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I understand some of you guys are frustrated, but picking on me will not help.
We all know there are serious problems for musicians here. Does anyone have any solutions?
The best solution I can think of is only work with companies that charge generous sync fees for every placement (no blanket licenses) and provide backend writers royalties. PMA libraries offer these deals.
Negotiating the terms upfront prevents all of the shenanigans that are going on. Negotiating great deals is just as important as making great music.
Please, let’s stop tearing each other down. It does not help. It is also not very professional behavior.
Quantity is the key to getting paid. One Target commercial is only one part of the equation.
You know that your music is marketable. Get it in 100 Target commercials. The backend will pour in and you will be feeling great.
🙂
Things will work out in the end.
Then you’re a sucker. If your boss at your regular job worked you 80 hours a week, but only paid you for 40, I’m betting you’d rationalize all the live long day.
Sounds good. Thanks.
Anyway, composers can always find alternatives to traditional libraries. The royalty-free companies get a lot of mention on MLR. That may be the best option to earn upfront money. Unfortunately, the backend is likely to be missed. Some buyers don’t worry about filling out cue sheets.
Hang in there, guys.
If making money is truly this hard for full-time, I feel bad. These situations are not right. But I am not going to protest. I am a part-timer and I do not want to spend my time begging for money.
The full-time guys should definitely beg whoever they have to in order to make money. Keep putting pressure on companies until you get what you want. Good luck guys.
List what you have and we will follow.
Negative earnings? That makes no sense.
My ASCAP payment for January 2014 was almost double the amount for October 2013. I expected a huge drop. April’s payment could be 90% less than this one.
So I have no idea how these things work out. I am not worried about it enough to change PROs or anything. I am grateful for whatever royalties I get.
Just be aware that doing this will get you dropped from, or barred from joining, a number of libraries.
That is rather unfortunate. But it is a risk worth taking for some.
I will probably keep my music out of traditional libraries and start to monetize my own works. That makes more sense to me.
Desire_Inspires
Is your plan to quit your day job and compose full time for a living?No. I enjoy making music, but I require a steady income and insurance. I am settling into being a long-term, part-time composer.
I would only go into making music full time if I were employed by a company full time with benefits. Being an independent musician is not a reality for me. Perhaps when I am older I can entertain that idea.
Yeah. Composing is a good job. Although there are no benefits, the pay can be great and the hours are flexible depending on what one is working on. You don’t even have to leave your house to make great music.
Today’s tools and the glut of TV shows have given a lot of people opportunities that were unimaginable 20 years ago.
Yes. Probably just a minor electronic glitch. I would not worry about this.
Doesn’t necessarily work that way. The publishing info could be correct but writer information is incorrect or missing. That’s what we have found so far.
Oh, I meant that since publishers’ royalties and songwriters’ royalties are split 50/50. Whatever amount a publisher would get should theoretically be split amongst the songwriters. I guess that it probably isn’t necessary for publishers to worry about royalties. Good catch!
I know that many songwriters do not have the time or financial means to track every penny in regards to royalties. But it seems that large music publishers would have a team of people available to track royalties and work with the PROs to get missing royalties.
Let’s say a library gets $3 million dollars in compensation for missing publishing royalties. That means that there is also $3 million dollars in missing songwriter royalties to be split up amongst writers. A songwriter with good placements could end up getting hundreds or thousands in missing royalty payments.
Is there any technology being used to improve the system?