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Soundmouse allows you to register your songs with the writer & publisher info, so as long as you’re giving your publisher’s proper credit with IPI number, there shouldn’t be a problem if both you & your library are registering your songs with Soundmouse. Soundmouse is suppose to automatically detect usage, generate cue sheets, and send them to PRO’s, so I’d rather have my music registered with them than not. In the US, ASCAP also uses Soundmouse as the only source for paying royalties for some usages. Not sure about BMI & SEASAC.
Hard Music Group only accepts music by Canadian composers. Or at least one co-writer needs to be Canadian, probably because of exactly what you mentioned. They’re subpublished by APM which is good news!
Congrats on the placement! As Art mentioned, there are 3 factors that PRO’s take into consideration to determine how much you’ll get paid for the commercial: 1. What channel 2. Time of Day, and 3. Number of Plays.
For ads, unlike cues used in a TV show where a cue sheet is filed, length of time does not come into consideration. Doesn’t matter if your music plays for 5s or 60s, in the same ad, both songs would get paid the same amount of money. I had a long back and forth with ASCAP about this recently because I had never heard this and needed to clarify. They assured me length of time doesn’t come into play for commercials. From what I read on BMI’s site, the same 3 factors are used. Length of time is not a factor. Not sure how other PRO’s around the world treat ads but that’s what happens in the states (Carl’s Jr locations)…
My experience from a long running ad, plays can vary from fractions of a cent, $.002, all the way up to multiple dollars per play $2.95 is my highest. Most plays are between $0.02 and $0.30.
One other thing worth mentioning is that US PRO’s do not automatically monitor and pay for music in ads. Go on your PRO’s website and look for the protocol on how to claim royalties from your music playing in an ad. SESAC, for example, allows Tunesat detections as proof, whereas ASCAP requires that you find the ad on Numerator (they’ll hook you up with a free Numerator account) and send them the corresponding Numerator ad code. You will not get paid anything if you don’t follow the protocol.
Hopefully Carl’s Jr. realizes that the ad is selling them a ton of burgers and plays the commercial for years and years to come!
I’m a lifelong musician who made the jump into writing production music 4 years ago and am now full time, earning mid five figures between sync fees and royalties.
I spent the previous 10 years as a gigging sideman musician, band member, and music teacher and was able to start out by writing library cues during the daytime before rehearsals, music lessons (after kids get off school), and gigs (night times).
When starting out, I decided to cast a wide net and submit my first 12 songs album to as many non-exclusive libraries as I could find as an info gathering action. I had no idea what would work and what wouldn’t. I lucked out and found a few libraries that earned enough money to encourage me to pursue writing more. I wrote 3-4 more 12 song albums and after a year, I was bringing in 1k/month, which was enough to make me stop taking some gigs, stop accepting new music students, and focus even more time and resources on making my production music cues even better.
During my first few years (and still), I did my due diligence, spent countless hours on the web, YouTube, listening to podcasts, reading MLR, etc., and decided to write some albums for exclusive libraries, as well as continuing to feed the NE ones that’d been supplementing my other music income. I considered the amount of work I was doing researching + writing to be full time (at least 40 hrs a week), but I was also still playing some jobbing gigs, performing with passion project bands, and teaching a handful of music students every week. My income in the first several years didn’t reflect the amount of time I was putting in, but I loved that my schedule was always filled with something musical, and that I was building ownership over music I had written, and getting paid again and again for it, instead of working on other people’s music for a one-time sideman fee.
In my third year, I was offered a full time, exclusive (couldn’t write for other libraries) writing deal with a library who expected a certain amount of tracks per month in exchange for a monthly salary (sync buyout) + I got to keep 100% writer’s royalties. I did this for almost a year and continued my sideman + teaching duties part time until that library dropped me as a writer. They stated that they wanted to bring in some new writers to diversify their catalog and had to make room.
My fourth year was filled with several albums, co-writer collaborations, new deals with new libraries including ones with up front production money and advances, and finally seeing PRO returns on the exclusive albums I’d submitted several years ago. I was thrilled to see placements on CBS, NBC, PBS, BBC, RTL, Discovery, Netflix, commercials, and more!
I’m now not gigging at all (COVID) but still teach music lessons 1 day per week to help others with their musical pursuits. Other than that, library music is my full-time pursuit.
My thoughts about going full-time:
-Try to lower your expenses. This will allow you the time required to write enough music to afford more!
-Everything you need to know can be found for free on the University of YouTube, web forums, magazine articles, podcasts etc. The educational resources I’ve paid for include this forum (Great job, Thanks Art!), and to attend the Production Music Conference held by the PMA.
-Long game. There’s no jumping in immediately at 60-100k. Work and study at it like you’re a student who needs 6-8 years of schooling (masters degree) before you’re worth that much to an employer.
-Specialize in whatever music you’re the best at and try your hardest to stick with itBest wishes!
This is an amazing “how to” 10 part article about library music and the process that I share with those who might be interested:
https://www.soundonsound.com/music-business/all-about-library-music-part-1
This is an easy way to get people informed without consuming a ton of your time. It provides a blueprint for exactly what you need to do to break into the business. Just forward them the link, tell them to read all 10 parts, and tell them to come back once they’ve finished with more questions. Most people never ask more questions.I sent a msg to ASCAP asking about future airings of an ad I’d already sent in a claim for. After 4 weeks, no response. I’ll let you know what they say.
One thing I’ve learned in my years of writing library music is to trust your instincts. There’s too many libraries out there to try and force something to work that doesn’t fit. If you’re not getting the communication you need, there’s probably another library out there who can provide it. It takes legwork to find relationships that work.
If you’re looking for libraries that provide updates, two come to mind: Velvet Green Music & Scorekeepers both send out updates with client requests and what they’re accepting submissions for. Sometimes monthly, sometimes quarterly.
Sweet track, Art! Love the vibe, great arrangement and riffs.
Although it’s invite only, I’d suggest joining SEASAC based on the fact that they accept TuneSat reports as claims for royalties.
Hey @tenroomsaudio, a few things I’d add about transitioning into ‘bigger’ libraries from RF:
1.) expect an exclusive, 50/50 deal. This is the standard deal. Use it as a barometer to see if you’re signing away your tracks favorably or are getting ripped off. Anything more than 50/50 = amazing! Anything less = Not Amazing!
2.) when looking at top tier libraries, search for what smaller libraries feed into them and send tracks to those libraries. You can usually search for ‘labels’ or ‘libraries’ and find several smaller libraries whose tracks are making up the catalog of the bigger library. For example, when you look at a library like APM and their credits (top tier), check out how their music is coming from lots of other small libraries:
https://www.apmmusic.com/libraries
These are the libraries that’ll be easier to get into than sending tracks directly to APM. If your tracks get accepted to one of the smaller feeder libraries, your tracks will become a part of APM’s catalog and be searchable for ‘top tier’ placements. This has been the case for me with some CNN, Discovery, Netflix, PBS, and NBC has placements.
3.) do not underestimate a non-exclusive deal. From my experience, non-exclusive libraries often don’t have the same clout or attraction to bigger clients. However, having a catalog of your own music to be able to license yourself or submit to other non-exclusive libraries in the future can be just as valuable as having some tracks in a well connected exclusive library. I’d recommend having some music with both!
Many libraries have a threshold of earnings before they send you a payment. I’m with one exclusive library that waits for as much as $200 owed ($400 total in sync fees) before sending a payment.
For those of us composers who live in USA, we are responsible for paying tax on all the money we receive from libraries. I’ve never heard of a publisher that pays any taxes for a composer’s portion of sync fees or royalties. All the money we see is taxed as “royalties” as “self-employed” composers meaning we’re the ones responsible.
I would love to hear if anyone else knows of a way we composers can eliminate paying taxes on earned income from library music.