which lacks artistic merit). Please stop and go away, because you are causing the value of my labor (I use the term loosly) to go down.
Post of the year so far ?
Post of the year so far ?
+1
JUST DON’T DO IT. Make the minimum price at least $99. All of us today can just raise our prices and say to the market “take it or leave it”…Just do it today all of you.
Why can’t the minimum fee for a track be $99 on the RF market?
Just raise your prices now…and stop feeding those exclusive music boxes up for free…let’s just get this done!
Glen, I’m going to give you the short legal answer. We are not being hired, like VO announcers, to perform services, we are, especially when you speak of RF libraries, selling “goods.” Any agreement by library owners and/or composers to set or “fix” minimum prices would most likely be a restriction of free trade, in violation of, at the very least US anti-trust laws. I could give you the citations, but my books are packed. However,”price-fixing” of goods is a NO NO.
As far as the “styles we need now,” if someone want’s to ride that treadmill, let them. I’d rather build and own my catalog.
_Michael
A wise man once said nothing and went about his way.
Sorry to be such a capitalist but…
http://www.zazzle.com/mlr_statement_of_the_year_t_shirts-235710795176672731😉
@Mark..ROTFLMFAO!!!!!
Remember me when I finally submit….
You guys aren’t getting it. I am not saying “let’s do price fixing”…that would be impossible. Just RAISE your prices and say “NO” more often to bad deals don’t contribute custom music for free, exclusively, and be an enabler, a free slave, a race to the bottomer. I am not stupid Mark and Michael and I do understand capitalism and free trade and I also know that price fixing is illegal but encouraging everyone to raise their prices is not illegal. What I don’t understand is selling music for $15 a track. $89 is a hell of a lot better than $15. 10 to 20 years ago no one ever had a problem paying $250 for a needle drop track for a corporate business video or low budget spot. I know this because I was a buyer and I was happy to pay $250 and i understood why i had to pay $250. Are economic times really that dire right now that businesses can only afford tracks for $5, $10, $15??? What a joke!
Look at the Airlines….nawww…they didn’t collude on charging for bags and raising prices for Air Fair. Not a chance…They also new that if they kept charging $150 to fly from New York to Miami they simply would go bankrupt…that is why that flight costs $300 to $350 nowadays.
If writers keep serving up those $2 prices…businesses will just keep laughing at us…Try and find a lawyer that will be willing to work for anything less than $150 per hour..they don’t have a union, it’s just a hidden norm. It’s all of them saying “you want my services, this is my price”, most get $300 to $400 an hour…right Michael?
OMG Mark, that is hilarious. But isn’t that copyrighted material? Shouldn’t MichaelL be due 50? 🙂
I think I might order one of those! Between you and MichaelL I have a had a good share of laughs today!
10 to 20 years ago no one ever had a problem paying $250 for a needle drop track
Ah, there lies your issue. You are longing for the earnings from 10 to 20 years ago. Good luck Glen, it’s a new world out there.
Remember me when I finally submit….
yup, free pass.
I also give praise to JP for holding the line on needle drop fees. The smallest check I ever received was for $112.50 which means they charged the client $225. I changed my mind…raise your prices to $225!!!
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