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Regarding Warner – they were talking seriously about it with the Warner/Discovery music assets a couple of years ago but didn’t get their asking price more or less. Word inside is they are going to try this again shortly.
I’m gonna offer my two cents here. It’s just my opinion so if you disagree that’s fine. But it’s based on some deep conversation I’ve had with some major players in different facets of music.
I remember well when Jason Flom took over Atlantic. He was always tight with the upper execs at Clear Channel (now iHeart). He warned them that they needed to start thinking forward, certainly not backward yet also not just in the present. Radio was going through major changes – FM radio didn’t believe it could be challenged by streaming or by satellite. A close friend is head of affiliate relations with iHeart – and she know all the mistakes that were made.
We are at just another one of these crossroads now – it’s just part of the evolution of art and science. I always found it interesting that copyright law specifically states, “ensuring the progression of science.” It’s almost as if it was predicted that science would have a tremendous effect on everything that could be protected under copyright. Certainly an accurate prediction. But the government that created that copyright law is never going to protect us until many years have gone by and it is usually too late.
Many library owners that have had hugely successful libraries have sold their interests. Warner wants to get out of the library game as well. For some people, continuing doing what they are doing does make sense. They may be finishing up a career and got the benefit of many years of success with writing production music as we have in the past. But for those of us that are mid career, or early career if that’s you – now is the time to think forward. AI will be able to “reason”in the near future. I am personally of the belief that music will always have value somewhere. It just may not be in the same place it had value before. There was a time not too long ago, where content ID did not seem to be worth any money. Look at how quickly that changed.
My point here is that as a community of composers, I hope we can make sure we are thinking forward and ahead and keeping an open mind as to how and where our music can be valued. It IS going to change. I believe that completely.
This is intriguing
I don’t think those of us that are working in music for a living are going to get excited about “AI-DRIVEN music” as you are mentioning.
This is definitely not a step in a good direction
The awesome Carlos Rafael Rivera! A great guy with truly great talent. Got his 2nd well deserved Emmy a couple years ago for Queen’s Gambit.
Yeah I did see that my most recent sync fees from them are going to be paid through this new company, even though you will probably still see the accounting amounts in a duplicate statement in adminow.
Wow – that’s a pretty powerful quote. I think that’s one that’s gonna stick w me.
I agree with the above – this is a really tough question to answer. I’ve been with ASCAP for a very long time. If I had to do this all over again I would have likely joined BMI as a music library composer primarily – but that’s not how I started in the music business. With all that said – sometimes ASCAP surprises me with how much they pay for a single placement. Sometimes they surprise me with how they pay nothing at all for other placements. It’s like an age old question – which PRO is best. I think their calculations are too complicated for any of us to tell – so my conclusion is – after all this time – I have no clue what the answer is!
It’s tough to say what happened with the reporting when it comes to certain news segments on FOX News because I’ve had the same issue over time. With that said, I did receive cue sheets and ASCAP paid for Fox and Friends and for Hannity
They have a MLR listing so you can look there – but they are pretty new as far as I know so time will tell.
After you upload tracks with Indentifyy – how soon does the “YouTube Reports” tab show what it has tracked? Does it track in close to real time like TuneSat or does it post tracking results quarterly?
I actually wanted to tag onto this concept on never knowing what a track will do….also reminding some of the newer people to the business here that once you are confident in your skills and strengths, rejection is STILL part of normal business. But in this business – rejection can be a truly positive thing.
A track I recently got a large sync payout with and will also receive great backend on was rejected – no let me correct that – HARSHLY rejected, by a well known exclusive library. The rep from the library was kind enough to respond with the following words to me “Ummm…..no thanks.” lol.
If you’re confident in your skills and strengths, its just important to realize that your track, and your vision for a track may just not be what a library does. They have strengths and weaknesses too and aren’t going to take in a track they have no idea what to do with.
That’s one of the reasons that when new people come to this forum and say “What libraries are going to get me placements?” – it’s not such a simple answer. It’s a specific and sometimes complicated matchmaking game.
And also – if a good cue gets rejected by a library, it’s a really good thing that your track didn’t get accepted because it means it doesn’t fit their strengths – or they are inundated with that style already. A better home can be found where your track stands out, and the library has confidence that it fits their wheelhouse.
Stepping down from soapbox now – even though we’ve all covered this before, just wanted to throw this out there because as new people continue to sign up on this amazing forum…I think it’s hopefully helpful advice.
One of my exclusive libraries is pushing the offering of stems pretty hard. I’m still avoiding it where possible because my feelings as a creative are mixed. With that said – I understand that libraries are trying to maximize their appeal in a very crowded business.
Nice! It’s always cool when a RF track unexpectedly makes it the distance like that! Congrats.