[Art Munson]

“The average gratis-license royalty as reported on my July ASCAP statement was $1.95 for each placement. I can earn $20.00 for a royalty free sale, or ten times that!”

I have to disagree here. My BMI income far outweighs what my RF income is by a factor of almost 10 to 1. That BMI income is about 85% from non-exclusive libraries.

[Art Munson]

>”This is not a business that you can dabble in.”<

I don’t get this at all… Writing for music libraries seems to me to be perfect for dabbling. In fact, at the moment it’s hard for me to think of a business that’s more suited as such. I would imagine that most people that write for libraries are also doing something else. I personally make a living doing music production. About 2/3 to 3/4 of it is producing and engineering recordings for other people and the rest is from writing but about 90% of my writing income is from sources besides libraries. Hence my original post. I’m now trying to figure out how to get that library percentage to increase.

I want to be clear, I’m not debating you on the discouraging nature of the numbers. To the contrary, I see it in my own experience. The numbers can be quite discouraging. I suppose it all depends upon one’s perspective.  If I were depending on library music to make a living I wouldn’t be making much of a a living (I wouldn’t be making a living at all). But, as it is, an interesting and enjoyable sidebar to the other things I do in music, I love it. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t care about the value of production music. I do and I want to do my part to preserve it. I would love to see everyone here making more. That would be neat but I digress…

As time moves on I hope to do more writing and less other stuff just because I enjoy it so much. Time will tell if that’s possible for me but if it is I doubt that it will solely be through library music (although I understand there are several here that do quite well). I’m hoping that library music can be a good part of it though.

I’m just glad there’s more than one path and we’re all free to figure out our own.

 

[Art Munson]

“>Why throw your tracks into the gratis-license pool for $10?<

Hi Michael, I can confirm what you wrote. The average gratis-license royalty as reported on my July ASCAP statement was $1.95 for each placement. I can earn $20.00 for a royalty free sale, or ten times that! $1.95 just ain’t worth it! I’m so glad my custom composing/song writing work (non-library) has picked up!”

Amen to this! I definitely see this phenomenon each quarter.  In my case, it seems to happen just as often with tracks from exclusives as non-exclusives. Actually, this whole conversation has me thinking of checking into placing more music into RF situations. Right now I’ve got tracks with two and one of them is a regular small paycheck. Even so, I can definitely see the potential and the possible advantages.

 

 

[Art Munson]

@MichaelL

“You won’t like my answer.”

Actually, I like your answer just fine and  I certainly appreciate that you’ve taken the time and effort to respond.

To date, my approach is similar to yours. Almost everything that I have out there at the moment was written directly for a show (work for hire) or is signed to an exclusive library. I currently have a handful of tracks in two non-exclusives and there only a small amount of overlap. It’s just something I’m checking out (further signing with non-exclusives) but I’m not advocating it one way or another. To me it’s just something I’m looking into and this is an interesting conversation and I’m trying to learn more.

As far as the library I was referencing in my original post, they still haven’t answered my upload question and, from where I’m at now, they just seem to want to stockpile tracks without doing much beyond that. All well and good and, really, none of my business if I’m not working with them but with all the options out there they’re not looking so attractive to me at this point so I’ll probably just let it go and move along.

Thanks again!

 

[Art Munson]

@MichaelL

“Just imagine being on the RECEIVING end of that mess. Think it gives the producers a warm and fuzzy feeling about composers? We are our own worst enemy.”

Out of curiosity, how do you think composers can stop being “our own worst enemy”? On the one hand,  you advise not turning one’s back on any income stream but you also seem to be saying that we are causing ourselves problems by participating in some of them. What’s your approach? Is this just the way it is or is there a solution?

[Art Munson]

>Is it possible that their critical listening comes later? For example, you do the paperwork and upload say 30 cues. They listen to your uploads and reject 15 of them? So this initial listening of just 10 seconds was only to get you to the next step?<

It’s possible, I suppose, but that’s not what I’m gathering from their communication…

I think they may be making it easy for me to decide since I’ve asked them a question regarding a confusing request in their upload process (they want ID3 tags on wav files which I don’t think is possible?…) and so far I’m not getting a reply. Of course they may be very busy and unable to reply for a while but I’m glad to mull it over in the meantime and keep the option open.

What I believe I’m seeing here is a company that’s a sidebar to other pursuits in the music business. They seem to be passive and willing to stockpile whatever is sent to them in case something comes up. Of course, I could be wrong, maybe they’re more active than they appear to be. Regardless, they can conduct their business however they see fit. What I found off putting in the first place was the initial dishonesty in saying that they were listening to music that they were obviously not. It’s not a big deal but to me it is a weird way to start a professional conversation – it just puts a little bad taste in my mouth, that’s all…

Besides all that, the way I work is that I try to stay busy and productive no matter what, then I weigh out the opportunities and prioritize them. I find that it all kind of takes care of itself that way. Since I posted this yesterday morning other opportunities have started looking better and this one has faded. I’ll just pursue those other opportunities first and let this one sit for a while. If, later on, I end up with the time and the effort seems worth it may send these folks some music. If they eventually fall off my list that’s fine too.

The main thing for me is to keep moving forward and hopefully always keep learning along the way…

Thanks again everybody!

 

[Art Munson]

Sometimes they get listened to and sometimes they don’t. You should e-mail Mark (the owner). He’s a very straight up guy.

[Art Munson]

Thanks to everyone for your responses!

[Art Munson]

@ MichaelL

Thanks for your response. I was specifically asking about folks feelings and thoughts toward libraries that accept music without listening to it first. Let me attempt to clarify, I already have music in both non-exclusive and royalty free libraries. I’m not wrestling with that particular business decision and I don’t think I’m “above” any particular business model. The non-exclusive and RF libraries that I’m with did listen to my music first and the royalty free library I’m with is actually very active during the composition process. I just have concerns about a library that doesn’t seem to care but otherwise presents itself well. I would think that that attitude could possibly reflect back on it’s contributors but that’s where I’m not sure and I’m asking for insight and/ or experience here.

 

[Art Munson]

Thanks, Art!

[Art Munson]

“Ha! Hopefully It’s obvious that I meant to type “without listening” in the title. Silly fingers…”

Got that fixed for you.

[Art Munson]

Ha! Hopefully It’s obvious that I meant to type “without listening” in the title. Silly fingers… It would be nice if you could edit these things if you make a mistake…

[Art Munson]

bigg rome:
I am still Team JP but i just speak my truth.
After all not most are notwilling to do that in todays society

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That’s fine but your “truth” may not be the same as another persons. I’m just trying to keep life amicable. 🙂

[Art Munson]

bigg rome:

[Removed by moderator – not relevant. Please keep this forum friendly!]

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Please keep it friendly bigg rome as I will remove comments that add nothing to the conversation and only try to inflame.

[Art Munson]

Scott Ross:
Well, that’s a bummer about the dvds. I have no idea how it got there.

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You can find out, just takes some digging. Try finding the production company and/or the music editor or music supervisor. It’s been my experience when you are trying to track someone potentially using your music without a license, they respond very well.

[Author]

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