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I have noticed that there is a very small percentage of Non-Ex Libs that feed TV/Film directly. Perhaps I haven’t been looking in the right places.
I can tell you that my relationships with 4 Exclusives, feed TV directly and get a lot of placements.
Michael,
I do live drum tracks.
Hit me up on a PM.
That’s great Abby,
I wish you many more placements!
I know that in the RF world alone some of the best are making around $30,000 per month just from RF licenses. They probably make much more on the side from other projects using their talents.
Wow! That’s good to know. Seems a little staggering to me but then again, I don’t have over 1000 tracks floating around the RF markets.
We desperately need a union, a guild or some form of organization that is forward thinking, not trying to pull in old money for old composers, and one who is dedicated to forging new pathways for up and coming writers. Some organization that will stick up for us and lobby for us. I do not see that on the horizon however. I think at this point it’s every man/woman for him/her self….
Very interesting. In most productions, the Actors, Lighting Staff, Set designer, Wardrobe, Grip, etc, all get pain for every show but somehow, the people who create the music for the show are treated like third class citizens.
Some of the original libraries I am with were sending out reports (along with a check for a portion of the Needle Drops, and Blankets Licenses) that would let you know your where you stood; and how many licenses you were getting each quarter. This was VERY helpful to see what to expect; and as well what styles you should write more cues/tracks in!
You got a point there. I can’t even say if any of my Exclusives give a report, statistics, needle drops, syncs, etc.
Gee, come to think about it, the most recent placement I actually knew about was hearing it one of my favorite shows 🙂 .
However, I would not get caught up in a depression about “The good old days”. Be original, and an innovator. If you continue writing for the industry norm, you become the industry norm.
Not all of the newer composers are “Naive” or ignorant about the business. I believe the leaps in recording technology are evening the playing field.
“Back in the day”, rounded and experienced people like LA writer where poundidng away on their Studer 24 track tape machine and Neve console.
Nower days, kids are using pre-baked samples on their iPad and writing “Music”. It may not sound fair but it’s now reality.
I’d probably decline too, but not because of the split – because of the ignorance of the deal.
LA Writer, exactly. I thought it was quite unusual and didn”t know why they would split something that way.
Just the sole fact that they wanted my writers share, caused a red flag.
Music,
I was once asked by a company to split 50/50 on the writers and 50/50 on the publishers. I kindly declined.
Well, you would never see me write on on ipad or Garage Band but we both know that kids are doing this now and can easily get some music on a Bravo show. That was basically my point.
@Daniel – Millions of teens doing edm in the bedroom is not at all a threat to mature and experienced composers writing at a high level for film, TV, and advertising.
Music1234,
I don’t believe the OP mentioned high end libraries specifically.
He even goes on to mention the floods of new composers entering the market.Don’t high end libraries have TV placements? Well, so does run of the mill, RF libraries. I am not comparing the quality of the 2 libraries. I am Merely saying that a TV que can be created on an iPad and we know darn well that there are some questionable ques all over TV.
This is no insult to “High end” composers. I am only pointing out that to a business, saving money is usually the top priority. I hope one day I can be considered “High end”
Writing to spec is a completely different story and I don’t believe that was an initial part of the OP’s statement.
Guys,
I hate to be a dark cloud over this thread but we have to accept some harsh truths.
I don’t think it will be anytime soon where the upfront money paid by any library will INCREASE nor will we gather any leverage.
While the concept sounds utopian, we have to accept the fact that there are tens of thousands of Musical pieces that can be purchased from RF markets for 40 bucks and not all of these tracks are garbage. There are even 10-15 minute scoring tracks on these libraries. Sure, there will always be a need for writing to spec but there are plenty of spec writers willing to undercut other spec writers.
On the Exclusive front, the libraries are offering more blanket licenses and paying composer Zero sync/License fees.
There are literally 14 year old kids writing EDM tracks on ipads that are going to find there way in to pretty good libraries.
The business has changed, technology has changed, and competition has become fierce.
Instead of harping on the glory days when writers would get 5000 bucks for a few tracks printed to their Studer Analog machine, we have to think about what people AREN’T doing to stand ahead in the business.
Sometimes businesses are drastically affected by technology. Just think about your pals who ran recording studios at 50-100 bucks an hour for engineering.
Now, millions of teens have Cubase in their bedrooms.
Hey Art,
That’s been happening to me to. Writing a long post and it disappears.