Sync lib recommendations

[Daryl]

You definitely make great points. The amount of $$ I earn from libraries these days is enough to pay for a couple of nice vacations for my wife and I every year. There is no way in hell I could imagine trying to do this for an honest, living in this day and age, I really pity these composers starting fresh with this whole thing with rose coloured glasses.

Yet I easily earn 6 figures every year, and most of that comes from music released within the last 10 years. I suspect that one of the differences is that I do this for a living, whereas most people do it as one of their side hustles.

So I still say that there is money to be made, but, just like building a fan base, you have to work at it. With pre-existing music, you are limited with your library outlets, and, even then, you need to massage your tracks into something that a library would find useful. However, I'm not sure how you are going to make any money by just releasing on a streaming service. You have to work, promote, advertise... There are no easy routes, I'm afraid.

 

[Jeremy Spencer]

Yet I easily earn 6 figures every year, and most of that comes from music released within the last 10 years. I suspect that one of the differences is that I do this for a living, whereas most people do it as one of their side hustles.

So I still say that there is money to be made, but, just like building a fan base, you have to work at it. With pre-existing music, you are limited with your library outlets, and, even then, you need to massage your tracks into something that a library would find useful. However, I'm not sure how you are going to make any money by just releasing on a streaming service. You have to work, promote, advertise... There are no easy routes, I'm afraid.

You are right, this is a part of my "secondary career", which consists of an ever-growing catalogue in libraries over the years (among other musical endeavours, of course); income from that averages around $10k annually which is a success for me. Keep in mind you've been at this full time for at least 10 years, IMO the landscape is changed in that time. If you were starting out now, I'm not sure you'd have the same level of success within that timeframe (but who knows, as you are obviously diligent and have a process down).

You are bang on about streaming services, I think one would have better odds at winning the lottery. I just received my first $50 payment from Spotify, woot! I did zero promo and and was strictly a personal endeavour....but I can't imagine having to market myself to try and earn a substantial amount from streaming.

 

[jcrosby]

Keep in mind you've been at this full time for at least 10 years, IMO the landscape is changed in that time. If you were starting out now, I'm not sure you'd have the same level of success within that timeframe (but who knows, as you are obviously diligent and have a process down).

That's not true. There are more channels and platforms than ever before, more content than ever, more opportunities for trailer marketing now that TV shows are marketed in the same way, more programming to sell other types of advertising, etc.

But it's a competitive business. Musical trends change over time, programming/film trends evolve, meaning that your catalog has to stay updated and adapt as both programming & musical tastes change. If you were a professional athlete you'd need to regularly train throughout the year if you didn't want to spend a season on the bench. Like any career, if you don't stay current and competitive you get passed by those that do.

 

[Jeremy Spencer]

But it's a competitive business

Yes, that is what I should have clarified. The competition is crazier than ever (based on my experience in this over the years), and the market is soooooo saturated. Glad I forged great relationships when things weren’t as nuts. Someone brand new to this industry, and with a novice skill set for professional programming, is going to have a tough go unless they stick to the bottom feeder sites like Pond5, etc. Success is definitely possible with diligence and a disciplined work ethic.

 

[Alexandre]

The post said he was looking to “do something with his music”.. and also:

The best you can do is to make first release yourself, so you retain the right to decide what to do with your tracks, and obtain your own ISCW, UPC and ISRC codes for your stuff. There is a reason why so many do this, this is the foundation of doing business.

You will rarely get much from having tracks on TV shows in this age of streaming, that is literally a penny business, even with a ton of placements, so keep your rights and release to streaming yourself.

Signing your stuff off to music libraries is absolutely waisting your time on the wrong things.

interesting perspective...

 

[Epic Wonder]

I think many of the people who have posted here have made valid points. For most composers, money earned from sync libraries will not be a full time career. There is no use in crying about that. But there are a few people here who do sync music full time and earn enough money to support themselves from that. I respect that. I myself have had more success with writing with other composers or for other composers than trying to do it all myself. Teamwork helps to make the dream work!

 

[Epic Wonder]

Still finding local musicians with ambitions higher than the beer they are drinking is an uphill battle..

Local musicians need beer more than anything.

 

[Powerful Systm]

Neither are music libraries. They will just take your tracks, with no fee at all, and put them up on streaming sites themselves. If you do that yourself, you at least don’t have to share the royalties, and keep your masters. Your master is 5 times + worth your writers share.

That's my experience so far. Worked with a publisher who asked me to "invest" £1.5k to sync my music. Income = £0.

Then decided to put my tracks on streaming sites. Income so far = £150. It's nothing but "if you can make $1 on the internet, you can also make $100,000". At least I didn't lose other money.

I believe that some people's narrative is twisted because they compare successful sync artists with unsuccessful independent artists. If you compare successful with successful, I think being independent is more rewarding in many ways, including financially IMHO - take Miracle of Sound for example.

Unfortunately, there are many people out there selling "academy" courses to fools like me who thought... why not. Luckily I have a great job that pays for this expensive hobby, but I'm sympathetic with many people who fall prey of these scammers hoping that they will get rich with sync music.

 

[Epic Wonder]

That's my experience so far. Worked with a publisher who asked me to "invest" £1.5k to sync my music. Income = £0.

Then decided to put my tracks on streaming sites. Income so far = £150. It's nothing but "if you can make $1 on the internet, you can also make $100,000". At least I didn't lose other money.

I believe that some people's narrative is twisted because they compare successful sync artists with unsuccessful independent artists. If you compare successful with successful, there is no game, being independent is much more rewarding in many ways, including financially IMHO - take Miracle of Sound for example.

Unfortunately, there are many people out there selling "academy" courses to fools like me who thought... why not. Luckily I have a great job that pays for this expensive hobby, but I'm sympathetic with many people who fall prey of these scammers hoping that they will get rich with sync music.

That sucks, dude. Have you been able to find any decent sync libraries to submit your music to since?

 

[GtrString]

That's my experience so far. Worked with a publisher who asked me to "invest" £1.5k to sync my music. Income = £0.

Then decided to put my tracks on streaming sites. Income so far = £150. It's nothing but "if you can make $1 on the internet, you can also make $100,000". At least I didn't lose other money.

I believe that some people's narrative is twisted because they compare successful sync artists with unsuccessful independent artists. If you compare successful with successful, I think being independent is more rewarding in many ways, including financially IMHO - take Miracle of Sound for example.

Unfortunately, there are many people out there selling "academy" courses to fools like me who thought... why not. Luckily I have a great job that pays for this expensive hobby, but I'm sympathetic with many people who fall prey of these scammers hoping that they will get rich with sync music.

Sorry to hear that, man. Unfortunately, way too many is in your boat. The good outcome though is your learning which is spot on comparing apples to apples, so now you can move forward with confidence in your path. Indies can still get sync'd without needing to chase it down - in fact, that's often a much better approach, both for mental health and artistically.

 

[Nico Schuele]

There's quite a lot of misinformation in this thread. I make a sizeable chunk of my income through sync, and most everything that I learned, I learned it from this book by Dan Graham:

The Composer's Guide to Library Music

He's a publisher and a sync music veteran. I know the guy and what he says his solid. So, do yourself a favor, get it, and learn what is sync music at a fundamental level.

Evenant also has a sync music course. Pricer than the book and the fundamentals are the same. They do offer a different perspective on how to craft tracks ready for licensing:

Music Licensing Mastery Online Course

The most comprehensive guide ever made on Monetizing Your Music, How to write Highly Licensable Music in any genre, understand the Industry in detail, and avoid detrimental mistakes.

evenant.com

Get info from trusted sources and stay away from random advice like "release on Spotify." This, as an example, will most likely make your music unlicensable for sync usage.

Now, library music more often than not, must adhere to a certain structure. Ultimately, this music exists to make the job of video editors easier. From my own experience, trying to pitch music that was not written with sync in mind is unlikely to get picked up, and if it is, it's unlikely that you'll see a lot of usage from it. If sync points are not obvious, if it's hard to edit from a wave form, etc, video editors will choose something else.

Good luck!

 

[asherpope]

Keep your publishing at all cost. Avoid music

Neither are music libraries. They will just take your tracks, with no fee at all, and put them up on streaming sites themselves. If you do that yourself, you at least don’t have to share the royalties, and keep your masters. Your master is 5 times + worth your writers share.

Sounds like you know nothing about music libraries. I and many others make a living from library music

 

[Nico Schuele]

Sounds like you know nothing about music libraries. I and many others make a living from library music

Plot twist: he knows everything about it, makes six figures out of it quarterly, and that's his way of culling the competition. (or he's just insanely ignorant.)

 

[asherpope]

Plot twist: he knows everything about it, makes six figures out of it quarterly, and that's his way of culling the competition. (or he's just insanely ignorant.)

What a strategy! So now i just need to convince thousands of composers to somehow remove their tracks from every library around the world! Just gotta eliminate millions of tracks from the competition

 

[Nico Schuele]

What a strategy! So now i just need to convince thousands of composers to somehow remove their tracks from every library around the world! Just gotta eliminate millions of tracks from the competition

 

[GtrString]

Whoo, tough crowd, like cherrypicking for confirmation bias? I'm glad you guys thrive, and make the lineups, but what r you smoking?

I'm just trying to voice the perfectly viable counter story that very few make anything from being in music libraries, and for those folks they are a waste of time, and that they could make much more progress as artists without trying to chase down syncs for pennies.

That is the reality most by far will experience, which is absolutely true, and not even close to being "misinformation". But guys with little to no success in this field tend not to post their experiences, which makes sense.

Roast me all you want, it's a free ride apparently.

 

[Epic Wonder]

Whoo, tough crowd, like cherrypicking for confirmation bias? I'm glad you guys thrive, and make the lineups, but what r you smoking?

I'm just trying to voice the perfectly viable counter story that very few make anything from being in music libraries, and for those folks they are a waste of time, and that they could make much more progress as artists without trying to chase down syncs for pennies.

That is the reality most by far will experience, which is absolutely true, and not even close to being "misinformation". But guys with little to no success in this field tend not to post their experiences, which makes sense.

Roast me.

I understand where you are coming from. People have been selling the “make music from licensing” dream for a while. There is money to be made, but I personally don’t see much growth from music licensing. I have put out music for years, but it seems that either I am not in the right libraries, or my songs are on the wrong shows and networks. This is a rollercoaster ride for me, so maybe I am playing into my own failure. But I don’t hate others for winning. I enjoy hearing the success stories. They do provide some small sliver of light in this otherwise bleak landscape. I say to anyone breaking into music licensing is to make connections with other successful people. Being around success usually leads to more success as long as you put in the work.

 

[Nico Schuele]

very few make anything from being in music libraries

People receive benefits proportional to the effort they invest, similar to any other job.

trying to chase down syncs for pennies

I still think that you don't really know what sync is and how it works.

What's your alternative? Self-publish on Spotify, have family and friends maybe listen to your track once and make... ...nothing? I'm far from having explored all alternatives and understand how they work, so if you could maybe enlighten us with a concrete step-by-step strategy, that would be awesome.

 

[Nico Schuele]

as long as you put in the work.

This. Exactly this. I'm tired of reading people saying that it doesn't work because they don't see an immediate sizeable return after submitting 10 tracks to a sub-sub-publisher, or those having hundreds of low-effort tracks only having placement in sub-par low-effort shows. It only discourage people from learning and trying.

 

[GtrString]

I understand where you are coming from. People have been selling the “make music from licensing” dream for a while. There is money to be made, but I personally don’t see much growth from music licensing. I have put out music for years, but it seems that either I am not in the right libraries, or my songs are on the wrong shows and networks. This is a rollercoaster ride for me, so maybe I am playing into my own failure. But I don’t hate others for winning. I enjoy hearing the success stories. They do provide some small sliver of light in this otherwise bleak landscape. I say to anyone breaking into music licensing is to make connections with other successful people. Being around success usually leads to more success as long as you put in the work.

I don’t hate anyone either, I just don’t believe in the “selling the dream” stuff. People are wasting years on fairytales, while they could have developed and thrived much better as artists without those ideas. You don’t need a 10$ sync to “make it”.