Submitting music to license libraries

[Dopamine]

i have some music that I would like to submit. I called Killer Tracks, and they referred me to their label, Sony which "does not take unsolicited demos".

Does anyone have an "in" at one of these places? I am an ASCAP published writer with some great tracks.

Thanks!

[diamondjim]

TAXI gets requests from music library publishers all the time. If you are already published you should be able to get some placements.

[C Heat]

Originally Posted by diamondjim

TAXI gets requests from music library publishers all the time. If you are already published you should be able to get some placements.

YEh. 70% of TAXI listings appear to be music libraries now...

[Dopamine]

So, in other words, you recommend me joining Taxi?

I would really just like to submit a few songs directly. Now days I produce more than I compose, so I don't really have much material to give to Taxi. i do have a few tracks that would be perfect for these music libraries though.

[amiller]

My .02: Go to NAB and talk to the music library companies in person. Usually there are a bunch of them there. Ask them, what their advice is. You might be surprised that some of them, in particular the smaller ones might tell you to give them your demo on the spot. I did this a few years ago when I thought I might be doing music...

-Abbott

[Dopamine]

NAB sounds like a good idea and I need an excuse to go to Vegas.

Thanks for the recommendation!

[richardswag]

Originally Posted by Dopamine

i have some music that I would like to submit. I called Killer Tracks, and they referred me to their label, Sony which "does not take unsolicited demos".

Does anyone have an "in" at one of these places? I am an ASCAP published writer with some great tracks.

Thanks!

PM me - I may be able to help you out.

[dan p]

I have three different music library deals that have been offered to me and i am trying to figure out which one to go with.They have all wanted all 10 songs on my first volume.Currently working on vol.2
We'll see what happens!

Dan P

[drBill]

Originally Posted by Dopamine

NAB sounds like a good idea and I need an excuse to go to Vegas.

Thanks for the recommendation!

My experience has been that libraries really want to concentrate on selling music to clients - NOT talking with potential composers. Also, many times, their creative director is not always at the trade show. You've got to do the hard work and contact each library individually and ask if you can submit material. Like Dan P eluded to, it's best if you can submit an entire CD's worth of material. That means 10 songs of 2.5-3.5 minutes in length, 10 alternate mixes, 10 60's, 10 30's, and 10 bumpers. It's not that they won't accept a few songs, but they will definitely want the alt mixes and broadcast cuts. There's a huge amount of competition out there now, so you will have to be persistant.

[Mark1353]

How much is it possible to earn in this? Artists do not get a big cut from record sales, how is it in this business?

[ixtream]

Hey Mark1353,

How much is it possible to earn writing and producing library music??...well, the short answer is a LOT. If you understand how to properly format and compose library music AND you're a prolific writer AND an outstanding producer AND you're persistent AND you have just a little bit of luck you can work your way up to a six figure (yes, 6) income between synchronization (many US libraries do not pay writers on synch) and performance royalties. Granted you will not be making 6 figures in one or two years but with some persistence this is achievable. It's a growing field and new music is the life blood of the industry!!!

Dopamine...please feel free to PM me I may be able to offer you some insight on getting your music to the libraries! http://www.gearslutz.com/board/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Mark1353]

Sounds very interesting! And Thank You for the precious info. I'm gonna try this. If I earn six figures in 5 years I'm gonna buy you a trip to Bahamas. Maybe to Dopamine too.

[dan p]

I have yet to see how much money i will make from the libraries but i can tell you that i have made a six figure salary ghost writing for somone else for fifteen years.I know another person who has landed some 60 to 70 cuts of his jazz type stuff in major movies and he is generating150 to 200k
thru a music library somwhere in the usa but he never gave all that info of course.Good Luck!

Dan P

[Dopamine]

<< That means 10 songs of 2.5-3.5 minutes in length, 10 alternate mixes, 10 60's, 10 30's, and 10 bumpers. It's not that they won't accept a few songs, but they will definitely want the alt mixes and broadcast cuts. There's a huge amount of competition out there now, so you will have to be persistant. >>


Great advice. I will definitely step my game up and include the alt mixes. I am going to NAB, btw AND I got the ad agency I free-lance for to flip the bill!

Thanks to those who offered to help. PM's sent.

[DavidG79]

Besides the 60 commercial beds, I also have 20 full lenght tracks that are editable into 30's, 60's and 120 cues. I submitted them to two libraries about two weeks ago and I haven't heard back yet. Does anyone know of any library out there that takes submission. I write within a cross range of popular genres, including hip hop, R&B, pop, reggae. Thanks

[dan p]

Learn more at taxi,read up,and check out pump audio.There are others!


Dan P

[Etch-A-Sketch]

I would suggest people stay away from taxi. While they might help some people, I have never once heard of anyone I know personally getting music placed through them, nor have I ever heard of a client actually using them to find music.

There have been some good suggestions so far.

One thing about music libraries, it is a "right time, right place" sort of thing. If you submitted 20 tracks of Pop Rock, and they already have 10 CDs of that stuff, you might not get a call back for a while. But if they just so happen to be looking for romantic comedy cues, and you had two and sent them instead of the rock tracks, there is a bigger change of getting a call back...

so that's the tough part... there is no way to know what the companies are scheduling, so you kind of have to take a "shot in the dark". And also understand that just because one company can't use your music, it doesn't mean that another company won't.

As to how much money can you make... Sure there are some guys that make 6 figures. But I would say they are the exception to the rule and not the general rule itself. I usually tell people library uses are like a secondary stream of income. At first that stream is just a trickle. Over time as you add to the library, that trickle grows. The great thing about library, your music never "dies" away. Tracks that were released almost 15 years ago still get used just as much as they used to.

But it is a numbers game. Theoretically, the more music you have out there, the more money you'll make.

On average if you placed a couple songs on a library CD, you can expect to see a couple hundred dollars a year from it. The more you do, you'll start to notice that some never get used at all, while one or two might get used a ton! There is no rhyme or reason to it. It is all kind of random. This also depends on the type of music it is. Full songs get used differently than background music. So Full Songs make a lot more money than an instrumental bed. But if you mainly do instrumental beds, while each use pays very little, the tracks have the potential to get used more and aired more. So what you miss out on up front you make back in volume of placements/performances.

Really, the toughest thing is being able to write something that people will use a lot. I've heard TONS of great music that nobody ever uses and I can't figure out why!?

So, will you be able to make 6 figures in 5 years? it's possible but not probable. It'll probably take you 5 years of doing a track here adn there to find a company that you really click with... then you'll start really putting out a lot of music... and because ASCAP/BMI are so far behind, usually you'll won't start seeing money from the placements for a couple years after you sell the track to the library. It's not quick money and it's not large amounts of money at first...

If you stick with it and really work your ass off, after maybe 10 or 15 years I could see someone making 6 figures. All the guys I know that make 6 figures in library have been doing it for about 15 to 20 years, if that tells you anything.

[drBill]

Originally Posted by Etch-A-Sketch

But it is a numbers game. Theoretically, the more music you have out there, the more money you'll make.

Yup. I can't count the number of CD's I've got out now. Mostly all my material, but sometimes a few on a compilation. I'm probably on 50+ CD's over the years.

My conclusion?

Before anything starts becoming profitable, you need 1000 songs in rotation. Yeah, that's a lot. At least that's what I believe I need. I'm on 6-8 libraries at any point in time with dozens and dozens of songs in every library. I'm half way there right now - 500. I'm starting to see some movement forward, but it's like pushing a huge snowball up Mt. Everest. There's YEARS of backbreaking work before the momentum starts to pick up. Six figures...... ?????

I know people who've made that, but that's a lot of luck, a BUCKETLOAD of talent, a HUGE amount of work, a TON of investment, and a lifetime of building to that point. Really, they are by far the exception to the rule.

And the rules are a changin'. Not the same game it was 10 or even 5 years ago. Much more difficult now with advances shrinking faster than George's junk in a cold Ocean current,,,,

There are opportunities also though, but you have to be careful. Ton's of startup's with no real trackrecord.

But back to Derek's comment about it taking 15-20 yers. Yeah, that 15-20 years Derek is talking about? I'd guess the composers he was talking about were doing 6-10 CD's a year EVERY year. That's upwards of 200 CD's. LOL Just for a mind game, I took 200 X10 = 2000 songs. X (1) Main Theme, (2) Alt themes, (2) 60's, (2) 30's, (2) Bumpers. OK, that's 18,000 pieces of music. However, there are MANY, MANY times I've got half a dozen 60's, 10 30's, 15 bumpers of various lengths, and 3-4 or even more alt mixes. YIKES!!!! I'm scaring myself.

All I can say is you'd better be very organized. It took me 5 years to deal with the organizational aspects.

[Etch-A-Sketch]

Originally Posted by drBill

All I can say is you'd better be very organized. It took me 5 years to deal with the organizational aspects.

+1000!!!

[Etch-A-Sketch]

Also the type of music you do for libraries somewhat dictates how much money you make. ASCAP/BMI/SESAC have different rates for different types of uses.

Right now you make the most money if you write a song WITH VOCALS and the song AND vocals get "featured use" in a prime time network TV show. A friend of mine that makes a lot of money at this, focuses on these types of songs. He mainly does Big Band Jazz and 70's Funk. Full songs, great singers, great musicians, all live instruments, and so on. He puts his own money into each CD, then does a 50/50 split-no money up front-deal with the library/publisher. He usually makes all his money back for each CD within 6 months. He's had songs featured in Ocean's 11, The Whole 10 Yards, Walk the Line, The Mexican, The Punisher, Smokin Aces, Smallville, Friends, Numb3rs, Nip/Tuck, C.S.I, The Osbornes (I believe he did the Big Band arrangement of Crazy Train, used as the Theme), Ugly Betty and so on and so forth...

That's not to say 10 years from now songs will still be the big money-maker. Who knows what it will be then... But for the last few years at least, songs are where it's at.