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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.
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
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.
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.
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BMAT’s website is pretty annoying and a turn off. You can’t get any information without going through a sales lead generation thing. They really have to simplify things to “What do you do and how much do you charge?” I understand that for big publishers, a personalized quote may be needed. But in general, the site is a sales & marketing disaster (not said meanly, just honesty). I wonder how many visitors leave right away because they can’t figure out anything from the website. BMAT may have great services, I don’t know. But MHO is you have change your web presence to get anywhere. I could be wrong there, I know. PS I am not in the website development business, not selling anything.
If songs are in regular Audiosparx (not Radiosparx only), you can’t put the songs with content ID services such as Identifyy. AS does the content ID management for those tracks and it’s a clause in the agreement. Personally, I don’t care as long as SOMEONE is doing it. I don’t add tracks to Audiosparx anymore, haven’t for a long time. I created a new artist on my account and made that artist “Radiosparx Only”. I learned that by asking AS how to do it. However, you can’t put songs already in full Audiosparx with the initial artist into the Radiosparx Only artist.
Songs that are with a Radiosparx Only artist are free for you to manage content ID with on your own as RS is in-store audio play only. For more info, contact AS.
HTH
I think comparing our quarterlies in terms of increases/decreases with other composers doesn’t work because there are too many varaiables. If I have some network TV placements 6-9 months before the payout, it will go up significantly. There can be a flurry of activity on reality TV show reruns that use one person’s tracks, but not someone else’s. Our trends would probably only parallel each others if/when there is a widespread industry issue over many months. The current writers & actors strikes could be such an issue whereby everyone sees a drop a few quarters from when it started. But for the most part, trends will vary quite a bit from person to person.
What type of music do you do? There are some vocal song libraries that get sync fees. Also, sync agents. Work has to be top notch. I’m not sure if I can mention names on the forum here- I think that’s limited to members who pay to read library info. For cues, buyouts are out there but generally if you build a relationship with a library such that they really want you tracks.
As Art said, upfront fees are tough to get these days. Tell us more about the kind of music you do and what kind of success you’ve had so far.
Best
@mamster
I went to the BMAt website and found it to be one of the most confusing, unclear sites I have ever visited. I still have no idea what the company can do for me as far as detections and there does not appear to be any pricing info. Not being mean honestly, but this is a textbook example of how not to design a website.Or be like me… Lose money on every song but make it up in volume. 😉 [laugh emoticon here]
There is no simple answer to the question of which libraries to submit to. There are hundreds, probably thousands, of libraries. They differ in lots of ways. And everyone’s experience with specific libraries is different.
Use this site to read about libraries. You can only see the library section if you join MLR. You can try a week for $24.95 to see if it’s helpful to you. I’m not giving you a sales pitch here (I have no reason to), just stating facts.
The library is your first point of contact for getting it fixed. Cue sheet errors happen. While most PROs like ASCAP don’t accept Tunesat detections as evidence of placement, it helps you go back to the library and ask about something that doesn’t appear to be correct. Since they get paid the same as you, they *should* look into it.
One time I picked up a major network placement on Tunesat but a year later, still no cue sheet. Having seen that detection got me to ask the library who contacted the show to get it fixed. It was a cue sheet error whereby they swapped out tunes at the last minute (I think I was a last minute switch) but didn’t document it correctly. Tunesat is not perfect (at all!) but sometimes it can find you money.
Do the different names have difference CAE/IPI numbers? If they are different, the library only needs to have that name and IPI number and nothing else matters. If they are the same, it can create confusion and it’s really a bad idea to have so many. I wouldn’t tell the non-exc library owner that you are in 8 libraries, especially if it’s the same tracks. While you are allowed to do this (many of us do), it’s not a positive with the library- a possible turnoff.
Why the heck do you have so many names to begin with? Do you have an artist career that you want to keep separate from your Film/TV work? That’s the only reason I (personally) can think of for more than one name. My suggestion is clean this up and get it down to 2 names. Way too messy.
It’s better to have too much than too little, as Art said, the editor can always fade or chop early. That definitely applies to 30 and 60 sec versions. With a 10-15 sec stinger, however, an 8 sec ring out might not leave room for other material in there so go by how it sounds in terms of visualizing the end of a scene. You might want to cut a few secs off that ring out.