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I saw a few placements for me with the free account. The detections are very cool because they can find parts and pieces of the songs through dialogue. Hopefully these placements will translate into payments later.
@DI right, you obviously did not read the OP. He has asked the library and they said NO. Better to read carefully before posting things like:
“Moral: ASK!”
He did ask.That doesn’t quite make sense to me, but okay.
@Desire Inspires,
This is great to hear, as I had never entertained that thought. If you don’t mind me asking, how long did they collect dust before you pulled the plug? I was thinking that 5-7 years should be enough time for the library to make a placement.
I had tracks signed for a little over two years.
With one deal, I asked if my songs were being used. I was told that they were not and was offered the option to have the rights revert back to me. I was sent a termination form which I signed and got control of 12 tracks.
The other deal was a bit different as a few songs were being actively marketed to clients. I did not get the rights to those songs back. But there were 7 others that were not being used and I was offered the chance to have those tracks released to me.
I tried the same thing with another company and was told “no”. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. But it is worth asking. The worse thing that can happen is being told “no”. Once they refuse, you can either take legal action or choose to move on.
Going to court, especially with an overseas entity is probably cost-prohibitive unless those songs hold a tremendous potential value. Many contracts state that any dispute would be settled in the home court of the publisher and would be decided by an arbitrator. The deck is stacked against the composer in those cases. A careful and detailed cost-benefit analysis with appropriate legal counsel would be the best bet to formulate a strategy.
100s of my earliest tracks sit on a shelf collecting dust because I picked the wrong libraries to make exclusive deals with at the beginning of my career.
Trust me guys. These deals can be terminated without going to court. Most contracts have a clause stating that the deal can be terminated if both parties agree to the termination. That is how I got my music back. You just need to contact the party and see if they are willing to terminate the contract. Most companies do not want to hold on to music that makes no money. Publishers and music libraries are business entities and want to have assets that generate revenue.
You can get out of the deal. I have had two exclusive, in-perpetuity contracts terminated. But this is because my songs had not been used. Email the library and ask them can you have the rights to your songs based on the fact that they have earned no revenue. They will either say yes or no.
Moral: ASK!
I do not see any benefit for the composers, only the end users and clients.
I would have my mix follow suit for the style. No need to overthink these things.
Remember, “authenticity” is largely an indulgence of people that love the art of creation more than working to please a client.
Use them. It’s your music.
Trailer music is a completely different beat from ‘disposable’ reality TV / standard library music (which I wrote for 8+ years). The expected high level of production and size (and then the challenges of mixing all that) doesn’t lend itself to a quota of 50 per year. I usually manage one finished track every week to 10 days.
Definitely!
I am not ready to start making trailer music. I am still on the ‘disposable’ music track for now. I will probably be ready to move up to more labor-intensive music several years from now.
Maybe it’s better not knowing what’s going on behind the curtain!
That is the way I feel too. There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes that I don’t understand. I let those professionals handle that side of the business.
I don’t see the problem.
Just write for this library and write for other libraries too. You can write for many libraries at a time. You should just increase your output.
Keep working hard and submitting music to all companies that want to work with you.
Why do you want to stop uploading?
It was definitely worthwhile churning out as much music as I could for the first 4 – 5 years after I went full time as a composer. If you do this, not all your music will be great but you’ll learn from your mistakes and as long as you’re constantly challenging yourself, you’ll discover the skills you need to spend more time developing.
Golden advice!
Electronic music is a heavy part of popular music in America right now. I have a good deal of EDM and other electronic music in libraries getting steady uses. Just do what you do best and put it into the marketplace.
It’s not about the gear, it’s about the ear. 🙂