[Musicmatters]

I totally agree with Rob. What can we take from this and what can we, as a group, do about this. This message hits home like a hammer. There could be hundreds of composers reading this blog and together maybe we can make a difference, in spite of the composers who do not agree. I wish there was a union for composers as many of us are very naive. Here are some suggestions apart from not working for free.

1. Raise rates, working for free and working for 5$ tracks is very similar. I suggest a minimum rate of $50 at all RF sites. I have all my tracks set even higher.

2. Do not work with people who are trying to trap you to work with free, in fact expose such people whether they are publishers, libraries etc.

3. Network to help each other. Think as a community, not as an individual.

The business of music starts with us. If we dont comply, the music stops flowing. We have the power !!!

There is currently a huge overflow of music which will eventually subside as a lot of part time composers realize that this work is not that easy. We have to come together and stay focused till then.

[Musicmatters]

Great advice by one of my all time heroes. Thanks for sharing @woodsdenis

[Musicmatters]

Hi,
I would not recommend any electronics as I believe it would ruin the sound quality, IMO the best way is to record using microphones. I have a very nice ukulele made by KALA. It is not vey expensive (less than $100) but has a great sound. Hope that helps.

[Musicmatters]

Happy holidays to all, thanks MLR for keeping us straight. I know for myself that I have gained countless advice from all the contributors here. Thanks ML for this post. Have an awesome 2015. Love and peace to all

[Musicmatters]

Thank you Art, for keeping us informed. Thanks also to Tunesat. Time to upgrade my free tunesat… makes me wonder how much of our music gets used this way. I was just looking at the tunesat pricing and it can vary a great deal by region, could anyone suggest the best package/region monitoring that makes the most economical sense. BTW tunesat is kinda pricey are there any other options. Thank you everyone !!!

[Musicmatters]

Thats great Kubed, sounds like a very good deal. Coming to the thread, it would also have to be JP for me. I have close to 400 tracks with them, about 25% edits and currently most of my placements have been through them, including one on network which bought in about 400 as it was about a 50 sec placement. I am also relatively new, a little over three years, and a lot of my exclusive deals have not started generating much income, which i am waiting for. Most of the other libraries are a distant second. I do wish there were more libraries like JP

[Musicmatters]

East West is the best IMO, the RA library has a fair of selection of general ethnic sounds and would probably be in your budget. Apart from that, i cant think of a library that is so diverse. Most of your other libraries will be Kontakt based and would be individual to a region so would add up to be more.

[Musicmatters]

Thanks MichaelL, that is quite revealing. Not sure what to make of it though. I suppose the settlement should not affect the cash flow, since it gets taken from the escrow account. One can only wonder what the future agreement with TLMC bodes for us. On the other hand, SESAC seems to be getting into all sorts of other things and is getting very corporatized and is losing that personal touch. Thanks for posting !

[Musicmatters]

Tendered my termination to ASCAP and will hopefully move to SESAC or BMI, if that does not work out. Leaving old catalog at ASCAP. Thanks MLR, for the help and info. Looking forward to better days.

[Musicmatters]

@Mark Petrie. By the term buyout do you mean you give up all rights, including performing rights ?

[Musicmatters]

Hey Bradymusico. Best of luck with your move, is there a reason why you have left your current catalog with ASCAP ? Thanks

[Musicmatters]

My best quarter to date. 🙂

[Musicmatters]

I agree with MichaelL and Mark Lewis about the bar being raised. I also believe that there needs to be a concerted effort from our part (as creators) to raise prices. Most composers price themselves too low. In my limited experience, I have not seen sales falling by raising prices.

Of course within your catalog, there will be a variation, and some tracks are at the bottom and some at the top, depending on quality, but an effort should be maintained to price it as high as possible. I have tracks at many sites and the majority of them including edits are priced between 70 to 100 USD but I also have a very few tracks, from my early years, with low production and compositional value, that are priced much lower.

I feel there is still room for more good quality RF sites. The strange thing about these sites is that some will work really well for you and some are almost dead. I am thinking of pulling my music from those libraries that really are not working

I am beginning to divert more of my catalog towards RF as I really enjoy having complete control of my work, as MichaelL said and can also confirm that quite a few tracks in my RF catalog have paid me much more than any ex track i have written so far. With the ex ones you never know what kind, if any, backend will be generated.

In the future I would like to see more direct licensing through an artists own website, i wonder who has been successful at this so far, and would also like to see this content ID thing being cleared up as The way i see it Youtube and others like it will be a dominant force in the market that needs to be fairly monetized.

[Musicmatters]

Thanks Mark, this looks very interesting. I am curious if anyone else on this forum has used this or anything similar and what results they have had. Thank you

[Musicmatters]

Thats very true Michael, some sounds/styles are evergreen and cycles of time play their course, retro is huge and modern music is running out of creative direction. I feel it is important for me also to have a substantial part of my catalog in NE/RF as I feel in control, with Exclusive and WFH projects you sometimes feel like you are thinking short term (upfront money). After a few years in this game, i can clearly see, that good NE/RF tracks have earned me way more than any of my ex ones, and keep doing so.

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