1,729 thoughts on “General Questions”

  1. Has anyone here had any experience with 1-800-play.com? It’s part of Levy Music Publishing. I didn’t find a review here under either name. I can’t tell from the website if it’s exclusive or non-exclusive and I couldn’t find any mention of placements.

    • I just found the emails I sent in 2008. David Levy is or was the executive producer. He said at the time they were “…offering a 3 year exclusive deal and at that time the agreement would terminate”. He also said they only accept submissions via mail or website.
      Things could have changed but the site doesn’t look any different including the lack of information as far as what they have licensed.
      I sent an email April of this year to see if their terms had changed but got no response.

  2. (Stupid question alert…)

    When using iTunes (mac) to write meta tags into your tracks, which is the better section to install your keywords?

    INFO > COMMENTS
    or
    LYRICS

    I have been putting them in the LYRICS section on my mp3?s, but it may make more sense to use the COMMENTS area, so you could embed them in the wav files?

    Where’s Emmett’s tagging software!!!

  3. Is it really worth it?

    I mean with all the libraries obviously doing blanket licenses
    holding the upfront money Hostage.

    Is it really worth it to join all these so called non exclusive libraries just so they pocket the upfront and we get on cable shows for 12.00 in back end royalties.

    The drinking buddies and guys in the offices get the bigger placements and leave the rest to the blanket licenses.

    Is this how it works now?

    I’m being serious, I really want to hear other composer thoughts on this blanket license thing.

    Does it really add up?

    • I actually think blanket licenses are a great idea. They provide the end-user with a quality product at an inexpensive rate. They provide the library owners a nice stream of revenue. But this is me thinking as a businessperson and not as a composer. Of course blanket deals are lousy for a composer who simply submits songs to libraries and waits for them to be licensed.

      But for those of us who have a nice catalog of songs ready to hustle, blanket licensing can be lucrative. Why submit 200 songs to Library X, only to get 50 approved and 10 licensed? A songwriter who also is registered as a publisher has total control over his/her catalog and can make deals directly with music supervisors, TV networks, film companies, etc.

      You already have the power of your own mind and your own music. Don’t give away your hard work to some corporate conglomorate. You are your own corporation! Who has your best interests at heart: Library X or you? It is time for you to determine your own self-worth and value. No one else can do that for you.

      It is time for composers to stop being victims and to become Victors!

      • That is what I am starting to think, myself.
        Something just did ‘NOT’ feel right about it.

        From a business standpoint, the libraries are winning,
        off composers ignorance and laziness.

        I am definitely about to change my strategy.

        It is becoming a crowded jungle of everyone in the same room with there hands raised “PICK ME – PICK ME”

        All the while the music libraries sitting on the sides collecting the doe and heading to the beach.

      • Im quite uneducated on the publishing side of things. Is it a simple process being your own publisher? What do you have to do differently? Is it merely a case of putting my name down as publisher when registering my songs at the PRO and then doing all the Cue file leg work?

  4. I have an intriguing question: Can I represent other musicians’ songs?

    For instance, I want to represent some songs for a friend of mine. My friend has about 200 unpublished songs and is too lazy to do anything with them. I decide to write up a contract to become the exclusive publisher and copyright holder for those songs. I pay my friend $5,000 for the rights to those songs and he signs the contract. I then assign myself as publisher and register the songs with my PRO under my own publishing company. I then assign my friend as the writer if he is with a PRO.

    Would this be a legally binding deal? I am not 100% sure, bit I think the deal that I just came up with would be a work-for-hire deal. If anyone has an informed opinion, please share with me. Thanks.

    • Have a lawyer write the contract, or you could have problems. Make sure that your friend has a lawyer to protect his interest. He must be at least 18.

  5. Hello

    I have just recently come across this excellent site and it has inspired me to try and get into writing for music libraries. I have always wanted to try my hand at composing and I have composed a few pieces for clavinova which would work well as library music.

    The thing is, I know nothing about this industry. I have made a demo tape and would like to know how to send it off. However, I recently rang a UK library and the chap said they don’t accept tape and that I should send “a nempee 3”. I didn’t question him further so as not to appear ignorant, but I have absolutely no idea what he is on about and I am not that technically minded.

    I have googled “nempee 3” and found an audio acoustics site. Is this what he is referring to? If so, how is this relevant to my submitting my pieces?

    Please help, I am very confused!

    Maureen

  6. Hey Art, how about making the site FREE one day a week? Really miss the regular fix of MLR – here’s hoping, thx

  7. This is a request for Matt
    I have enjoyed and appreciated your comments and personal anecdotes and thoughts over the last year or so and in between listening to the Test match have been keeping up with various comments on MLR. What I wondered is if you could give a more detailed description of the process you started a few years ago on how you got to the place where you are now ie. making a successful living from P. music. I know time is at a premium and you have offered various bits of info in the past but if you could I am sure I and others on this site would find it fascinating reading
    Cheers
    Ian

    • Hi Ian. The music I’ve amassed has come from:

      – music written specifically for libraries

      – music written for indie films, tv pilots and commercials (either rejected or I retained the rights)

      – music I wrote for no specific reason (i.e. in the hopes of giving it to a library)

      I started out writing quite a lot for some exclusive libraries. These were mostly small time libraries run by an LA based composer who had a couple of TV shows, and needed more music for them.

      Some of these were good deals where I got some money upfront, others were BAD but I didn’t know it at the time. I was naive and new to the business – I didn’t know what to look for in a library, and signed quite a few exclusive deals for no money upfront. (The only times I think you should even consider doing that are if the library comes recommended from someone you trust, or when the library has a track record of success and you’re not giving more than a handful of tracks to them)

      Today I still make royalties every quarter from the work I did back then. A few years after I started those jobs, I got in with a few of the big libraries through friends who were already writing for them. Funnily enough, I had tried to get in with these libraries a few years before by just cold calling, with no luck whatsoever.

      Those connections still get me the occasional job – on average I probably write 10 tracks a year for these ‘big’ libraries, who pay well upfront and sometimes get me a surprise bump in royalties.

      The music I didn’t sign away to an exclusive library is the stuff that I got back from indie films etc. Although not as immediately lucrative as writing for a network TV show (with practically guaranteed airtime), over the years I’ve been able to figure out a handful of places to put these tracks to get the best return from the least amount of work. As we all know, some libraries make you do a lot more work than others – the upload / submission process, some make you do all the descriptions and keywords while others do it themselves. I’ve managed to find the best RF company that works for me, the best licensing based company, and the best performance royalties based company. What works for the music I write may not work for another composer, and I assume that’s why I haven’t had much success with some of the libraries with glowing reviews on here. It could be that I fill a niche or a lacking in the companies that do well with my non-exclusive tracks, or that my music tends to service their best clients. In other libraries that haven’t worked out so well for me (but have for other composers), the opposite is probably true.

      Like I’m sure many of the composers here, I’m not aspiring to be a full time library composer for the rest of my life. My goal is to keep busy with interesting film and documentary projects. At the moment I’ve been writing a lot of trailer music, which interestingly has actually led to some film work. I’ve been lucky enough to get a few big trailer licenses this year, and when those happened I got quite a bit of publicity out of it.
      One bit about the trailer world – some libraries pay you upfront and then keep all the license fees. Unless the upfront money is good and you really need it, try to get half the licensing. The fees are usually in the $3000 – $25000 range.

      The key to making a living from library music is to write a lot. Write when you don’t have to! Of course it’s a lot easier to be motivated to write when you have a reason, i.e. a paying gig, a deadline. So try to get those too! Every track you write gets you a little better at writing and production, and hopefully makes you a little faster. Because just as important as the quality of the writing is your production quality, speed and ability to finish a track. I know plenty of guys from music school who are amazing composers, even great at production, but never seem to manage to get any tracks finished! (no matter how much encouragement I give them)

      • That’s really interesting stuff Matt. Cheers for replying. Just one question. I am not totally clear on what ‘trailer’ music is.
        Is it music used for TV commercials?
        I am just about to start marketing 60 cds of music for a friend of mine here in Japan whose late husband was fairly successful in the field of healing/relaxation music. Once that is up and out I will be going back to my own stuff. I tend to write fairly regularly using the loops I get from Computer Music and http://www.musicradar.co as a starting point for what are mostly 2-3 min pieces.
        Thanks again
        Ian

          • Thanks for the link
            Looks like I need to upgrade from my Cubase SX1 and get some orchestral material on the go.
            Cheers
            Ian

            • As others have mentioned here, trailer music is essentially the height of library music. The standard is very high – what’s expected is the sound of today’s film music. The only difference I can think of is that trailer music is often very formulaic (like most library music is). The production needs to be up there with the best. Check out some of the top guys by going on youtube and searching for ‘Two Steps From Hell’ .

              • I see misconceptions about what trailer music should be. Trailer music can be anything from a simple piano solo to hard-hitting action cues or a soft romantic ballad as in The Bridges Of Madison County: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bClztu2xao

                Why pigeonhole yourself to the latest fad trailers?

                • I have recently been inspired by many of the action cartoons to come up wth some cool trailer/orchestral sounds. In particular, a cartoon titled “Avatar: The Last Airbender” has given me some great ideas on composing some music with heavy ethnic percussion and big string riffs. That show is scored by a group called The Track Team. That is the next type of sound that I want to pursue.

                • The majority of trailer music fits the pigeonhole.

                  Bridges of Madison County was 16 years ago. Clint Eastwood (the producer) is a jazz fan, has written some of his own scores (although Lennie Neihaus did Bridges), and he included jazz singer Johnny Hartman on the Bridges soundtrack. They used a Johnny Hartmen clip for the trailer.

                  I’d say the chances of a library writer getting an old school ballad into a trailer, instead of the real deal are slim.

                  My 2Cents

                  • Yeah, you’re probably correct Michael. I guess the days of “Madison County” soundtracks are over. Still, it depends on the film. I do hear more laid-back music in “made for TV” films.

                    Maybe I’ve been watching too much film noir lately.

                • Hi John, you’re right, there is some variety in what gets used in trailers – sometimes a pop song, atmospheric bed or simply sound design is called for. What I meant by trailer music is the stuff that most libraries will call trailer music – the over-the-top epic, bombastic gothic stuff used in most action movie trailers. Even family adventure and cartoon trailers will use music that still has some of that ‘epic-ness’.

                  It’s essentially one to two minutes of pop rock music played by orchestra and choir (and often rock guitars) – usually simple diatonic chord progressions gridded into a formulaic repetitive structure. Think A-B-A or A-A1-A2.

                  This over-the-top style might be a fad, but it’s lasted a while. It started getting popular by the end of the 90’s, and companies like Immediate Music really pushed it into the forefront in the early 2000’s. Some chord progressions and melodies are getting so passé (1 minor-2-3-4 for example) that they’re out of fashion, so I guess you could say there are fads within this fad.

                  What might be making this ‘trailer sound’ less fashionable than it used to be is its sheer saturation. These days you’ll hear trailer music used in TV promos, commercials, even reality shows (America’s Got Talent, Britain’s Got Talent, American Idol to name just a few). Even film music is starting to sound like trailer music – for example Transformers 3 and X Men: First Class. Maybe there will be a tipping point where enough is enough and trailer music as we know it today will be out of fashion. Or maybe it will continue to evolve, becoming more sophisticated, more subtle.

                  • Hey Matt,

                    I think you’re right. The sheer ubiquitousness of the genre is a bit much. One more “epic” choir doing the one millionth rip of Carmina Burana — the sound is almost a parody of itself.
                    Once it trickles down to the local car dealer level you know it’s old.

                    But maybe this is an example of evolution: http://8dio.com/8dio_launch.swf
                    Check out some of the artist demos or the teaser trailer.

                    @John (The Other John) here’s a non-pigeon-hole trailer for you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5IGC59Q9y8

                    Michael

                    • Good one Michael. A couple of my picks (only from memory): On Golden Pond (and most of what Dave Grusin does), As Good As it Gets, Breakfast at Tiffany, and French Kiss. All memorable melodies. Can you hum me a few bars of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Michael? Okay, so I’m an old fart.

                      What would those power cues do without a deep canyon hit? lol

                  • On the subject of off the wall stuff, a movie score I really loved was from the movie ‘Dead Man’, one of J. Depp’s lesser known movies.
                    The whole score consisted of N. Young on an electric guitar.
                    Very atmospheric and original.

  8. WAIT…until the dust settles.
    As MAC users know, Apple released OS 10.7 LION.

    I’ve received several emails from software developers including MOTU and Propellerhead, advising that they are working on updates for Lion, but they aren’t sure how it will affect their products.

    Unless you can’t live without Thunderbolt, you may want to wait a until other developers catch up.

    Best,

    Michael

  10. With digital fingerprinting becoming closer to reality (as far as the PRO’s using it), wondering how the PRO’s will differentiate between title A and title B of the same track? Do you think this technology will end re-titling?

    • This is the big question! It’s been discussed quite a bit here already, although I can’t remember what page it would be on. The owner of one of the bigger libraries mentioned on here that a potential solution to the problem you bring up – audio watermarking (where an embedded yet inaudible signal sends out the writer/publisher info) – is not reliable and nowhere near as ready as digital fingerprinting technology is. Either that’s the guts of it, or the big libraries (who are all almost entirely exclusive NON-retitling libraries) are going to use it as an excuse to edge out the re-titling libraries that are encroaching on their business.

      I just wonder about the big (and no doubt powerful) companies like GETTY IMAGES… they’re a massive company with a rapidly growing music division (previously known as Pump Audio) full of re-titled tracks.

      It could be that within the next five to ten years, most major TV shows and films end up forbidden to use re-titled music by some draconian corporate policy (I’m told some are in the works already), but for the low budget stuff, like the typical clients of a royalty-free library (mostly low budget video producers), re-titling will continue to flourish. Will be interesting to see how things pan out! In the meantime, I think it’s wise to focus more on good exclusive deals – where you either get paid upfront and/or get 50% of the licensing (and of course the writer’s share of the royalties!)

      • That’s about my take on it Matt. As far as audio watermarking, ASCAP doesn’t show any interest in going that route.

      • I think this may sum things up rather neatly:

        “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

        Charles Darwin

        • Well said Matt.

          I’ve had the same thought about Darwin in connection with our business. Many writers on another forum spend too much time lamenting that the business “isn’t the way it used to be.” It’s hard to go forward when you’re constantly looking back.

          I prefer to see opportunity.

          Cheers,

          Michael

        • My rather harsh phrase is: “Business is war, war is hell, adapt or die!”. I know, too harsh but it kind of rolls of the tongue:)

          Just thought of an edit. “Music is business, business is war, war is hell, adapt or die!”. Okay still too harsh.

      • Retitling is here to stay. The truth is that most TV shows and commercials do not have big budgets for music. Retitle libraries provide decent music at an inexpensive price. The more realistic view is that large companies like Pump Audio will push out smaller libraries with the same music. In 5 years, there will be 3 to 5 retitle libraries that have 90% market share. A few other specialty libraries will make up the other 10%.

        Retitle libraries are entry-level agencies for those that are trying to license music. Most composers cannot just start sending songs to Killer Tracks or Firstcom. The retitle libraries are the minor leagues where most need to start in order to learn the basics of the business. After a few years, a composer should have an idea if they are ready for the major leagues or not.

        • So since I am still a bit new at this, please explain exactly what a retitlling library is, and what the difference is compared to others.

        • Hi Synth Player!

          I also think retitle libraries are here to stay. However, I’m wondering how they’ll adapt to the tech changes with the PRO’s.

          I’m with ASCAP. ASCAP is getting geared-up for digital fingerprinting which won’t identify multiple titles. They haven’t showed any interest in watermarking which would identify multiple titles.

          From what I learned, ASCAP will pay royalties to the library that registers the track first. The other libraries will have to fight it out in a court of law for royalties improperly funneled.

          Possible adapted changes by retitle libraries: 1. become a royalty-free library (that stinks) 2. allow the writer 100% royalties (writers share and publishers share) – then take a bigger slice of the licensing fees 3. become an exclusive library for new submits, but keeping previous non-exclusive tracks until they rebuild the new structure 4. totally ignore the changes and let the chips fall where they may. 5. hope for new digital fingerprinting technology (that the PRO’s will embrace) that will identify multiple titles.

          Wondering if anyone else have any ideas where this may lead?

          I have half my music in non-exclusive libraries and half in exclusive libraries, but will probably start sending more to the exclusives.

          John

          • Hey John,

            I think the libraries will fight it out amongst themselves. The PROs do not really have a reason to get involved. They certainly aren’t going to pay for fingerprinting technology. Any technology used by PROs will probably be paid for by publishers and songwriters. And as you may know, the big publishers will have enough clout to pay reduced fees for those services.

            I think that many companies that are around today will not be around for long.

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