Instrumental vs. Vocal tracks

[MM_Musicworks]

Hi All!

I’ve been getting decent placements by doing instrumental background music. However, my heart lies in vocal pop/ rock tracks. I’ve mostly stayed away from this as instrumentals are working well for me and most of the requests from the libraries I am in are for instrumental tracks.

I was wondering if vocal tracks do as well as instrumentals in the music library world (assuming they are with a suitable library publisher)? I’m asking as producing a good full length vocal album is an intensive and longish process and whether it’s a good idea (financially) to pursue this?

I would appreciate any insights from anyone with experience in both instrumental and vocal music in music libraries.

Thank you!

[RM90]

In my experience, instrumental tracks place more often. Only certain shows and commercials use vocal tracks, not so much reality TV and sports. That’s not to say that it can’t be successful though. I’ve seen vocal albums on APM and other sites. I have a few vocal tracks in NE libraries that have done decent. Personally I would try to get that kind of music signed with Crucial or Tunedge or someone similar, since they seem to specialize in that. Another thing to consider is that the shelf life for pop might not be too long.

[MM_Musicworks]

Thanks for the insights RM90… yes, I would think instrumentals get placed far more than vocal tracks.
I have 3 or 4 vocal tracks with Tunedge… no placements so far. Crucial rejected all the tracks that are with Tunedge… lol

[Michael Nickolas]

The lyrical content will matter also. A song about meeting a girl named Joan in 2003 at a Christmas party is going to have limited use. Keep it generic.

[MM_Musicworks]

Thanks Michael for the pointer… Yes, generic lyrics would work best I imagine.

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