Have We Been Cheated Out Of Money?!?
Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 9:18 am
Sitting back and looking at my PRO royalties, I cannot be sure if I am being cheated. The calculations vary from quarter. Sometimes I do good. Other times I make a fraction of previous quarters. But one component missing is upfront money.
I have music placed on over one hundred shows now. That is something that I thought would be impossible five years ago. Apparently I have a skill set and people actually like what I do. But as of today, I can count on one hand the number of upfront or sync fees received. They appear to be extinct. This has got me to wonder: is it really worth it to create a bunch of new music in order to chase backend royalties?
I have been evaluating my scenario and realize that I have cheated myself by not working with companies that pay upfront money. I have been leaving money on the table for most of my short career in music licensing.
I admit that I am not a full time musician. But it begins to make less and less sense to wait months or years for payouts. Many backend uses generate less than $10 for me. I have only been able to make decent money by the volume of music that I have out there.
Long story short, I am working towards increasing my income by collecting more money upfront. Although it is fun to create music, there really isn't a great incentive to sign over exclusivity just for backend royalties. The results have spoken.
I have music placed on over one hundred shows now. That is something that I thought would be impossible five years ago. Apparently I have a skill set and people actually like what I do. But as of today, I can count on one hand the number of upfront or sync fees received. They appear to be extinct. This has got me to wonder: is it really worth it to create a bunch of new music in order to chase backend royalties?
I have been evaluating my scenario and realize that I have cheated myself by not working with companies that pay upfront money. I have been leaving money on the table for most of my short career in music licensing.
I admit that I am not a full time musician. But it begins to make less and less sense to wait months or years for payouts. Many backend uses generate less than $10 for me. I have only been able to make decent money by the volume of music that I have out there.
Long story short, I am working towards increasing my income by collecting more money upfront. Although it is fun to create music, there really isn't a great incentive to sign over exclusivity just for backend royalties. The results have spoken.
