4 Ways To Know You Should Quit Sync Licensing

[Paulie]

Similarly, I know I am not cut out to create 10 instrumental cues of the same kind ("album"), so I am not interested in working with libraries that put such burdens on their composers.

So it come down to expectations. What are your goals? If you want to hear your music on tv you need to be able to create a decent quantity of tracks. Creating a single track and hoping it gets someone's attention is a very limited approach. The industry is incredibly competitive, in order to be heard you need numbers along with quality. It's basic math.

[cosmicdolphin]

I totally understand that this will not get me into a high income bracket.

Or a low one

[Casey H]

[cosmicdolphin]

It could be that you will continue to enjoy creating music more if you do it "just" as a hobby.

If I did it just as a hobby I would still suck at it. And nobody enjoys that.

[cosmicdolphin]

P.S.: Maybe there is a problem with the definition of "hobby", here. I see how given your time effort, this could be called a side-job, but IMO the income so far does not allow that. So, "hobby" it is for me in your case. Tax authorities would classify this similarly, IMO. For instance, if your corresponding income is not fully taxed, then I consider this a hobby.

Yes definitely 2nd job effort levels with hobby level returns ( for now )

It's crazy but when we started out 6 years ago a friend who lived on our street as kids and went on to become pretty big in Sync in Malaysia was back in the UK and had dinner with my long term co-writer. During that meal he said that we would need to work at it for around 7 years , make about 500 tracks and have over 100 placements before we'd actually start making any meaningful income. At the time we thought he was trying to put us off. Maybe he was !

[Paulie]

["he said that we would need to work at it for around 7 years , make about 500 tracks and have over 100 placements before we'd actually start making any meaningful income."

I always enjoy hearing other perspectives This is a very competitive business and there are different ways to make money. We've heard the idea of the "five year plan", but plans are what we create while reality does its own thing. Success depends on a lot of variables. Regions are different, genre choices matter, along with some timing and luck. I started this about six years ago and I'm averaging about 220 tracks per year. I just checked, right now I have at least 1,170 tracks in libraries. I wish I was getting more upfront sync revenue, those checks really help out compared to the quarterly statements. Covid slowed things down, so the past year was not good, but my latest statement was a strong improvement. My goal is to get to about $10k per quarter, $15k is my stretch goal. My dream is to make tech money with a music career, but I don't see that happening for me unless I can break into the Top 40 world as a collaborator. For me the ROI will never be there, if I did the math of pay versus hours put in, I would make more money working minimum wage somewhere.

Writing for me is a true labor of love. I love music, I love theory, I love the challenge of trying to create something that others like in a variety of genres to prove that I can do it. And I love the rush of hearing my music on television. There are times when I'm working on a batch of ten tracks for a library project that it can become tedious... the worst part is the meta data. But, my evenings in the studio provide therapeutic value, it keeps me home at night, and makes me some money on the side as a bonus. It also has made me a lot of friends, here and elsewhere.

[cosmicdolphin]

I started this about six years ago and I'm averaging about 220 tracks per year. I just checked, right now I have at least 1,170 tracks in libraries.

We must have started at similar times, and I thought I had my nose to the grindstone as I've just completed my 500th track

1170 is really going some, I couldn't imagine doubling my output unless I did this full time.

[eandersonmusic]

...

If you have a good job already
Tom

I do not have a good paying day job and need to start utilizing my music degree. However, I don't need to make 6 figures with this either.
I am totally loving this new venture into writing and composing production music, and feel that I should have been doing this the last 20 yrs.
On my 2nd yr with Taxi, and over a 150 returns but the last one really hurt, and has taken days to get over it, and I found myself reading this thread because I just wasn't sure
Not sure where this is going or why I'm even posting this, maybe I just needed to get it out. I laughed at this thread when it first went up, but now I'm thinking someone needs a forward (or a hug )
I will say that this month has had a lot of good listings, and I feel like this may be my time (to get that foot in the door).
Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone for sharing your thoughts and viewpoints!

[eandersonmusic]

Hey Tom!
Yeah I remember your thread Re: Starting my 4th year of TAXI and found it inspiring. And it's awesome how it has taken off from there. Not small stuff at all, and you have 3 libraries to continue working with, so that's cool!
✌
-e

[calvinallen450]

Hi Everyone,
My name is Calvin and I'm a "newbie" on the forum and with Taxi. I watch the video, "4 Ways to Know You Should quick Sync Licensing." I thought it was informative, at the least. As I mentioned, I am new to Taxi and the forums. However, I realize that my beliefs and values are diverse from everyone else. Though the narrator made excellent points, I personally believe that if one loves something, they fight for it, never giving up. Especially if it is a dream of theirs to reach a specific goal. There are just too many examples out there of people who would have failed if they had given up on their dream, or desired to be successful in whatever it was that inspired them in the first place. I do not know anyone that has refused to give up that is not successful in whatever they worked hard to accomplish. Tyler Perry is my favorite example, but there are so many more who against all odds, refused to be refused, and kept going despite oppositions or rejections. However, I did enjoy the video and it made sense. Thanks for posting it!
I appreciate any help you guys can offer me while here, on this journey to successfully have my music synced. Please give me feedback. I have posted a link to my songs. I hope it's okay. I was not sure if I was to list them from my profile page, or if it really made any difference, so I listed both links. I'm still learning my way around here.

https://www.taxi.com/my/artist
https://open.spotify.com/track/1bsDY7Zf ... 4eeafa4b51