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I hope I don't get banned for asking this question, but I am curious. What do you think it takes to become your own music library? Is this even feasible? I'm not talking about gathering up a bunch of songs from other writers, I'm talking about being able to license and clear your own music directly to companies. I know the main thing that libraries bring to the tables are contacts to industry insiders, but...I'm just curious what you all think.B

Apr 9, 2009, 2:10pm, fusilierb wrote:I hope I don't get banned for asking this question, but I am curious. What do you think it takes to become your own music library? Is this even feasible? I'm not talking about gathering up a bunch of songs from other writers, I'm talking about being able to license and clear your own music directly to companies. I know the main thing that libraries bring to the tables are contacts to industry insiders, but...I'm just curious what you all think.BWhat does it take to be your own music library? Contacts with the industry. Know tons of music supervisors & label reps, producers, etc. Hang with them on a regular basis. Be known as a trusted source of good music in specific genres, know all the legal stuff. Be up-to-date on what movies & tv shows are being shot & produced, who's making an album, etc etc. Companies use music libraries and music publishers because they don't want to screen unsolicited submissions, because they don't want to be contacted by unknown composers. It's like book publisher only wanting to be contacted through an agent.But I'm not really sure if I'm answering your question... not sure if I understand it.

I probably should have been more specific. The local TV stations in town (I contacted them all on a whim this afternoon) all use a music library. They each use a different one and seem to be set on the one they use cause someone along the way setup an account with them and they are just kind of following protocol. Turns out that getting in touch with these people is super easy and they are receptive to listening and speaking to me. But they only know one way to get their stuff, cause its already pre-cleared with the parent company.So in this instance, where the contacts are known, but the hurdle is the legal requirements, it made me wonder if some legwork couldn't be done on my end to make sure that the contracts and legal details couldn't be taken care of personally, to remove the obstacle.Does that make more sense? B

The big libraries are successful for a lot of reasons but one of them is that they make it dead simple to license music from them. Anything that slows down the customer's production will make them turn back to their "go to" library. So relate the options in easy to understand terms (which means you need to know what you're talking about too!!) and make it easy to pay (PO, Credit Card, Check, we take it all, 90 days, no problem). Educate them about cue sheets in case they already didn't know. Why should they buy from you instead of the library that has 10,000 cuts to choose from? Answer that question to their satisfaction and then deliver what you say you will every time on time and you'll have repeat business! Make it so they have to come to you.You have to think like a customer and not like a musician/library owner.Just my opinion. I wish you good luck and success with this!!Mazz

Thanks for the super encouraging post Mazz! These are all excellent points and I have some research to do. I'm going to try to figure this all out and quickly.B

Apr 9, 2009, 5:42pm, mazz wrote: Why should they buy from you instead of the library that has 10,000 cuts to choose from? All the points made here were good & valid ones. Mazz made one point (above) that I was just about to. For a library to be successful they need access to a very wide variety of tracks of many genres, moods, tempos, styles, etc. If you start a library which markets only your own music, it is not likely you could provide this large assortment of tracks.(I know you said you weren't thinking about it for other artists)I ran my own such (very small) business for a few years but it was based on working with many dozens of artists so I had a lot of music to chose from. When I first started it, the 50/50 re-title model was just getting very popular & I modeled my business after one of the early ones-- all non-exclusive, 50/50. I was able to make contacts directly with a number of film/TV supervisors. There has been an explosion in terms of how many of these libraries exists-- hundreds popping up every year... Way too many, IMHO. With that much competition for the attention of the music sups, I pretty much put the whole thing on hold. To be successful is truly a full time job. Not living in LA puts a person at a big disadvantage too. It's still a people business like any other and face time with the right people matters a lot. It's a full time job on 2 ends-- one end is screening music, signing tracks, and building a database system for searching by key parameters. Chasing artists to actually sign contracts, especially when you are new, is not as easy as you might think. I had the most no-risk, non-exclusive contract you could have but nailing down signatures was a total pain. (If you really want empathy for a taxi screener, try screening dozens of songs in a day, deciding which few you can pitch. Bad choices can ruin future opps).The other end (much tougher) is building relationships with the end users of music - the supervisors. What makes you (meaning anyone, not you personally) unique enough that these busy people will talk to you, listen to tracks, etc? It takes being a very talented salesperson who can prospect for contacts, starting out cold, and actually truly connect. I WAS pleased that I landed some placements but there was no way I could apply enough time and energy to make it earn respectable, steady money.Sorry for the long post... Bottom line is if your goal is to get YOUR music placed, getting your tracks in established libraries is usually the best route.Best Casey

Thanks for taking the time Casey, All great points and I completely agree. And it does seem like a daunting task. I don't want to be a library per sey, I'm just thinking of a more focused approach with some local avenues that I can get and stay in touch with. I certainly wouldn't be they're only stop, if I even become a stop for them. But I don't stand a chance if I can't make the legal clearing part a no brainer for them. Which is the part I'm trying to figure out now. It's just an idea that I want to pursue for a little while.B

Apr 9, 2009, 6:29pm, fusilierb wrote:Thanks for taking the time Casey, All great points and I completely agree. And it does seem like a daunting task. I don't want to be a library per sey, I'm just thinking of a more focused approach with some local avenues that I can get and stay in touch with. I certainly wouldn't be they're only stop, if I even become a stop for them. But I don't stand a chance if I can't make the legal clearing part a no brainer for them. Which is the part I'm trying to figure out now. It's just an idea that I want to pursue for a little while.BIt sounds like what you really are looking to do is more direct marketing of your music to the end users. You absolutely should do that-- everyone should take control of their destiny as much as possible. Taxi should be one part of an overall marketing machine. My successes, even if relatively small, are due largely to my tenacity in marketing my music over the past 8-9 years. Those who know me will agree that I got a lot of mileage out of a small catalog because of persistence.If you are marketing music for which you own all rights, the pre-cleared issue isn't really there. End users want to know that you can, in one swoop of the pen, enter a legally kosher agreement for licensing. When you pitch, make it very clear that you own 100% of all rights and can license immediately.So please don't feel like I discouraged you in any way. Casey

Ah... yes I didn't quite understand the question.Clearing just means... either owning the track outright yourself because you wrote & produced it; or having quick access, or the legal write to sign for, co-written works.You also have to think about the exclusive / non-exclusive issue. Should you wish to pitch the same track to more than one entity, that's fine, but signing the the same track to multiple entities could be an problem, depending on the deal they offer. In other words, it won't be 'easy' for them if they contact you and you've signed the track elsewhere. But you can make it easy by having something similar on hand, or having the ability to create something similar in a short time.

I think that trying to license your music to local production companies is a great way to get more mileage from your catalog, but I wouldn't call it being a library. Some composers with very large catalogs will sometimes enter in to an agreement with libraries to market their catalog on an exclusive basis.I think that having music in a good library with great contacts and an aggressive marketing strategy is a great adjunct to directly marketing your music to local clients or beyond. Some of us don't have the stomach for approaching end users directly and the middleman process is more palatable (even that can be daunting!!).Anyway, I don't think you want to become a library, you are just shopping your catalog directly to end users.Go for it!!Mazz