[Art Munson]

Search for “Mark Petrie” here on MLR. You can find some great tips he’s posted.

[Art Munson]

Got the money in my account today but statement not up last time I checked. Nice payment though, about 50% more than last one.

[Art Munson]

Should I bother taking the (huge) amount of time to manually register thousands of cues? Or can I trust they’ll be registered by libraries?

I don’t worry about it. They will get picked off the cue sheet even if they are not registered.

[Art Munson]

I honestly have not seen any amateur take away jobs from professionals.

DI, doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened just because you haven’t seen it.

Also DI, please stop with the inflammatory remarks. They have been removed from your previous post and serve no useful purpose!

[Art Munson]

Anyone else taken the plunge?

If you mean AS, not me at this point.

[Art Munson]

Basically – another way to ask the question – if I’ve got my music inside various non-excl and excl libraries, will they register them either upon submission or upon successful license?

Depends on the library. Some register on submission, some on placement.

[Art Munson]

Simple: All composers hold the line with all customers and say “Take it or leave it”. Pay $100 or….have silence as your background music cue.

Problem is, it isn’t simple! This has been mentioned many times, ad-nauseum, here. There is no such thing as a one size fits all composer. Each has their own individual agenda based on many variables, skills, age, experience, needs, etc.

The cheapest deal is basically $450 7 months prior to departure. This ticket always cost $180 to $300 from Mid eighties until perhaps 2 or 3 years ago.

But the airlines are always play games with pricing they also have much more control over pricing depending on what airports they serve and how many slots they control. Most were running in the red, or close to it, until they started charging for services that were once free.

[Art Munson]

The Airlines pulled it off, They have systematically raised prices and hold the line. Composers and libraries should do the same.

Actually what the airlines did was start charging for services they hadn’t charged for before. Blankets, pillows, bags, using the bathroom (actually one airlines was considering that idea) etc. It’s only recently that they started showing large profits and it’s mainly because of those fees. So how could we take the same approach to production music?

[Art Munson]

Should I be registering the non-exclusive ones at BMI/ASCAP myself under their original titles? Or should I just let the libraries or end clients take care of it?

The libraries will most likely only register it under the title they will use.

[Art Munson]

AKIK you can’t copyright a title so that point may be moot. MichaelL would know better. As for your PRO you can register alternate titles and probably after the fact of the initial registration. Check with your PRO.

[Art Munson]

“How much time do you spend on a broadcast quality cue?” and the answer is always “at least 10 hours.” ‘At Least” is the operative word and I would not be surprised if 12 to 14 is more realistic from composition to live recording overdubs to final mix and mastering.

That’s true for me also. I have (and can) crank out cues much faster but I never find it as satisfying. I really do enjoy the process more than the end result. As I mentioned earlier I have had success with those “cranked” cues but they don’t seem to satisfy as much creatively.

[Art Munson]

It was fun to crank out a lot, but it’s unsustainable, and after a while very unsatisfying creatively.

Yep, I agree. I think it’s just part of the maturation process as a writer.

[Art Munson]

My process is for a full blown track (4 minutes)

Generally 2 minutes is plenty for production music. Shorter tracks might speed up your process.

[Art Munson]

150+ cues a year is a bit of an overkill.
You`ll get nuts after some years

Amen!

[Art Munson]

I shoot for one per week… I only have about 120 tracks at this point only because I keep re-doing crappy tracks rather than throw them away.

Same here. I’m the king of “re-purposing”! 🙂

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