[Alan]

I had a couple new ones this week. The series non-series filter hasn’t worked for a while either

[Alan]

I got lucky this time. Had my best July domestic ever. But I had a General Mills commercial that ran from August to December hundreds of times plus 4:30 network placement for a Downton Abbey special. Without those, it would have been pretty dismal.

[Alan]

I was down about 10% but I had a few good placements (low 3 figures) that padded my statement.

[Alan]

Thanks for opening up this old wound Art! I’ve never been paid for a Promo by ASCAP. One in particular drives me nuts. A track of mine has been used in a 15 second Animal Planet Puppy Bowl promo for 4 consecutive years. I’ve hounded ASCAP, sent them Tunesat audio, but they don’t care one bit, no Ad Code, no royalties. It doesn’t show up on Numerator and I can’t find it on any social media, but I have MANY Tunesat hits. This year I didn’t even bother trying.

You have nothing to lose by submitting your proof/ data.

I’ve lost plenty of time

[Alan]

Could you put this into perspective compared to the potential payouts from Network or Cable airings per household view?

ASCAP doesn’t viewership info. I can tell you one 16 second prime time airing on The Voice (NBC) paid about $60. I looked up their viewership and got 8 million, so maybe Mrs. Maisel was in line with the Networks. It just feels pretty low for such a successful show. I once got over $300 for 10 seconds on an NFL playoff game and the track had a co-writer. That’s the kind of back end I expected for Maisel.

[Alan]

A bit off topic, but here are some factual streaming numbers from my January 2020 ASCAP statement to ponder
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (winner of multiple Golden Globe and Emmy awards)
11 second placement with 5,551,334 plays = $24.87404
22 second placement with 7,734,494 plays = $73.87124
Note, I received a $500 sync fee for each placement

I my view, these are premium placements with HORRIBLE back end. The future of PRO income looks pretty dismal to me.

[Alan]

What do you think the chances are this boosts Netflix streaming royalties by 35%?

Well, that would be good news for us. When was the last time we had good news?

[Alan]

They are slow to file. My oldest Daily Show placement of 34 seconds aired 4/26/2017. I got $12.40 for it on my April 2018 ASCAP payout. Another $16.29 in August of 2018. Not a big money maker.

[Alan]

I’ve had a few placements on Yes. NY Yankees pregame. Never got any back end on them.

[Alan]

Thanks for the replies.

Have you listened to all four versions on Numerator to determine if your music is in all four?”
Yes, my track is in all four versions. Each has it’s own ad code. I included all four ad codes in a single ASCAP claim.
Assuming the Numerator numbers are correct, I find it surprising that Tunesat only detected 10 of those 150 airings.

I had another commercial in Jan/Feb of 2019 that aired 197 times on CNN/Fox News/Headline News/MSNBC in the morning shows. I put in an ASCAP claim and got this reply
“Eligible TV performances will be distributed commencing with the September/October 2019 distribution.”
Of course, there was no payout. I’m reaching out now, but I suspect I’ll get the ASCAP survey standard reply.
Anyone have any experience with these types of commercials?

[Alan]

Congrats CON!
I’ve had a few of good recent non-ex placements too.
– 2 minutes on an NBC primetime special “Return to Downton Abbey- A Grand Event” prior to the movie release.
– 15 seconds in a movie trailer for “7 Days to Vegas”
– A 15 second General Mills commercial as run over 100 times since August according to Numerator, mostly for the college football market. The odd thing is Tunesat has only picked up about 10 of them on ESPN2. Maybe the others were streaming? I have no idea what kind of back end that will be.

The point is non-ex tracks are still useful.

I should also mention I’m starting to see my exclusive stuff get placed on Scripps channels, and nothing else.

[Alan]

I pay for it. For me it is worth it. The free account (when I had it) was limited to 50 detections per month. I would sometimes hit that in the first week. I have discovered placements I would not have known about, and been paid royalties I would not have received because of Tunesat.
The down side is I hear so much of my music on TV that I know I will never be paid for, it makes me crazy. But I’m glad I’m at least aware of it so I can focus my efforts on what does pay.

[Alan]

… If you don’t mind me asking, what courses did you take, and how was the quality of teaching?

Hi Keith,
Art likes these threads to stay on topic, so maybe it should move to a new one about Berklee Online, but I’ll answer and let him decide.
I have a “Master Certificate in Music Production and Technology” which is 15 courses. I finished in 2011, so I’m sure there must be improvements since then. Looking back, most all the courses were good. The most helpful courses for me in creating production music were:
-Producing Music with Reason facilitated by Erik Hawkins. He also has great YouTube channel
-Critical Listening (Dan Thompson)
-Audio Mastering Techniques (Jonathan Wyner)
-Sampling and Audio Production (David Doms)

[Alan]

By not getting paid for placements, do you mean the exclusive libraries didnt register them correctly with the PRO?

No, I mean they license them to Scripps, PBS, BTN, etc that pay very little to no back end.

[Alan]

bump! figured it would be nice to hear how the previous posters did last year, and maybe some new “5 year” folks could chime in as well

+1
As a newcomer I find great wisdom and inspiration in this thread… I humbly request all you veterans to update us on your progress in 2018.

Here you go, I guess this is a 9 year report for me, wow!
2018 Total Income – $23.5K (down about 10% from previous year)
PRO Income – $11.7K (up about 11%)
RF Income – about $10K (about the same)
Sync Fees – about $2K (down about 60%, as expected, I had a lucky 2017)

I expect I’ll be leveling off now at $20K-$25K annually.
I only wrote about 25 tracks in 2018, but I’m shooting for higher quality now. I’ve hired session musicians a few times, plus I’m opting to record real instruments over samples as much as possible. That really slows things down, but I’m hoping the better quality will pay off in the long run. I bought a tuba last year, haha!
My catalog is a little over 300 tracks now.
I feel like I still don’t know nearly enough about this business, but I have gotten better at spotting a rotten deal.
My Tunesat Subscription has made me very cynical. Now that I know how often I don’t get paid for my placements, I’m very selective about what goes to exclusive broadcast libraries.
Good luck in 2019 all!

[Author]

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