Collaboration is how many people go from part time money to full time money.

It just helps to be able to have more music out there. Many of the successful people I see co-write with at least one other person. These guys and gals are able to spread their music out over a number of albums and a number of libraries to increase their chances of placements.

I'm not sure I understand. You ask a question... people answer, then you say your friend is doing exactly what you asked? I guess your friend has the answer.

Kind of like people who ask for directions - you tell them and they walk the other way!

We're getting punked Amber. It's our old buddy.....

I can't imagine someone would go to that length, but if that is the case - 'It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear! And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead!'

I wanted to get an outside opinion. I don't get what the issue is here?

I finished 1000 while reading this post. My dog helped. I'm thinking of getting a second dog and upping my output to 2000 per thread.

No issue, but you got an outside opinion straight away and your response about your friend came across as defensive and a tad odd to me.

My bad if it my comment came across the wrong way. Just seems more logical to go straight to the source of evidence first hand if you have that option rather than to a bunch of strangers.

I like to consider multiple viewpoints on situations, much like getting 2nd and 3rd opinions from a doctor.

In that case, I can write a track a day, two if I'm in the swing of it. I don't do big orchestral stuff usually. Urban, underscore, piano, moody, ambient, synth wave are some genres I've done albums for in the last 6 months.

I've wrote tracks that took me 30 mins get used played 100 times a week on Disney, and tracks I spent 3 weeks and felt emotionally attached to be used once on a random french radio drama in 3 years.

Your friend must have quite the work ethic. Be great if he could chime in here and drop some info on his work flow.

How much you'd earn from it, really depends on the network/channel etc. I'd ask your buddy and see if it correlates with anyone here who writes 1,000 tracks a year if they're willing to chime in.

That's what I've heard. The tracks you love and took your sweet time on do OK and the tracks you either banged out quickly, don't like, or possibly both do the best!

I'd say Jay there should just get busy and knock out a 1000 in a year and get back to us as to how that went.
L.

I think the trick is to be the best you can at cranking out those tracks that do the best usually.

Theres been one Bladerunner film in 30+ years and how many series of Jersey ****ing Shore? Yeah. Art vs Commerce.

I could do this in my early teens.

I think it's possible to record and compose 1000 tracks a year. 1000 high quality, high end library tracks, even harder. It'd be tough to have time to do any edits. I think the problem would be getting that many cues placed with libraries. If you're talking the high end upfront libraries, there aren't that many. Each one is not going to do 10 albums of one person's music per year. If you're friend is the sole writer, and gets even $300 a track upfront, he'd be making $300,000 a year just in upfront money, not to mention royalties down the pike. If you are talking no upfront libraries, then it might be possible. I like to think I could do that many, I'd just have to hire someone to do cutdowns, and then pitch them, and mow my grass, run errands, go grocery shopping, …..!

Hmmm...

Bill, Etch, Vita.... w/o getting into specifics, of course, is it possible that a top-tier lib would pay someone that much in upfront money? Even if it's a top-tier composer who has a good rep, and who has made a lot of dough for the lib.... it seems like the lib shelling ou that much money to one guy on a yearly basis is a bit of a long shot

BTW - I am not questioning anyone's career, nor integrity; this is just out of curiosity.

Cheers.

The phrase "over exposed" comes to mind....

Not in my experience

One thing to remember is that there are different models that are feasible too. You don't have to pump out 1000 tracks a year factory style. One composer with a respectable career in production music mentioned on this forum that on average it takes him one week to produce a track. High quality orchestral music, not atmosphere and no loops. This sounds much more enjoyable than pumping out three tracks a day. But to each their own.

Many models of course! You can make $200k a year doing 50 tracks a year or $50k a year making a thousand tracks a year. It heavily depends on a plethora of variables.

Where are you placing 300/500/1000 tracks a year?

If it's Jingle punks or Audiosparx, yes perhaps.
But I don't really see anyone placing 10 albums a year with Extreme, 10 with KPM, 10 with Universal AND 10 with Warner.
I mean, they actually have to APPROVE your tracks... Well unless it Audiosparx or you are their top dog and happen to be dating the CEO's daughter.

No. And it's not the money, it's about the quality, diversity, and authenticity of the music. I don't want 10 hip hop albums from one guy, or blues, or rock or anything. And if one guy comes in and says he can legit execute any style, without exception it's total BS.

Look, this thread is pretty crazy. Is this what we've come to? We have to write 1000 tracks a year to make money? The most hungry, insanely talented guys I've know pull off maybe 100+ tracks a year. And at that pace it doesn't take long for them to burn out. I did a small number of tracks for a boutique library that I spent 3-4 days per track producing. Within 3 years, those tracks were making as much as 500 tracks at another library. Good music is good music, and generally that takes time to make- there's nuance to the composition and production. Every musical idea that happens to come out certainly isn't worthy of license or even being released.

If a composer is pulling up Omnishpere and holding down a playable texture for 3 minutes then adding some Heavyocity pulse to it, well then, "compose" away, but that's not the kind of stuff we're buying. There may be a market for that... in fact, I'm sure there is, but that's just pure disposable music and not an asset, IMO.

This is definitely the truth.

I "took off" last week and will take off most of this week not only to clear my head, but to clear everything. I've wiped out the templates I've used for the past year and have begun integrating software bundles that I purchased from Thanksgiving to the end of the year into my new templates (Soundtoys 5, Arturia 5, Kush Audio, Toontrack kits, EWQL Hollywood Diamond, blah, blah, blah).

The differences so far would be fairly subtle to an outsider but for me, it's exciting and energizing. I'm not changing anything from a compositional perspective but integrating new gear and somewhat of a different process and approach is really fun.

A "hard reset" was definitely in order, something I'll probably continue to do every 12-18 months, so that I don't burn out or feel stale.

No, I think 1000 tracks is just for audition/demo purposes. 5000 tracks is the new 1000 tracks.

Artificial Intelligence will be doing 10,000 tracks a minute soon, so we are all doomed. I personally plan on getting by becoming a cyborg to boost my productivity.

If you can't beat them, merge your DNA with their sophisticated technology, or something like that.

Let's remember - this job is supposed to be FUN too. I seriously can't fathom having any fun trying to make that many tracks. And I've had my months of cranking out 75+ tracks in a month. Every once in a while? Sure - it's fun to push yourself. But it has to be sustainable.
Maybe for Prince, that kind of prolific output was natural. For the other 99.9% of humans out there (myself included), I just don't think it is.

I think there is a misconception about what each track is like... I'm putting two examples below...


Listen to the music from 0:23 - 0:55


Listen to the music throughout

How long would it take you to make each of these tracks? For the composers that wrote them, it took about 20~30min start to finish including mixing. Both have made thousands upon thousands of dollars for the composers and the libraries they placed the tracks with.

Not every library track has to be like this!


This music in this spot took a couple months to compose and orchestrate, then another month of tracking (everything in it is live except for sound design), and then another month and a half for editing and mixing.

I can sit home and crank out a few tension drones a day, confident they'll get used a few times each and make some great ASCAP money, now that I'm older (and hopefully wiser) I'm more interested in doing tracks like these - https://soundcloud.com/john-fulford-music/hayati

The track at the link above is more like an asset, where the tension drones are more like an extremely well paying "day job"

it took about 20~30min start to finish including mixing

And it should not have taken any longer.

This music in this spot took a couple months to compose and orchestrate,

That actually surprises me that it was as long. Unless it was a matter of composing to picture, and constantly making changes to new cuts, and waiting on the PD. Even then.... Really good cue, tho. Who's the composer?

Hey - my name with an i !!!!

This pretty much describes most of what I heard on Pond5 Music several months ago.

As somebody else mentioned, I don't know how you can output a 1000 "high quality" tracks a year and not get burned out. Also, I wonder how many times these types of composers are actually redoing the same composition because they forgot they already did something like it before?

fb