[Musicmatters]

I totally agree with More Advice. I believe most publishers are capable of kickbacks/dishonesty if given the chance, the world has become that way and publishers are no different. I also understand this is designed to be a win win situation but, in this situation the publisher is in control. The P&G TV spot is just one example, the composer was lucky in this case, a lot of us would not even know if we are not carefully monitoring.
My question is this who needs the other more. The composer or the publisher. Obviously the answer is the publisher needs the composer more for without the composer, the publisher does not exist. The composer, on the other hand, could conceivably market his music directly to the production companies, either directly or through a composers collective, and collect both the writers and publishers share. Wouldn’t that be nice eh!.
Many composers, and i speak for myself, dont recognize this aspect of business and do not suspect this world to be so cruel but you have to watch your back at all times and lessons like this only sometimes come through bad experiences and this is where advice from More Advice (experienced composers) becomes invaluable.
In 2014, i wish for composers to come together and develop ways to protect ourselves from being taken advantage of by greedy publishers. Amen

[Musicmatters]

Michael L and The Dude on opposite sides of the fence is a great way for us newbies to see both sides. Thanks to both of you for your insights. I find both your comments invaluable and look forward to them. 2014 promises to be a fruitful year. Thanks to MLR, my career seems to be progressing. 🙂

[Musicmatters]

Can anyone here comment on the Project SAM Orchestral essentials. Does it provide you with a good basic set of SAM sounds? I use EWQL Gold and LASS lite. I was hoping for a complimentary set of sounds that i could blend with my other libraries, thanks.

[Musicmatters]

None of you guys have mentioned one crucial factor. The joy of doing what you love far outweighs many financial gains. When i look at the guys doing the 9 to 5 through several hours of traffic, i feel truly blessed.

[Musicmatters]

Here are my two bits. IMHO. The market for music has undergone a revolution in the last twenty years or so. It used to be that music production was a game in which there used to be very few players, those who had access to studios and musicians. It was not a level playing field.

Now everyone has the access, even with a few thousand dollars you can set up a pretty darn good studio. The playing field has leveled out. As they say, the wheat and the chaff will be separated. The market is still going through changes but many of the fly by night composers are moving on because the market has bottomed out so much that it is just not worth it.

For all us serious composers, it is very important that we be the wheat, in other words keep making the best music you can. The storm will pass. Keep your rates as high as you realistically can in every RF library. I have tracks in AJ but as soon as my placements go up, i will start pulling them out, just because it cheapens the market. Let the hobbyists rule in places like AJ

[Musicmatters]

Congrats Jay, NBC should result in a healthy backend for you. $60 sounds about right for many RF sites but sounds low for tracks with all acoustic instruments. Sometimes, when i go through a period of low sales, i get discouraged but then patience is the name of the game here as many of us have realized. Also, i am sure that many of us have weak and strong tracks and your pricing should reflect that. In any case, the lowest price of any track should be $60. It would also depend on how long you have been doing this. In my case, i have been at this a couple of years now and my client base is still small. Ideally, I would like to see the $60 become $100 and as my sales pick up, i will be doing that.

[Musicmatters]

Amen… Glen Petersen !!! (all the words rhyme) maybe we need to form a band of brothers or band of composers

[Musicmatters]

Great conversation here… thought i would chime in. So, the amount of money in the pool is shrinking and at the same time everyone is getting greedier, as human nature is.. a recipe for disaster… so if you step back and look again, there are three parties in this transaction and you actually need only two. There used to be a time when a publisher was needed when the world was unconnected, but today, what is there to stop the composer from dealing directly with the production company on whatever terms he chooses. Look at current artists who are selling more and more to fans directly sans “Record Label”. I completely agree with Glen when he says “A good cue is a good cue…” I, for one, would love to see all us composers coming together on a common platform/website to sell our products, a platform created by us and run by us, without a scheming library/publisher in the middle who keeps half of everything because only he apparently knows the buyer. Production companies need good music… period and they will do whatever they need to so that they can get it and be competitive and deliver a great product. If you build it… they will come !

[Musicmatters]

Michael,

I couldn’t agree more with “A”… thanks for your voice and posting with so much thought and consideration for us less experienced composers… it gives us a better roadmap. I, for one have been at this for the last couple of years… i am nowhere near meeting my expenses but i am ready to do whatever it takes and cannot imagine doing anything else. I also totally agree with the others that you have to write music whenever you can, and dont keep very high expectations… just let it come out. The more you do it the better you get and the better you know your tools and.. keep smiling…. peace to all

 

Abbas

[Musicmatters]

Emlyn, i remember when i first started to compose, there was a lot more freedom and experimentation during those years, there were fewer rules. As we have matured in our art, we tend to rationalize more and imagine less. These are the composers you will find in exclusive libraries, trained to stay on the beaten path. The non exclusive composers are generally more junior and are willing to take more chances, therefore the fresher and not as well produced sounds.

 

Abbas

[Musicmatters]

I agree with Tony as well that much depends on the music as to how and where it should be submitted. @Anon, could you explain to me the purpose of pseudonyms, dont you dilute your brand name when you do that, what benefit does it serve ? retitling does have an administrative benefit. Is there a need to be covert about this, therefore the pseudonym ….

[Musicmatters]

Thanks for all the responses… the environment has been changing rapidly. Most notably, i have been hearing that ASCAP (my PRO) is pursuing digital fingerprinting, this can create a lot of confusion specially for retitled tracks. The fact that the members of this forum are quite evenly divided means that there is no overwhelming support for either side. I personally see music undergoing a shift from being a service to a commodity and as a result, i feel that at the end of the day the non exclusive model will prevail. I think fingerprinting is the way to go forward, at least then, hopefully we wont have problems of unreported usage of our tracks.

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