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music might be saturated but what is not these days?
Many industries are in expansion mode depending on where you’re located. AI, 3D printing services, autonomous cars and battery powered vehicles, Video conferencing gear and installation, Medical MJ and on and on. Music is in decline and contracting – financially.
I don’t think it has much to do with Covid. I think that the industry is full. To the brim. How to get past that is the talking point….
I can only hope that this also includes tracks that were done in about 1-3 hours
It does. Not 1 hour though. 3 at least. By the time I write, produce, mix, mix alt versions, edit broadcast edits, master and fill in “metadata”, that 3 a day takes a big slowdown. 2500 is a lifetime, and achieving that in any short term period is virtually impossible no matter how fast you write.
Can you give me some examples of the tracks we are talking about? Well, specifically with links to the examples in a library.
. Nope, sorry. He writes for a private library that does not have an “online” presence. They can be as simple as a solo guitar, to an Americana piece to a synth / orchestral tension piece. (He’s a guitar player, and an excellent one at that.). When I send him an Americana track for him to “play on”, he can lay down bass, acoustic rhythm, acoustic lead, dobro, mandolin, banjo, electric guitar – all in an hour. He listens once, then every next pass is a finished part. He’s that good.
I probably won’t earn more money with the more elaborate work, if at all
That has been my experience. Amazing “music” does not necessarily translate to “getting used”.
I wonder where the orchestral stuff is used at all.
. Less and less these days.
If I offer my material exclusively to one library, it means that I cannot offer it to any other library, right?.
. That is correct, The info is out there, I’m not going to explain exclusivity in the library realm.
Who does the library mainly license to?
. Everyone. media, internet, youtube, advertising, feature films, corporate, TV, streaming. everyone. EVERYONE that uses music.
Am I right in assuming that soundtracks are not taken from libraries for feature films that are shown in the cinema or on television, because they are composed explicitly for them?
Generally speaking – yes to films, but quickly becoming no to TV. The whole paradigm of how shows get scored is and has been changing for years, if you do not understand how this works, I would suggest you do the research to find out before starting writing.
The only question that remains is how to earn money with it
yes. That is the question that everyone hear is contemplating. One thing is certain – you have to think outside the box and differently than in the past. The times have changed, What worked even 10 years ago is a failure today. It is EXPONENTIALLY more difficult to earn a living in 2020. EVERYBODY wants in, and especially the young guys are willing to give it all away just to get the door cracked open. I would NOT start in this business today knowing what I know. And seeing what I see on the horizon. It’s not a good investment of my time, creativity or business acumen. That’s just fact. There is no denying it. But I’m in for the long haul now, because I’m too far down the road….. But if I was starting out and know what I know….no way.
It’s as if I fill out as many lottery tickets as possible to increase my chances of winning.
Or should I rather play the lottery right away?. Yeah, forget the music lottery and go straight to the REAL lotto. Your chances are about the same, but with the real lotto, you actually win a LOT of $$$. Being bi time successful in the music library business might barely keep you alive.
Sorry for the discouragement, if in fact this is discouraging. I gotta call it like I see it. And from where I sit, things look bleak. I’m sure others will be more optimistic. 🙂
-=LAwriter=-
Hi Frank – you’re obviously very talented, and you have the chops to make music that can compete at the top. Great stuff!! I didn’t listen to everything, but I listened to enough to know you’re a talented and seasoned pro.
In terms of quality of music, and level of production esthetic – yeah, you have to go all the way – do the best you can. Even if the final client only need 8 seconds of your alternate drone mix. But you have to go there – because in essence, you’re writing for the library not the end client. 🙂 :). It’s the middle man who needs to love what you do so that you even have a chance to reach the end users.
1500 is a nice number. Personally, I don’t think that’s enough anymore. I keep revising my “numbers” upwards as the years tick by. Netflix, streaming, worldwide competition, shrinking budgets, AI, and a host of other factors keep pushing me into higher numbers now. I’ve got close to 2500 titles in libraries now, and honestly, it’s not enough to let me feel “comfortable”.
Of course these numbers are so variable and hard to really pin down. One tune can make 6 figures, and a thousand may only make $50 in their lifetime. It’s completely random, and your best stuff will often sit unused, while things you would have thrown away make money over and over and over again. The other factor in “how many” songs you need is where you live, your station in life (family, mortgage, etc.) and how much the cost of living is where you live.
But, you must produce. Big time. You have to write every day, and you have to write good, and you have to write fast. The speed of what I need to turn out was what initially threw me for a loop. A buddy who makes a good living told me that if I couldn’t finish 3 tunes a day, I was a hack – and too slow to make it. He was KIND of right. Kind of wrong. But he had a point. I needed to up my production speed exponentially. And still keep things top level. That’s hard.
Then you have to produce high end enough to compete with the best in the world. It’s a different mindset than other fields of music. This is not a good time to be “getting started”. But it’s not impossible either. Nonetheless, it will be quite difficult and challenging. I wish you the best of luck! Cheers,
PS – Art – thanks again!!!
NEVERMIND!! I see you are searching from inside your account, and not from the BMI Repertoire search on the front page of there website. Got it!! Thanks
When using the BMI catalog search window, here is a workaround I have used to see the most current registrations.
Title and/or Participant – Select this one
Include background cues – Uncheck this one
Include registered works – Select this one
Last Name/Publisher – Type in your last name (or a particular publisher)
Registration Date: Put in the date you want to search from (09/15/2020)
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With this search criteria, only the current registrations will show up based on the date you enter.Brian, I can’t find those choices on the BMI Repertoire search engine. Can you (or someone else who pulled this off) link to the page you’re searching on? I tried a couple different browsers, and I just don’t have those options. Thanks.
No but you can contact them and they will send you a spreadsheet/csv file of all your registrations. That might help.
I asked for exactly that in January. No reply. Still waiting,,,,,
This has been going on for a decade or more. Nothing new.
Yes, it is happening. Production companies have gone up above and beyond the 50% though. Sometimes they are asking for full (100%) publishing. I think it may only be a matter of time until that is more the rule than the exception.
Overall fairly strong this quarter. Especially Foreign. As Music1234 noted, the streaming royalties seem to be looking up, but I don’t think that’s because of renegotiated contracts, or BMI just deciding to pay better. I think it’s because the world was sitting at home watching Hulu and Netflix instead of going to work. 🙂
One thing that REALLY surprised me. A 7 play live performance broadcast on Satellite paid out just shy of 5 figures this quarter!! For 7 plays!!!! Stunned. I knew K Pop was huge, but……. I don’t think I’ve ever had something like that in my entire career. And they say there’s no God. LOL. Somehow, for some reason…..a huge K Pop band used one of my background TV cues that somehow ended up on the internet audio stations in their live broadcast. One that gets about a million plays per quarter on Spotify, youtube, apple, etc, and pays out around $80-$100. LOL. I have no clue how they found it or how they got it, or why or how they used it, but I’m SURE GLAD they reported the composer correctly. LOL
I’m sure stranger things have happened, but I can’t think of one for the life of me…..
There are no standards.
Scammy….
I guess I’m not understanding
Yeah, doesn’t make sense to me either Art….
Two notes? Worked for Beethoven…. 🙂
Although, someday I’d love to do a complete soundtrack with piano only.
Dave Grusin – “The Firm”. IMO, a dismal failure as a score, but who am I do judge when Sydney Pollack commissioned and OK’d it…. 🙂
Yes, I agree completely – to throw artistic creativity out the window is dumb and ultimately short sighted. But if one weights the “artistic” part of the equation heavier than the “support” part of the equation, you see the same story over and over and over. “The director doesn’t understand”, “the remix engineer is ruining my music”, “the producer won’t get on board”, etc.. I’ve seen it in my own attitudes and career, and I continually see it in guys starting out over and over and over. For those who disagree, maybe check out Hans’ thoughts on the concept.
Composers who get hired back over and over and over, production music writers whose music gets sought out over and over and over are the ones who take the “artistic” high road at all costs” concept, and put it squarely BEHIND the effort to create a better story line, create better and more appropriate music for editors, etc..
IME, it’s just the way it is. If that doesn’t sit well, then perhaps leaving production music for the avenue of being an “artist” is a better fit.
And writing for a library is no different ultimately than writing directly for picture. We are here to serve the story, serve the director, serve the producer – not be adored for creative “complexity”, “cleverness” or “genius”.
Again, not throwing creativity away or being a sell out….the successful find a balance.