A Great 2 Years...Does it make sense to renew?

[Casey H]

I renewed. Like a sign from the heavens, a brand new library called me this morning and is signing multiple tracks that were forwarded last week. Can't hurt to make more contacts, right?
Thanks everyone!

Jeff

I get 20%!

[funsongs]

I renewed. Like a sign from the heavens, a brand new library called me this morning and is signing multiple tracks that were forwarded last week. Can't hurt to make more contacts, right?
Thanks everyone!

Jeff

"Coincidence is The LORD's way a remaining anonymous." - Anonymous
(Aren'tchya glad y'asked?!)

[boinkeee2000]

Keep pushing bro, this next stage is crucial (no pun), complacency will be your downfall. its a neverending quest and in every bend a new hurdle will appear. I also thought back then there was a finish line and once crossed i can sit back and bask in the glory, turns out they were just preliminaries.

now that you're at the feeding stage of your current libs, start monitoring your catalog. once you have enough data start weeding out the duds (regardless of all the sweet talk). start checking out potential libs and learn to sniff out bad deals and dead ends. at the same time keep attacking all angles, aim higher, hit up some PMA labels, be mindful of contract terms, splits, and any addendums. always be on the lookout for new opportunities and current licensing trends (treat it like a legit business), and start focusing on the next stage of your journey.

I wish you well, this maybe redundant jargon for you but i hope sharing my limited experience could help out others the same way my seniors did for me.

[DaveZ]

To answer Mark's question of how many of my 30-40 libraries I actively write for, the answer is probably 10-12. Yes, I've got some complete duds in that overall number. And I've got some libraries that I only have a small handful of tracks in. So, maybe 30-40 - though accurate - is a bit misleading.

But my point is that you never know WHICH libraries are hot-shots and which are duds until you've been with them for years and can look back and see what they've done for you. What if these 6 libraries you're feeding right now just don't get much action for you? It's possible.

Another likely scenario - especially with the smaller libraries - is that they'll have a great relationship with a particular show or music supe or group of editors who will slam in their library's tracks into the show like a clown car. I can think of three libraries off the top of my head that make (or made) nearly their entire business revenue from a single show. Now.... what happens when there's a change of the guard at that show, or the music supe moves on, or there's a falling out for some reason? Then, boom, all of a sudden that great library gets decimated. Those of us that have been around long enough have seen it happen with more than a few. Access Hollywood switched music providers about 8-9 years and BAM like that, some great income dried up for a lot of us. The Oprah show switched music providers 10-12 years ago and BAM there goes another great source of revenue.

So, again, I can't stress enough the importance of scattering your bets around the table as best as you can. In my mind, Taxi is the only way to do this effectively.

2 more cents. I'm up to 4 cents now on this thread!

~~Matt

Matt,

How do you manage the various cues you have in all the libraries? Are they mostly exclusive as well?

Thanks,
Dave

[admin]

My guess would be....

http://www.composercatalog.com/

Built by TAXI member Keith LuBrant, who has music in more than 1,100 different TV shows. Built out necessity, improved with feedback from fellow TAXI members.

ML

[cosmicdolphin]

How do you manage the various cues you have in all the libraries? Are they mostly exclusive as well?

Google Sheets for me...free , cloud based, works on any platform anywhere.

[Casey H]

How do you manage the various cues you have in all the libraries?

With complete, utter anarchy and chaos.

Seriously, my stuff was out of control and I finally made a huge master spreadsheet. And because I waited so many years to do that, there is a lot of info I wish I had-- list of non-exclusive libraries songs are in, the re-title names, etc. My spreadsheet finally covers the major things like co-writers and their PRO info, tags (moods, styles, sound-like refs, etc.). I suggest you document key and BPM as well as many libraries ask for it. Whatever method you use, start early and be diligent about keeping up with it.

I think Composer Catalog is a great product and do recommend it. The only reason I didn't go that route is because I waited so long, been too lazy to do the data entry. Check it out. I *think* there is a 30 day trial available.

Best,
Casey

[DaveZ]

I'll grab a demo of Composer catalog. Google sheets is a great idea as well. I was looking for the hierarchical layout on the filesystem. It would be simple with a few libraries and I spose it scales but something like Year>library>genre. or Library>year>genre etc. Something that would make finding an album in your filesystem easier but It sounds like the catalog/google sheets would be the index card for all of it. Thanks