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A “title” amounts to nothing other than a “product” for license on one publisher’s site.
The re-title is “another product” on publisher 2’s site.
The third title is “another product” for license on (for example) an RF site
A 4th title is “another product” for license on (for example) a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th RF site.
a 5th title can even be a title you use on streaming sites like Spotify.Multiple titles for the same piece of music….It all amounts to 1 big pain in the butt, but without a doubt, I can factually say that re-titling and marketing our “products” multiple ways does increase revenue for an individual composer.
If any composer can jump in here and say they have never re-titled, only registered 1 original title at PRO’s through a PMA Library, and never marketed their music on different sites under different names (titles/ retitles, whatever you want to call them) and actually made a successful living, well, they are probably lying!
Imagine if coke or pepsi signed “exclusive” deals where only their soda brands can be sold at Costco or – not Mcd’s, kfc, burger kind, all restaurants everywhere, 7-11, white hen, and every other grocery store and convenience store on the planet.
Wake up call to all – mass distribution of any and all products (including production music) is how you make money in this business. The idea is to sell (rent) as many tracks (units) as you possibly can. The goal is to not wait for 1 “PMA” library to sync your music to a TV show or spot.
That’s absurd.
Glenn, glad you are asking. As a 25 year veteran producing music for all media, I will never under any circumstances give away my rights to a music publisher exclusively in perpetuity.
It really would even be hard to engage in that deal even if the publisher was offering me $1500 a track. I would never send my music into a subscription model because the accounting is impossible and from what I personally have observed, the lions share of all revenue goes to the company, not the composer/ writer.A lot of young writers seemingly will jump at the chance to sign cues over to an exclusive library for a $50 “consideration fee” aka an “Advance”. The library/ publisher then owns your property in perpetuity, but you maintain your “writers share”. Then there are deals where you sign the cue exclusively for 1 to 3 years and the ownership reverts back to you. I suppose those are OK. I am just at a point in my life where I want to own and control all of the intellectual property I create. There are enough NE companies out there to distribute your music to.
The subscription model is the absolute worst model, the most unethical, and does not allow for fair accounting on any level. If no one participates ever, that business just dies away.
Ownership of your property allows for total control over all decisions: Do you want to try RF? Ok you can…Do you want to put the music on Spotify, Aplle Music, I-tunes, etc…? You can. Do you want to try companies that have relationships with TV networks and TV Production companies and advertising agencies…you can.
I, like many veterans, have my music in many places. Some work well, others don’t work very well at all. One thing is for certian…all this BS talk about how non -exclusive music can “cause problems and confusion” is just total nonsense. After many years of having several different companies represent my music (some who may have the exact same clients)..No one has ever written to me with complaints or concerns about which publisher to credit or where the music was sourced from…etc.
When Publishers say “TV networks demand exclusive music” I simply do not buy it. It’s just a scare tactic to allow themselves to legally and contractually obtain control of intellectual property for $0 to very cheap. I will never participate.
You ask: How do subscription models impact exclusive models? The answer is simple, if no one participates in Subscription models, there is no problem. If composers want to earn 4 cents from a license sold, go ahead and participate but start looking for another job because you will fail. Sub models are all about a greedy company stealing intellectual property so they can profit handsomely while you make enough to buy a piece of candy each month.
I’d like to also add that I have never seen anyone sell PRS, GEMA, BUMA, or any foreign PRO royalty streams. This seems to be 100% centered around USA PROS – BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC.
I suppose things can get very merky and dicey if European writers tried to put their PRO royalties on the market for investors.
Basically once a deal closes – the future royalties immediately get assigned to the buying investor. It really is kind of like buying shares of a stock on an exchange. You buy the shares of Proctor and Gamble or Coca Cola, collect dividends “royalties”, but you also have the right to re-sell the stock, or in this case the “share of the future PRO royalty income stream”.
It’s a very cool concept. Some folks may need to raise money faster from their compositions and property. I prefer to just collect my “dividends” or “royalties” or “rent” long term.
Sesame street songs were put on the block because the charity that inherited the catalog just wanted hard cash now. They did not want to deal with a future royalty stream. The investor of that catalog will have the last laugh imho.
@Composer of Notes – Typically you will get 5 times the last 12 months royalties. I have been following the royalty exchange story for 2 years now.
If your PRO statements over the last 3 years (For example) show that you consistently earned $10,000 a year. An investor would “invest in” or “purchase” your “future royalty revenue stream” for $50,000. This is how I see it and I am only using 10K for the sake of example and using a nice, easy round number.
Just look at your last 3 years of total PRO earnings, come up with an “average annual income” based on 3 years…multiply by 5 times your “average”…that should give you an idea of what an investor would pay.
Some “catalogs” or “songs” have fetched 6 to 10 times average annual royalties. Just start eye balling that market and you will eventually understand what they are doing.
For me, I just want my royalties to continue to roll in. I do not need to “raise money” so to speak.
One of the best investments I saw on royalty exchange was 500 K for the Sesame Street tunes. That was a good investment for sure. Those tunes will continue to consistently earn 100K a year in royalties I’d think. That investor made a good move buying that catalog. Just my opinion.
No Chuck. wrong. We are not missing anything as business people, nor entrepreneurs. There are successful writers, right here in this forum (in this thread).
Some composers writers do “miss the mark” on certain issues. They write the wrong styles and genre’s for TV and ads, they get involved with models they should not be involved with, they fall prey to predators and unfavorable deals (subscription models – exclusive in perpetuity for no WFA fee).
They use the wrong sound libraries that sound like 80’s toy casio synths.
Writing for film, advertising, TV is a craft. A learned craft that takes years and years of development and practice and intuition. By intuition I mean composers making guided decisions themselves as to what genre’s to write in, how to produce it, paying attention to what’s “in demand” now. Paying attention to music you hear on tv, films, and ads. Emulating “todays sound” and not the sound of 20 years ago. Even Emulating the sounds of 60’s 70’s but doing so in a unique and convincing manner.
It’s about being honest with yourself and comparing your mixes and compositions to the elite libraries like UMG and Sony or top selling tracks in micro stock markets. You have to ask “Is my track competitive with the best out there?”
And I hate to say it, but if you want to produce production music full time. It needs to be “full time”. I honestly do not think you can master the craft of music for TV, film and advertising unless you do it full time – 100 tracks a year for 10 years straight. You need to get practice scoring films, scoring 30 second ads, writing for 60 radio, writing a theme for a show, write underscores for shows, writing 2 minute corporate tutorial underscores…and so on…you have to practice all of it, over and over and over for years and years and years.
Also for the record, at this point in the game (10 to 15 years into digital music licensing and on line data bases)…I absolutely consider JP “High End”…They sure do have a lot of TV clients.
If you are great, go to a convention or event like ASCAP expo, PMA Meeting, SWSX, MIDEM, NAMM show, NAB show…get some face time with some people and give it a shot….If you are “great” you will probably start getting e-mails from libraries and music supervisors or film editors or directors asking you to write cues for specific projects.
Michael, I have to disagree and offer another perspective. There are film makers and video folks out there who are paying and in fact willing to pay more for better quality.
There is a company trying to become the “trivago” of stock music licensing. The way it will work is this: Customer performs a keyword search and then is lead to tracks from many sites not just one. They will have the ability to audition and price compare.
Video folks are sick and tired of AJ force feeding the top sellers based on their algorithm of “hot sellers get presented”. Feedback I have heard is that professional video folks do not care if they occasionally have to pay $40, $50, $60, $100 (higher micro stock prices) to get what they want and need.
I really look forward to author driven pricing coming onto AJ…that should make things a lot more interesting.
@Chuck…People do not talk about the PMA for a few reasons: Increasingly the doors are shut unless a personal recommendation is given and someone is escorted in by a friend. PMA libraries do not automatically put money on the table! They want exclusivity so they can sub pub in various territories around the world and they want the music perpetually which presents big risks.
From my perspective in USA TV markets Extreme, Killer Tracks, Firstcomm, Chappel (UMG), and Jingle Punks do the best job for TV syncs. Good luck to any new writer getting in and also good luck to existing writers because now as JP has matured, the emphasis is on in house tracks. In house, exclusive tracks will always get the most presentations to their clients. Study cue sheets and that tells the story.
This is also an interesting development too:
123rf was a bust…I jumped ship there too.
Right but what about when the majority of folks say “I made 1 sale last year” or I have sold nothing in the last 3 years…
I agree that Mark should stay patient if he can confirm that others are actually getting paid from this site. I am talking about sites where 19 out of 20 writers say I have made $15 over the last 2 or 3 years.
This also leads to another discussion: Algorithms….you get a sense that algorithms control many markets. Sites that favor tracks that sell a lot show up in search more, etc. Great for those getting presented, problematic for those trying to get some listens.
I still feel as though the writing is on the wall after 2 to 3 years. If you are not getting paid, you should pull out. Definitely with overseas markets.
Motion Elements was a bust from my perspective. Production Trax is a bust. Tunefruit while highly rated here is also a bust. Can anyone claim that they are pulling in consistent revenue from the above mentioned?
I’d hope you consider removing your content if after 1 or 2 years you drum up 1 sale.
I don’t know how others feel about this but, I come from the school of thought that we are taking more of a risk by having our music sit around in stock music sites that can not produce income for us. Why? because the longer the site operators sit on the assets the more likely they will think of dumping and devaluing strategies to just grab any money they can (sub models). If we supply only markets that actually pay us, we protect our prices and income. I’d be curious to see what others think?While it probably is “dismal” for a new writer with average talent, if you believe you are a talented writer and have great tracks, just release away and see what happens. I’ve seen young writers jump into the scene and 5 to 6 months later watched them chart, and pull down 5 to 15K a month just from AJ. Obviously this does not happen without the favoritism boost they received with featured tracks, contest wins, etc. They were heavily promoted on that site.
I still say that if you have great talent and are willing to write 100 tracks a year for 10 straight years, you can eventually make a living at this because somewhere along the line, you will get someone’s attention.
Yes “great talent” and “great music” is subjective, but we probably can all agree that when you hear a great track, you just hear it and say. Wow this was very cool.
I am electing not to mention NE libraries I have worked with because they no longer are NE for new writers. In some cases, I am not even sure if more and new writers is on their agenda. Increasingly from my perspective the doors are once again closed and personal introductions and recommendations are probably the only way you will be escorted into a library that really has solid TV clients.
Also remember to not include micro stock licensing sites with NE libraries. They are not the same thing.