Libraries that accept without listening

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  • #6004 Reply
    Art Munson
    Keymaster

    >Is it possible that their critical listening comes later? For example, you do the paperwork and upload say 30 cues. They listen to your uploads and reject 15 of them? So this initial listening of just 10 seconds was only to get you to the next step?<

    It’s possible, I suppose, but that’s not what I’m gathering from their communication…

    I think they may be making it easy for me to decide since I’ve asked them a question regarding a confusing request in their upload process (they want ID3 tags on wav files which I don’t think is possible?…) and so far I’m not getting a reply. Of course they may be very busy and unable to reply for a while but I’m glad to mull it over in the meantime and keep the option open.

    What I believe I’m seeing here is a company that’s a sidebar to other pursuits in the music business. They seem to be passive and willing to stockpile whatever is sent to them in case something comes up. Of course, I could be wrong, maybe they’re more active than they appear to be. Regardless, they can conduct their business however they see fit. What I found off putting in the first place was the initial dishonesty in saying that they were listening to music that they were obviously not. It’s not a big deal but to me it is a weird way to start a professional conversation – it just puts a little bad taste in my mouth, that’s all…

    Besides all that, the way I work is that I try to stay busy and productive no matter what, then I weigh out the opportunities and prioritize them. I find that it all kind of takes care of itself that way. Since I posted this yesterday morning other opportunities have started looking better and this one has faded. I’ll just pursue those other opportunities first and let this one sit for a while. If, later on, I end up with the time and the effort seems worth it may send these folks some music. If they eventually fall off my list that’s fine too.

    The main thing for me is to keep moving forward and hopefully always keep learning along the way…

    Thanks again everybody!

     

    #6008 Reply
    dan p
    Guest

    @Michael L:

    Howard Shore hires writers to score all movies.

    Musicians who are better than him and I know,because I exchanged quite a few e-mails with one of his writers.The guys  piano tracks and writing were phenomenal but he is forever stuck in the shadow of Howard.The six figure income is the carrot.

    Can you say Hans Zimmer?

    #6009 Reply
    MichaelL
    Guest

    Writers or orchestrators?  Delegating isn’t uncommon.

    #6011 Reply
    Advice
    Participant

    As far as accepting without or with barely listening, it depends a lot on the type of library. A royalty free, website-based library may take just about anything and everything. That’s to be expected. If a library advertises themselves to be more discriminating and pitch major TV networks, I’d probably scratch my head a lot more.

    In the end, it is the quality of your track, compared to others, that will determine its placement success (along with some luck, I agree).

    Nothing wrong with being discriminating as far as where you put your music. It’s already a mess out there with hundreds and hundreds of non-exclusives pitching the same TV shows.

    🙂

    #6013 Reply
    MichaelL
    Participant

    ” It’s already a mess out there with hundreds and hundreds of non-exclusives pitching the same TV shows.”

    Just imagine being on the RECEIVING end of that mess. Think it gives the producers a warm and fuzzy feeling about composers? We are our own worst enemy.

    #6015 Reply
    Alexander Jenkins
    Guest

    I am a music composer & musician from Okeechobee, Florida. Currently I have over six hundred original songs that I am selling outright, with copyrights. Any one interested, let me know. Much music for TV, film, soundtracks, commercials, record labels, etc. Great investment. I am also accepting bids.

     

    #6016 Reply
    Art Munson
    Keymaster

    @MichaelL

    “Just imagine being on the RECEIVING end of that mess. Think it gives the producers a warm and fuzzy feeling about composers? We are our own worst enemy.”

    Out of curiosity, how do you think composers can stop being “our own worst enemy”? On the one hand,  you advise not turning one’s back on any income stream but you also seem to be saying that we are causing ourselves problems by participating in some of them. What’s your approach? Is this just the way it is or is there a solution?

    #6017 Reply
    dan p
    Guest

    I found out this.

    Be who we are.

    Only upload to sites that are selling your music.

    Serve up the best you can do with the best possible

    skills you can attain.

    Use the mics!

    Recording real musicians give you more

    performance dimensions

    in your tracks.Program your sounds.

    Be Original.

    Sign with companies that have certain criteria and experience and expect the same from you ,great tracks

    is the bottom line.THere is always more but I’ll give you an example of the libraries.

    Jingle Jared and his circle lines himself up first before anyone else gets the gig.

    Thats the library business for you with variables of course.Everything now in the business is not written in stone.

    #6018 Reply
    Blind
    Participant

    “Out of curiosity, how do you think composers can stop being “our own worst enemy”?”

    One way to do it is to not go too far with with what the non-exclusive model encourages, which is to put the same tracks into a bunch of libraries willy nilly. It waters everything down in my opinion. I have done it in the past but have stopped, or at least treated non-exclusives that work for me a little more like exclusives and not send the same tracks everywhere.

    Having your tracks in 10-20 different places can lead to real problems down the road, like if you have to remove one or more of them from multiple libraries because you have a good paying ad that requires exclusivity for a year, for example. Sometimes it’s not easy to make that happen and could potentially blow the deal.

    #6020 Reply
    MichaelL
    Participant

    “Out of curiosity, how do you think composers can stop being “our own worst enemy”? On the one hand,  you advise not turning one’s back on any income stream but you also seem to be saying that we are causing ourselves problems by participating in some of them. What’s your approach? Is this just the way it is or is there a solution?”

    You won’t like my answer. I should have qualified my answer. Retitling is one income stream that I have chosen to avoid, because I want to stay clear of the “mess.”

    I’ve been in the library business for 30+ years. What I do is built upon relationships that I’ve  established during that time.

    I do not, now, and most likely will not, get into the retitling game. I see it as a short term gain and a long term problem.

    My approach:

    1) I have my own library that currently supplies music to five television shows (the result  of 30 years in the business and networking)

    2) I also write for exclusive libraries

    3) I plan to put the rest of my catalog into RF libraries because:

    a) I write in a lot of styles, many of which appeal to corporate clients and documentary  film producers etc.

    b) I do not write a lot of “MTV” style indie pop/rock cues

    c) The backend for a 20 second cue on a show like Jersey Shore , or the Kardashians is often less than you would make selling the track on a RF site. Why throw your tracks into the gratis-license pool for $10?

    d) You get to keep your publishing (it’s clean)

    e) I have enough tracks to make it viable

    4) If I was to put tracks into a non-exclusive retitling library, like Scorekeepers, it would be on an exclusive basis because I know that they market those tracks differently, to higher end clients, who don’t want retitled tracks.

    5) When I get to the point of marketing (or selling) my library, I will be able to tell supes and producers that they aren’t going to be bombarded with these  tracks from 20 different libraries.

    This is what works for me. Your results/experience may vary. I am not convinced that having tracks in 10 different retitling libraries actually generates more income for composers. Logically, if your music is being pitched to the same shows by 10 different libraries it’s not really increasing your odds of placement, because it’s not creating new opportunities.

    I’m talking strictly about instrumental music. I apply none of this to songs with lyrics. Licensing your “songs” if you are a singer/songwriter.performer is a whole different ball of wax.

    I’ve said before this is a many tiered business. I focus on my niche.

     

     

    #6021 Reply
    MichaelL
    Guest

    “I’ve said before this is a many tiered business. I focus on my niche.”

    And by that I mean Im happy doing what I do. I’m not trying to get somewhere else, by writing library music.

    #6022 Reply
    Michael Nickolas
    Guest

    >Why throw your tracks into the gratis-license pool for $10?<

    Hi Michael, I can confirm what you wrote. The average gratis-license royalty as reported on my July ASCAP statement was $1.95 for each placement. I can earn $20.00 for a royalty free sale, or ten times that! $1.95 just ain’t worth it! I’m so glad my custom composing/song writing work (non-library) has picked up!

    #6023 Reply
    Art Munson
    Keymaster

    @MichaelL

    “You won’t like my answer.”

    Actually, I like your answer just fine and  I certainly appreciate that you’ve taken the time and effort to respond.

    To date, my approach is similar to yours. Almost everything that I have out there at the moment was written directly for a show (work for hire) or is signed to an exclusive library. I currently have a handful of tracks in two non-exclusives and there only a small amount of overlap. It’s just something I’m checking out (further signing with non-exclusives) but I’m not advocating it one way or another. To me it’s just something I’m looking into and this is an interesting conversation and I’m trying to learn more.

    As far as the library I was referencing in my original post, they still haven’t answered my upload question and, from where I’m at now, they just seem to want to stockpile tracks without doing much beyond that. All well and good and, really, none of my business if I’m not working with them but with all the options out there they’re not looking so attractive to me at this point so I’ll probably just let it go and move along.

    Thanks again!

     

    #6024 Reply
    Art Munson
    Keymaster

    “>Why throw your tracks into the gratis-license pool for $10?<

    Hi Michael, I can confirm what you wrote. The average gratis-license royalty as reported on my July ASCAP statement was $1.95 for each placement. I can earn $20.00 for a royalty free sale, or ten times that! $1.95 just ain’t worth it! I’m so glad my custom composing/song writing work (non-library) has picked up!”

    Amen to this! I definitely see this phenomenon each quarter.  In my case, it seems to happen just as often with tracks from exclusives as non-exclusives. Actually, this whole conversation has me thinking of checking into placing more music into RF situations. Right now I’ve got tracks with two and one of them is a regular small paycheck. Even so, I can definitely see the potential and the possible advantages.

     

     

    #6026 Reply
    MichaelL
    Participant

    Michael Nicholas said: “Hi Michael, I can confirm what you wrote. The average gratis-license royalty as reported on my July ASCAP statement was $1.95 for each placement. I can earn $20.00 for a royalty free sale, or ten times that! $1.95 just ain’t worth it! I’m so glad my custom composing/song writing work (non-library) has picked up!”

    Kiwi said: “Amen to this! I definitely see this phenomenon each quarter.  In my case, it seems to happen just as often with tracks from exclusives as non-exclusives. Actually, this whole conversation has me thinking of checking into placing more music into RF situations.”

    I don’t know who created the myth the this business is a path to riches. For 99 and 44/100 % of writers it takes a lot of tracks to make a living. We’ve said it over and over again…1000+ tracks.  There are exceptions. But, DO THE MATH. Will 1000 placements on MTV at $1.95 each earn you a living? at $20?…at $50?

    Most writers will never come close to writing 1000 cues in a lifetime, let alone 1000 placements.  Like Mark Petrie said early on (as Matt) 12 hours per day, six days per week for X number of years, writing whether you want to or not, and he started with an existing catalog. My point is. This is not a business that you can dabble in.

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