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Yeah, definitely wait to buy an iMac. They’re announcing new models next week, probably including a 21.5-inch retina model.
Truth be told, though, I’m running a mid-2011 21.5-inch quad-core i7 iMac, 12GB of RAM, and it’s holding up pretty well. I’m running some 96k sessions right now (not my choice!), and certain plugins are hogs at 96k, but if you’re recording at 48k like a regular person, even “last year’s model” will be more than enough (although if you run a lot of samples, you’ll need a ton of RAM, and it’s not user-serviceable anymore — this is a HUGE problem). The i7 iMacs are beasts.
But wait for the new ones, even if you’re going to buy an old one.
The flip side is that there are some very successful libraries not releasing a ton of music and still making plenty of money. I’m doing some freelance right now for a library that has several salaried in-house composers and occasionally uses freelancers. They pay freelancers up-front very, very well. The standard is super high. Nobody there is knocking out two (or even one) of these in a day. They workshop every track to make sure it will sync not just tomorrow, but for the long term. It’s been really eye-opening to have conversations with them.
If you’re looking for significant up-front fees, it seems like that’s the market to target. Which isn’t to say that churning out a beat in a few hours won’t make you money–it probably will, if you’re churning out good stuff–but the libraries that are paying up-front are looking for stuff that’s going to sync over and over for the long term.
You might get a replay on a Spanish-language network (I know WWE re-runs Raw in Spanish on one of the Universal-owned networks, not sure about Smackdown), but other than that, it will only air once.
At least yours went to broadcast–just saw a cue sheet for WWE Legends House, which was a WWE Network (over-the-top, non-broadcast) exclusive. Back-end should be enough to buy a couple penny candies … do they still sell those?
Ha, you know, last week, Tunesat detected a usage for me in a late-night replay on History Channel, but missed the prime time premiere … so they’re definitely missing things.
Yup, especially if I’m working in a well-trodden genre for me (i.e., guitar rock), by the time the tracking is done, the mix is 90% of the way there. I stick my 2-buss processing on (color, compression, EQ, exciter, widening, limiting), tweak the threshold on the compressor and limiter, tweak the faders to play nice with the compression, jiggle the EQ around, and it’s done. It’s really rare that I spend more than half an hour on a mix, and more often than not it happens faster than that. These aren’t great mixes–they’d never fly on Top 40 radio–but they’re usually pretty good.
Which isn’t to say that I don’t sometimes bounce a dud–it definitely happens–but if I’m working with sounds I’m familiar with, I don’t sweat the mix much.
I had a few great placements this year from a small, exclusive catalog, but they’re not ongoing. I’m seeing a pretty consistent flow of Tunesat detections from a large, formerly-non-exclusive library (with whom I still have a non-exclusive agreement). A similar number of cues in another well-known formerly-non-exclusive library (with whom I have an exclusive agreement) are showing bupkis.
The US DOJ is reviewing the regulations that are (more-or-less) hamstringing ASCAP and BMI from raising royalty rates for streaming services like Pandora and Spotify. Until the PROs can treat streaming broadcasts just like any other broadcast, services will be able to get away with paying these pitiful songwriting/publishing royalties.
I don’t expect a miracle, though. How much has the landscape changed in just the last decade? In 2004, there was no YouTube. iTunes had only just launched for Windows. There were precious few outlets to legally purchase digital music. Now the landscape includes a hefty handful of streaming services, internet radio, live and recorded streaming programming, not to mention “traditional” downloads. By the time the rules are re-written, the target will have moved again–somebody else will have found a way to pay as little as possible for as much as possible.
Baby steps, I guess?
Likewise, Chuck! Have been lurking here awhile.
And Musicmatters, maybe I’m way off base here, but if the track is registered with your PRO, and the RF site has that info, it’s at least somewhat likely that you’ll (eventually) get international royalties from the usage.
For what it’s worth, I’ve apparently got a cue running in a promo this week, which maxed out my free account on the second day it ran. Tunesat will tell you how many additional detections you have beyond the free 50, though, and exhort you to upgrade.
Now I just need to figure out how to actually get paid for those.
Advice, I think the new “free” account is free “forever,” but limits you to 50 tracks and 50 detections a month (and it seems that the months run by calendar, not by signup date).
I signed up pretty much out of curiosity, and it seems like one library in particular, whom I only have 8 or 10 cues with, all signed recently, is placing a lot of my music … I might have to think about signing some more cues with them.