Paying it forward

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guitaroboe
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Re: Paying it forward

Post by guitaroboe » Mon May 16, 2022 11:38 pm

cosmicdolphin wrote:
Mon May 16, 2022 4:16 pm
guitaroboe wrote:
Mon May 16, 2022 1:39 am
Do you mean financial or forward/returns/signed stats? Not quite sure what you mean!
Any or all of the above really..whatever you are willing to share

Example : 3-year-update-t149219.html?hilit=year
well, it's not good etiquette to disclose financials of any kind so I will not.

As far forward/returns/signed, I can say this much:
my first 5 years at Taxi were super productive...I wrote and pitched like a madman. The first tries
were mostly returns but once I got the hang of it (production wise & understanding the briefs) the forwards
started pouring in. More forwards meant more signings, more signings meant a few placements here and there.
I kept at it with focused tenacity and it created an 'avalanche' effect. A good avalanche that is!! not the dangerous one.

Once a steady pattern was in place and I built some solid relationships, I did not need to write/pitch as much
for specific listings...I became more and more selective. That of course meant less forwards/returns/signed.
I became incredibly busy writing for my established relationships and in the meantime I began doing some
ghost writing for LA composers...that led to more work for episodic TV and less for libraries.
At the moment I split my time between both and as fate would have it, I am not a TAXI member any more...

One of the biggest benefits I ever got from my 'crazy' TAXI pitching years was that I became familiar
with dozens of genres that I had no clue how to tackle. I forced myself OUT of my comfort zone and wrote
effectively for just about ANYTHING. With that experience in my hands, I became 100% ready when the
ghost writing gigs came my way. I could handle anything thrown at me and I did. I cut my teeth doing the TAXI listings
and without realizing it I was preparing myself for the next level.

The BIGGEST benefit was the lifelong friends I made here at the forum and subsequently at the Rallies.
Some of those people became just as successful and we work together all the time. No amount of
forwards/returns/signed will ever trump those!

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Re: Paying it forward

Post by cosmicdolphin » Tue May 17, 2022 12:16 am

Thanks for the info, so how many tracks would you say you have out there now, did you ever keep track of what % have been placed ?

Have you ever had to write off any libraries due to them not working out for you ? i.e little or no placements.

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Re: Paying it forward

Post by guitaroboe » Tue May 17, 2022 4:01 am

cosmicdolphin wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 12:16 am
Thanks for the info, so how many tracks would you say you have out there now, did you ever keep track of what % have been placed ?

Have you ever had to write off any libraries due to them not working out for you ? i.e little or no placements.
I have close to 3000 tracks. I have lost count…honestly!
About half of them are earning or have earned…the thing with cues is that one can NEVER know when a piece of music will start earning money. Sometimes right away, sometimes after 3-4 years, sometimes it just won’t happen at all !
I surely have stopped writing for libraries that did not provide a single placement for me. Some libraries have even gone out of business over the years…some were sold to other companies.
The good companies continue doing well both for the composers and for themselves.

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Re: Paying it forward

Post by cosmicdolphin » Tue May 17, 2022 11:44 am

guitaroboe wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 4:01 am
I have close to 3000 tracks. I have lost count…honestly!
Wow ! That is a lot and if you say about 50% of them are used that's awesome. I thought a 20% hit rate was supposed to be good so 50% is really going some. Mine is about 500 tracks & 15% have been placed over 6yrs now.

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Re: Paying it forward

Post by SubRivers » Tue May 17, 2022 11:57 am

I don't have anywhere near these numbers of tracks published but I have had about a 50% placement record over last 4-5 years.
So I wasn't surprised about that part but it is definitely good to hear that it can scale with the number of tracks like that

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Re: Paying it forward

Post by cosmicdolphin » Tue May 17, 2022 12:16 pm

SubRivers wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 11:57 am
I don't have anywhere near these numbers of tracks published but I have had about a 50% placement record over last 4-5 years.
So I wasn't surprised about that part but it is definitely good to hear that it can scale with the number of tracks like that
Nice - you must not have signed music to as many underperforming libraries as me..or maybe you just have better music. :shock:

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Re: Paying it forward

Post by SubRivers » Tue May 17, 2022 12:47 pm

cosmicdolphin wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 12:16 pm
SubRivers wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 11:57 am
I don't have anywhere near these numbers of tracks published but I have had about a 50% placement record over last 4-5 years.
So I wasn't surprised about that part but it is definitely good to hear that it can scale with the number of tracks like that
Nice - you must not have signed music to as many underperforming libraries as me..or maybe you just have better music. :shock:
I only do guitar prominent music so maybe different sectors at play - the market is saturated across the board but maybe some parts of it more than others.

The 80/20 rule applies to the earnings though so some tracks hardly made anything

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Re: Paying it forward

Post by guitaroboe » Tue May 17, 2022 11:16 pm

SubRivers wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 12:47 pm
cosmicdolphin wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 12:16 pm
SubRivers wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 11:57 am
I don't have anywhere near these numbers of tracks published but I have had about a 50% placement record over last 4-5 years.
So I wasn't surprised about that part but it is definitely good to hear that it can scale with the number of tracks like that
Nice - you must not have signed music to as many underperforming libraries as me..or maybe you just have better music. :shock:
I only do guitar prominent music so maybe different sectors at play - the market is saturated across the board but maybe some parts of it more than others.

The 80/20 rule applies to the earnings though so some tracks hardly made anything
I am a guitarist as well ! I even though I secured many placements with guitar related cues, the vast majority of my plans is/was non guitar music.
It's very important to step out of our comfort zone and try out new genres, even stuff that seems daunting. My foray into episodic TV (so far anyway)
is with non guitar related music. cheers!

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Re: Paying it forward

Post by guitaroboe » Tue May 17, 2022 11:19 pm

SubRivers wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 11:57 am
I don't have anywhere near these numbers of tracks published but I have had about a 50% placement record over last 4-5 years.
So I wasn't surprised about that part but it is definitely good to hear that it can scale with the number of tracks like that
It's a numbers game my friend !
cheers

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