Pulling stems for RF buyers…thoughts?

[music123]

In recent weeks I have had 2 customers (not small mom and pop customers, by any means) approach me for stems after licensing my music on a royalty free site. I find this “trend” troubling. It seems like customers are seeking ways to once again squeeze creators for extra services. I think us composers need to have a pricing plan in place for when these requests come in. I am also wondering if Stock music sites need to have a pricing plan in place for stem requests.

A stock track is no longer a stock track at this point. The track morphs into “full service” solutions and mixing flexibility for the customer. They want to be able to control the mix and create a variety of versions, otherwise, why are they asking for stems? It takes us valuable time to render them out, confirm the accuracy of our work, transfer the files to the client, etc.

All of this adds up to 5 to 10 e-mails being exchanged and requires labor to pull stems and make the delivery. Then there is paperwork labor drafting invoices and filling out corporate contracts or purchase orders, etc. This easily can create 4 to 6 hours of work when all is said and done.

I’d like to get everyone’s opinion on how they are addressing these requests, and what you charge when they come in. Personally, I think $500 to $1000 is not unreasonable. This is a price range that I recently quoted and one resulted in $800 more, but lots of hours making the customer satisfied! My current quote is $600, and the customer has paused to think about it. I look forward to everyone’s comments and I hope publishers and RF site operators join in the discussion.

[Edouardo]

I think you are correct in your approach.
A stock track is a stock track, so extra service requires retribution based on what you consider your hourly rate.
600$ could appear a little rough. but if you really need 6 hours to extract the stems, well, it is reasonable. I also take a lot of time when extracting stems, because I need to check in each stem that no samples appear in isolation, and thus, tweak them if required.
On the other hand you can balance with the fact that now you are in direct contact with the customer, and if he is satisfied with you, he could contact contact you directly for other projects…

[Tbone]

Yes, I definitely think that an additional fee should be charged for this. And I think that you should charge based on the worth of the stems to the client and also on how long it takes you to do them, but obviously you may want to consider what the client is willing to pay.

Edouardo:

I also do the same on checking no samples are in isolation – but by samples I mean phrases or perhaps a percussion loop etc. An individual piano line even if played on a sampled VST instrument to my understanding is fine in isolation. Is that what you meant too?

[Kubed]

I agree,stems should be charged extra.Doesn’t matter if you need 6 hours or just 1 hour to extract them from the project.Stems are not included in the price of the track,same way like stinger/60/30/15 or alt versions aren’t included in the price of the full version.
2 years ago i did an online campaign for a client.It was a good low-mid 4 digit payment and the client asked for a simple edit (a bit more dramatic/crescendo-esque ending) and paid me an extra $650 for it.
It took me a bit over 1 hour to do it.
It doesn’t matter how long did it take to be done;it could have been 15 minutes or 4 hours
in an other occasion.
The point is the client was willing to pay extra money for EXTRA services.
Stems should be treated the same way.

[Edouardo]

I also do the same on checking no samples are in isolation – but by samples I mean phrases or perhaps a percussion loop etc. An individual piano line even if played on a sampled VST instrument to my understanding is fine in isolation. Is that what you meant too?

Hi Tbone, yes, that’s what I meant. I also meant individual sounds like Kicks, snares, cymbals, ( I often build up my beats ) and hits, rises etc…

[music123]

I am glad everyone seems to agree that there needs to be a healthy charge for individual stems (not versions like 60’s, 30s, 15’s)…I am curious to know if others are getting this request more frequently? What concerns me is how in just 2 weeks I am experiencing customers wanting cheap stock music but then have high end plans for the track. A National advertising campaign 60 TV/ 30TV/ 60 Radio…It’s always flattering to have your music on a big TV ad campaign, but discouraging that the budget was considered at basement RF rates. Additionally, it’s insane that the single license allowed for the creation of a 60/ 30/ and 60 radio. This is 3 commericals for the low price of 1 RF license. RF operators are foolish to allow this.

I’d like to encourage all RF shops to have a national USA or European ad campaign license price that is at a 4 digit rate in addition to those low $20 to$75 rates. Tiered Pricing is so important but writers have their hands tied. Only the RF site operators can change this.

The word is out that inexpensive (but still high quality) music can be discovered in RF and ad agencies are not only appreciating the cost savings, but very likely marking up the music portion of their invoices to clients. I make this statement as someone who once worked in large advertising agencies. I don’t think or suspect it is happening, I know it is happening. Only RF site owners and operators can call a time out and fix this disturbing trend. If we all accept $30, $40, $50 licenses for national advertising as being “the new way”…we’re just shooting ourselves in the foot.

There’s money to pay VO Talent and actors 1K to 3K to act in the spot. The editor is getting $250 to $400 and hour to edit, The director gets 10K per day to shoot and direct, for 1 or 2 days. The producer bills a “day rate” of $600 a day to produce. The musician/ music creator? $20? and another $20 to the RF store?

Please give that some though RF operators. I vote that every RF site put in place a protective broadcast licensing tier of at least $1000 for national USA and European advertising campaigns that air on national TV where stems are part of the delivery. I am also speaking from the USA and European perspective in particular. I also do not buy into the “you have the right to set your price” argument…Yes, we can set the base Youtube license price, but RF site managers and owners need to have a high end price for national TV and radio spots. If music for spots falls to $20 we are in big, big trouble.

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