My 2023 Summary

[Paulie]

It's been a crazy year for me, started it out unemployed, found a job at the end of February, and am now looking for work again (still employed, just hate my work situation and need to find something new before I kill my CEO).

In 2023 I created 292 Logic projects. Of those, 163 were signed by libraries, another 41 are collaborations, and another hundred or so are miscellaneous projects not all related to sync. The total amount of tracks I now have in libraries is 1,438.

Thanks to the cool service Trqk.io, I can extract the data from my BMI statements (they have a 30-day free trial). So based on my past four BMI statements, here are some numbers:

805 tracks placed in 312 shows.
This is up from 565 tracks in 115 shows during the previous 12 month period.
Tracks placed increased by 42%, shows placed increased by 170%, but revenue only increased by 17%.
(note: I do not like that math)

46 million performances in total during those 12 months.
You would think 46 million would mean some money, but that's not the case at all.
Here are my top three streams and associated revenue:
1) 12.7M Spirited (Apple+) = $658
2) 6.7M Hollywood Houselift (Amazon Freevee) = $38
3) 2.3M iCarly (Paramount+) = $27
(note: I do not like this math either)

My Top Ten shows by revenue:
1) Love and Hip Hop Atlanta
2) Catfish The TV Show
3) Spirited (movie)
4) Emily In Paris
5) Kardashains
6) Killer Cases
7) Siesta Key
8) VH1 Family Reunion Love and Hip Hop
9) Real Housewives Of Potomac
10) Temptation Island

I hope someone finds this interesting.

[Telefunkin]

I hope someone finds this interesting.

I certainly do, so thanks for posting this Paulie.
Its striking that you work really hard on this and have a very high output. Its also impressive that a high proportion of your work is accepted by libraries. 1400+ tracks in libraries, 805 placements this year and 46M performances are all remarkable numbers and I congratulate you on all those achievements.

It is concerning that a large increase in activity has led to a much smaller increase in revenue, but I wonder whether that is a symptom of a shift towards streaming? The streaming returns are pitifully low (as I find on my PR statements too) and although I'd like to think that they will eventually start to increase I'm not convinced they will ever align with broadcast royalties.

I hope that the sum total of all your work is making sync a worthwhile endeavor for you (and helps offset your employment woes). Good luck to you for an even better 2024 (and some math that's a little more appealing ).

[cosmicdolphin]

I hope someone finds this interesting.

Good stuff Paulie, coupla follow up questions if I may ?

How long have you been at it now ?

Knowing that we're in at least 4 of the same libraries and without publicly naming names have you seen much performance difference between them ? Only 25% of my catalogue has been used, your's seems to be over 55%

Understand if you prefer not to say but interested to know your royalty ballpark amounts now? If I convert mine to $ I'm just shy of breaking 5 figures for the year and getting 4 figure statements more regularly now.

Mark

[Paulie]

How long have you been at it now ? I joined Taxi in 2015, got my first placement in 2016, but realy wasted my first two years by trying to submit to everything, which watered down my quality and focus. I started working smarter in 2017, and that's when I started finding more success.

Knowing that we're in at least 4 of the same libraries and without publicly naming names have you seen much performance difference between them ? Only 25% of my catalogue has been used, your's seems to be over 55% - Yes, there is one library that stands out above the others for me with about 30-40% of my placements. I think about ten libraries make up most of my statement activity. (I wish PRO statements included the music source for each line item... it's a very manual process to figure out who placed what, it would be much easier if I was smart and used Composer Catalog from the very beginning.)

Understand if you prefer not to say but interested to know your royalty ballpark amounts now? If I convert mine to $ I'm just shy of breaking 5 figures for the year and getting 4 figure statements more regularly now. - I'm in the same ballpark as you financially, four figure statements each quarter, low five figures annually. There is also the occasional advance payment, and I also do work for hire providing horn parts and sax solos. The two movie placements last year provided about $1500 each up front, so that's not part of the PRO revenue. Generally speakling, the ROI has been downright depressing. There's bigger money in the ad space, but lots of competition as well. It's getting tougher out there, in my opinion. But, working on personal relatioships with library owners and some music studios helps, it's really all about relationships. Not gonna lie, financial success in sync is only slightly depedent on musical skills... luck and timing have a lot to do with it.

[cosmicdolphin]

Not gonna lie, financial success in sync is only slightly depedent on musical skills... luck and timing have a lot to do with it.

Thanks for Paulie, I think we have similar experiences and totally agree with the above. So I am glad it's not just me

Mark

PS - Will post my latest update soon too

[MartinKoppenhoefer]

Thanks a lot for your insights ... this is indeed very helpful!