Upfront $$$ = 0% sync fees

[jefflaplante]

Posting here, because I am about to sign with one of these companies:


There are still some libraries out there who pay upfront money to composers. However, in exchange for the upfront $$$ (Let's say $10,000 a year for 50 cues), they assume ownership of the music, and do not split any sync fees with the composer. The composer will still get backend royalties from their PRO, but a lot of these companies do not pitch to TV, but instead to ad agencies for placements on major advertisements/commercials, so the backend will not be a lot (Short life of the ad, No syndication, etc...) I have two questions:

1. Would you proceed with this deal? Again...50 cues a year for upfront $10,000/year.
2. Some commercials play multiple times in a day, on multiple networks, for weeks or even months. Do ad agencies fill out cue sheets for every time the ad is played? Not sure how this would work.

Any insight in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Jeff

[Paulie]

Interesting situation... that's $200 per cue, plus PRO money down the road. I guess it depends on the genre and how easily you can crank out those 50 tracks. One has to consider the odds of placements and payments cumulatively, versus $10,000 up front. I'd do that for trap or dramedy or other more simple genres that can be cranked out quickly... but would not for more complex genres.

[cosmicdolphin]

Sync buyout for 200 bucks per track X 50 ?

If you don't wanna do it, give me their number

To put it in perspective , it's taken me 6.5yrs to earn about
$2.5k in backend. I've had one small Sync free in all that time of $300.

If I could get $200 per track and keep my writers share I'd 100% take it as you never know where the music will end up, you'll be incentivised to write more when there's actually some cash that you'll get almost immediately and it'll be a good learning curve to crank out a bunch of music.

Mark.

[Casey H]

If I was the type of person that could crank out cues like that, I would definitely do this.

Keep in mind that the AVERAGE lifetime earnings for any track you create is way less than $200, given that some will never get placed, some will get placed and earn less, some will earn that kind of money. Upfront money is hard to come by these days.

It's not easy to get to 5 figures income in our business.

Good luck!
Casey

[jefflaplante]

It's not easy to get to 5 figures income in our business.

I'm shooting for 6, so this is a good start!

[Casey H]

It's not easy to get to 5 figures income in our business.

I'm shooting for 6, so this is a good start!

It's all a matter of where you put the decimal place!

[cosmicdolphin]

It's not easy to get to 5 figures income in our business.

Getting four figures is no walk in the park

[KCFYX]

Posting here, because I am about to sign with one of these companies:


There are still some libraries out there who pay upfront money to composers. However, in exchange for the upfront $$$ (Let's say $10,000 a year for 50 cues), they assume ownership of the music, and do not split any sync fees with the composer. The composer will still get backend royalties from their PRO, but a lot of these companies do not pitch to TV, but instead to ad agencies for placements on major advertisements/commercials, so the backend will not be a lot (Short life of the ad, No syndication, etc...) I have two questions:

1. Would you proceed with this deal? Again...50 cues a year for upfront $10,000/year.
2. Some commercials play multiple times in a day, on multiple networks, for weeks or even months. Do ad agencies fill out cue sheets for every time the ad is played? Not sure how this would work.

Any insight in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Jeff

Good question jeff. (I know you from 52Cues but joined here too).
I think I would go for it. I can write also 100 more tracks for other libraries with different deals.

[SubRivers]

It's not easy to get to 5 figures income in our business.

Getting four figures is no walk in the park

Agree - If you make 4 figures it is definitely a pat on the back for your skills.

I think there are stages and simply making money is a major milestone - then the 3 vs 4 vs 5 vs 6 figures is curve.

and 4 is way along the way - for anyone in that position it is possible for them.

I am self counseling

[cosmicdolphin]

I am self counseling

Better than self medicating