Five Year Update

[JuanMacias]

Hi Mark

Thanks for sharing this. I´m Curious; what´s your PRO?


Juan

[cosmicdolphin]

Hi Mark

Thanks for sharing this. I´m Curious; what´s your PRO?


Juan

PRS

[MBantle]

Hey all

I've just gone over 5 years of Sync Licensing now - I posted an update last year here : four-year-update-t144067.html?hilit=yea ... r%20update

So I figured I should share where I am up to now a little over a year later :

2016 - 87 cues produced - 1 Library Deal - Total Earnings £0

2017 - 70 cues produced - 2 more Library Deals - Total Earnings - £50

2018 - 88 cues produced - 2 more Library Deals - Total Earnings - £120

2019 - 50 cues produced - 2 more Library Deals - Total Earnings - £720 ( mixture of Royalties - Sync Fees - Up front fees and blanket splits )

2020 - 100 cues produced ( extra time at home due to Covid meant more studio time ) - 3 more Library Deals - Total Earnings £ 700

10 Libraries in total

Although less than last year this is all backend whereas last year almost half of what I earned come up front in the form of consideration fees where they give you a small amount for each cue in advance. However to get those the Library took a cut of the writers backend which I'm not prepared to accept any longer so I've stopped supplying them with music ( just to be clear this was NOT a Taxi Library )

Total number of placements is now 50 from 380 cues in various Libraries ( this is up from 30 from 295 in 2019 )... some of the stuff from last year hasn't been released yet as they are holding a ton of stuff back due to the production companies being quieter because of Covid.

Some firsts this time around include :-

A placement from a cue in the same month it was published ..Submitted December 2020 - Released January 2021 - placed about 2 weeks later that month ( burbling synth arpeggio type thing ) on science-y covid section on a news/current affairs show.

Library owners contacting me personally and asking for music after hearing my stuff elsewhere

Attending a RR finally even if it's only virtual

Getting a warning from the Forum Admin

Having some of my feedback taken onboard by the Dev Team of my preferred DAW Cakewalk and implemented in an update

Some of the main placements are here if anyone wants to listen : https://soundcloud.com/user-45178330/se ... eard-on-tv

Thanks as ever to my friends @Andygabrys and @Telefunkin for humouring me and my terrible puns and endless mix revisions.

Mark

Congratulations!! I think you have a very good placement vs. cash ratio and I am wishing you all the best!! I expect nothing less than a solid 'quit my day job' in less than 5 years from now!! Cheers, Matt

[cosmicdolphin]

I expect nothing less than a solid 'quit my day job' in less than 5 years from now!! Cheers, Matt

Ahhhh... that'd be the '10 year plan' then?

I'm calling it 20

[melodea]

Hi Mark, your stuff sounds awesome! Keep it up!

[Kolstad]

Hi Mark,
You seem very produdctive, creative and consistant with the cues and signings. Really well done!

However, I find your earnings quite depressing. Can you elaborate more on what type of deals and libraries you have made? Do you make instrumental cues only, or full songs too? Is it mainly from low tier libraries, or do you have music in higher tiers too? Have you done albums? Have you done blanket deals?

The ROI seems awfully low from all of that work, imho.

[Kolstad]

Hi Mark,
You seem very produdctive, creative and consistant with the cues and signings. Really well done!

However, I find your earnings quite depressing. Can you elaborate more on what type of deals and libraries you have made? Do you make instrumental cues only, or full songs too? Is it mainly from low tier libraries, or do you have music in higher tiers too? Have you done albums? Have you done blanket deals?

The ROI seems awfully low from all of that work, imho.

Hi Kolstad, Your comments are most interesting, especially as I know how much hard work Mark puts into making music. You make the same point about ROI that I was making earlier - Mark has done very well, but a ton of effort to make very good music and do the right things has not yet brought huge returns.

By the way, I'm not grumbling or on some sort of negativity crusade. I don't consider myself to be sufficiently talented or hard working to be highly successful, and besides, the business doesn't owe anyone a living so its up to all of us to find our way through. However, for many of us making sync music is a labour of love rather than a serious earner. We all see things differently based on our experiences and those of others we know about, but I'm intrigued by the gap between expectations and the reality that many of us experience. Your comment suggests that some of this might be as a results of making poor choices, so I'm most curious to know more. I'd always choose to put my tracks in 'high tier libraries', but opening those doors can be a lengthy endeavour .

Hi Graham,

I did not mean to accuse anyone of making poor choices. When you are rolling, you are rolling. That is why Im posing some follow-up questions, because the retrospect analysis may reveal something that could be done differently. It would be interesting to hear more thoughts about that. It may be that the options were poor at the time, the insight into deals or the library market was low at the time, or something else. Also are all the placements in the US market, or are there EU placements as well?

Regarding earnings, yes, I was looking at the numbers from a business perspective only, and that may be different from you and Mark. It may be worth hanging there for the love of it, but that value is personal and relative. Again, it would be interesting to hear more thoughts about ambitions. Are the earnings important, if no, it's all good, no more questions asked. But if earnings are important, where to go from these numbers?

If only looking at these numbers, I would dismiss this as sustainable all together, but more detail might reveal some premises that can keep hopes up.

[cosmicdolphin]

You seem very produdctive, creative and consistant with the cues and signings. Really well done!

Thanks K

However, I find your earnings quite depressing.

Well - I guess that depends on your POV. I'm not prone to depression for one and I'm not doing it just for the money either - I'd be making music even without Libraries or Taxi although it probably wouldn't be anything very licensable or that anyone outside of friends and family would want to listen to. So I'm partly in in for the thrill of the chase, partly for the friends made along the way and partly for my 15 minutes of fame when you get a good placement.

The fact I've earned anything from music has surprised a lot of people including myself when you think of all the millions of musicians out there making music, let alone all the folks that will try services like Taxi for a while and then give up on it. So I count myself as one of the lucky few though I make my own luck.

Can you elaborate more on what type of deals and libraries you have made?

It's a whole mixture across the board really. If you want names and numbers PM me. But generally...

2 x Non Ex Taxi Friendly - one of them placed my highest earning cue and don't even have a website...the other was " Critical " ( US Based ) and pay a sync fee - one placement from half a dozen cues

4 x Taxi Friendly Exclusive - the two I've been with the longest have gotten me similar amounts of placements, in the mid teens now. One is too new to tell and the other only has a smaller amount of cues but have one placement ( US based )

1 x Exclusive UK Library that was started a few years back by a composer - one radio placement from 20 cues

1 x Exclusive PMA listed Library - Took 20 cues directly - No placements after several years ( US Based )

1 x Exclusive Library that payed $50 per cue but took some of the writers - Did 15 and had a couple of placements since 2019 ( US based )

1 x German/Uk Based Library with major Sub Pubs - Focusing on this Library now, got accepted in November 20 ..had a first placement from my 2nd submission

Those are the main ones..I tried other RF type places where they let you upload stuff with minimal screening, who sell music to Youtubers etc..for a ton of time and effort only ever had the one " sale " ..not worth my time. One of them works with Taxi or at least used to as I had an offer a few years ago.

My non-ex catalogue is in a few other random non -ex libraries and I've had the odd placement from that lot but nothing really worth mentioning. Since 2018 most of my cues have gone into Exclusive Catalogues, most of them have sub-pub deals and a few of them have distribution with the big boys.

Do you make instrumental cues only, or full songs too?

Yes almost all instrumental cues due to the hassle of finding the right singer etc. I am a songwriter but I just found a better workflow was to work on instrumentals.

Have you done albums?

Yes I've done a number of albums for a few different libraries , had a few placements but some it's too early to tell and others have been held back due to Covid

Have you done blanket deals?

Most of the libraries do blanket deals yes, I've had some blanket split payments too for getting cues placed under the blanket deal

The ROI seems awfully low from all of that work, imho.

As an hourly rate it's maybe a tenth of minimum wage

But in terms of challenging oneself, meeting new friends , the thrill of your music being on a TV show and obviously enjoying the music making process then it's a worthwhile endeavor.

I'd probably be sat watching TV or playing Fifa otherwise and I'd rather do this. I think the money will grow - If I can grow it to £10k a year before retirement age that would be worth it.

Mark

[DBarnett]

I have much admiration and respect for you, Mark
We Salute You!!

[Kolstad]

Thanks for the breakdown, Mark. Much helpful and appreciated!