- This topic has 17 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 1 month, 1 week ago by .
-
Posts
-
I asked this over at Gear Space, but very interested to hear what folks here have to say – I’m curious (as I consider dipping my toe back in after a few years away) how people here see the current state and near future of library music. With AI tools advancing fast and more composers than ever contributing tracks, is it still realistic to think of library music as a profitable pursuit over the next few years?
Some angles I’d like to hear opinions on:
> Have payouts or sync opportunities declined, stayed stable, or increased recently?
> Do you see AI-generated tracks changing the economics of library work in 2026 and beyond?
> Is library music still worth pursuing seriously as a main or side income stream?
> Are certain niches, genres or approaches holding up better than others?
I’m interested in your post because i was wondering if anyone was making any money selling music for licensing anymore nowadays, with a saturated market and introduction and development of AI music. I used to be licensing tracks every week years ago, but its now dropped off to virtually nothing. Interested to hear anyone’s feedback.
A lot of new websites seem to be geared more to be hooking composers in on the pretext of licensing opportunities where the initial uploads are free and then guess what, the composers have to pay for ‘priority pitches’!I have always been optimistic for those who are willing to work hard and churn out tons of music. I am no longer optimistic on even earning a living wage for those who are in the first half of their careers.
For those who have thousands or tens of thousands of placements, we might still be able to live off royalties if we are frugal, but the future opportunities do not look good from my perspective.
As is evidenced by libraries like Simon mentioned above who are more focused on milking money from their composers than by placing the music. You can always tell. Are they selling more to composers or selling to production companies who need music. It’s a tell on who their “paying” clients are.
Payout amounts “per performance” are in decline ever since the advent of Netflix and streaming. Have been for a decade or more. BMI’s new ownership and their grand plans have not yet proven themselves, although the case could be made that it’s still early days. But the big placement sync fee, and subsequent large royalties for minimal performances are a thing of the past.
AI is going to completely change the world in so many ways. Already we are seeing huge strides in “making music” that musicians would never have dreamed could happen. And we’re in early days there too. If a producer can get instant music with infinite revisions with a few prompts for pennies vs. paying lots of money upfront for music that could take months from ego driven composers (LOL) – what do you think is going to happen. AI wins easily. AI driven music supervision and music editing / prompting (although less so) might be a growth field until the AI interfaces between director and computer software become more elegant and easy to use for those who are clueless about music.
Music is edging quickly back to the place in society it’s always had before the last hundred or so years. An avocation, a hobby for personal growth and satisfaction – not a primary profession. Can one make a side income stream? Sure. Anything is possible. Can one make it a “profitable pursuit” as Monkeyman99 asked? I think that will be the exception to the rule, not the mainstream path.
As for specific niche’s, popular music will be the stronghold for AI, but it’s also quite adept at anything else it can copy. One finger loops are where it has the most to listen to, and that’s where most of the new “composers” are comformable. But a symphony? Yeah, it will go there too.
If you want a decent livable career, best to be looking toward tech instead of trying to fight against it.
For me, I’m concentrating my daily efforts more on making the money I’ve already earned work hard and grow, vs trying to make more by writing music. There’s just no significant return on investment any more. Good luck to everyone in this difficult time!!!!!!
Thanks for the well thought out post LAwriter. I saw the original post yesterday and didn’t respond because I figured someone else could put it better than I, and you did.
Thank you for your feedback LA writer. Technology is a double edged sword!
@LAwriter. Great post and so true. If you want a job in creating/making music, learn how to prompt! That’s were I have been spending most of my time – either in film making, content creation, image creation, coding, music creation and more.
@Monkeyman99, it depends on what you mean by “profitable.” If you are making zero dollars now and you generate enough future income to cover the costs of production, etc., plus a little extra, is that profitable? Technically yes, but in a meaningful way, no.
Saturation was already causing diminishing returns before AI arrived. Now, sample developers are dropping prices dramatically. Every day is like a fire sale. YouTube production music gurus are shifting focus…to who knows what. That suggests that some people have already decided it’s no longer profitable, or will no longer be profitable in the not too distant future.
AI is a disruptive force. One can debate whether or not they want to keep changing horse shoes or learn to fix cars. Either way, as Darwin said: “The one that survives is the one that is able to adapt to and to adjust best to the changing environment.” It’s too late to turn back, to maintain the status quo of a fading business model. Libraries across the board are not asking “How do we stop this?”, but rather, “How do we adapt?”
@LAwriter’s analysis summed it up pretty well. For most, music may return to being “An avocation, a hobby for personal growth and satisfaction – not a primary profession.” It comes down to what your expectations, motivation, and needs are, what your responsibilities and risk tolerance are.Question: You asked “is it still realistic to think of library music as a profitable pursuit over the next few years?” Does that mean you are looking for short term income and not concerned about the more distant future?
> Have payouts or sync opportunities declined, stayed stable, or increased recently?
I think at the low end they’re mostly gone thanks to subscription based RF sites. At the high end of things like trailers, there are less trailers now than there were pre-covid (lots of reasons for that including the studios cutting costs everywhere) but lots more content than there was ten years ago (streaming).> Do you see AI-generated tracks changing the economics of library work in 2026 and beyond?
No… unless copyright laws are drastically weakened, we have the protection of these main areas:
1) AI music trained on music without permission is a violation of both the music (if it’s not public domain) AND the recording. Even if someone adds some human input into say Suno, it’s still creating audio ‘learned’ from recordings. You can find Youtube videos where people have uploaded AI songs and they get multiple Content ID matches, often in the exact same spot.
What this means is no professional company will want to touch AI music unless it’s absolutely certain the music it was trained on was completely done with permission.2) AI music is deemed to be public domain because a human didn’t create it. I don’t know how they will decide how much human input is required to make it copyright-able, that’s going to be interesting to watch play out.
What that means is no one really can make money from it, and anyone can re-use the exact same track however they like. Those are two reasons professional companies, studios etc would never touch the stuff.Don’t forget it’s not about the money either – there’s no financial incentive to use AI music when great human-made production music is already usually used on TV for free.
> Is library music still worth pursuing seriously as a main or side income stream?
If you’re content to spam out 100s of mediocre tracks a year, NO.
If you will do what it takes to compete with the best that’s out there, and get into the best libraries, then yes.> Are certain niches, genres or approaches holding up better than others?
I would recommend you watch a range of unscripted shows across different channels to answer that question.“> Is library music still worth pursuing seriously as a main or side income stream?
If you’re content to spam out 100s of mediocre tracks a year, NO.
If you will do what it takes to compete with the best that’s out there, and get into the best libraries, then yes.”Mark, this is really on point. The low-hanging fruit which made the side-gig aspect of library music attractive and feasible are less viable. A significant percentage of composers, for various reasons, are not in a position to “do what it takes to compete,” which requires both a time and financial commitments.
I have been focusing on songs. Are you all referring to mostly instrumental tracks? I know the song market is extremely competitive, but Supposedly the return is greater. I have some instrumentals I wrote for brief/listings (Broadjam, Taxi) that I’m starting to submit to libraries I have songs in and had thought of doing a lot more.
The posts here are very helpful.I’ll not suggest one or the other on songs vs instrumentals, but it’s quite easy to see across a broad spectrum of shows that instrumental music gets used 10-50X more than vocal songs. And when used, the songs need to be “on point” lyrically to the scene of the show.
I’m not out yet AI in the end is just a tool we are still in the wild west on it…. it’s too perfect for music no emotion but time will tell……….but just in case….”So long, and thanks for all the fish”
I did a careful track sales data review for YTD 2025, consolidated across the top surviving RF libraries and streaming platforms which I’ve been a part of the past ~12 years. Mostly subscription and streaming income dominates for sure – very little front end payments this year, but still trickles in.
However, after years of pumping out corporate commercially stuff against the downtrend discussed here, and then breathlessly chasing AI technology and getting overwhelmed with a feeling of guilt for putting cool out stuff that really wasn’t 100% “me”, I noticed my top yielding tracks this past year are the ones where I just didn’t care, or didn’t feel pressured, and laid down some purely human acoustic piano-themed tracks (i.e. mostly jazz chill, neo-classical, meditation, etc – some released years ago, some this year). You see, all said and done, my original craft and love is piano, before becoming a home studio geek. I’ve therefore discovered one way to slay the AI dragon. It appears many of my fellow humans out there still appreciate and sense sincere, heartfelt music. The numbers tell me this. Bottom line, reflect carefuly on your original talent that got you into the business in the first place. Put aside all the extra gadgets, loops and studio tricks and see how that offers an alternative to the AI content. Sorry if I’m over simplifying this. Heck, if you choose to go broke staying in the business, at least you’ll enjoy what you’re doing!
I think this is really good advice OMRE.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
