Seven Year Update

[SubRivers]

Doh! Was running you close on income over the same period from my first library deal in 2016 up to 2021 then you just obliterate it in 2022
Congratulations on the acceleration as it bodes well.

[cosmicdolphin]

Doh! Was running you close on income over the same period from my first library deal in 2016 up to 2021 then you just obliterate it in 2022
Congratulations on the acceleration as it bodes well.

Thanks ! Yeah, at least you know why it's happened, one library has lit a fuse - now I just need a few more of those

[CTWF]

Congrats, Mark. Happy to see you're making progress!

I concur 100% with Mark on getting into the right libraries. End of last year I got into the same extremely good library as him, had several tracks accepted, and (for mini-me) many placements since then. Yupp, I am that guy who spends (and has spent) zero money on VIs and plugins.

Anyway, here another take on Mark's stats (I sometimes solve his maths problems over at Discord ):
571 cues, 421 placements.
That averages $9.67 per cue and $13.12 per placement.
Also, 0.74 placements per cue.

Now everyone can ask themselves:
How many cues do you have in libraries? I assume most/all of the 571 of Mark are in libraries.
How many placements do you have?
How many hours do you need to produce the average cue?

That is why some can only look at this as a hobby. Now, the bragging rights from having your music played on national TV? Invaluable!

[cosmicdolphin]

Now everyone can ask themselves:
How many cues do you have in libraries? I assume most/all of the 571 of Mark are in libraries.
How many placements do you have?
How many hours do you need to produce the average cue? That is why some can only look at this as a hobby.

Yes they are almost all in Libraries bar a few. But I think the point is not to focus on MY numbers because everbody's path is different.

There's a guy over at 52 cues who made his first production Music Album...a library signed it , and over several months he's had in excess of 200 placements ...from a dozen tracks. Something that has taken me 500+ tracks & 7yrs

You just can't compare. Did he have some luck ? Sure, probably more luck than me. But he also made a really really great album full of licensable music - and that doesn't happen by luck.

[Casey H]

This is a great discussion and Keith's video is awesome. I know him a long time, he's a terrific, talented guy.

I think what we're seeing is how challenging and how much hard work, strategically planned, is needed to make significant income from Film/TV music. The definition of "significant" varies from person to person. Some want a really good supplement to their normal income (e.g. maybe get to 5 figures) while others want it to be come a full time income (Close or above 6 figures).

My observation over many years has been it takes thousands of instrumental cues in good libraries getting placed on decent paying shows. While I'm a vocal song guy, I haven't come across anyone making that kind of money from vocal songs, at least not ALL vocal songs. There are exceptions, of course... always.

Graham hit the nail on the head: Sync-worthiness of the cues, match to the library's' clients, and so on. Hundreds of placements on lower paying cable shows are good but won't add up to a new (or used) car. They can be a part of the portfolio, but not all. However, tons of placements on Kardashians, Catfish, etc. add up to a lot. Those who actively studied the cues used on these shows, learned to crank out the right types of tracks, and connected with libraries that served these shows did well.

Another thing is it's gotta be harder today to get started than it was 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago (But not impossible! MVB came in pretty late to the game). Recent years have seen mega-saturation with libraries and available tracks. Budgets are being cut everywhere. And we still may be recovering from the Covid time of no TV production.

Lastly, I can't say enough about networking with other Taxi members here and at the rally. Build those relationships. Collaborate. Get introduced to more libraries by your co-writers. Get tips and tricks.

Casey

[boinkeee2000]

congratz mark

[Burnzy]

Congrats!

[cosmicdolphin]

congratz mark

Thanks Man

[cosmicdolphin]

Congrats!

Cheers !

[cosmicdolphin]

Thanks so much for the post Mark!
Finally some clear signals from the voids of the sync-licensing universe!
You prove loud and clear that it takes a LOT of time to make it in the sync licensing business.

Good luck with continuous exponential growth.

Chris

Thanks Chris, yeah it's a longer harder road than I thought, and in no shape or form did I think it would be easy. I guess it's natural that we only tend to hear about the really successful folks when we go hunting for information. The ones who quit often tend to do it quietly or they rock up on a forum somewhere saying it's a scam whilst failing to write anything licensable.

So I guess it's good to show the real life numbers behind someone who was reasonably competent near the start but who just kept going despite not seeming to pull in the riches promised in some of the marketing you see around Sync. Hopefully it will inspire a few people to never give up or it may do the opposite. Who knows. But at least it's transparent and not many are wishing to share quite so publicly.

It really is a long game, I'm not sure how many would stick it out but I am one stubborn SOB ( a little too stubborn at times ) but this year has proved to me it's actually starting to become worthwhile finacially. It's not all about the money as luckily I enjoy the process and I'd only be sat recording morw badly sung Cosmic Dolphins songs for Spotify that nobody would listen to so I may as well do something useful if I'm going to be in the studio. I do get a slight kick from knowing that a lot of people have heard my music now. Even if they don't it. I know it, and that's enough for me.

Mark