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Just wondering….is that 1k original tracks (not including alts, stems and edits)? Thanks…
Hey Lincoman – no problem – you’re welcome!
Yes, 1k actual individual songs. Not counting alts, cutdowns, stems, etc.. So it might easily be 6000-10,000 discrete pieces of music. Maybe more. (Or less)
That comment was awhile back though. I’ve revised my number to 2k now. By the time I get closer to retiring, that might push upwards of 3k – who knows. The market is softening with streaming coming to the forefront.
I have looked all over to find where this is true. Can you point me to this?
That’s my personal experience – that’s all I can point to.. I’m not touting it as an industry-wide “truth”. For me, the traditionally defined “A team” (PMA A Teamers, International conglomerates, etc.) are dropping the ball, hell….they can’t even FIND the ball half the time. And it’s being picked up and rallied by smaller companies that you wouldn’t think of giving the time of day to under normal circumstances. It’s all upside down from my perspective. And I’m living it, not just commenting from the sidelines….
YMMV.
“Top Tier” is all a matter of perception.
Agreed 100%. What has traditionally been considered “top tiered” is slipping. Dropping the ball. Loosing marketshare. In many cases, they are more aggressive about stomping down the little guys than they are about aggressively pursuing decent paying situations for their business.
Times are a changing….. Wish I could have made NAB, but things are too busy in the home camp.
Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of dollars go unclaimed because of this stupidity and reckless approach to licensing music into TV spot campaigns.
Which is EXACTLY how the PRO’s like it. Money to move around to their pet projects (composers / publishers) or wherever they see fit.
I agree with all the above, but especially with this :
If you truly love making music, there are far better ways to make music and much easier ways to make money.
“You want Bigger Fish, You use Bigger Bait”
Hahaaaa!! True dat! A brief list of credits is where I’d personally head. Where and how they happened is not so important in my mind as WHAT your accomplishments have been. For me it’s Grammy, music for Academy Award winning documentary, a few top networks and specific TV shows / Films. Done. Short and sweet. Just enough to let them know you are a pro, and not wet behind the ears….
PS – if you think you’ve figured things out, WATCH OUT!! As b1nrybl0ke poignantly pointed out, things DO, and always WILL change up and throw you a curve ball. Those who survive will be the ones who are quick on their feet. Those who can tell the future, act on it before it happens, and who have the stamina and guts to make crazy mid-course changes in their approach. Been doing it 25+ years and every time I think I have finally nailed it – I’ve been proven wrong. Many, many times.
Cheers for reading!
Cheers for sharing and for your transparency and candor!! Keep the faith brother….
So, do you think the main income source for the average composer nowadays is performance royalties or sync fees? I’ve been reading everywhere that PROs are paying less and less.
IMO, there is no doubt that things are moving, shifting, morphing. They always were since I started into this in the early 90’s, but now, especially so. At this point, sync’s have gone from 2% of my gross to maybe 25-30%. And honestly, I haven’t pushed too hard into it. I’m in several top A level PMA libraries that pay out no sync’s (front end buyouts) that are supposed to bring in huge backend, but many (most???) of them have dropped the ball quite frankly. The little guys, specialty shops, small fish are making things happen. Ownership of content is becoming quite important to me, and it takes a very attractive situation to get me to give that up in 2019.
I think library income these days is only a part of the puzzle; at least for the large percentage of writers. It needs to be augmented with other sources.
??? That may be the future if things don’t shape up. For me, all my money comes from either writing or investments I’ve made with money from writing. I’m still making it easily, but that’s come from decades of contacts, hard work, incessant writing, and quite frankly — luck.
from your experience, what would be your sound advice for those whose willing to stick it out the next 10-15 years?
Pray…. And no, I wasn’t joking….. 🙂
But, now I realize more and more there really is no formula, let alone any sense in how to structure your personal success story. Just so I can be transparent. I made a lot of really strong moves since being on The MLR. But where most have said they had good luck/fortune in RF sites. To date, I literally am STILL under a $1,000. in sales..
Of course….makes sense. Makes no sense. 🙂 LOL There are many paths to the destination / goal. We all get there in a different fashion. Here’s just hoping we all get there.
This is a very, very, very, VERY long game.
I’ve added a couple more “very’s” Art. 🙂
The amount of time required, the investment required, the level of talent that’s necessary, the number of songs needed ( IMO, the number has doubled from 1k to 2k for a comfortable living) – it’s all gone up and is exponentially bonkers. Our art is being devalued faster than we can crank it out.
Best of luck for all bold enough to even contemplate the journey….
I’m curious to know where you are today and how things are looking.
I didn’t post in 2016, but I will make a comment. WOW how things have changed in less than 3 years!!!! If it was only so easy now…. The numbers it takes to make it, the amount of work needed to get a track competitive in today’s market and the amount it takes to live / survive…..these have all gone up exponentially from my perspective.
And yet…..somehow I still keep making it. And I still keep pursuing it. I think I need psychological help. 🙂
MichaelL – Haha!! I meant that in a good way, and hope it wasn’t offensive. I guess I could have put “litigate”. Or maybe put Drivers drive. 🙂 Cheers,
All I can say is that :
1. the more you do it,
2. the less you second guess your creative muse and just write
3. the more you hone / develop your craft,
4. the less you “care” about being precious with your output,
5. the harder you bear down,
6. the more deadlines you have to deliver on – or fail & get fired. And,
7. the more you must financially rely 100% on your placements,the more tracks you can and will crank out. Be it 3 a day, 3 a week, or 3 a month. Runners run. Cyclists bike. Lawyers argue. Writers write.
Top film composers regularly crank out 6+ minutes of music a day when under the grind. And that includes phone calls, managing assistants, meetings, and re-writes. If they don’t, they get INUNDATED. And then fired.
Getting past the “art” part of music and into the “craft / business” aspect of GETTING IT DONE, is where the professional side of things starts to come into play. You can call that good, you can call it bad…but that’s the reality of it all.
-=LAwriter=-
I wish I could +1 / +2 you guys, but the oddest thing for me is that there is no rhyme or reason to what gets continual use here. Tracks that I could have made in 10 minutes continue to get used a decade later, and “masterpiece” tracks that I spent tons of time on sit virtually unused.
If anyone has numbers on that, I’d love to know.
haha!! Our PRO’s do. Do you think they’ll share?
I’d agree with catalog vs. royalty ratio you mentioned above. My placements have doubled, my output has gone up 80%, and royalties are fairly stable, or growing slightly.
Something is wrong…..
Down 30% over the same quarter last year. Down a bit overall. Careful study shows that royalties are softening overall. (IMO of course) Surprisingly, Netflix was 5X’s what I’ve ever seen before. Maybe there’s hope??? Eh…naw, probably not. LOL
Thanks Art.