Looking for feedback on starting new library

[haven42]

I am thinking about starting a new library and just looking for some thoughts and feedback – thinking about a “low end” library. Do guys feel the market to be saturated or do you feel there is room for another low end library? Any thoughts or ideas are greatly appreciated!

[Wildman]

To be honest, I don`t think there`s a need for another “low end” library. The newer low end libraries, which appeared the last 1-2 years on the market, don`t sell very good and you can find the same writers and songs all over the place.

Who needs the hundred thousandth ukulele track for 14-20 USD ?

There`s a need for quality “high end” libraries with good content 🙂

My opinion….

[Kenny]

Have to agree on Wildman there. I have some tracks with a couple of the new “low end” libraries. They seem pretty cool, have great looking websites and offers pretty easy uploading for composers. Not too much extra work so I keep feeding them now and then, but none of them seem to have as good sales as the established sites that has been around for a while. A few years too late to win this party a think.

[MichaelL]

There are plenty of established libraries. It also looks as if self-licensing will soon be a viable option for writers with large catalogs. I would not submit to a new low-end library unless there was some compelling reason, like upfront money, or a large built in client base.

 

[More Advice]

If you can morph into a marketing machine and make 7 million sales calls a month, e-mail blast newsletters about how great your library is to the right clients, get 20,000 likes on facebook, and have a sales staff making noise every day…by all means launch your library, but never say “low end”…no one wants to hang out with a cheap date…a library is a library!

 

[Del Smyth]

Aim low eh? Now that’s what I call ambition! 🙂

[Mark Lewis]

don’t give up haven42,  I didn’t.

go for it if you think it will work.
even if it fails you will have learned an immeasurable amount of information for your next idea and the project might lead to other avenues of success that you had never considered.

As a 5 year old once said when he was asked “what is the opposite of success”
he replied “giving up”

-Mark

[haven42]

Thanx fellers for your responses – some of you crack me up! Ok, I will be more specific regarding “low end”… I am considering building a library called “scraps” – and I would want to be very upfront with both the composers and with the end users as to the purpose of the site. Here is the thought… we all have “scraps”… for one reason or another we were working on a cue and it just didnt turn out the way we wanted it to and so we abandon it and it sits on our hard drive (or we delete it) for enernity. It is a “scrap” – maybe it doesnt have a worked out ending or maybe the mix is not right, or maybe we just dont care for it and dont feel it represents us the way we like (I would allow uploads under pseudo names), etc. Bottom line… one mans “garbage” is another mans treasure. But I personally would like to have a place to send my “scraps” where at least they earned me something small instead of nothing. I know personally that I have come up with many things when recording that just dont have the professional polish I would like but also dont merit any re-working, but also have a unique quality of their own (I am one that feels EVERY recording is still a piece of “art” LOL) and has a value. I would want a super simple upload process with no busy work in terms of keyswords, etc.  I would want to be absolutely transparent with regards to what the site offers – I dont want to come off as “garbage” per say, but I would want to be clear about what is offered – cues that for one reason or another composers have deemed “scraps”.

On the other end (the end user side of things) I believe there are plenty of end users who would benefit from having access to some inexpensive music for things like youtube video’s etc (not for big hollywood productions). Ok – so now I am open to yer thoughts once again (and bracing myself for some potential nasty thoughts LOL), but that is ok – I asked for it – I believe when you have an idea you just HAVE to get the feedback whether it is pro or con. The idea comes to me becuase I would use it myself if it existed, but perhaps I am alone in this, I dont know… I but I would LIKE to know – thanx so much!

 

[haven42]

And now I would like to respond to Michael L’s response (I dont know how to attach my response directly to his comment?)

Michael, you mention “self licensing”… I am guessing you may be referring to another thread I was reading where Mark (of PIR) was speaking of his “white lable” word press software he is working on to allow composers to license from their own websites?

Well, I was interested when I saw that because there is yet ANOTHER idea that I have had and have wanted to get some feedback on, but when i saw that I thought to myself, “hmmm, maybe this would be a better answer to a frustration I believe a lot of us have”

Anyway… here goes… I would love feedback on this idea… I find it ever so frustrating to be submitting my material endlessly to all these libraries (either the royalty free “online” libraries) or the more established older libraries – I spend so much time keying and writing descriptions and copying and pasting and keeping track of what i have sent to whom and when, etc. And I feel a need for some kind of a “central submissions” process. My idea is to build a site “central submissions for production music libraries” where composers can have their own profile and upload their catalogs ONCE with nice sophisticated search functions and then direct libraries to their “submission profiles”. Further, I would like to invite libraries to “endorse” the site – I would like to be able to insure the composers on the site that “x number of libraries” actually come here to find new music when they are in need. I have been calling and speaking with a few libraries randomly to ask if they thought something like this would be helpful to them and if they would actually use it and so far have had a very strong response from them. So now, I am looking for feedback from the composer side – is this idea appealing to you guys? I of course understand that I take a risk in “exposing” my ideas – if one of you really like the idea and where to “steal” it that would suck … BUT… I actually dont know if it is a strong idea or not and so I feel I NEED the feedback before I would invest a lot of time or money in it and so I am taking that risk and will just say this… IF one of you like the idea so much that you are considering stealing it… lets work together instead – I would welcome some partnership. Or if that is not to be, at the very least I ask you to do a great job with it cuz I would be using it! Again, I am looking for feedback – if you think the idea is ridiculous and just sux, that is ok, I want to know that and I want to know why – thanx so much – I am really looking forward to your responses on this!!

[MichaelL]

@haven42 yes, I was thinking about Mark Lewis’s idea AND the model that Emmett Cook is working on https://musiclibraryreport.com/forums/topic/self-licensing-via-website-for-royalty-free/page/4/

Also….I’m having a bit of deja vu  with your central submission idea to save writers’ time  etc. This thread appeared today:  https://musiclibraryreport.com/forums/topic/service-to-submit-a-track-to-multiple-libraries-at-the-same-time/#post-9033

Maybe you and Chris should put your heads together.

Mark is right don’t be discouraged, if it’s something that you really want to do. Roll up your sleeves and go for it.

All the best,

Michael

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