If you spend any time online to market your music – and most of us do these days – you’ll have noticed an increase in the number of adverts promising you the opportunity to make money out of your songs or compositions. You’ll have had messages and friend requests on MySpace and Facebook, perhaps a sponsored ad on Google or on music-specific networking sites… they’re all over the place. So who are they and do they really offer a money-making opportunity?
The answer is not straightforward. The first question you should be asking is, who places these adverts and what exactly do they do? The answer to this is normally stock or royalty-free (see Terms you need to understand) music libraries. Stock music libraries have been around for as long as there has been enough production music out of which to form a catalogue. Traditionally, they supplied music to production companies who either didn’t have the budget for, or simply didn’t see the need to hire a composer at a much higher cost. They continue to fill that role today, but are much more diverse with many cashing in on ringtones, telephone hold music and piped-in music for public places such as restaurants and hotels. There are literally thousands of them around and there is a clear pecking order from the long-established publishers to the obscure (and often dubious) online start-ups.
If you’re considering submitting your music to any of these organisations, there are several things worth knowing and you’ll need to do some considerable research of your own. The first thing you need to know is that you won’t be holidaying in the Bahamas just yet. This has become an extremely saturated and fiercely competitive market. Without the professional tools and ability to produce marketable music and a solid understanding of the marketplace, you’ll be wasting your time and efforts.
Who should you send your music to?
The first consideration when submitting your material to a library is whether they’ll accept it. If you’re starting out as a media composer, you won’t have a track record and this takes you out of the running for the majority of long-established traditional music libraries. To find out whether you have a shot, study their websites. Most music libraries have embraced the Internet as an important means of doing business and will have comprehensive websites with a section dedicated to their composers with a biography on each. Even if they accept unsolicited demos, check the composer biographies first. If they have a string of commercial credits and awards behind their names, you’re knocking on the wrong door. Much like the major record labels, these are the heavyweights in the industry and only a handful of composers make it that far. Examples of these are Boosey & Hawkes, Universal Production Library, Air-Edel, De Wolfe Music Library and Warner Music Group to name but a few.
In contrast to the established libraries that have been around for decades there are growing numbers of online libraries which allow anyone to upload and license their music regardless of experience or ability. These are the ones which actively advertise themselves to musicians and are an obvious place to start. Some however are not worth giving the time of day to, and it is up to you to do your research. You should examine each website in detail. Listen to as many tracks as you can, try to find out who their clients are (although this is very difficult to verify) and try to find information about them from other sources. Forums are the best place to start: there are numerous online forums for media composers and film producers, and stock music libraries are a popular topic of conversation. Filmandgamecomposers.com is one such forum worth visiting. If the general consensus is that the site provides a good service to both content providers and users, you’re probably onto something good. ALWAYS read the terms of business before uploading your material. Remember that by uploading your music you are agreeing to these, and you need to understand what you’re agreeing to. Here are a few questions you should have very clear answers to before entering into an agreement.
Are you retaining full copyright of your work?
The majority of online music libraries are very outspoken about their artists retaining 100% copyright of any music sold or licensed and use this fact to attract new composers. If you come across one that doesn’t mention copyright in big bold letters, be absolutely sure to find out what their policy is. If you unwittingly give up even a small percentage of your copyright and license your track elsewhere you’ll find yourself in an unpleasant legal situation.
What percentage of the license fee will you receive?
The average share of licensing fees is 50/ 50 and you should be loath to accept any less than this. The cost of a license depends on what the music is being used for, how extensively the project is going to be reproduced (i.e. DVDs) and whether it will end up being broadcast; and it varies quite dramatically from site to site. Ultimately, it is broadcasting and not initial licensing fees that you will earn the best money from, and you should also ensure that the site does not consider itself entitled to any of these fees (see Terms you need to understand). Having said this, you will find that the majority of people purchasing music from these sites are film students and small independent production houses. So if your music proves popular but isn’t finding its way to broadcast productions just yet, why should the site be taking the lion’s share of the fee?
Are you free to upload the same music to other sites? The nature of royalty-free music is that it is non-exclusive – the same piece of music can be used over and over in multiple projects. Most online music libraries allow their composers to sell their music through other vendors and do not insist on exclusivity, and some offer their composers a choice to make their music available from other sources or exclusively from their site. If you agree not to sell your music elsewhere, you should be getting a higher fee percentage – at least 60%.
What projects are you agreeing to license your music to?
When starting out as a media composer, it doesn’t pay to be too picky about where your music ends up. There’s a very good chance that it will get used in some incredibly lousy student and amateur productions and there’s little point in being picky about this – after all, these projects are highly unlikely to get seen by more than a few friends and family members. However you may want to place some restrictions. If you’re not a fundamentalist Christian, you may be upset to find your music used in a fundamentalist Christian video posted on YouTube with over 11,000 views (speaking from experience)! Some sites already have these restrictions in place; some leave it up to their composers and some are not concerned either way. Ultimately this is up to you, but if you’d prefer not to find your music backing something that clashes with your views, you’re well advised to make sure that you won’t.
If you don’t fully understand the terms of the contract, get advice on it before you agree to it. Musicians’ Union members are entitled to free legal advice on music contracts and they should take full advantage of this.
What to avoid
There are certain warning bells to heed. The overall standard and business practice of stock music sites is variable. Some actually do get their act together through trial and error, most don’t survive ineptitude. For this reason, be careful of brand new sites. I don’t believe in dismissing them out of hand just because they’re new (as musicians, we all know how frustrating it is to be ignored for that reason) but check them out thoroughly. If the site asks for any fees from you upfront, run a mile! The only fee they should be taking is their publisher’s percentage when a track is licensed. If they’re asking composers to pay for the privilege of uploading their music, they obviously don’t have any faith in being able to find buyers for the music and you will end up out of pocket. Such sites often come up with very convincing and plausible reasons for why you should pay an upfront fee and often try to sweeten the deal with a very attractive royalty percentage, but this is irrelevant if they have no media relationships to exploit. Simply put, this is another form of pay-to-play so don’t go there. They like to prey on people with limited experience looking for their “big break” and often try to lure them on sites like MySpace with flattering messages about their music and promises to place their tracks “in the movies". It’s always easy to tell that they haven’t listened to and really don’t care about the music because the messages are never personalised and they never make any reference to what they like about it. Remember how competitive and saturated this business is . . . do music libraries really need to go out looking for composers?
There are a few libraries who attract clients by offering an over-generous license agreement that does not require them to fill out a cue sheet (see Terms you need to understand)) – no matter how big the project. This means that their composers agree to waive their right to any royalties other than the initial licensing fee, which may be a considerable amount of money depending on how the music is used . . . sound fair to you? Finally, approach the site as if you were going to buy something from it yourself. Is it awash with amateur general midi and poorly recorded tracks? Is it poorly categorised with inappropriate or irrelevant tagging and descriptions? Does it have a transparent pricing and licensing system or do the prices seem to be an unfathomable mystery? Would you spend any of your precious budget on it? If you wouldn’t use it, why would you upload your music to it?
Sites to consider as a starting point
There are many stock music sites to choose from, and as has already been pointed out, many of them are either poorly run or unethical or both. This is by no means an exhaustive list of good sites and I recommend doing as much of your own research as you can - after all, knowing your industry is every bit as important as knowing your art.
RevoStock.com is a relatively new site, which launched in June 2006 and now has well over 40,000 files uploaded to its library. They license production music, sound effects, stock film footage and after-effects. Unlike many stock music sites, RevoStock has a strict quality control ethos. You don’t have to have years of experience, a string of credits behind your name or a music degree from Julliard, but you do have to be able to compose and produce music at a professional level. Every potential content provider has to pass a quiz based on the site tutorial (which focuses on the site’s requirements for quality of work, file encoding and copyright control) and submit three tracks for approval before being allowed to sell material. Once approved, every file you upload is previewed and those which don’t meet their criteria are rejected. On the down side, being a new business they are still relatively unknown in the industry, but given their straightforward and transparent approach, this won’t be the case forever.
Audiosparx.com has been around for over 10 years now, and is one of the best known libraries of its kind. The site is a collection of independent publishers, artists and production houses and licenses audio tracks, loops and sound effects. Anyone can set up an account and upload material which means that quality is variable. In addition to this, content providers set their own prices, which sounds like a better deal, but it does make the site something of a lucky-dip for buyers. In their favour, they have superb search facilities and have licensed music to some of the most formidable names in the media business including Disney, Warner Bros. Films, Google and Microsoft. And for a site with thousands of content providers, their artist support is second to none. Every query receives a response within a couple of hours of submitting it and is dealt with swiftly and professionally. By various accounts, this is also the case with their customer service.
HUMTOO.com is brand new and still in beta format, but this is definitely one to watch. This is not a standard stock music library, although their long-term aim is to become one. HUMTOO is a marketplace for production companies to source music for projects by submitting a brief (with or without footage) which composers can then bid for with as many compositions as they choose. Should your composition win the bid, you are then asked to compose a finished product based on your proposal. If this gets used, HUMTOO takes the standard publisher cut of 50% of broadcast royalties (also referred to as performance royalties – see Terms you need to understand). Any other fees, synchronisation or reproduction royalties generated by the project are 100% yours. There is, of course, no guarantee that any of the compositions submitted will get chosen, as most of the production companies will be searching elsewhere for the perfect (and most cost-effective) piece of music for their project. But at the very least, your music will be heard by some fairly influential people (ITV have already submitted 4 briefs to the site) and you gain some valuable experience writing to a brief and in some cases to a moving picture. The site has a way to go in terms of features and gaining serious credibility, but it’s certainly off to a good start.
What if someone steals my work?
This is an issue everyone in a creative profession worries about. Copyright infringement happens all the time and to a large extent there is nothing that can be done about it. Anyone who labours over a creative project – no matter what it may be – has the right to be concerned about whether someone else might use it and take credit for it. The music industry is littered with lawsuits over intellectual property ranging from lyrics to music to the name of a band. Mostly, we get too anxious over such things and most of the lawsuits are between bitter ex-band members who didn’t draw up a clear enough agreement about royalty splits when times were better. There is always the possibility that some one will buy an insufficient licence for your music and take liberties with how they use it (speaking from experience), or that someone will come across your catchy tune and use something very similar to it in their own creation. There are steps you can take to prevent this happening, but know that in some cases you just won’t be able to do anything about it, and life is too short to lose any sleep over it. You should join a PRO (see Terms you should understand) to ensure that you are paid all royalties due to you. As far as proving that you were the first to write that catchy tune, there’s an old trick you can use, which is to put a recording of the piece along with a newspaper clipping showing the date into an envelope and posting it to yourself or someone you trust. Make sure that the envelop remains sealed, and in the event of someone nicking your tune and making millions out of it, you’ll be able to take them to the cleaners. Not a practical thing to do if you’re prolific, so save it for the truly inspired masterpieces.
Useful tips
If you’re serious about becoming a media composer and eventually getting commissioned for projects, you’ll know that you have a long and steep path ahead of you. Like any musical discipline, you should be constantly honing your skills not only by doing but also by observing and listening. Be keenly aware of the style of music used in advertising, documentaries and TV programs and think about the types of briefs you would have to follow. Remember that for the most part you will be creating something that belongs firmly in the background and enhances visuals and script. Find opportunities to build up a presentation reel and be prepared initially to do most of these projects for free. Don’t waste your time knocking on the wrong doors to get your music licensed and don’t expect to earn a living from licensing music as soon as you’ve had music accepted by your first library. You’ll find that the majority of your tracks licensed while you’re still unknown will be for student films and one-off projects. Have patience and remember that every small triumph adds to your résumé, taking you a little closer to the recognition you need to get a strong foothold in the industry.
Terms you need to understand
Like any other, the media music industry is loaded with jargon and terminology that can be overwhelming and confusing unless you understand it. Here are a few of the important buzzwords you’ll come across:
PRO: A PRO is a Performing Rights Organisation. PROs look after the royalty and copyright interests of their member composers and publishers, and ensure that any performance or mechanical royalties due to them are paid in a timely fashion. These are covered by broadcasters who pay an annual “blanket fee” to cover the use of copyrighted music. Every serious composer needs to sign up to and register all of their works with a PRO. In the UK this would be the MCPS-PRS Alliance.
Cue sheet: A list of music played in a television or film for rights purposes, such as those filed with MCPS-PRS Alliance. Every time someone buys a piece of music for use in a media project, they are (or should be) obliged to fill out a sheet detailing how and where the music will be used. This determines what type of license they will need and what sort of royalties the composer will earn.
Synchronisation fees: Royalties that are paid for the use of music as part of another work, for example as background music in a film or an ad.
Performance royalties: Any copyrighted music which is broadcast is entitled to performance royalties. These are additional to synchronisation fees, which only cover the use of a piece of music in another work. As mentioned above, performance royalties are usually covered by broadcasters, although there are a handful of small broadcasters who don’t pay a blanket licensing fee and thus require program and content providers to clear performance rights separately.
Royalty-free: Much confusion surrounds this term – especially first-time users of royalty-free music libraries, many of whom assume that the terms implies there is no cost attached to the music at all. Royalty-free music is non-exclusive – i.e. the same piece of music can be licensed for many different projects, but there is almost always a cost attached. The cost is however considerably less than that of exclusively composed music. The legal use of such music without paying royalties depends entirely on the type of license purchased. For example, a license may cover the use of a piece of music on all radio broadcasts without any royalties being due, but not TV broadcast. This means that should the music be used for TV broadcast, the broadcaster will be liable to pay royalties. This is where PROs come into force.
If you’re not sure about the license that has been granted for your music, seek advice from an independent body. Licensing is one of the most complex areas of music law, and is fraught with legal jargon and language best understood by lawyers.
