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Hi Chuck
To me it seems that the exclusive libraries goes in the direction of well defined album concepts where 15-20 tracks fit well in the concept… time must be spend on:
* Mastering
* Making jingles
* make sure the tracks ends really well, not fadingOn the other hand if you just composed a cool groove, but does not feel like on using time on the above or making a full album it might be easier to upload it on a non-exclusive website.
If you want you can send me a few of you best tracks and I can let you know what I think.
Daniel Käfer (daniel@apollolive.com)
Apollolive.comHi Michael
I do agree with you. You can diversify and have some music in exclusive and some in RF as long as you have a strategy for which goes where.
The Lexus goes to the exclusive and the Corolla goes to RF… As long as composers don’t place the Lexus with RF 😉
I also don’t believe that all RF are the same. Actually I am fine with selling music for private or semi-private youtube video’s for little money. What upsets me is when they offer worldwide advertising or TV licenses for next to nothing.
Daniel Käfer
apollolive.comThis is indeed an interesting debate…
Actually I don’t think it is so easy to divide composers in pro’s and hobbyists. At Apollo Live we have some very talented composers who have other day jobs… They don’t depend on the library income for their living but I would still hate to see their excellent music being sold at 100 Euro or less. We just placed 2 tracks from a hobbyist on a Polish TV series for about Euro 5000, and on top of the sync fee he now has many polish fans buying his album. That is inteligent business and win-win in my opinion.
Had this composer/hobbyist been without guidence he might well have given the track away for free and been part of forcing the prices down.
And yes I do believe that talented hobbyists can take away a lot of business from the pro’s. However I am not affraid of composers with little talent offering their music for free, they are simply pricing their product at what it is worth.
My initial point was however that every composer should think of themselves as a brand. Do they want to be a BMW or a Kia? There is nothing wrong with being a Kia, they are sold a lot and many people are happy with them. However you can’t both be a Kia and a BMW so it important to choose early in your career what kind of brand you want to be.
Daniel Käfer
apollolive.comMichael in response to you…
Glad to meet an experienced composer… I have followed this business since I was a boy… so for the last 30 years.
I do think most non-exclusive libraries are quicker at earning the first royalties, simply because the exclusive libraries work with sub publishers who normally have different search systems. Therefor you have to adapt the meta data, audio files, etc. for many of the sub publishers… Then you have to wait for them putting the music online. So it often takes 2 years before you earn any money. However I have experienced music that would seem dated still earning decent money after many years in exclusive library publishing – especially back end money.
My library Apollo Live offers the standard 50/50 split on mechanicals but no upfront fees. I don’t have anything against the upfront fees but at this stage (we are a young library only 4 years old) it is not financially possible for us.Daniel
http://www.apollolive.comRegarding whether I am concerned with big ad agencies or other big media companies choosing the low cost options… Well yes to some extend I am.
Maybe the big ad agencies is not a good example but I have seen tv-stations deciding to make a “one deal solution” with a low price library for all their productions – external as well as internal – going from a music spend of Euro 300.000 to just Euro 3000.
Everybody agreed that the quality suffered and after a few years they did start looking for options, but at best they will be a 10.000 Euro client.
I don’t think we should sit down and cry about this. As some opportunities close others open, and it is our job as a business to find those opportunities. However I just want the really good composers out there to think about their strategy when they choose where to place their music… call me a dreamer but in the end I think it matters…Daniel
apollolive.comIn reply to desire…
I don’t mean to put down people who sell their music for $50, it is their choice and I respect that.
However it does seem to have an effect on the industry. As I understand the UK library music industry has lost revenues of 60-70% in the last 5 years. Again this meant that investments for productions with real musicians were pulled leaving musicians with much less work.
In the end it is all supply and demand, but I do think it matters how the really skilled composers act. If everybody no matter how talented they are offer music almost free, production music will become a hobby and not a job.
Daniel Käfer
apollolive.comHi
My point was not that the composer would put exactly the same track on a non-exclusive library, but that he would put other tracks in similar style and quality on a non-exclusive library.As the owner of an exclusive library I find it really important that composers spend time on considering their strategy about which libraries you want to submit music to. As a composer you are building a brand, not just related to your name but also to your sound.
Trying to submit the same type (and quality) of music to “high price” libraries and RF to test the two is a dangerous strategy for a number of reasons:
1. If clients discovers that this composers music can be bought at a very low price at a RF site, would they ever consider paying a premium price for the same composer’s music from an exclusive library?.
2. RF and exclusive libraries works in very different ways. In RF you can earn instant money while exclusive libraries take a lot of before the efforts pay off. However the music will earn money for a longer time.
3. As a composer you should also consider that you are part of influencing the industry – by placing your music in RF or an exclusive library you automatically take a stand on what price level you consider is fair. Should music for a worldwide commercial cost $50 or $20.000?
I am not to judge which strategy is better, I am just saying that it is important to consider your strategy and following it instead of submitting to random libraries.
I think this site gives composers a great opportunity to discus their experiences and help you decide what strategy is right for you.
Daniel
apollolive.comHi
I am the CEO of the music library Apollo Live. I think you bring up an interesting topic. We actually already work with a ranking system in our search system http://www.findthetune.com, but we are carefull with it. Deciding whether a track is useful a not is a very subjective matter… and who should judge? Me, the clients or other composers?When we hear from several people that they find an album to be of extraordinary quality and interest, we tend to upgrade it in the search. However we also factor in other parameters such as number of client downloads and the date the track was added. We adjust these parameters to give the clients the best search experience.
Best regards
Daniel Käfer
http://www.apollolive.com