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Really do you think that ? Is 1000 an awful lot ? I think I need to make another 1000 before I can say things are steady – its not hard to do. Yeah near impossible to do if you went exc route – but un exc is more fun as you can mess up etc and have fun with it, write a million styles. But hence art I really dont wanna write another load for the next 1-2 years 7 days a week ( which i did ) I want to spread out the ones I’ve got. I may take a jump in the dark with some libraries – I guess I will. Seems like I have 2 choices to take a chance or not but i am not considering another career – no way – I am a trooper – maybe mine is not as good as others – I really dunno as I dont do the comparison thing as it messes you up too much. Do it a little but not too often.
I mean take revo – I put about 400 tracks up – it sold for a bit ( a little ) then now next to nothing – entire months will pass with nothing sold – the site is a quality looking site – my tracks are good ( ish ) so its hard to know whether to add anymore to it – but the shots in the dark are just really hard punts and I wanted to know if others felt the same in the non ex lib game – the thought of addding another 500 to revo and seeing next to nothing is a real drain. The site is good looking it should be generating sales. So when looking to add to unknowns with no info on internet I wanted to see how others deal with this and whether the unknown shots work out for them
I mean take revo – I put about 400 tracks up – it sold for a bit ( a little ) then now next to nothing – entire months will pass with nothing sold – the site is a quality looking site – my tracks are good ( ish ) so its hard to know whether to add anymore to it – but the shots in the dark are just really hard punts and I wanted to know if others felt the same in the non ex lib game – the thought of addding another 500 to revo and seeing next to nothing is a real drain. The site is good looking it should be generating sales. So when looking to add to unknowns with no info on internet I wanted to see how others deal with this and whether the unknown shots work out for them
You have too many tracks. Weed out some of them and raise your prices if possible. I know that I used to add as many tracks as possible at low prices. I would make a few sales and then it would all stop. You have to get focused. Quantity is necessary, but you do not need 1,000 tracks on one site. A good range to aim for is 50-100. You can build from there.
Also, do not sell low! Low prices = inferiority. It is true. Some people think they may be getting a bargain, but most will just see cheap tracks and will bypass them. I see royalty-free sites all the time where people add too many songs and charge too low. Do not sell yourself short. People will pay for quality music.
One other thing to do is to stop working with sites that have a poor interface. Cheap looking sites are even worse than cheap tracks. Target the few sites with the best user interface. The best way to do this is to actually search for tracks and then buy a few. If the process is easy and uncluttered, this means that it is easy for other end users to buy materials. If you try to buy material from a site with poor search engines and user interface, that site is a waste of time. Take your material away from those sites and go elsewhere.
Having 1,000 tracks is nice. But you have to get focused after you build up that catalog. You can make great money with around 500 songs spread on a few sites that generate the correct traffic and have the best interfaces and search engines. Be a customer first. That will tell you everything you need to know.
Maybe having 1000 tracks that are only “good-ish” isn’t good enough. There’s alot of competition out there….maybe it’s time to take stock of what you’re offering.
Hi Adam,
I’m really curious to know why you are not making enough money with 1000 track catalog. If you don’t mind me asking, what are you generating on the back-end (PRO royalties) 3, 4, 5 figures or more a year?
” so I stayed in and made a good 5 a day for a long time”
adam, are you saying you produced 5 tracks a day on a regular basis ?
I didnt add pro info to my rf tracks – just figuredits simpler for buyers – and yes often more than 5 a day – I work sample based mostly so I don’t get too attached and am able to wrap up a track quickly. Some of my best sellers were mad in 1-2 hours
You can tell pretty much all you need to know by the agreement they want you to sign. Ask to see their “usual and customary” agreement they have for composers.
Read it. Study it. Dissect it.
If you don’t like a clause (or two or more), change it/them and send the contract back with your notes. See how they respond — are they defensive or do they calmly state their needs/wants/policies? Are they asking for the moon, a pint of blood and your first-born, yet only promising that “you’ll find out if anything gets placed when you get your statement from your PRO”?
A library rep can sound like the coolest guy on the planet, but if the company’s agreement is wonky, and they want everything, yet promise virtually nothing, run away.
It all comes down to what you sign, so don’t sign anything you’re not comfortable with.
But remember… music licensing is a marathon, not a sprint, and NO ONE can promise that YOUR track is going to be the one somebody licenses from any source… EVER. Once a supervisor, director (or whoever) hears your music, it’s a crap shoot (and sometimes whether or not the director has a nephew who has a band… for real).
All the best,
Gael MacGregor
P.S. Also… If they don’t know the difference between a master use license and a synchronization license, or use the two terms interchangeably (as if they were the same thing), they don’t have a clue about the business side of music, so that’s another clue to walk away.
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Picking up this forgotten thread, I like this topic.
I’m in about 4 libraries and am going through the forums here and trying to figure out which libraries to investigate and possibly apply to next. Unsure how to actually pick ’em….
I like the idea of contacting directly the owners of small libraries … what specific questions would YOU ask someone who runs a music library?