Pipeline and conversion

[MattCurious]

Happy new year, everyone.

Like a lot of people, I'm coming into 2016 with a renewed focus on music. Perhaps unlike most people, I'm currently freelance and have a great deal more flexibility in my diary. So no excuses.

This means that instead of writing for funsies and putting in the occasional pitch, I actually need to start building a pipelines and, crucially, converting leads and pitches into sales. A recent jump in forwards (probably something to do with dedicating more time to my craft) suggests I should be able to start doing this.

All of the advice I've read so far is:

- Network
- Taxi - Pitch and forget (or follow up if contacted) - and Road Rally. I missed the last one because I'd been in LA the month before and couldn't justify another trans-Atlantic flight. This year, though.
- Libraries - Build volume across a diverse portfolio (although there seems to be a divergence of opinion on whether to aim for non/exclusive libraries).

But there's not a huge amount of expansion on these points. Any passing thoughts, advice or words of wisdom appreciated. I need to build a business plan if this is going to be a business.

Cheers
Matt

[Paulie]

Matt, have you been in Sales before? This is the first time I've seen anyone mention the term "pipeline" and "lead conversion" in the forums before.

Lots to comment on. I joined last March and have been very busy writing specifically for listings. I've had a good amount of forwards so far, but no placements yet. Everything I've heard and read talks about this being a numbers game. Write as often as you need to meet your deadlines... focus on quality and accurately interpreting the listing descriptions. One of the points mentioned at the Rally is that Taxi screeners are looking specifically for things in your submittal that make it a non-fit, they are looking for the best possible fit to the customer's request. However, when you submit material to libraries in general, they are looking for stuff that might work for future needs. When writing for a listing there is a specific scene or use to be met, therefore the music has to be spot on, or very close in the opinion of the screener. So, you can re-use material to submit directly to libraries. Taxi provides leverage and validation to its members, a warm hand-off or lead. But this doesn't mean you can't still cold call on other libraries with matieral that may have been rejected for a particular listing.

Keeping the sales theme going (i've done IT sales/engineering for 20+ years), figure out how long it takes for you to complete a cue, then map out ho0w many cues you can do in a day, week or month. Then figure out how to fit enough writing sessions into your week to meet your goals. For me tension cues are the fastest to produce, while more complex music like trailers take much longer. I focus on instrumentals but I want to start writing songs as well, so I don't know how long they will take in comparison. So, tension cues are quick transactional sales, while trailers are a more advanced sale that will require more of my time.

If you want to look at the bigger picture, go back over the past few months of listings to see how many you submitted to versus how many you COULD have submitted to if you have more time. This will give you an idea of your addressable market. Then figure out how you can submit to more listings.

As far as the funnel goes, look at your forward rate to see what your future volume could look like. My math is a little messed up because I've had forwards but no placements yet. So, let's assume you have a 20% forward rate. Therefore 5 cues = 1 forward. How many forwards before a placement? No idea. But if you want to make a living at this as your sole source of income I hear that you need to have about 500 placements in play at any given time. So, if you can write 5 songs a month, get one of them forwarded. That's twelve forwards in a year. If one of them gets placed, that's cool, but not a lot of potential revenue. Change the math to writing 20 cues a month, getting 5 forwards a month, and now you are at 60 forwards in a year. Pretty good I hear, so if you have a placement rate of 10%, that would be six placements. At that rate, you would have to write for 83 years to reach 500 placements. (I know, the math and timing isn't perfect, this is for illustrative purposes only).

SO, what's a writer to do? Remember, Taxi is a great service that can connect you to many different libraries. But all of those returns you get can be used to shop directly to libraries and supervisors. AND, you can reuse cues for later listings after tweaking them if needed or modifying them to meet new requirements. So, the math isn't really a 1:1 thing, there are lots of variables.

It really comes down to what kind of music you want to write, and what your goals are with your music. Making money at it will take several years (that's why we hear so much about the 5 year plan). If you want to network, meet cool people, collaborate, etc. and grow as a musician, the benefits will be far more near-term.

Sorry for rambling, I hope this helps.

Paulie

[andygabrys]

As far as the funnel goes, look at your forward rate to see what your future volume could look like. My math is a little messed up because I've had forwards but no placements yet.

So, let's assume you have a 20% forward rate. Therefore 5 cues = 1 forward. How many forwards before a placement?

No idea. But if you want to make a living at this as your sole source of income I hear that you need to have about 500 placements in play at any given time.

So, if you can write 5 songs a month, get one of them forwarded. That's twelve forwards in a year. If one of them gets placed, that's cool, but not a lot of potential revenue. Change the math to writing 20 cues a month, getting 5 forwards a month, and now you are at 60 forwards in a year. Pretty good I hear, so if you have a placement rate of 10%, that would be six placements. At that rate, you would have to write for 83 years to reach 500 placements. (I know, the math and timing isn't perfect, this is for illustrative purposes only).

this might be on point Paulie, but consider....:

1. after you get a forward to a publisher and a deal memo signed, then you work directly with the publisher. So at that point you are going to be writing directly for their briefs instead of TAXI listings. The "forward rate" or what they accept into their catalog that you are writing new cues for should be substantially higher than your forward rate > at some point approaching 100%.

2. even if you continue to write for TAXI listings to access a greater breadth of publishers in different areas, you will likely be able to write many songs for your existing relationships. Existing relationships are likely going to be your prime source for placements.

3. how many songs does a publisher need to get you a placement? In the best case scenario - one. Imagine writing for a TAXI listing that is detailing exactly what the publisher needs, and they need it NOW. You get a forward. Then the publisher extends the deal memo. And you are placed. It can and has happened. Consider the ad listings that sometimes come around, or the direct to super TV and film placements. Its the combination of preparedness and opportunity (i.e. Luck).

4. after your music is in a publishers stable and its "discovered" by a TV editor, they might find one track that they use a LOT because it fits perfectly what they need. I have one 30 second dubsteb cue that has been used too many times to count because it fits in a certain slot in programming. And the editor who keeps placing it knows it works so they keep coming back to it for that type of use. Eventually they will find something fresh they want to use and that's the way it goes, but in the meantime, happy me.

5. once an editor "discovers" a cue, they might look what else they have access to that is written by the same person. And then suddenly 30 cues are used in the same show over a season. Its usually because the style of cue and the format that it is written in is very "editor friendly"

just some thoughts.

[andygabrys]

- Libraries - Build volume across a diverse portfolio (although there seems to be a divergence of opinion on whether to aim for non/exclusive libraries).

worthwhile watching this series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FguwMMsDZA

it will give you some ammunition to answer your question for yourself. There is no "right" answer other than you have to justify to yourself what you are doing and just get moving.

[MattCurious]

Thanks, guys - that's all incredibly useful.

(And Paulie - not sales, but freelance - often the same thing!)