1,729 thoughts on “General Questions”

  1. Here is a strange idea: Would you join up with a bunch of other composers to boost your musical output? I thought about easy ways to get more songwriter credits for songs after listening to some songs at a music library website. I saw a whole CD that was co-written by three different people.

    That got me curious so I typed in one of the composer’s names and searched at a PRO website. This composer had apparently written or co-written over 800 songs. I am not sure if this guy was actually employed by the library or some other company. But I was amazed that he had did work on so many songs. None appeared to be retitled music becausr most song were with big music libraries like Non Stop, Killer Tracks, Universal Music, etc.

    It seems that an easy way to increase my track count is to just start working with a small group of guys and working on as much material as possible. That seems like a great way to quickly build a nice size catalog without doing all the work for every song. Any thoughts?

    • Hi Synth,

      In theory yes that might be one approach, but don’t believe everything you read.

      I have a co-writer on dozens of my tracks, who has never even heard the tracks. If you searched this person’s name with the pro you’d come up with hundreds of tracks that this person never heard.

      In other words, not every co-writer is actually a writer.

      Michael

      • Yeah, this is what I kind of want to do. I want to team up with someone who is strong where I am weak and who is weak where I am strong. It seems like a great business decision!

        Some might say that anonymous co-writing is an ethical stretch, but I myself don’t see the problem. It would be similar to a group of people pool money together to hit the lotto. No one knows whose dollar bought the winning ticket, but the money gets split evenly amongst all parties.

        I wouldn’t mind splitting the writer’s share in half or a third for some of the music I make. I think it would be better to have 33% or 50% of 1,000 songs than to have 100% of 300 songs. I just don’t socialize with enough people that are into music licensing to do this in a major way yet. Thanks!

        • Synth,

          I don’t think that you read what I wrote. I had a “co-writer” on many tracks who did nothing, contributed nothing to the tracks whatsoever, was not part of the process etc., yet received half of the royalties. The library owner took 50% of the writers’ share by assigning family members as co-writers.

          So what I am saying is that just because you see a co-writer listed on the track, it does not mean that that actually had anything to do with the track, or even met the composer. Sometimes, it’s just business — not ethical — but just business.

          Michael

          • No Michael. I read what you wrote. That is exactly what I had in mind when I was talking about “co-writing”.

            I want to team up with one or two other people. We each write our own songs, but we share the writer’s portion on all songs. So I actually create a complete song, but share the writer’s portion with other people. They would write their own songs amd share the writer’s portion with me.

            This would be a fast way to bulk up our respective catalogs without writing each and every piece of music. I am just thinking of ways to generate a big catalog, which in turn would increase the chances of placements and income.

            More composers would probably benefit from this in the end. I know that Alan Ett has!

            • Sorry Synth, it’s NOT a great deal.

              Many writers, including myself, lost half of their royalties to “co-writers” who never even heard the music that they supposedly “co-wrote.” What is it about that that you think is such a great deal? We did not get a piece of other writers work. If that’s what you think happened, you’re mistaken.

              Someone like you, who is really anxious to develop a career, is vulnerable to that type of scenario. You REALLY need to consult an entertainment attorney. That would be cheaper than what I did (which was to become an attorney).

              If you have such strong business aspirations, I highly recommend going to business school or law school.

              Otherwise, consult an attorney and think long and hard before you give anything up.

              • Your situation is very, very different than what I have in mind! I am sorry that you were cheated. It sounds like you learned a hard and painful lesson from your ordeal.

                On the other hand, I am seeking to actively give away half of my royalties on songs in exchange for receiving half of someone else’s royalties on other songs. There would be no unfair exchange in this situation, as there would be no work-for-hire scenario or one person in charge here. I think that is the way that your previous deal was structured.

                I am envisioning more of a collective where I and another writer or two just put together a certain number of songs every month and assign an equal share of the writer’s share for all songs. I think this is a good idea for some songs. I would still keep the remainder of other songs I wanted for myself, as the other composers would do the same.

                Side note: I just saw that Alan Ett has over 99,000 works assigned to him. He is a partial writer and/or publisher on many of these works. Even though he shares credits on most of these works, that is mind-boggling!

                • Thanks synth.

                  Lesson #1: what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

                  Getting exploited motivated me to go to law school. As a result of my education, I’ve now structured some very good deals, no longer have to practice law and I am writing full-time
                  again.

                  Yes..there are times in this business when it makes sense to trade some of your ownership rights, as long as you are benefitting in return. Knowingly trading, or exchanging, your rights IS vastly different than having them taken. Just keep your eyes open, get it in writing and have an attorney review it.

                  Best of luck to you.

                  Michael

    • I believe you get paid like 9 months after it actually airs.
      I’m wondering if they file a cue sheet does it mean the cue still has to air to get paid and if it doesn’t you won’t.
      In other words does having a cue sheet file mean some sought of payment is in the bag?

      • If the cue sheet is filed it means it’s been aired and payment is coming your way. For BMI it’s two quarters behind. June’s payment was for 4th quarter 2010 airings.

        • Thanks for the info Art. I would have been watching 67 episodes of Amsale Girls for nothing trying to catch it. Instead we only watched 7 episodes we didn’t have to.
          No more trying to catch cues unless it airs on the Playboy channel.

          • Pat is funny lol

            Thanks Art.

            I didn’t see anything (royalties)in my ASCAP,
            but the cue did show the air-date.

    • It’s supposed to be about three ‘quarters’ later for domestic. International could literally take years, although some ‘friendly’ countries – Canada and the UK for example – tend to pay pretty almost as fast as domestic (if the cue sheets are filed AND filled out correctly).

  4. Art,

    Why is BroadJam a taboo subject on here. Just curious.
    I wanted to say something regarding them
    but was afraid of getting banned or something.

    • Broadjam helped me get a deal with a major cable network, so I dont know what everybody else are thinking. Maybe because you need to pay to submit, not fun.

    • Hi Steven, Talking about Broadjam isn’t a taboo subject. I had taken all the “pay to play” listings down as they really aren’t music libraries.

    • Hi Gary I got an email at the start of the year from them asking me to join. I had a couple of replies to questions but then nothing so I didnt take it any further. Perhaps language barrier was an issue as he was using terms like “agent” to mean some one cold calling customers as far as I recall.

      • Denis:
        They contacted me back in December to join and I did. It took them almost 3 months to get my tracks up on their site. Communication is extremely difficult with them, and they are very slow to respond. I sold 5 tracks with them in the 1st quarter, and was paid at the end of the quarter. I am still waiting for results from the 2nd quarter. They keep saying that they were on vacation for most of July, which I can believe, but…. They never notify you when a track has been sold, and there are no resources on their website (which is in Danish) to find out sales. Just a heads up….

  6. Any more reality tv type libraries besides Full Volume that I can send couple of cues to? These tunes remind me a bit of Survivor or maybe crab fisherman on the rough seas type sound.
    Sent them to Full Volume but no bite.

    • Pat there are dozens of libraries vying for a place in reality shows. Most shows list the main composers and libraries in the end credits (although blink and it’s gone). It might be a good idea to record a few episodes of the shows that your music suits and make note of the credited libraries / composers. Sometimes when a composer is listed, it’s really just his/her library that’s being used, along with a few original tracks thrown in. Good luck!

      • Hi Matt.
        Good idea. Hadn’t thought to look for library credits on these shows. Thanks for the suggestion.

  7. hi guys

    so how long do you leave it before calling up the librarys for feedback? – i am having no luck at all really and there arent getting back to me – its been months now since i sent in a completed album which i thought (and was told by friends) was very commercial – varied styles – classical/songs/beats….etc but nada

    one thing my frined sugegsted is the format of my album – he says i have too many styles going on and i put some 30 jingles in their too so he says it was too electic – maybe focus on the blues/souly tracks like blue delta and manhatten memories

    maybe u guys could let me know which ones to leave out before i send it into extreme next week? that would be cool but only if you have time

    the ones i approached already are kpm ded good kosinus musichouse (i got all these off the same website which was very handy! playmusicfinder.co.uk) – mainly because i fancy getting some kind of exclusive deal but may try royalty free route if things dont work out with the above

    for anyone interested the albums here –

    http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=932902

    thanks alot for any help advice as always!

    • Nothing wrong with giving your publisher a call. If there’s a “leave call back message” (and you do), and they don’t get back to you in a reasonable amount of time (whatever that is), then I reckon you got your answer.

      Good luck, John 🙂

    • Wow. You have some good music. As far as waiting for responses goes, you shouldn’t wait too long. I myself only wait 8 to 10 weeks after I send out packages. If I don’t hear anything by then, I move on.

      Don’t feel bad. This happens most of the time, regardless of how great your music is. Keep building that catalog and keep pitching those songs!

  8. I’m curious to know if anyone has info on libraries that cater specifically to traditional film music – orchestral music like John Wiliams, Bernard Hermann, etc.

    I’ve been submitting library tracks for a couple years and the vast majority of libraries are geared towards pop styles (rock, electronic, hip-hop, trailer music, etc.). But I haven’t come across one that seems interested in the traditional film score sound.

    Do they exist?

    Thanks,

    Richard Ames

    • Hi Richard,

      MichaelL here (same as on VI). Donn Wilkerson has a few hundred tracks on Megatrax
      http://www.megatraxblog.com/tag/donn-wilkerson/

      Also has Olympian Spirit on Killer Tracks.

      Very filmic don’t know if he’s as old school as Hermann, but very filmic/melodic.
      http://donnwilkerson.com/The_Music_Of_Donn_Wilkerson/Welcome.html

      Maybe something along the lines of what you’re looking to do. I’m not sure that any library does, or would, specialize in just the Williams/Hermann style of writing.

      But, maybe Megatrax and Killer Tracks are places to try.

      With respect to RF libraries, like AudioSparx, I know that traditional film tracks are in there. For something like Bernard Hermann you might have to look under “1950’s” or “1960’s” or searching Alfred Hitchcock etc. In RF metadata is the key. But I really don’t know how much demand there is for old school film music. It’s not necessarily that the libraries are focused on rock, electronic, hip-hop, and trailer music, but rather it’s their customers preference and need.

      Cheers,

      Michael

      • Yeah – demand is definitely the driver. But I do hear that style (or at least derivatives of it) pop up pretty regularly, certainly not to the extent of the pop styles.

        Thanks,

        rgames

  9. Little bit of an odd question here, I’ve had a very sporadic week of sales, when things had began to become constant for me, I wonder if it is the shock the ‘recession’ fear which is in the news, I may be wrong but was wondering if everyone else had a bad week – I had heard on a forum on another site that lots were going wow what a bad week…I wonder whether people pause buying with bad world news, I totally understand if my thoughts are laughed at ! But it was my genuine first thought ( and no I dont smoke pot ! )

    • Except for one site, my sales for the 2nd quarter and now into the 3rd quarter have been very, very sparse. Don’t know if the world economic condition affects this industry that much but it may. I have only been at this for about a year and a half, so I have no real history. We also have to realize that with each year comes more competition. Thousands of composers, and thousands of tracks to compete with.

    • Just food for thought…before you panic. There may be a few things at play here.

      I’m going to make three assumptions. First that you are referring to sales on royalty free sites and second, that a large number of RF customers and last, that some of the sites are located outside the US and/or many of their customers are located outside the US.

      I wrote music for corporate clients for many years. Here some things that I observed.

      1) Things always went in cycles that followed the fiscal year. Summer time is vacation time, in Europe even more so than America, where things literally shut down for the month of August in some countries.
      2) Things pick up again in the fall with the approach of the holidays and also the approach of the end of the fiscal year. In-house communications depts. often must spend their budget by the end of the year. If they don’t spend it, the company may assume the the budget was too high, and then reduce the dept’s budget the following year.
      3) Things pick up again in the new year with the influx of a new budget, and perhaps new products to roll out.

      Another possible explanation would be whether you’ve added much, or any, new music to your catalog. If not maybe you need a refresh.

      Bottom-line, I wouldn’t panic.

      Cheers,

      Michael

      • As Michael says dont panic, we over here in Europe virtually shut down for the first two weeks of August. I remember last year at this time being the same in the RF world.

  10. Has anyone had any experience with a library sending you a contract nearly verbatim of a major licensing library?

    The contract looked familiar and I compared it side by side to one I have seen and it is pretty much copied exact with a few small changes. I have read a number of contracts so far and they all are worded quite different with similar terms but this one is an exception. The terms are fine/ideal but it just seems a bit odd to me. I can’t find much info on Google if that is illegal and/or copyright infringement.

    Thoughts?

    • Probably a contract template Rosco. I’ve seen websites with such templates for contracts. As long as the terms are fine.

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