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One thing some people don’t consider is if your backup drive(s) are physically in the same location as your DAW (e.g. internal or external in the same room), fire, flood, theft, etc can make you lose everything. So it’s important that at least one backup is offsite– either a drive stored elsewhere or web-based.
I’ve opted for one daily external HD backup and one cloud service which runs in the background.
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Same here… I have a cue on a season 2 episode but no payments on this ASCAP statement… Damn… one less cuppa coffee this quarter. 😉
I’m sure it’s doable and others have mentioned there are folks doing it. Two big challenges I see are (1) Exclusivity. You can’t have composers pitching the same tracks to the same libraries on their own. (2) How do you get paid? It would be difficult to run a business based on placement results (e.g. % of sales) only since these vary so much and take years to develop. Composers are reluctant sometimes to pay upfront with no guarantee of results and no one can make a guarantee. If you wanted to share in publishing, that would be problematic since the libraries themselves generally want the publishers share. Asking them to split that can make things complicated for them.
I ran a small business years ago where I dealt with many songwriters and composers. Most of the time it was smooth and easy but sometimes (just look at some of the posts on forums like this one) the bad situations made it very difficult. Just getting people to sign and return contracts was a pain at times.
And never underestimate how many hours of work are required before you even see a penny. You have to be thinking long term, 2, 3, 5 years in planning.
As I said upfront, I’m sure it’s doable and with the right creativity, business skills, and approach, there is a business model out there.
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One thing you can at least TRY is ask the company offering you the exclusive deal with 5 year reversion, if they would consider shortening it 4 or better 3 years. It never hurts to ask… Worst case, they say no. Some are more flexible than others in terms of changes to contracts.
Of course, many libraries use 5 years because that is the number that truly makes sense for their business model. It IS a slow moving world for what we do.
Best
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Nope, not Mega Tracks… 😉
I’ve only heard of one such situation and if it’s the library I’m thinking of, I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it. 🙂
Art
So how exactly does this work with respect to AS? I don’t recall any correspondence from them regarding this (I could have missed it). Am I supposed to do something to make it happen or not happen?
Totally lost and confused.
😉 Thanks!
As with #tag’s post, this is all new to me and I don’t understand what this is all about. Could someone explain what PPC is as it relates to composers on AS?
All Greek to me right now…
Thanks and Happy Holidays to all!
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Thanks and Happy Holidays, Michael! 🙂
Question for MichaelL… (And it IS a question, not a statement.)… I always understood that you don’t copyright TITLES, you copyright the underlying work. Obviously, there are many copyrighted songs with the same title.
So, I’m confused as to why your track in multiple re-title libraries would have any impact on a copyright infringement claim. There is material on deposit with the LOC that shows exactly the music, lyrics, etc. If a library place your music on a TV show under some title that doesn’t match the copyright title, wouldn’t the acutal music itself be the item to consider?
Just curious…
And given that you need substantial damages to file a copyright claim lawsuit, I think many songwriters and composers just plain worry too much about this. We have to weigh the cost of filing fees against potential earnings. If I were to file every track as an individual item, I’d spend $35 each. Not very cost effective for an extremely low risk scenario.
Thanks Michael. I always appreciate your input!
Happy Holidays!
Generic, energetic rock guitar-based… Seems like the cable reality shows (which are, of course, the highest quality in TV programming!) always use those.
Maybe next would be world music.
That being said, my catalog is not large and therefore my stats may not be reflective of anything.
Happy Holidays!
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One could make the argument that if you are not prolific, you shouldn’t be in this game. Not a very nice thing to hear if you only write a handful of tracks per year (like me!), but every industry has qualities one must have to truly succeed.
Sorry, but that is an absolutely viable argument, and a very realistic one. We’ve done the math. It takes hundreds, if not thousands, of tracks to earn a living at this. Y0u are 100% correct. Every industry has “qualities one must have to truly succeed, ” or perhaps requirements. In law and medicine you must have degrees and pass bar exams and boards. Plumbers and electricians must be licensed. While there are no such formal requirements for success in this business, there are unwritten rules and harsh realities.
Michael
Just wanted so first say how much I enjoy your posts. You are always a voice of reason and experience and do a great job of informing and educating fellow composers. 🙂 Much appreciated!
I agree with your response completely. As you know, I was pointing out that being afraid to sign exclusives often goes hand in hand with not writing enough tracks such that you can sign a bunch, let ’em go, and just write some more.
As far as being in the game, not everyone has the goal of making a full time living at this. Some would like to earn some supplementary bucks, get pleasure and enjoyment out of seeing their music used in film/TV, etc. But yes, less tracks in the market, less chance regardless of what the goal is. And some of us who are not true f/t pros may be “weeded out” (for lack of a better term) as the industry shakes out, returns to primarily exclusive (except maybe so called “lower end” RF opps), etc. (I know some folks make lots of money in RF but they have a lot of tracks to begin with)…
BTW, one way to increase your output and quality is to network more with other songwriters and composers and collaborate. That’s what I do more of now and the resulting tracks generally get put it only one library, especially when the library is a really good one.
Thanks again, Michael!
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My understanding is the PROs are still slow to adapt watermarking or fingerprinting, so *right now* the issue is not PROs using technology, it’s what the end users (networks, shows, sups, etc) are willing to accept. They are our customers. Ultimately, if they demand music that is only represented exclusively, that’s the way it will be.
I have the same tracks in many libraries- something I started years ago before it became an issue. I’ve slowed down this practice quite a bit as I read more and more that down the road I could shoot myself in the foot. If I get a track into a quality library (like an occasional acceptance to that very picky LA library), I won’t put it elsewhere.
I’d be inclined to say that for tracks in RF libraries whereby the sale depends on end users coming to the site and finding your track, it MIGHT be less risky to be in multiple ones (though you are still competing with yourself and watering down the market). However, with the libraries that market their catalog to music sups via hard disks, catalog website access, etc and may be doing blanket deals, the risk is higher.
We’ve read on these boards how some end users don’t want to pay for blanket deals with multiple providers only to find the same tracks duplicated– a waste of time and money. Budgets may be too tight to support that. And even in non-blanket situations, all it takes is getting burned once with legal problems over who owns a track to set new policy.
One thing I’ve observed is many experienced composers who are very prolific will treat every deal as exclusive (e.g. one track/one library). They don’t need to protect every track as one of their “babies”.
But less prolific folks like myself are much more reluctant to sign exclusives for obvious reasons. Each track holds more importance.
One could make the argument that if you are not prolific, you shouldn’t be in this game. Not a very nice thing to hear if you only write a handful of tracks per year (like me!), but every industry has qualities one must have to truly succeed.
I think the most important thing is to make educated choices and understand the POSSIBLE consequences that go along with them. One shouldn’t assume the trend toward all exclusive isn’t real, nor should they panic either.
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I think it’s impossible to generalize about the quality of music in libraries based on exclusive vs. non-exclusive. In fact, it’s probably dangerous to even think that way when writing music. It varies so much.
Just write the best music you can all the time and place it where the opportunity for placement seems best, based on the info available.
My 2 cents.
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