Why a Music Library Might REGRET They Signed You

[Casey H]

BTW, even though I don't produce my own, been learning a lot over the years.

If you are going to bounce 48K/24 as your main export, you should be recording at 48K/24 (or higher) as well. Otherwise, you will be taking some up-sampling losses (may not be audible but still), on your 48K/24 export. For example, recording at 44.1K/24 and then bouncing 48K/24 will have your DAW do the conversion from 44.1K to 48K. Wrong direction for absolute best quality (*).

(*) The above being said, many times I've been sent 44.1K/16 or 44.1K/24 (for example) by the producer and when I library required higher res than that, did the up-sample conversion and from a human ear perspective, it was fine. Just saying what best practices are.

[cosmicdolphin]

This is fun, I have subscribed to the thread.

[Casey H]

This is fun, I have subscribed to the thread.

[** Makes Popcorn **]

[SubRivers]

Imagine a production music composer union going on strike - the torrent of new content sort of gets a little dent in it maybe.

Good opportunity for new composers and likely a new clause in the contract.

[cosmicdolphin]

Imagine a production music composer union going on strike - the torrent of new content sort of gets a little dent in it maybe.

Good opportunity for new composers and likely a new clause in the contract.

I think theres enough unused back catalogue to last a decade

[Paulie]

I never bounce alt mixes until I know which client a project is going to. I have a file on my desktop that lists the file formats and alt mix expectations for the libraries I regularly write for. When it is time to deliver content to a client, I then go to the "delivery" aspect of the business where I bounce alts and fill out meta data sheets. There are no standards in this industry, each library is unique. Some have portals, others want file transfers. Some want a main mix only, others want eight different alt mixes per track, and others want individual stems (rare, and annoying, but still it's a thing). This is a business, if you want to make money at it you should play by the rules.

[cosmicdolphin]

I never bounce alt mixes until I know which client a project is going to. I have a file on my desktop that lists the file formats and alt mix expectations for the libraries I regularly write for. When it is time to deliver content to a client, I then go to the "delivery" aspect of the business where I bounce alts and fill out meta data sheets. There are no standards in this industry, each library is unique. Some have portals, others want file transfers. Some want a main mix only, others want eight different alt mixes per track, and others want individual stems (rare, and annoying, but still it's a thing). This is a business, if you want to make money at it you should play by the rules.

Yeah , I keep a note on my spreadsheet what they expect but as far as the file format goes I have all those built into an export preset so I just have to pick the name of the library and it bounces what they want.

I'm always happy to provide stems as it's just a one button export in my DAW and it does them all ( takes 15 - 20 mins for it to crunch through them all though ) so I go and get a tea or coffee whilst it's beavering away

[superblonde]

The natural sequel to this TAXI TV episode is one titled, "Why AVOIDING Some Music Libraries is BEST!"

In the listings, nuggets like these appear:

IMPORTANT NOTE: This client will likely want 30 and 60-second versions as well, so please have these on-hand and ready to send them within an hour if the client contacts you.



If a client demands response "within an hour" then they should be paying a monthly staff composer salary, to have a full-time employee immediately available on-call during business hours. And employee compensation will be higher for that priority response time. There is no excuse for that type of "within an hour" demand to an independent gig worker when offering only pennies in backend royalties and not even as NET-30 terms. This type of Important Note in a listing is unconscionable. The Libraries themselves are not going to be on-call with a response to a musician "within an hour" about anything, or even respond at all, so this is not a fair demand.

The kicker is that some of these listings include the following text:

NOTE: This Library is BRAND NEW to requesting music from TAXI, so this is a great opportunity to create a new, ongoing relationship for your music with an awesome company whose catalog you're probably not in, yet!


Maybe a "brand new" Library does not know how to operate a well-run business, thus making outlandish demands of its contractors. Or maybe it is an existing Library which thought it could take advantage of a different population of gig workers.

The followup reply will probably be, "Oh, it just says that; they don't really mean 'within an hour'; they just want the musician to be ready with the cut-downs and stems." If they don't really mean "within an hour" then it shouldn't be in print that way: that's proper business. Perhaps, "musicians don't really 'mean' to work with those Libraries, either." (Make note the conflict of the recent seasoned advice, to create cut-down tracks only after a forward and after being contacted by a Library on that track; meanwhile, making a cut-down may take over several hours of work on average.)

[cosmicdolphin]

The Libraries themselves are not going to be on-call with a response to a musician "within an hour" about anything, or even respond at all, so this is not a fair demand.

If you can't / won't accept the terms then leave it for the folks who can supply those assets within an hour. Maybe they are just trying to weed out the less serious types.

[Casey H]

If you spent anywhere near as much time writing and submitting music as you do complaining about libraries and listing wording, you just might one day have some success.

The natural sequel to this TAXI TV episode is one titled, "Why AVOIDING Some Music Libraries is BEST!"

In the listings, nuggets like these appear:

IMPORTANT NOTE: This client will likely want 30 and 60-second versions as well, so please have these on-hand and ready to send them within an hour if the client contacts you.



If a client demands response "within an hour" then they should be paying a monthly staff composer salary, to have a full-time employee immediately available on-call during business hours. And employee compensation will be higher for that priority response time. There is no excuse for that type of "within an hour" demand to an independent gig worker when offering only pennies in backend royalties and not even as NET-30 terms. This type of Important Note in a listing is unconscionable. The Libraries themselves are not going to be on-call with a response to a musician "within an hour" about anything, or even respond at all, so this is not a fair demand.

The kicker is that some of these listings include the following text:

NOTE: This Library is BRAND NEW to requesting music from TAXI, so this is a great opportunity to create a new, ongoing relationship for your music with an awesome company whose catalog you're probably not in, yet!


Maybe a "brand new" Library does not know how to operate a well-run business, thus making outlandish demands of its contractors. Or maybe it is an existing Library which thought it could take advantage of a different population of gig workers.

The followup reply will probably be, "Oh, it just says that; they don't really mean 'within an hour'; they just want the musician to be ready with the cut-downs and stems." If they don't really mean "within an hour" then it shouldn't be in print that way: that's proper business. Perhaps, "musicians don't really 'mean' to work with those Libraries, either." (Make note the conflict of the recent seasoned advice, to create cut-down tracks only after a forward and after being contacted by a Library on that track; meanwhile, making a cut-down may take over several hours of work on average.)