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Two years ago I started submitting to libraries after running across this site and finding a wealth of info here and it took awhile for BMI to catch up on my placements and to start getting sales from the other libraries.
So far this year I’ve made about $1300 total from sales and placements for 2012. Not bad for my first full year with about 60 cues. I’ve started picking up the pace with more time to devoted to writing so hopefully next year may be even better.
Hi Pat, congrats.
Stay confident … I’m finishing my 3rd year, and this past year things have almost tripled for me. I’ve collected roughly $11,000-$12,000 in just up-front fees from online libraries (let alone back end, freelance and score work …) I’ve also been seeing a steady trend of increasing purchases from basically all sites because, I’ve worked really hard on diversifying my repertoire and it’s paying off well…Stick with it, things will continue to pick up if you come at it with everything you have and stay optimistic.
Best of luck and hope the holiday treats you, (and everyone on here) well.
Justin,
Just out of curiosity, by “up-front” I’m assuming you mean fees paid by publishers/sites for your material and not licensing fee shares from royalty-free work. If you don’t mind my asking, what’s about the average up-front fee per cue that you’ve been getting and what libraries are good for that? I was getting $250 to $500 some years ago and I’m wondering what they’re paying these days for the average library cues.
TA
I’ve been working with both of RF libraries and non-RF libraries for years and the income has been increasing. My income in 2010 was less than $1000, 2011 was about $1600, 2012 is about $3100, all from RF. I gradually realize that more tracks visible in many libraries, more income is made no matter what what libraries the income is made. I also always consider between quantity and quality. Of course many high quality tracks are best undoubtedly but because of time + @. But defenitely I would make more tracks next year than this year.
Haven’t figured out how to respond to the replies individually yet, so thanks Justin for the info and kind words of encouragement. $11,000 is hard to imagine but inspirational to say the least. I know I’ll get there if I keep up the pace and strive to produce more and better work. It’s always good to know how others are doing and seeing patterns of improvement over time. Have a great Holiday!
JunL, thanks for the response. your incremental progress sounds close to where I am. I’m realizing the same as you and the same I’ve read here over and over again that it’s a numbers game. I’m constantly challenged to send my best work without spending so much time on it that it becomes less productive. It’s a balancing at for sure. I’m constantly trying to streamline my approach so more time is spent writing and less time on the technical side. Really looking forward the Jan statement. My last 2 BMI statements were almost exactly the same. Hopefully that improves. Good luck to you.
Interestingly, I went to a composers workshop in the UK and I heard that some of the exclusive guys earn over $250k a year fairly easily. How come it is such a big difference between RF and Excl? Surely there isn’t that much difference in quality? Will I be able to earn $250k + with my RF stuff?
Del
People are willing to pay more for stuff they can’t get anywhere else. That’s a pretty strong selling point.
@Del. I think you have to take “fairly easily” with a grain of salt. I’m sure there are composers making that but as in any business it’s a small percentage compared to the number of players in that business. There are also composers that claim to make $70k to $100k in the RF world. That’s probably true also, still a small percentage of the composers out there.
I do believe the chances are better to make more money with a top end exclusive library as opposed to non-exclusive or RF site. Then only if you get into the right library with the right material and all the stars align. That’s a big IF! The other percentage you might think about is how much music is sitting in exclusive libraries, literally for years, not making a dime, or very little, because the stars did not align.
I went to a composers workshop in the UK and I heard that some of the exclusive guys earn over $250k a year fairly easily
Mick Jagger is also making a lot of money fairly easily these days. But most of us doesn`t gig with the rolling stones or write for an exclusive that will pay this kind of $.
Mick Jagger is also making a lot of money fairly easily these days. But most of us doesn`t gig with the rolling stones or write for an exclusive that will pay this kind of $.
It’s quite possible for a composer to make that much money a year from writing library music, but it doesn’t necessarily come from big upfront fees. If a composer is writing quality music in well used genres, and is working with well connected libraries, after a while (say five to ten years) they could be making six figures from performance royalties alone.
Aside from the larger upfront fees you can get from working with a big exclusive ‘buy out’ library, the vast distribution networks that they have in place make for huge potential in royalties income.
On the other side, I’ve found there’s even more opportunity (and risk) in writing for libraries that don’t pay upfront but share the licensing income. This is mostly because I’ve been moving into the competitive trailer music business over the past several years. Writing music in this no-money-upfront business model is a bit of a gamble, some tracks might not make you anything. Others might buy you a house : )
I don`t doubt that this is quite possible Mark, and probably a lot easier than getting a gig with the rolling stones 😉 . My point was just that for the majority of composers this kind of money will probably not be the result, so the wording “fairly easy” was maybe not the best.
congratulations Pat on your success, I myself am in a similar position, having had my first year of what I would call “encouraging” earnings from music supplied to libraries.
It definitely is a numbers game, and I also totally agree with your point about getting music out there fairly regularly and consistently without labouring over it too much.
Best of luck to you in ’13 🙂
Nick
Thanks alot Nick. One thing for sure which I wish wasn’t the case and hope will change is that to this point, the vast majority of placements has been through Jinglepunks. That’s a good thing but I’m not comfortable relying on just that library when I have cues across other libraries as well but I’m hardly seeing anything at all from the other libraries I’m with. I just keep uploading songs. I’m starting to drop the ones that just don’t seem to be working for me after a couple of years. That goes especially for the ones that have time consuming metadata requirements or are so new they don’t even know when they will start pushing their site. That takes time away from writing new material for the very few libraries that are working for me. I just hope Jinglepunks doesn’t stop getting me placements at least til I get something happening with some of the other libraries. The only thing I find consistent in this library thing is that there’s very little consistency.
Hang in there and good luck to you Nick. This is alot harder than I pictured but is getting a little easier as I streamline the way I do things. This is paving the way for hopefully writing twice as many cues in 2013 as I did in 2012. That’s the goal anyway. Got to get some numbers.