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This once again comes down to the MichaelL comment in another thread about Art vs. Commerce. I guess the business end of this dictates the necessity for a plan as outlined by Edouardo above.
I am joining this conversation a little late and haven’t read the entire thread, but am I correct in stating that at AJ we are talking about selling 10 licenses per day @ $20, which likely yields $100 for the composer?
Am I the only one left standing that is holding off from selling tracks at those prices? At AS it isn’t uncommon for me to sell my top tracks for $400 (yielding $160). No this doesn’t happen every single day, but gives me a sense that my music is actually worth something.
I don’t mean to hijack this thread…just trying to see if I am the only guy left and becoming extinct since I am holding onto this idea that I won’t sell my music at those bargain basement prices if I can help it.
What do those bargain basement composers do when an outside client comes looking for one of your tracks? ‘I will do business with you for $19….’
I don’t mean to be critical of those choices for composers doing things this way, I am just trying to understand the mindset.
Thoughts?
Peter,
It took me many years to get past this as well. I used to get mad when hearing tracks people had written for pretty good libraries. No melody. Lacking depth. Why bother.
Then I heard someone say: that music needs to serve a scene. It all made sense at that point. You are making music to serve a video/audio scene. No one will hear all of those finite details you agonize over in writing and mixing. Don’t over complicate the writing.
That said, having this realization helped me frame things differently. And I still do obsess over every writing and production detail.
I am always tortured by these threads. As Michael pointed out: art vs. commerce. I always felt that quality was my only weapon, since there is so much music out there….much of which is mediocre (yet getting used/licensed anyway). I am envious of those guys that pump out 3+ tracks per day and I have tried that, but always come back to the art of it. Win or lose, I am shooting for quality in writing and production. EDIT: I wrote this before seeing Overdub’s response to GM.
Perhaps I didn’t read closely enough! If it was illegal sampling then yes, the lawsuit is surely fair game.
This is an outrage. I can’t tell you how many gigs I have been on where a drummer played this exact beat. I would consider it the same as a person using ‘the’ in a sentence.
Rant finished, the beat IS pretty damn spot on outside of exact drum pitches and an extra kick in the Jessie J track.
Sonalksis Free G
Not using it anymore but I did for years and loved the plugin.
When being rejected I think it is a good idea to step back and evaluate if your music is 1. Up to par with the quality of the library 2. Appropriate content for this current library. Doing this will help with your own growth. I made the mistake of chasing every library on earth in the beginning, with music that lacked what was mentioned above. I kind of feel that you should show up on their doorstep with ‘guns blazing’, production wise. First impression is everything. And everything I just wrote could also be total BS….just my two cents.
Great topic, Art.
I will second Denis on the Visualizer. I have used that for many years now. Strangely one of my most valuable plugins. And I will second Art on the references, as I am big on that.
Years of gigging has definitely affected my hearing, and it is likely that I will lose the rest from genetics at some point. Until then, I mix…..
When I drive, I often listen to the news. Almost every day I hear one of my tracks on a psoriasis commercial. Chances are it didn’t make too much $$, but this track made a killing in many other placements as well. Seeing/hearing your track paired with a product still has some level of awesome for me.
I don’t plan on doing it. The music I write is top shelf and the production is high quality. I spent too much time on those skills to just throw a track away for $7. Surprised to see some really good writers doing just that.
Despite my undying optimism, I have nothing selling in 2015. I have left my prices where they were and fear that most others are selling music dirt cheap. It kills me to participate in the race to the bottom. And gear/vst lust, it plagues me nowadays…..yeah, pretty dark post. Colorful, As requested.
Early on I hit RF at exactly the right time and made a killing, so I wasn’t too worried about TV placements. After reading some of Art’s posts, I decided to shoot for TV type libraries as well. It took two years and my very first placement was easily the worst, cheesiest track in my library. You just never know what will land!
I have always done pretty well with RF and have consistently been a top seller at a well known site. I have kept my prices at $75 and up (most of the time) and often fetch far higher prices than that.
As of 2015 = DEAD and seemingly hopeless.
Aiming more at writing for TV placements, but this surely takes time to land them.
Not sure what to do just yet, but accepting what this is and evolving seems pretty mandatory.
And I am a full time musician and worried, but won’t sacrifice quality in the music.
Hi Mark,
Thanks so much for all of the information! I really do appreciate that you took the time to write this and I will check out that video when I have more time.
I remember from the old post that I was surprised you mentioned Symphobia 2 + 3, but not 1.
And I am very familiar with your work. You are a badass.
Thanks again!
And indeed, Action Strings is a surprise I didn’t expect.
Vlad