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Strange time for sure. I am a big supporter of the fair sytem of 1 license sold = 1 royalty paid to the writer.
That’s an understatement! You and I, along with Art and LAwriter have been around long enough to remember the “good old days”, when music had value. The sad thing, and maybe it’s because of market staturation and file sharing (free music), but cheap music has become normalized for the new generation of composers (be they young or just new to the business).
Still, it seems that there are some composers who “aim high,” as you say, and they manage work above all of the models that we debate here.
Music1234, I totally get your passion, but you just accused a library and a composer of unethical conduct on a public forum and then admitted that you can’t back up your story.
You might ask Art to remove that for you.
You do not have permission to view this content.Has anyone ever heard a client say “Gee tracks are so expensive these days, I wish I could find cheaper music?”
In the world of clients, as in professional media producers, no.
Sadly, if you include the guys posting “how to remove AJ audio watermark” tutorials on youtube, because they think AJ’s prices are outrageous, then I guess, yes. But, TBH, they don’t seem to be inclined to pay anything.
A lot of that may be coming from people who hope to make money creating youtube videos. Of course, those hopes are more attenuated now that youtube is demonitizing channels with fewer than 1,000 subscribers. Goodbye to all those “how to make sweaters from dryer lint” videos.
Let me address really old, dated sounding tracks…you just never know. I have had 2 experiences in the last month that brought a smile to my face where a customer paid good money – not $20…
Same here. Sold a 35-year old track (remastered) for 4x the sticker price. It happens.
I really don’t know what the Nashville people are thinking excpet perhaps they’ve tried it our way and think they can make more predictable upfront money from subscriptions. Maybe they’re inspired by Protools and all the tech companies offering software subscriptions…the wave of the future, etc etc. On the other hand maybe it’s like car leasing, allowing people to have something that they can’t afford to buy.
But this is what is so mind boggling, frustrating, and confusing: you have a group of talented folks in “Music City” clearly they have some knowledge about this business …Then they serve up a $135 a year subscription scheme to provide cost savings to people who are A. not at all in need of it and B. probably not even asking for it.
That’s possibly the product of devaluing this type of commercial music in their own minds, and seeing it as nothing more than fast-food burgers on a grill that will generate another revenue stream.
But, TBH there are a lot of musical “Pampers” out there that are completely disposable. What value do we put on those in comparison to high-quality tracks, Music1234? What are those disposable tracks worth?
What if libraries like AJ and P5 only put tracks into their subscription plans from a pool of tracks that has never sold, creating some income for us from tracks that had previously generated none?
…associating a whole country to a negative stigma aint gonna buy you votes.
I don’t think anyone singled out Indonesia by intent. Perhaps it was just a country that popped into the OP’s head. The fact, however, remains that higly-competitive content does enter the system from places where the cost of living is lower, much of it coming from Eastern Europe and Russia.
That said, being economically competitive is not necessarily a US versus the world situation. It is possible to live in the US and have an “economically competitive lifestyle”. The cost of living varies greatly across the US and varies depending on your circumstances and economic choices.
Maybe this deserves its own thread, but it seems appropriate here.
Conflicted by the paradox that the internet, which could potentially help artists and creators in so many ways, might actually be destroying their ability to sustain themselves, these musicians and the viewer are ultimately faced with the unanswered question the music industry has grappled with for over a decade- How do we support creators in the internet age?
The best model I know about is 1 license sold = 1 royalty paid to composer. That has worked quite fairly for everyone.
I know of at least one subcription service that is using technology to provide a similar result. But, as I said, I don’t know what they are paying per use. It could be similar to streaming.
As with the “1 license sold = 1 royalty paid” model, I would expect subscription services to vary widely in their performance and payout. So, there will be a vetting period for all of us to figure out who’s doing it right.
Laptops in Indonesia? Let them rock it out…Heck I have garage band on my i-phone, forget about lap tops man I got a phone with beats already made! I can just render and sell.
That’s a comforting thought, but some of the music from other places, like Indonesia, and especially Eastern Europe, is very very good and highly competitive in terms of both composition and sonic quality.
We are in the same position as every other industry faced with global competition.
And we haven’t even been discussing A.I. LOL
Let’s start. An agency friend of mine in NYC pointed out that computer-generated voice overs are now being used on some low-end projects. Despite having tons of money, there are some projects that corporations simply don’t deem worthy of unjustifed expense, even to the point of accepting mechanical narration as “good enough.” The amount of money that a customer has isn’t relevant to what they are willing to pay for something. If you have $1,000 in your pocket you don’t walk into McDonald’s and offer to pay $20 for a burger.
We’re not in business to serve the amateur hobbyist music listener or youtuber,
Libraries don’t see it that way. Many (not all) of the subscription plans are limited to such low-end use, while preserving higher-end license fees. Keep in mind the Google/youtube is giving away music to youtubers. And, if you haven’t heard, they are demonetizing videos for youtubers who do not have 1,000 subscribers and/or 4,000 hours viewed. Both of which mean that low-end users will have even less incentive to buy music, or post videos for that matter.
Podcasting is another target market for subscriptions. I don’t even know how anyone makes money doing that. However, the technology exists to monitor, measure, and pay composers for podcasting tracks acquired under a subscription license. Whether that will pay anythng close to a typical RF license, I don’t know.
So, why do “composers” contribute to the subscription model? LAwriter brought up a very valid point when he said:
I have no idea where this music is coming from that’s going into these libraries. Maybe folks who live in Indonesia with a laptop and internet connection living on $20 a month?!?!?!
You are absolutely correct and that cannot be overlooked or dismissed. There are thousands of individuals creating “content” in less affluent countries for whom the micro dollars generated by streaming and subscriptions do indeed amount to a lot of money, relative to their circumstances..
These “composers” are literally putting thousands of tracks into the marketplace every month. So, to say all we have to do is refuse to participate is pure fantasy. They aren’t interested in our “first world” problems or our hardship of having to get by on less the 100K per year. Unfortunately, even if they were sympathetic, only a tiny minority of composers spread around the globe will even read any of these threads and hear the message. We can pack up our tents, but they will keep feeding the machine.
LAwriter also said:
I have no idea if people are so desperate to make ANY money in the music business that they will sell their souls and futures for a couple of puny licenses….
Yes, see above. But also, to be honest, I think we are dealing with new generations that have normalized the devaluation of music. Perhaps starting with file sharing on Napster and Pirate Bay they have come to think that music should be free.
There are actually people on youtube who complain about the high cost (seriously!?!?) of AJ licenses and they post tutorial videos showing how to remove AJ watermarks.
We’re talking about an element that simply doesn’t care that people are actually trying to earn a living from putting music into libraries, all of which stems from the basic premise of “music should be free.”
All that said, I think you can preserve your naturally optimisitc spirit LAwriter. Technology, like Blockchain, will have a major impact on keeping track of things and legislation will, hopefully, catch up to technology. https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/8383741/music-modernization-act-passes-us-house-of-representatives
When RF libraries began back in the 1980s, (I helped start one of the first, now defunct) I’m sure some composers thought the sky was falling. It didn’t. Similarly, when online RF libraries started, almost 20 years ago, I’m sure some traditional libraries and composers thought the world was going to end. It didn’t. When people started selling 200 tracks of production music on CD for $99, it didn’t end then either. Change is inevitable. You adapt. You roll with it. You reinvent yourself yourself. You update your catalog AND you keep writing!
We need to modify our expectations for the economic potential of production music. There’s simply too much of it entering the pipeline every day, from highly-competitive sources, for it to all hold value. So, you up your game. That’s what competition is all about.
You do not have permission to view this content.You do not have permission to view this content.How can we all rid ourselves of “middle men” once and for all in today’s digital age?
If you hire other writers or publish other writers’ works, you are a middle man.
Sell and/or license your music directly to producers, music supervisors, and consumers from only your own website and through your own marketing efforts, which, as Art pointed out, will leave precious little time for composing and producing music
It may well be that having a publishing “company,” rather than just releasing DIY, content is sufficient. It’s easy enough to just ask.