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I guess it looks familiar because many of us have been a part of that ‘fairy-tale’ organization… 😉
Absolutely not!
Its just a way of fleecing people new to the industry.
If it weren’t for a certain company whose name starts with “F”, I would have never gotten started making placements on TV. I still get introduced to new libraries every day because of them. Not all the libraries that run listings are ones I want to sign with but some are.
Also, don’t forget that here on MLR people tend to use the word “library” to mean a very wide range of library types from the lowest end RF to the super high end exclusive.
Of course I agree that one should always be cautious when plopping down $$$.
But the bottom line is “Never say NEVER”… Every situation is unique.
Howdy,
I am a newbe to this site and never realized that there were so many music libraries out there! And now I see this discussion of Pay to Play.
I have been a member to B and have been paying a yearly fee as well as a fee to pay to send music to un-named libraries. Never liked this idea but thought that was the norm. Same with X. Being a music supervisor for over 30 years and having maintained 70 libraries in my studio, I was the one paying and buying music for my clients. Now, with these guys, people are paying THEM to get there music heard and maybe selected. After all these years, this pay thing stinks. Thanks for opening my eyes to other alternatives.It’s important not to call pay services LIBRARIES. They are not! Never pay to submit to actual libraries.
However, when it comes to paid services who connect you with libraries or music sups, there are both good ones and bad ones out there. I won’t mention names. I will say that 2 of these services were very instrumental (no pun) in getting me started in this business and I am very grateful to them. 😀
I agree with Advice, the post back in 2014 (“But the bottom line is “Never say NEVER”… Every situation is unique) and this recent post (“there are both good and bad”). Earlier this year one of my tracks earned a $10,000 license fee directly because of a paid submission I made two years ago. I like the strategy of spreading tracks around the different business models and this sometimes includes paying to submit.
can someone clarify me something about these services. are they only forwarding composers tracks to music libraries or are the making opportunities available where they are bypassing music libraries and sending your tracks directly to the music sups or editors of certain TV shows etc?
Toby… Not all these services have the listing parties share in submission fees. One reputable one I work with does not. Personally, I don’t think services sharing submission fees with clients is ethical as it creates an immediate conflict on interest as far as running a listing at all.
Danny… Both. Services may list for libraries and/or direct to music sups.
I know people who started with, i.e., the [removed] company who did fairly well and got a good start. They also did well after leaving. After a couple “forwards” in the first year (submitting maybe a few times a month, at $5 a submission ) on top of the $200 membership fee, I did a second year but didn’t do much in that second year and focused on researching here instead. I got a lot of good feedback and took advantage of the forums, which being pretty much a newbie at my first time doing what I considered “serious” recording work, helped a lot and I made some good friends in the process. There it was libraries more often then not, with some music sups thrown in.
I was going to say, if your stuff is up to par, libraries will take it. If it is not, paying a submission fee is not going to help you other then to take advantage of feedback and the forums. And do you need to do pay to play to get there. Possibly not. If I had some stuff that was well produced in that first year (and I think I did given that some of these tracks were used frequently since), it was because I got a lot of feedback, from one member in particular. That was where the value was for me , in networking and their forums. The feedback forms they sent back as part of the reviews were nothing I couldn’t have figured out on my own if I were being honest with myself. Rejected tracks there went on to do well. Too subjectve in my opinion , there anyway. If I were to experiment with something else now it would be direct submission to sups.
And these libraries make money for each submission so it is a revenue generating thing for them in itself.
The libraries do not take a cut of the fee that composers pay to these services, which often act as a much-needed pre-screening service for the libraries.
Michael, my friend 😀 Please don’t call these companies, “libraries”. And not true… Many of them do take cuts of submission fees. I won’t mention names. The only one I know that doesn’t is the [removed] one and I give them major ethics kudos there.
Best,
A
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