[Advice]

This stuff always confuses me and I don’t look at it much because (1) I am not an artist and (2) Often, it’s pennies for a lot of admin work. That being said, can someone address whether it’s OK to use these services for tracks that are in exclusive music libraries?

MLC
SoundExchange
Neighboring Rights Organizations

Also, which apply to writers/composers vs. performing artists?

This may be addressed elsewhere on MLR, feel free to point me. Some simple answers to the above, without legal terminology, would be great.

Thanks!

[Advice]

Do you mean a sync agency/agent? It’s very good working with one as they (generally) only go after placements with an upfront sync fee. Some don’t even take publishing share, just the sync fee split.

That being said, they are highly selective, even more so in most cases than the selective libraries. You need to have top notch tracks that are sync-worthy.

HTH

[Advice]

Hi Lila
I’m not comfortable giving out email addresses publicly so…
Go to their website’s Contact Us page, drop them an email asking how to submit music. GlowMusicGroup dot com. It’s probably best to briefly introduce yourself and provide a website link so they get a feel for what you do.

HTH!
😀

[Advice]

Sync agents only go after higher end placements that always have a sync fee. Their income is generally all or most from sync fees. It varies, but they often don’t take a publishing share. Some are exclusive, some not.

[Advice]

Hey Dan
I’ve worked with Glow and had a nice placement by them around 1-2 years ago. They actively pitch and continue to get good placements. They are highly selective and reject a large percentage of what is submitted. I don’t know much about instrumental cues with them but my *guess* would be if it has excellent licensing potential, they’d be interested. Probably not the place for typical reality TV cues, more likely very syncable instrumentals.

They only seek sync fee deals which they split with the writers and take no publishing.

HTH

[Advice]

Glow Music Group is a sync agency, not a library. As far as I know they are NON-exclusive as I have some songs with them. I had one nice placement with a decent sync fee. They do not take any publishing, only a split of sync fee.

EXTREMELY selective. If you got any accepted, you have some excellent sync-worthy material.

HTH. Good luck!

[Advice]

I think it’s best to start with the library who made the placement.

[Advice]

Monkeyman

I actually agree with the person who was hiring you. The whole idea of a WFH is one fee, they own everything, and you get no additional royalties or payments of any kind.

Keep in mind that the WFH contract *might* have to be shown to others that the client is working with and any encumbrance on rights, ownership, future liabilities, etc. can be a show stopper for them. They could end up involved in a lawsuit, for example. I’ve seen music libraries refuse songs if the WFH agreement had any other obligations of any kind.

So if you’re not comfortable with that price and nothing else, you can see if you can get a higher fee. But it should be a once and done thing. Take it or leave it.

Best,
Casey

[Advice]

Most successful libraries have plenty of great music and do not need to cold call to get more. They usually have way more submissions than they can handle as well as a darn good catalog. It would be a rarity that a solid opportunity would come from a cold call like that.

Delete and move on.

Best

[Advice]

Thanks! It was Source Audio I was looking for and found it using those links. 🙂

[Advice]

Often being a little fish in a huge pond isn’t the best option. The best ones for me have been smaller, more boutique, ones that have good relationships with a number of TV and film music sups.

Of course even with the libraries that “actively” seeking placements, tracks can linger for months, years, or forever without a placement.

[Advice]

I’m with Art here. They miss a lot but they can also pick up something that makes you money. While it’s true that the PROs don’t accept Tunesat detections for proof of broadcast, a detection can have you go back to the library and see why you never saw a cue sheet, got paid, etc. Tunesat picked on a significant network placement for me for which I never got an ASCAP cue sheet. I contacted the library who in turn contacted the client who made a cue sheet correction. It turned out that my track was a last minute substitution and they had forgotton to fix it on the cue sheet.

It’s true that 50 tracks isn’t much but heck, that’s for free. It’s also true that the paid options are way too expensive for anyone who is not managing a very large catalog with a lot of revenue involved such as it might be for a library.

[Advice]

Full disclosure, I know nothing about this company.

It seems to me that music supervisors, libraries, and video content creators already live in a mega saturated market full of places to get music. And there’s certianly no shortage of sites out there to “help people get their music into the right hands”. And music libraries don’t have exactly struggle to find music.

This is not a rant against anyone who charges, the so called “pay to play”. I hate that term and I do still work with one company I respect (don’t ask which one please).

But I believe the best placement strategy is work directly with good music libraries. They have the contacts and connections. If you can find out what they are most looking for and that suits your style, that gives the best chances. A music library can pitch your track to many clients over many years. A one-time brief for one placement is just that. And just because your track is on some website, doesn’t mean anyone will ever hear it.

JMHO

[Advice]

I have to agree with what’s been said in that it has to be something you enjoy doing or you won’t be good at and probably lose interest. So pick a style that you hear regularly on TV shows and know you could excel at and go for it.

[Advice]

I like Bandzoogle for musician/composer websites since they have tons of templates and make putting up links to songs very easy. It runs around $19.95 a month (If I recall) to include email with your domain as well. I don’t know if that’s within your budget.

Unlike Art, I have no interest in actually selling music on my site. I just want it represent who I am and samples of my work. Interestingly, I never use it to send song links to libraries or sups. For that I use Disco. I find it quicker and easier to customize playlists for that purpose with Disco. Soundcloud works as well but has issues with piracy and running ads.

[Author]

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