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I’m still in the non-exclusive camp as my PRO money is almost all non-exclusive and grows each quarter. A good chunk of that is from Jingle Punks (and yes I see stuff on Scripps every day, sigh…).
@wilx2 JP and AS are vastly different libraries. They have different business models, and a mostly different client base. JP pitches music, or at the very least provides music to producers on hard-drives. AS, in it’s own words, is a “marketplace” where you sell your music. Unlike JP, it does not send music out, rather clients come to its site and search.
JP is all about broadcast, because that’s where publishing money comes from. AS, on the other hand is a royalty free library that derives its money mostly from sales. As with most RF libraries, it is very likely that their client base is generally non-broadcast users (there are always exceptions).
Depending upon what,and how, you write AS may not be the right fit. Before you sign away a lot of tracks exclusively, what kind of music do you write and where do you want it placed? If you’re hoping to get a lot of music onto big network television shows, you are likely to be disappointed and then blame AS. If you write in a genre that doesn’t sell well on AS (you can find out in their knowledge base), you’re likely to be disappointed.
The library business is not monolithic entity in which every library serves the same purpose, has the same goals, or has the same clients. Yet, many writers blindly pump music into the system without even thinking about where or how it might work.
When I get an assignment from a library, 9 times out of 10 its not “give us a rock track, or a hip hop track. etc” It’s give us a sports track, a news track, a nostalgic track. The description I get is the purpose for which the music will be used, not the musical style.
So…that’s a long-winded way of saying you have to match the purpose of your music to the libraries whose clients have the most need for your music.
@ Art…you write great broadcast friendly music, which explains your success with JP! If I listened to your catalog, I bet there would be very few cues in the corporate “wallpaper” niche, which a client of mine called “forward motion” music. I think that your success with JP is a great example of finding the right library for your tracks.
Note: RF is the model that I’m focused on (other than upfront exclusive) because I have a large catalog of mostly non-broadcast music that comes from corporate, educational and documentary work. With respect to the exclusives, I get assignments.
Wish I could get the ^@%#$ “Quote” thing to work!
Okay here goes.
Great post as usual MichaelL. I agree that generally AS and other RF libraries have a different client base than a JP type library. I do tend to throw everything at a library though.
“When I get an assignment from a library, 9 times out of 10 its not “give us a rock track, or a hip hop track. etc” It’s give us a sports track, a news track, a nostalgic track.”
The above is the thing that took a long time to get through my head. I do find by changing the description to point to a “use” instead of a genre it seems to be helping sales on RF sites. In fact AS seems to be adding those “use” type of “genres” more and more.
Thanks guys. I’m by no means a guru. I’m trying to figure out this new library landscape, as you all are.
But….many of the re-titling libraries started out touting themselves as “anti-library” libraries. In other words…”we don’t do production music”…”we represent artists”..etc etc. That works if your focus is on licensing indie bands and you’re an indie band. But, if you are a composer who composes cues for a living, it’s meaningless. In that scenario, you just give them what you do, whether its hip hop, or indie rock, etc., and they decide how it could or should be used.
I’ve scored a lot of documentary, educational and corporate productions, and with minimal criteria, it was always my job as the composer to know, or figure out what music was appropriate. Of course, much of that has changed since scoring has been replaced in large part by song based sound tracks. So, what was sports music, or corporate music, or news music may not be what it used to be. As producers and programmers grapple for the attention, of a younger audience with an increasingly short attention span what constitutes potential “uses” for musical genres has changed. So….your guess is as good as mine. Often, libraries want a blend of old and new. For example, I think that I read somewhere, maybe on JP’s site, that they wanted Dubstep, but with traditional instruments added.
@wilx2. You’re tracks are very good, very “advertising” oriented, especially the whimsical stuff. With respect to libraries like JP, Crucial, and Scorekeepers, my approach (and this is just my opinion), I would try to determine what their strengths are. Do they place a lot of ads? Are they mostly MTV? How about Discovery Channel etc. If you find out that one is stronger than the others in a given area divide your tracks accordingly. Your dubstep cue might go to the library with a lot of MTV placements. Your “seashell” cue to one that places a lot of ads, and so on.As far as re-titling goes, US copyright law allows you to provide alternate titles for your works. You could, in theory, put all your tracks into RF libraries with one set of titles, and then into libraries like JP with another set of titles. But…instead of putting all of your tracks into into every re-title library give each one some, based upon their strengths, as discussed above. That would eliminate the issue of music supes getting the same tracks on hard drives from multiple sources. ….a strategy that I’m mulling.
Or…as Gael used to say, “just change the track a little…how hard is that?”
Sorry for the ramble. It’s been a long day of legal seminars.
“JP does do much more than just MTV placements, I have placements with them on quite a few cable and network shows”
Very true. In fact last BMI statement I had over $1500 in just PAs (Promotional Announcements) JP was responsible for.
“Almost all my jp placements are on cable shows that have lots of reruns over months of airing.”
It’s been said here before. It’s a numbers game!
No, I didn’t file anything so they were picked up off a cue sheet(?). Interestingly they were on the USA Network which according to the BMI site they don’t collect on. I think that info must not be up to date.
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