Happy BMI Day & 3 Year Recap/Update

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MBantle
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Re: Happy BMI Day & 3 Year Recap/Update

Post by MBantle » Sun Jan 20, 2019 12:10 pm

markhimley wrote:
Fri Jan 18, 2019 8:25 pm
First off happy royalty payday to all my fellow BMI folks :D

This week also marks the end of my third year with TAXI, and things are really starting to take off. I always loved seeing people post about their journey when I first started and found it super inspiring, and I still do very much, so figured I would share a little bit of my journey in case this might do the same for some of you just starting out.

I don't have super specific numbers as I've shied away from tracking them so diligently, especially over the last year. I've been focusing more and more on daily habits and routines, not analyzing numbers so much and focusing on how far I still have to go, just taking it one day at a time. I find a lot more satisfaction focusing on the process of showing up every day rather than thinking where I need to be in x amount of years and all that. Don't get me wrong - I absolutely still have long term goals and am shooting to make the 5 year plan work, but I focus more on the daily habits that will get me there as opposed to spending all my time thinking about some point in the future. It's easy to take a day off when your goal is several years away. Not so easy when your goal is right now, on a daily basis.

Oh and something really cool that happened recently that I'm excited to share: I got a placement with the one and only Anna Yarbrough on The Ellen Show! Well sort of.. Ellen had Kris Jenner on the show, and as she introduced Kris, they played a clip from the Kardashians that happened to be a scene that used our cue, it was a good 30+ seconds if I remember correctly. So technically our music was on The Ellen Show, but it was via a clip of KUWTK. Not sure how that works in terms of royalties or if we'll even see anything.. but it was still cool to find out that our music was on the show.

Anyways.

2016: Year one
0 libraries/publishers
0 placements
Did not attend the Road Rally, but spent tons of time on the forums, watched Taxi TV very regularly, and made connections in the Taxi community. Got lots of returns and failed fast and often.

2017: Year two
2 libraries/pubs
2 placements
Attended my first Road Rally and met many of the people that I had begun building relationships with, continued with forums+Taxi TV, made more connections and continued to grow relationships.

2018: Year three
7 libraries/pubs
Somewhere around 80 placements (that I know of, but very well may have more than this as this is just from Tunesat and placements I caught live on TV). Most are in US Reality shows, about 20-25ish were foreign placements consisting of ads, promos, and foreign reality shows.
Got my 1st Royalty Check
Attended my second Road Rally and continued with forums+Taxi TV+connections etc.
Started to somewhat regularly see my music in the reference folders for various briefs from publishers and shows.

------------


I know these numbers don't tell the whole story, but as you can see - things don't happen in a linear fashion at all with this stuff. It's definitely exponential growth. If it weren't for this community I very well may have given up after year 2 or earlier, or at least slowed down quite a bit. However SO many Taxi members and vets told me to keep going and that it would pay off. SO many vets gave me priceless advice and encouragement. So many times in Taxi TV episodes and here on the forums I kept getting the messages we all hear. It takes time. Write, submit, forget, repeat. Marathon not a sprint. etc etc etc.

Also I want to stress the importance of the Road Rally - that was HUGE for me. Honestly it's too impactful to really get the point across in words. I kept reading how life changing it was, how great it was, this and that. I was like "yea, yea, yea..", and "Oh yea? Standing in line for 8+ hours is fun? And it'll be life changing?.. puh-lease!!" LOL. I knew it was going to be great, but I thought some of the hype was, well, just hype. But you know what? It's all true, and so much more. Seriously. Go to the Road Rally.

None of this to boast. Heck there are many other members' annual updates with stats that are way more impressive than mine, and far more inspiring - that's not the point. Point is - trust the process. It WORKS. It can be super frustrating. It can feel like things aren't going to happen. Just keep doing the work and follow the path so many members have laid out. Taxi TV + Forums + Road Rally. Write, submit, forget, repeat. Do the work.

Lastly to emphasize my point: I've been doing this on top of holding down a day job that I work overtime every single week at. A job that is often physically exhausting. If I can do this, you definitely can too.

Hope you all had a killer 2018 and have an even better 2019!!!

Only 287 days until the Rally!! :D
Hi Mark!
Congratulations! This is very motivating for those (like me) having a day job (and a family).
Cheers,
Matt

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Re: Happy BMI Day & 3 Year Recap/Update

Post by cosmicdolphin » Sun Jan 20, 2019 1:47 pm

Congrats Mark ! You are storming it Bro.

I know we started at the same time so you are a good yardstick , our years one and two numbers are pretty identical.

But year 3 you have just rocketed past. .. got around 5 placements here last year , some decent ones..Catfish , a couple in KUWTK. 5 is less than I had hoped for, 20 would have been good...but jeez..80 ! That really is exponential. I know we are Library buddies in at least a couple of places, so if you feel like messaging to break those numbers down a little more I'm interested !

Mark

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Re: Happy BMI Day & 3 Year Recap/Update

Post by TerrellBurt » Sun Jan 20, 2019 1:55 pm

Great story Mark, very inspiring!! Thanks for sharing and for providing insight to people who might be on the fence about TAXI, especially the Road Rally. I can definitely relate because the Road Rally has been pivotal for me as well!

Keep killing it bro!

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Re: Happy BMI Day & 3 Year Recap/Update

Post by chrismh99 » Sun Jan 20, 2019 2:36 pm

Impressive stuff and an inspiration to the rest of us.

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Re: Happy BMI Day & 3 Year Recap/Update

Post by markhimley » Sun Jan 20, 2019 6:49 pm

SteveBaruah wrote:
Sat Jan 19, 2019 7:28 am
Hi Mark!

Such a great update. I'm really glad it's taking off for you. 80+ placements is impressive!
I've heard some of your cues and the quality is definitely there.
I would say I'm a year behind you, so you know yourself how encouraging updates from other members are.

One think I would like to know: How many cue would you say you have signed by the end of 2018?

Thanks,
Steve

Thanks, Steve! Appreciate the kind words :)

It's actually a lot lower than you would think or maybe even believe! The short answer is under 200 I think. Maybe right around there, I don't have an exact number but I should probably figure that out and start keeping better track of things. I've written far more than that though. I just want to avoid focusing too much on numbers - I know myself well enough to know that my over-thinking and over-worrying mind goes into overdrive when I start looking at the numbers and thinking about how high they *should* or *need* to be.

Bit of explanation on that: I didn't sign my first deal until August of 2017, and at that point I pretty much started from scratch with building my catalog. Started from 0 again. Through a number of experiences and lost opportunities it became very clear to me that compositionally I was hitting the bar or exceeding it, but my production quality was holding me back. It needed to improve, a lot. So I actually kind of took a break from writing much for probably like 6-8 months at the beginning of 2017 to just focus all my time on studying production techniques and learning as much as I could. Tutorials, books, etc etc. After that, my quality raised dramatically and I realized it would probably be best to just start over as my old material really didn't accurately reflect where my bar as at.

I've also been focusing on quality at the expense of quantity more often than not. Starting to see the pros and cons. Yes, I get good results quickly, but it's going to take me a lot longer to build up the stable full-time income this way. So I'm actually trying to find ways of ramping up my productivity and quantity without letting the quality dip too much. That's kind of where I'm at now.

HTH!!

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Re: Happy BMI Day & 3 Year Recap/Update

Post by markhimley » Sun Jan 20, 2019 6:50 pm

dotted8 wrote:
Sat Jan 19, 2019 7:53 am
Congrats, Mark! It’s obvious you’ve got your nose to the grindstone and it’s paying off. It’s nice to hear these updates with a breakdown of the slow, gradual process (marathon). I hope 2019 is another good year of continued, rising success for you...
Thank you very much! It definitely is a marathon!

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Re: Happy BMI Day & 3 Year Recap/Update

Post by markhimley » Sun Jan 20, 2019 6:50 pm

LamarPecorino wrote:
Sat Jan 19, 2019 8:22 am
Great report, Mark! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you! :D

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Re: Happy BMI Day & 3 Year Recap/Update

Post by markhimley » Sun Jan 20, 2019 6:51 pm

ksutton1207 wrote:
Sat Jan 19, 2019 9:01 am
Thanks for sharing, Mark! You’ve been a huge inspiration man, and I know you’ll be alongside those top earners in no time. I’m feeling the momentum pick up on my end as well, and you’ve just got to trust the process and take it one day at a time, like you said. Here’s to enjoying the journey!
Hey Kyle thanks man!! Very happy and flattered to hear that! Pumped to hear things are pick up on your end as well man, it was only a matter of time!!

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Re: Happy BMI Day & 3 Year Recap/Update

Post by markhimley » Sun Jan 20, 2019 6:53 pm

jdstamper wrote:
Sat Jan 19, 2019 10:08 am
Hey Mark, that's fantastic.

What jumps out to me is going from 2 placements to 80 placements in only a year, amazing!

Jim
Thanks, Jim!!

Now that I think about it, that looks slightly misleading, but I didn't intend it to!! My first 2 placements in 2017 happened in December, so that was just the start of things. They kept coming in January (2018) and picked up speed throughout the year. Q4 of 2018 is where things really started to pick up pretty darn quickly. Got to a point where I was getting half a dozen placements per week pretty regularly.

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Re: Happy BMI Day & 3 Year Recap/Update

Post by markhimley » Sun Jan 20, 2019 6:57 pm

VanderBoegh wrote:
Sat Jan 19, 2019 10:32 am
I just absolutely love everything about this post, Mark. VERY impressive and motivational. You're going to do this, my friend. Heck, you're already doing this. But just wait and see what the next two years brings. You've already outlasted the standard "drop-out" phase which is nothing but years and years worth of work with no money and a lot of frustration. Most people can't push through that, but you have. You're out of the woods now, and your proverbial train will just continue to pick up steam.
I focus more on the daily habits that will get me there as opposed to spending all my time thinking about some point in the future. It's easy to take a day off when your goal is several years away. Not so easy when your goal is right now, on a daily basis.
YES!! So true.

Keep up the great work, Mark. It's been fun watching your growth!

~~Matt
Matt thank you so much man! You have been a big inspiration to my journey and you've been more than generous with your time and advice. Can't thank you enough! It definitely feels like the hardest part is behind me, all those times of wondering if money would ever come in or if this was a total waste of time. Very grateful I had people like yourself to keep me going!!

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