Making significant $ with film/TV music

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Torch
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Re: Making significant $ with film/TV music

Post by Torch » Sat Sep 03, 2011 7:04 am

Here is an live speech by Michael Laskow in discussion of this topic. Well-done, Sir Michael!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbPOxRrE ... ure=relmfu


With Appreciation,
Torch

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Re: Making significant $ with film/TV music

Post by moomy » Wed Dec 14, 2011 7:29 pm

This has been a fascinating thread. I appreciate every one of you. We submitted several songs to Taxi with mixed reviews between 05 and 07 and had no forwards. Finally, we had a placement on our own with a boutique library in LA, and then got our first forward (same song to that same library) about a month later via Taxi. So we thought - 'we don't need no stinkin Taxi' - we're rich, we got a song placement!! We thought you guys just weren't paying attention to all the rest of our glorious stuff. Well, we weren't exactly that insane, but we really didn't realize how far we had to go.
Anyway, fast forward 4 years. Some personal life got in the way of our music life but still, we've had a couple dozen song placements. However, it finally dawned on us.
That will never make us rich! It won't even make us not-poor.
One library is not enough for retirement. It's also not really "working" at our business.
So.... we're ba aaack

On a personal note, I'm not a performing member of the group, more of an organizer. I'm looking forward to getting reacquainted with a great team of people. I remember Hummingbird, Matto, Casey and others. I'm so glad you are still hanging around. Hummingbird, I recently read your blog, and that was partly what inspired me to sign up again.

I see from this thread how much the instrumental music is important in the ongoing income. We've never submitted instrumentals. We also haven't worked on a specific target on a fast turnaround. We just had a forward on our first submission in instrumental music, on a quick turnaround. It was very welcome.

I never really looked at the postings in detail to create a specific submission before. I have to say, I've thrown a few pieces at Taxi already this month that were less than perfect for the submission, but I intend to get better at it. I'm currently reading everything I can on the forum, and hopefully will have time to review YouTube information over the holidays.

I think I get it now. It's a process. It takes time to make a real living at it, a lot more time than we thought it was going to take. But then if we make music for the money, it would be much easier to become a doctor.

This thread is inspiring!! Thanks for being here.

Judy

http://www.taxi.com/mimiandteft
http://www.mimiandteft.com
http://www.meditationdna.com
http://www.caseyhurtmusic.com/

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DesireInspires
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Re: Making significant $ with film/TV music

Post by DesireInspires » Sun Mar 04, 2012 11:04 am

I wish I could figure out the secret formula. But really, I don't think there is one. I have just been making songs and submitting them. I have given up on finding a niche or targeting my music. I create what I have and submit it. I see no need in stressing out over this music thing since it doesn't pay the bills. It is nice to get songs placed and to make a little money here and there. That's about it for me.

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Re: Making significant $ with film/TV music

Post by johncimino » Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:38 pm

Thanks, Casey, for the detailed post. I just signed with a library in November, and it's been WORK! Great work, mind you, but it requires a ton of regular writing. Since November, my songwriting partner and I have written over 50 pieces- our goal is 100 by our 1-year anniversary with the library (during the Road Rally, incidentally), and 500 pieces within 3 years.

With all our hard work, we haven't seen a penny or even a blip on our ASCAP statements yet, but we're working with the faith and understanding that the $$ will come later. We try to control what we have control over, and that is working hard on writing new music each day.

Thanks for the great post!
John C.
www.twojohnsmusic.com

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Re: Making significant $ with film/TV music

Post by Casey H » Tue Apr 17, 2012 11:48 am

mojobone wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FguwMMsDZA There are five parts, all are recommended.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FguwMMsDZA

I strongly recommend watching Matt Hirt's videos. I'm not sure if it's 5 or 7 parts now, but watch them all! Matt, who lives and breathes this and is the father of the "Five Year Plan", is the real source for the info on how to make significant money with film/TV music.

:D Casey

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Re: Making significant $ with film/TV music

Post by DesireInspires » Wed May 02, 2012 7:05 pm

So Matt just wrote great songs and got them placed for significant money. That means that there is no secret. I am going to keep pushing until I get to 1,000 tracks. Cool.

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Re: Making significant $ with film/TV music

Post by fusilierb » Wed May 02, 2012 7:24 pm

DesireInspires wrote:So Matt just wrote great songs and got them placed for significant money. That means that there is no secret. I am going to keep pushing until I get to 1,000 tracks. Cool.
That's the secret, there is none. Good music in good libraries. LOT's of good music in good libraries. It's a long slow burn.

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Re: Making significant $ with film/TV music

Post by DesireInspires » Wed May 02, 2012 7:51 pm

fusilierb wrote:
That's the secret, there is none. Good music in good libraries. LOT's of good music in good libraries. It's a long slow burn.

That makes sense.

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Re: Making significant $ with film/TV music

Post by fusilierb » Wed May 02, 2012 8:21 pm

DesireInspires wrote:
fusilierb wrote:
That's the secret, there is none. Good music in good libraries. LOT's of good music in good libraries. It's a long slow burn.

That makes sense.
Now for the hard part: Getting good music into good libraries. ;)

Hint: A good library for me may not be a good one for you. I've got friends who have had lot's of placements out of libraries that I've had none and vice versa. You've got to figure out what you want to write, what kinds of shows that music is used in and then what libraries cater to those kinds of shows. Then you have to compare your music to what is actually used and get yours to whatever level that is. I'm not saying its not, but I am saying mine wasn't four years ago and I had to start there first.

This forum is the best place to get feedback on getting your music up to the level. Taxi is one of the best places for getting that music into good libraries. Between the two, it's a good place to be involved in.

Then once you're in a few places, bombard them with music. But don't put all your eggs into one basket until you see that that library can get your music placed. And therein lies the true rub. All of that takes literally years. You only control the quality and quantity of music and the knocking on doors. Once the music lives somewhere the rest is totally out of your hands. And it's a maddeningly slow process.

So concentrate on what you have control over and keep at it. It's a long slow road and it helps to make friends along the way. In fact, the making friends part helps more than almost all of the above. But it all starts with good music.

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Re: Making significant $ with film/TV music

Post by DesireInspires » Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:50 am


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