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Can some more experienced guys speak on the topics below. One, I was watching a video that said, essentially that a relatively small number of libraries folks are in generate much of their income. This seems to be true from what I have been seeing here. Essentially the speaker is using the 80/20 rule to roughly 80% of your income comes from 20% of your libraries? Same video suggests writing less in genres that make don’t make money but focus almost exclusively on genres that are? No need for folks to rag on the source of the video if you are aware of it please. Also for those of us in our first couple years, how long or how many tracks would you it may/could/should take to get a handle on this stuff (genres, libraries that work, etc)?
If you are in AS, you can look at their knowledge base. They show what percentage of their sales are represented by each genre. That’s a start.
That said, I’m not sure that “genre chasing” is a good thing. Not many people can pull it off well.
Chuck, forgive me the off-topic … how can you see how many views a single track has generated on AS? I can’t seem to find that info. All I can find is a general count of views for all my tracks combined, not a track by track count.
Back to your topic. I am also new at this game (almost 1 year), but I have over 30 years of experience as a musician, just like you. In this past year I tried composing both in genres that I’m very familiar with (acoustic music mostly) and also other genres that I am not so familiar with. So yes, I did a little bit of “genre chasing”, so to speak. My goal in my first year was basically to try a little bit of everything and learn from it. It turns out that … it’s very hard to learn. I sold very well tracks that I thought they would never EVER sell, and never sold tracks that I thought for sure they would be best sellers. Overall, I find sales particularly difficult to predict. My best seller is a vocal track .. go figure!! Most people say that vocal tracks don’t sell, and they’re probably right. So, I still don’t know why this track is selling so well. However, other vocal tracks of mine, very similar to my best seller, don’t sell at all. Again, go figure … I have no idea. So, after a year, I pretty much decided to stop predicting, stop chasing genres (actually, I stopped chasing sales, in a way …) and to just make the best music I can. To me, this works the best – both in terms of sales (paradoxically …) and, naturally, in terms of fun. So, now I mostly compose music within my “area” of expertise, but once in a while I compose other stuff, not because I think it’s gonna sell, but because … I feel like it. I just write the best music I can, the music I want to write in that particular moment, and that’s it for me.
I’m realizing, instead, that other things are worth my time and attention for increasing sales (because at least I have some degree of control over them), like library selection, promotion, process efficiency, etc. That’s what I’m focusing on right now, and I think it’s working for me.
Just my 2 cents.GM im in the same boat as you. I have about 300 cues up on different libraries, with some i felt I really nailed genre wise and would be heavy hitters, while others were just kinda formula written cues i cranked out just trying to increase my track number. So far the “meh” ones ive written have been the ones selling best so far, while the ones i spent hours perfecting and mastering have been getting good views but no sales. I quit trying to predict sales a long time ago, in this music library game, nothing is certain, and the standard rules of the music industry dont really apply here. I will say however that there are a few “fringe” genres I write in for my own musical group (extreme progressive metal) and ive actually gotten licenses on those tracks, which i would of never dreamed of since you dont really hear that kinda music in most commercial broadcasts. All I can say is to write what you love to write and dont expect or try to predict anything regarding how your cues will do.
I really like writing in whatever mood I’m in. As some have said though, sometimes it’s wise to write with a particular purpose/genre in mind. When you have a track that’s performing well, sometimes it’s good to write more of the same for a while.
I’ve noticed that a lot of people on here speak of reality show placements. Not an area I’m very familiar with. What sort of genres are these in and are they RF, E, NE?
I’ve noticed that a lot of people on here speak of reality show placements. Not an area I’m very familiar with. What sort of genres are these in and are they RF, E, NE?
For me, my placements for reality shows are in electronic music, hip-hop, and pop. Most of my placements are non-exclusive.
Aaron, I believe most any genre can find itself placed in Reality Shows. I’ve placed Jazz, Funk, Orchestral, Novelty/Quirky, Blues, Ethnic and others. They use a ton of music in each show. Mostly just a few seconds of the tune. That’s One reason you might not want your latest masterpiece symphony which you spent weeks tweaking in the libraries that serve these shows. I would say NE and Ex Libraries . RF libraries mostly do Non Broadcast usage.
Thanks a lot for the insight guys! Perhaps I’ve been spending too much time in RF. Maybe it’s time I branched out a bit. I’m on board with one Ex and one Ne but I never send them anything.
I would not say royalty-free is bad, but it hasn’t been good for me. I make all my money from placements on TV shows.
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