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Sorry. Debbie-Downer here….
I know this is an older thread, but if you consistently find yourself asking the questions posed earlier, you are in the WRONG business. Do it because you love it and forget how much you’re making or how many tracks you need. Make money elsewhere. Sitting around and “calculating” how many libraries you need to be in, or how many tracks you need, or how many pages your BMI statement has to be before you’ve “made it” is a fools errand.
Either do it and take what you get, or don’t and make money elsewhere – keeping music as your soul inspiration.
It’s the new-world business paradigm – music for love, job for money.
I can tell you this. The Higher Tier Libraries, and Boutiques ARE where the money is. You’re not going to get there with “run of the mill, and mediocre product”.
I disagree with the first sentence. Agree 100% with the second.
Once upon a time, yes, the first was absolutely true. Now…I’m having to completely reconsider, and am dumping my long held belief’s out the proverbial 20 story window. My last 100 tracks in the BEST OF THE BEST PMA / A level libraries have done virtually nothing for me on the back end. And it’s the music I’m the most proud of, and of which there are TONS of placements available if only the libraries in question could pull their collective heads out of their @**** and figure out how to change-up their business strategies to take advantage of the opportunities. Yes, there was great payment up front, but that’s what I live on, pay players with, and pay for production during the development of those tracks. After that…..
What helps me survive in this “business” is the BACK END – and those CLASS AAA libraries have failed me. Big time. I know that personally, had I kept ownership of the music, it would have taken me 3-5 years to make what they paid me up front, and then…..THEN…..I would have made money off sync’s for the rest of my life. (They are evergreen tracks) I KNOW that I could do a better job by MYSELF than they have done with their glitzy offices, sales staff and bling.
They (the exclusive, AAA, PMA style libraries) are stuck in the past. Now….if they can strong-arm the industry to jump back 20 years, I’ll be OK. If not, that music is lost forever.
All I can say is do the research, and choose wisely. The world is changing very quickly. Pull your head out of composing and check out the bigger picture on occasion and make mid-course adjustments. Good luck all!!
^^^^
Yes Michael!At this point in time, if your goal is to be making music full time and having it be your primary source of income….
I’d say hang it up. The business has changed. The pay scales have changed. Streaming is in the wings, and coming on quickly. Competition has not doubled, quadrupled or gone up X 100. It’s gone up by the thousands of a percents. Music as a BUSINESS is a losing proposition.
For those of us who have been doing it for decades, we will survive because of longevity, huge catalogs, contacts and being slotted in. For those trying to make the break in….
<sigh> All I can say is good luck, and hedge your bets in another industry. Even I am diversifying out of writing production music. And I’ve got STEADY money flowing in. Money that would keep most families afloat (even if somewhat frugally) in major metropolitan cities.
I wish things were “the way they used to be”, but they are not.
Reality.
Face it.
Only you can answer your first question. It depends on where you live, if you have a family, mortgage, etc..
As to your second question – and really your first as well – you’re obviously looking at this as a business. Nothing wrong with that. Other than this ISN’T a good business from a business perspective. This is art, love and compulsion. It’s not a logical – invest this much, make this much scenario that most businesses aspire to. If that’s your main perspective, I’d suggest that you step back and reconsider. There are many, many ways to make money. And music is at the bottom of the list. IMO.
Yes, certainly you can make money, and if you’re lucky, even make it a career, but it’s not a very viable way to “make money”.
As a more direct answer to your second question – the way to increase your income is to persevere. The longer you do this, the more your yearly income will be. If that is not happening (especially exponentially near the beginning), you’re doing something wrong, or not suited for the “music biz”.
But….Is it enough? Is it growing to your expectations? Can you survive until it is enough? Only you can answer these questions. Best of luck.
I view these things as the cost of doing business in a flawed work environment. When things are all watermarked, you’ll stand a better chance of getting your rightful royalties — but, you’ll no doubt lose payments that were wrongly credited to you that will then be headed back to their rightful owners. 🙂
I view it as luck of the draw. Win some (that you didn’t deserve to), and loose some (that you should have won.)
One thing is for sure. If you get bogged down and discouraged because of these things, you’ll end up making less than if you had forged ahead and been positive. Good luck. I know it’s discouraging. I know that I’ve missed out on thousands of placements over my career, and had music stolen (caught a few of them) and been taken advantage of more times than I can count.
But I leave it behind and move forward, and I’m making a living at least. Best of luck with it. But I agree with Happy Ears. Move on, make more music.
Sweet @Music1234. Good to hear. I think we all desperately want to hear that the grass is greener on the other side – when in reality, we live in a flawed system and maybe are lucky to be getting anything at all – no matter which PRO we are with.
ASCAP has been aware of the inadequacies of their system for a couple of decades now, and from what I’ve observed, it hasn’t made them change anything substantial in their reporting / payout paradigm yet. I wouldn’t be holding my breath.
From what I’ve seen/experienced, the only thing that really gets them “worked up to make any change” is when one of their heavy hitters files the actual paperwork to pull out. (Words don’t seem to do it, but severing your contract on the anniversary window can make a difference and grab their attention if you’re influential or pulling down huge numbers.) I’ve seen this happen and have seen ASCAP promise up into and above 6 figures if the writer stays with them. They will even make guarantees – behind the curtains.
Where do you think the money to keep their “writing stars” from leaving comes from? Why are there no guarantees for all writers? Why the lack of transparency in both reporting, monitoring and payments? I’m not saying any of the other PRO’s are any better, but the reality is that until we have watermarking and computerized monitoring of all broadcast channels, internet and streaming, there will remain a cloak that the PRO’s will hide behind.
When there is transparency in terms of percentages of TV/Cable income vs. Radio income, and similar transparency in terms of distributions between TV/Cable writers vs. Hip Hop / Pop stars, expect more of the same – i.e.: moving money around where it best suits the image and visibility of the PRO.
Transparency will signal the end of an era for them.
@LA Writer, I still get network placements with my NE cues. NBC, MTV, History, Discovery, TLC, Nickelodeon, BRAVO, USA Network, CBS, etc… has never bothered calling me to complain. .
Yes! I know. And this is the irony of the whole thing. Editors are going to use whatever they are going to use. While the bigwigs may scream “Exclusive”, it doesn’t really affect what’s happening in the trenches. 🙂
Why is that complicated?
Exclusive Library owners are licking their chops since the Networks began asking for only exclusive cues due to administrative issues and potential lawsuits.
The Ex Lib owners now get to push for exclusivity with their writers where before they only had non exclusivity. Right, Wrong, Indifferent – doesn’t matter to me. Like you, I intend on keeping my assets under my own ownership and management until it no longer becomes lucrative. And at that point in time, all but the long lived Libs will be out of business too. There’s a real reason that the A team players demand exclusivity in perpetuity – because content ownership = $$$,000.
EV – when I write for a brief from a library, it gets used almost 100% of the time. BUT, I am not writing for “cattle call” briefs. I’m writing for a specific music sup who is heading up a show with SPECIFIC needs that they know I am good for. So…it’s really like shooting fish in a barrel. Easy to write, easy to place, and they make it in.
That said, I do not give exclusivity for nothing. That’s insane. Even if they are being placed, there is no guarantee of money longterm. If they want exclusivity and custom, they pay $$$ for it.
Otherwise, I keep ownership – which I actually prefer over exclusivity / getting paid an upfront buyout. I’ll almost certainly make more over time.
Good luck!
I agree. I like forums that show “joined date” or “number of posts” alongside your username – helps us all filter out the obvious commercialism. I don’t want to cast aspersions towards someone who posted a lot in the past, or who has been a member for 8 years that I don’t know. But if you joined yesterday and have one post and you reek of infomercialism, well then, all bets are off. 🙂
If you are looking at generating “income”, that’s a commercial question – not a technical one. Technically, I’m sure it’s possible. Traveling to Mars is possible. Neither are probably though. Technically.
Commercially, today, 2018, the answer would most certainly be no. Instagram at this point does not generate any income from what I have been able to discern. It doesn’t matter if the page is huuuuuuge or tiny. If you have further question regarding that, a quick call to your PRO will almost certainly confirm it.
I’ve never seen any PRO payments from Instagram.
You bet! Good luck!!
^^^^ Yes, this is how I do it. No problem in seeing 30,000+ titles, although the scrolling through to find something is beyond tedious. BMI is a decade behind normal computer science and coding. I think they LIKE it that way though. Less accountability. Still, a major pain.