The "whitey" Email (Composers take note!)

[soph]

This is currently doing the rounds on facebook, but for those that haven’t gazed upon it yet it makes for interesting reading and highlights the “lack of music budget” myths we all come across.

[soph]

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/how_to_say_no_whiteys_perfect_reply_to_a_tv_company_who_wanted

The link didn’t appear to link, try here!

[More advice]

Not only should everyone in this forum NEVER work for free, we also should do the following:

1. Never send a track to a request where the publisher says “our client/ contact is needing a track that sounds like_____
Please supply a :30 and a 2 minute version. Regarding style, just do what you think is right.”
No mention of budget, no mention of what one would be paid if selected, no mention of deadline, no mention of brand or type of brand the commercial is for…or even if it is a commercial…It’s just “send it in when your’e done!!!!”

Are you kidding me?????

But here is the problem, so may of you are complying and enabling this type of behavior by desperately sending tracks in the hopes that something will stick. These types of briefs/ requests are not real briefs. And if the person needing the work done had an ounce of intelligence, they’d actually screen some pro composers’ work and hire them for a fee to score exactly what they need.

2. Contractually demand what YOU want, from here on out. I watched the Virgin disrupters video in it’s entirity finally (It’s 1 hour in length) and the point that really stuck was this: “When it comes to making deals, artists get what they demand, if they do not demand something, they will get nothing.” Here it is if you missed it.

This is so important because when are you all going to learn that signing exclusive in perpetuity deals for your tracks and songs for no advance payment = free, worthless, $0, 0 EUROS??? etc…

If you have a large successful, proven catalog that earns good money year after year, newsflash, you can start making demands on how YOU want to do business with a publisher. Here’s why, if you are making say….20K, 50K, 100K a year…whatever…well, so are they. And I certainly do not think it’s in their interests to lose guys who make money for them.

You should also use your past earnings as leverage when negotiating with new publishers. YOU set the terms for representation of your catalogue. Why shouldn’t you when you know you have a money making asset? …That’s my 2 cents for today….It’s nice to see a backlash and revolution movement from musicians and composers finally begin to develop. But we all have to do our part, especially those of us who have success selling and licensing our music.

Many won’t agree with me, but please know that I am talking to the experienced guys who already make significant revenue from their catalog’s. It is our duty to push back some and not cave in to the BS that is rampant in our industry.

[Desire_Inspires]

While Whitey’s email will get people fired up for a few days, it will not change anything. People will complain in public but give away tracks for free in private.

Those that do not give in will feel good about themselves, but the companies will just move on to another composer and get free music. The industry has changed and is not going back to the glory days.

Besides, each musician should have the freedom to do whatever he or she wants with his or her intellectual property. Some want money and some just want to be listened to. Neither approach is right or wrong.

[More advice]

DI…what are you looking for? Do you want to be heard? or do you write to make money? Your statement is bordering on absurd. People learn an instrument to perform, make recordings of their work, get hired to record or perform others works or play in a show for money, not for free. Music composition and playing an instrument is a craft that takes years and years of training and development, study, and practice.

Sorry…but I don’t know too many who “just want to be heard”…I do agree that people play instruments for enjoyment or even have that garage bar band thing going on, but anyone hanging around this forum and other forums are doing this to make money. If you find me a forum titled ” I write music and give it away for free and I’m loving life”…maybe I’ll buy into your statement. Didn’t you get into this to make money DI? Is anyone really into making PRODUCTION MUSIC for free? I think not my friend…

[MichaelL]

Some want money and some just want to be listened to.

Spoken from the comfort of a day gig.

Is anyone really into making PRODUCTION MUSIC for free?

Got to agree 100% with More Advice…absolutely not.

[Desire_Inspires]

I don’t really understand the argument from you guys.

You guys are music professionals. You know how to monetize your talent. Even better, you know how to monetize your talent enough to make living out of it!

How exactly does an amateur giving away free music hurt you? You lose no money or time from being asked for free music because you will simply say “no” and move on.

Besides, the industry is changing. Even the people that do make money from music are making less than they did 20 years ago. Those that choose to pursue a career in production music, like you guys, have adapted.

And why should I feel bad for having a day job and composing music on the side?

[Grant]

I think the problem is that a lot of people have a difficult time understanding that creative work has value. The reason for that, i think, is because composing and performing music does not seem to fit their definition of “work”

“work” could be defined as “doing something you would rather not do, but will do anyway as long as you pay me money”. So, I wouldn’t clean the toilets just for fun. But if I needed the money, well, I suppose I would, right?

So a lot of people see making music as a fun activity, something you do because you enjoy you. So then, who are you then to be so arrogant as to want to charge money for it? You should just do it for the love of it. Or for the recognition.

This whole problem will never go away. A lot of people just don’t understand that you can be in a “job” that you love doing. It just doesn’t compute! To a lot of people job = doing something you would rather not be doing. So they have no issue paying someone then to do a job they themselves would never do for no money.

Ever tried to have a conversation with someone who has no understanding of the music industry? Ever been asked “so what else do you do?”

If you say “no, this IS my job”, you often get this blank stare.

Now imagine someone with that worldview of creative people now starts a business and requires the “services” of those artists. Its not surprising that they expect you will just want to do it “for the love of it”. After all, why should they pay you? Its not like its actually “work”??

[More advice]

Grant, your argument is just as absurd as DI’s. Not only is this work, it is hard work and not the “vacation” you seem to be saying it is. It’s a life time of practice, study, research, playing, recording, mixing, mastering, up-loading, tagging, e-mailing, cold calling, invoicing, booking, paying others, negotiating.

It’s a business, Just like anything else Grant.

I like a lot about this business. I like the creative challenge, the writing process, and the fun of recording new tracks etc. I like it when I get checks the most! I hate the tagging, up-loading, catalog managing, soliciting clients, e-mailing, pitching, submitting…etc

It’s not all the cushy “I’m on a blissful vacation” scenario you are painting it to be.

Same goes for Film makers, actors, writers, film editors, graphic designers…It’s Work! and it’s a service humanity needs, big companies want and need and ask for it…

Let’s see you get on a stage every night and perform your ass off and live in hotels and on planes. Believe me, that “life style” is not as fun as you may think it is. Anyone doing it deserves every penny they earn. There is a reason why members of accomplished Symphony Orchestras in LA, Chicago, NYC, and London…etc… make $125,000 a year.

[The Dude]

@More Advice. I think you should reread Grant’s comment. As I read it, he was pointing out that some of the creative types that want music for free are the ones that may take the view that making music is just a “vacation”. He says in his FIRST SENTENCE that “the problem is that a lot of people have a difficult time understanding that creative work has value.” He points out that the viewpoint is a PROBLEM. Chill out and listen to someone else for a change, it might help your blood pressure.

[Art Munson]

@More Advice: Please read posts carefully before pulling your itchy trigger finger. You totally missed what Grant was saying!

[Grant Tregellas]

Yes. Thats what I meant. Sorry, if I didnt make my point clearly.

[More advice]

And Di…to answer your questions How exactly does an amateur giving away free music hurt you?…

It’s the precedent it sets…

The precedent that was set by giving tracks to library owners exclusively for them to control for free was a disaster and a stupid occurrence in this business and everyone needs to stop that behavior now.

It’s the same scenario for anyone giving away their CD away for free. It’s frequently done by folks who have other jobs, and don’t care either way because they have that other job. The internet set up a pipeline for amateurs to get involved. This, too has been a disaster to this business! Free tracks, free videos, Spotify, Pandora…it’s all insane! and it does and will impact production music producers if Artists can not find a way to sell their tracks. Why? Because everyone will morph into a “production music” producer. The behavior of not buying songs and CD’s needs to be unlearned, some how, some way, and everyone knows it.

Napster was a disaster. I predicted the day I learned about Napster that it would ultimately create a huge hardship for my business. It did!

[MichaelL]

@More Adivce..I don’t think Grant is “making” or agreeing with that argument. I think that he is acurately stating what some people’s attitude might be, i.e., they don’t think that what we do is work.

Not only is it work, it is a business. Like every other business it requires investment. I can’t begin to tell you how many thousands of dollars I’ve spent over the years, buying equipment, buying software, paying musicians, paying studios, registering copyrights, etc, etc.
My current set-up is probably in the mid-five figures. That’s a lot of money for “not work.”

But, while we are on the subject, writing some music is in fact work. I love to write music, but that does not mean that I love to write ALL music. I’ve written music for films that I wouldn’t want to watch once, let alone the few dozen times that it takes to compose the score.
How about industrial theater? Do you really think that singing the praises of selling life insurance fulfills my artistic mojo? Writing music for gigs like that IS work. In fact, anything short of getting up in the morning and writing exactly what I want, or feel, like writing can be as tedious and dull as any “real” job.

AND…that last point is what separates the pros from the hobbyists. The pros treat it like a job, and work 12 hours a day, sometimes six days a week, doing what is required, whether it is required by a client, or “required” to build your catalog.

How exactly does an amateur giving away free music hurt you?

It lowers the music users’ percieved value of music, which affects everyone. The more people that give it away the less valuable it becomes.

[MichaelL]

What The Dude and Art said +1. Read twice, write once.

[Author]

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