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Awesome!
Some libraries allow you to search sales data on different styles and genres which might answer your question. I guess it kind of depends on the library and the market they go after, but if you can find a trend in the sales data it might help you narrow it down.
I think hiring a professional keywording service would be a great idea. As a musician it’s sometimes hard for me to write a catchy description and keyword effectively. A lot of times I have a particular “vision” of how I think the music would be used but in reality it could be better suited for something all together.
Also it would be awesome to have the music being actively pitched not just sitting in a library waiting for someone to type in a set of keywords. Maybe a live chat feature available in a music search area. Ex) search music or have an agent help.
I like the rates that Wildman has suggested, and would appreciate that the new library made sure cue sheets were filed out easily and correctly.
In a new library I would appreciate FTP bulk uploading, tiered pricing for sync fees, stats, and monthly paypal payments.
Great tips thanks for sharing Marina. I also use this tag generator tool that helps a lot. http://agsoundtrax.com/tags-generator/
Hey Art,
Would it be ok to use this forum so that we can post our twitter names and follow each other?
I think it’s very important to remember that there is a progression with any career path, and music is no different. Personally, I think most hobbyist musicians would jump at an opportunity to get a large placement, huge sync fee, have their music in a super high quality library, and to be able to create music as a full time occupation. The problem is those opportunities aren’t really their for them when they just start out. More then likely they will have to start at the bottom of the pile and work their way up. With that they are going to have to start somewhere and if that somewhere allows them to set their own pricing they are going to race to the bottom. It is a VERY common thought to go “well my music isn’t moving at $40 so I must be to high.” Then when the music isn’t moving at $40 they will drop down so low that that they will just take something.
It’s important to remember that these musicians are the ones that probably 6 months ago where giving away all of their music for free under the veil of creative commons to “get their name out there.” If musicians/composers can agree on anything I hope it would be to quit with creative commons.
I really don’t think anyone should feel threatened especially if your at the top of the pyramid. You’ve spent a long time honing your skills, buying gear, and proving your talent over and over again. That is valuable, and something that can’t be taken away. It seems like a lot of the debate about libraries and strategies comes back to pricing and all that but I really believe the car analogy. Do you think Ferrari really cares about what Volkswagen is doing, or Rolex cares about some $10 Walmart watch?
My goal has always been 3-5 new pieces of music a week, but the longer I’ve been doing this the harder it is to get just 3 pieces of music done a week. I think 3-5 is doable for someone building up their library and is for sure a goal to hit in the first year. Now I am happy to hit 100 new pieces of music a year which is about 2 new pieces of music a week.
Well I guess you would have to take a step back and think who would want to make a commercial video but has very little money, and very little experience with music licensing. Their main goal will be to have music that doesn’t get flagged by content id so they can monetize their videos and be a YouTube partner. Also they could be planning on making money on it in the future, or is a small business that just needs a little background music. So here are some ideas of who your potential market could be:
Film Students: This could really be a large group of people making short films, animations, vlogs, random vids, ect that have a goal of being a YouTube partner and monetizing their videos. So the music has to pass content id, so they can monetize their videos.
Small Business: This could be anything from small mom and pop operations or freelancers. Sometimes real estate agents will need some background music for virtual walk throughs and stuff like that. The creative community creates demo reels and virtual portfolios that could use music.
So I guess you’d have to think of this group as people that are just getting started, and have limited budgets to work with. They are going to be new to the whole process so your going to have to provide a lot of support and teach at the same time. This group is wanting to do the right thing and make sure they don’t get in legal trouble, so make sure you have everything in easy, and simple to understand terms.
I hope that helps and gives you a little bit of an idea on how to market your music.
I used to just name tracks based on just random things going on, like today’s trash day, or fever’s gone. Basically having very little to do with what the track is about, then I changed to have more specific titles. I saw an increase in licenses and I think it has to do with the way the search engines work with the libraries (I could be totally wrong.) As of now I try to title the music so it has something to do with the feel of the track.
I think that is an important lesson for a lot of composers to take seriously. Just about every piece of custom music I’ve quoted starts off with “I want something that sounds like this.” It is our jobs to make sure not to cross that copyright line and make something with a similar feel but not rip off anything at the same time. Inspiration is one thing, but there is a line.
As for me, count me out of the sound-a-like stock music game.
I’ve always kind of rolled with the philosophy of if your music is high quality and commercially useful then you will get placements, regardless of what other musicians or libraries are pricing their tracks for. Before making music full time, I worked in the business world and there was always people selling things for cheap, but the important thing is not price but value. As musicians sometimes I think we can get hung up on what other people are doing, and that fear means only one thing. A confidence problem.
Remember there is a ton of musicians that just give away music for free via creative commons, and just a hope that giving away free music will “get their name out there.” Personally it seems like there is a progression that happens. New musicians entering the game are going to have to start somewhere, and as they build experience and skills they are going to climb the library ladder. You can’t dismiss that progression and talk negatively about what they are doing because they have to start somewhere. If they are good then they are going to be successful at the $15-30 level, and if they are good at that I am sure they will have the thought “I’ve proven myself here, now I need to advance and go for bigger fish.”
At the same time there is a huge new market that is licensing music and as technology advances so will demand. There is more then enough work out there and it’s growing. It seems like the negativity is from feeling threatened, and I hope everyone kind of chills out about it because the placements your after are not the same placements other people are after. Some musicians are just happy if they can make a living being the background music guy for short commercial YouTube videos that have a super super small budget. Just do what you do, create awesome music, and look forwards not backwards.