The Business of Music Licensing Generating Revenue Through Your Music PDF

1 The Business of Music Licensing
The Business of Music Licensing

Generating Revenue Through Your Music
Copyright © 2013 – Emmett Cooke

All Rights Reserved

Table of Contents
Introduction .............................................................................5
It IS for you if.............................................................................................6
It ISN’T for you if ... ...................................................................................6
Basic Licensing Terms ..............................................................8

The Basics of Music Licensing ................................................12
What is Music Licensing? .........................................................................12
An Overview of the Industry....................................................................12
How much can I make? ............................................................................15
How much time will it take?.....................................................................17
Where do I license my music? ..................................................................18
Where should I pitch my music? ..............................................................18
How do I find a publisher?.......................................................................18
Should I use my real name, or a pseudonym for my music?.....................19
Can I remove my music from a library? ....................................................20
What type of music should I write? .........................................................21
Should I diversify or write in one style? ...................................................21
How many tracks do I need?....................................................................22
What/how should I submit? .....................................................................23
Registering with a Performance Rights Organisation ..............................25
Types of Music Licensing Deals ..............................................27

Exclusive vs Non-Exclusive ....................................................29
Cue Sheets ............................................................................31
Avoiding Music Licensing Scams ...........................................32
Dealing with Custom Requests ..............................................35
Choosing Your Hourly Rate ......................................................................36
Sealing the Deal.......................................................................................36

Increasing Music Licensing Income ........................................37
Before composing:...................................................................................37
When composing: ....................................................................................38
When mixing:...........................................................................................38
When exporting your track: .....................................................................39
When uploading:......................................................................................39
What are the best music libraries to work with? ...................41

Meta tagging.........................................................................44
Title..........................................................................................................44
Description ..............................................................................................45
BPM .........................................................................................................45
Primary & Secondary Keywords...............................................................46
PRO/Writer/Publisher ..............................................................................46
Using a Virtual Assistant ........................................................48

The Youtube Content ID System............................................50
Tunesat ..................................................................................53
The 3 Year Plan ......................................................................54
Year 1:......................................................................................................54
Year 2:......................................................................................................55
Year 3.......................................................................................................55
Suggested Reading ...............................................................56

Useful Resources ...................................................................57
FREE Software .........................................................................................57
PAID Software - Utilities ..........................................................................58
PAID Software - Plugins ...........................................................................58
Useful websites........................................................................................60
Music Library List ...................................................................62

Introduction
T
HANKS FOR PURCHASING THIS EBOOK! I hope it will give you a good introduction to the
world of music licensing, allowing you to start earning some income from your tracks -
eventually a full time income all going well!
Many people believe selling your music - whether digitally or physically - is the best way to earn money
from music. After all, if you write good music, then sell it online, certainly you should be making good
money from it - right? Well... though there are successful musicians making a living from their work, the
unfortunate reality is that for many musicians, a decent living is far more elusive. Consider this chart from
www.informationisbeautiful.net/2010/how-much-do-music-artists-earn-online/. - That data, which
includes streaming revenue from sites like Spotify and Last.fm, provides a sobering snapshot of just how
hard it is for many musicians to earn even the basic US minimum wage.
For those who don’t or can’t derive a good income from music sales alone - and you don’t necessarily
want to perform or teach music - what other options are there? For many working musicians there is an
alternative income stream to be found in “music licensing”.
Of course the idea of licensing and publishing a musician’s work is not new, and this has changed
through the centuries with each technological advancement (mechanically, printed, electronically, or
otherwise). Just as the printing press revolutionized the mass distribution of printed material - including
music - the eras of broadcast radio, television, and the internet have revolutionized how music is
distributed as well. With the digital age, musicians are getting more exposure than at any time before,

but many are also being robbed of creative rights and income as well. I have personally experienced
some of these ups and downs, and now pass what I’ve learned on to you.
As a composer, I’ve been writing and licensing my music for a number of years - I’ve had my music
licensed by Sony Playstation, Ralph Lauren, America’s Got Talent, American Idol, UFC, ESPN, ABC, NBC,
The Science Channel, The History Channel, The Biography Channel, Cartoon Network and many more.
Before I started licensing my music, I didn’t know how it was possible to make a living from music. In the
years since, I’ve spent considerable time researching the music licensing industry, honing my own
knowledge and expertise - knowledge and experience that I am confident will help you not only
navigate the world of music licensing, but provide a foundation on which you can make an income from
it as well.
At this point, it’s perhaps important to ask the basic question of whether or not music licensing is right
for you. While I cannot answer that for you - and it may be something you decide once you’ve read
through this book - I offer these basic considerations before getting started:
It IS for you if...

✦ You are an amateur or professional composer.
✦ You enjoy writing music.
✦ You are happy to “sell out” and write music in more commercial genres.
✦ You want to earn a small side income.
✦ You are able to focus on long terms goals rather than short term results.
It ISN’T for you if ...

✦ You write less than 5 tracks per year.
✦ You expect to earn money straight away.
✦ You are unable to stick to a long term plan.
✦ You don’t want to write “commercial” sounding music.
✦ You don’t like emailing people, administrative work or exporting stems.
As for the commercial aspect that I listed above, some might debate its merits along the lines of what
they consider to be a viable art form. Personally, I put a lot of effort and thought into creating any tracks I

write for my publishers, so I feel it is an art form which requires just as much creativity within the confines
of what the marketplace desires. Practically speaking, music licensing not only represents a potential
income source for paying bills, any tracks already placed in libraries can generate a steady flow of
income, freeing up a musician for other artistic and professional endeavors (after all, many musicians
have day jobs not even connected to music). Still, if licensing presents a personal, creative dilemma, then
simply put, it is not for you.
Finally, I provide a glossary of terms below that will help you familiarise yourself with essential
information I cover throughout this book. I highly recommend reading through that glossary first, though
you can always flip back to this section as well.
I hope you enjoy this book - if you have any questions at all, please send me an email at
info@soundtrack.ie and I promise I’ll reply!

Basic Licensing
Terms
Exclusivity - In music licensing, you can choose to have one company represent your music exclusively,
or have numerous companies represent your music non-exclusively. Both options have benefits and
downsides to them - we’ll go into this later. Exclusivity refers to whom you are offering exclusive use or
licensing to.
Keywords - When you upload a track a music library, you are usually asked to add its “Name”,
“Description”, “Keywords”, “Genres” etc. A track’s keywords (sometimes also called “tags”) are single
words or phrases you would use to describe the track - for example “fun”, “upbeat”, “ukulele”,
“positive”, etc.
Metadata - Metadata is the information you add to a track when you upload to a music library - it can be
a spreadsheet with a list of all of the track names, descriptions, genres, keywords etc., or it can be
entered manually into a special uploading panel when you upload your music.
Meta tagging - The process of adding the metadata (name, description, tags, BPM etc.) to your tracks
so they can be found amongst the tens of thousands of other cues in the library.
Stinger - A short piece of music used for many purposes including logos, highlights, scene transitions
etc. Good examples of stingers can be heard in every episode of Friends: when the scene changes, you
often hear a short piece of music.
Bumper - A bumper is similar to a stinger in that it is used to transition between two scenes or segments
in radio or TV, but is slightly longer than a stinger at around 30 secs to 1 minute in length.
Edits - When writing music for certain music libraries, you will be asked to create additional edits. The
most common edits are 15 sec, 30 sec and 60 sec edits (sometimes additional loops are useful too).

Stems - Stems are a sub or partial mix of one or some instruments in a track. For example, if you have a
song comprised of one drum track, one bass track, and one guitar track, the guitar stem would be just
the exported soloed guitar track.
Cue - Another name for a track
Publisher - A music publisher (or publishing company) is basically an entity in charge of ensuring you get
paid when your music is used commercially. Music libraries are usually publishers - they agree to register
your tracks, market your music, ensure cue sheets gets filed, handle payments, collect royalties, protect
your rights etc., in return for a share of the income.
Re-titling - If you are part of a number of non-exclusive music libraries, and they all place your music on
TV, how will they know which one of them placed your track? In order to stop disputes arising, some
companies will actually re-register your track again with a new unique name so they can collect their
share of the royalties from it.
PRO/PRS - A Performance Rights Organisation or Performance Rights Society. Examples of these are
ASCAP, BMI and SESAC - they are also known as royalty collection agencies.
Watermark - A watermark can be used for music or software (and images). For music, a watermark can
be a “beep” every 10 seconds which inhibits people downloading your music and then using it in their
projects without your permission. A watermark in music software is where the developer will hard code
customer information into the software, in order to stop people from illegally sharing their libraries (if it
does show up on a file sharing site, they can identify who shared it first).
License - A “license” is a document or agreement to allow a person/company to use your music - usually
in return for a fee. When you “license” your music to someone, it means you keep the rights to the
music; you’re simply allowing them to use it for a specific project.
Mechanical Royalties - These are payments due to you from the sale of physical media containing your
music - i.e. music CDs.
Mechanical license: This allows the licensee to record and distribute a song via “phonorecord”, which
includes anything from tapes to CDs and MP3s. There are actually two subtypes…
Compulsory mechanical license: If a song has been made available to the public (intentionally), U.S. law
allows anyone to record their own version of that song and sell it by acquiring this kind of license. They
do not have to ask permission or negotiate with the copyright holder, but they do have to pay a
standardized royalty rate based on number of physical sales and downloads.
Negotiated mechanical license: The opposite of a compulsory mech. license (CML.) An NML means
that the licensee is not acquiring mechanical rights via statutory law, but is deciding on terms with the
licensor. The Harry Fox Agency is an organization that makes the process of obtaining NMLs as easy as
obtaining CMLs, though they do not represent all songs or all writers.
Performance Royalties - These are payments due to you from the performance of your music - ie., a live
performance by a musician, a TV show being broadcast using your music in a scene, etc.
Master use license - A license in which the copyright owner allows someone to use that sound recording
in a project (visual work). A sync license is also required along with a master use license.

Sync license - A license that allows someone the right to synchronize that piece of music to a specific
media output.
Blanket license - A license that allows the use of a large amount of tracks for a set fee. This is generally
used by radio stations as it would take forever to get an individual license for each track they play within
a day. It’s also becoming more popular in TV - a number of TV stations pay a fee for a blanket license
which allows them to use any music from that music library in their shows. The music library will keep this
blanket license fee, and then split the performance royalties with the composer when the music is used
on TV.
Pre-cleared music - Most music libraries only offer this - it’s simply music that has been cleared to use
before sale. The music library will clear the rights to use your music in X type of productions in the
contract you sign, meaning when someone purchases your music from the library, they don’t have to
come to you to ask for permission to use it - you’ve already given the library permission, who in turn give
the customer permission.
Buy-out - Buy-out music is a term used to describe music you can purchase once, and never have to pay
for again. It can often be confused with “royalty free music”, which is technically not buy-out music.
Placement - “Placement” is the term used when your music is used in a project - i.e. “placed” in a
project.
Creative commons - A license under which you can release your music, allowing people to share/use
your work for free, though with certain conditions attached. Your music must be copyrighted in order to
release it under the Creative Commons license.
Royalty free - “Royalty free” is somewhat misleading in its title. Some libraries take “royalty free” to
mean if you purchase a track once, you can use it as many times as you’d like in the future. Other
libraries take “royalty free” to mean if you purchase a track, you will not have to pay any royalties for TV
usage (this means your tracks cannot be registered with your PRO). It has a number of definitions, and it’s
always best to check with the library as to what they take “royalty free” to mean.
Royalties - When your music is used on TV, you are due royalties from the television station that aired
the program where your music was featured. In order to get these royalty payments, your music must be
registered with your local Performance Rights Organisation (PRO).
Public domain - When music is in the “public domain”, it means the original owner/creator’s rights to it
have expired. Once this occurs, anyone can use the music, make a copy or record their own version. The
length an owner can retain copyright of their music varies from country to country but is generally
anywhere from around 50 years to 75 years.
Work for hire - Work-for-hire is when an individual is paid an up-front fee and in return, their artistic
creations become the property of an employer – no copyright is retained by the creator. For example,
Warner Bros. ask you to write a theme for one of their films - they then become the author and owner.
You are sometimes paid more for work for hire since you forfeit credit and ownership, but this is not
always the case.
Music library - A music library nowadays is usually a website that offers music to be licensed on behalf of
composers. Sometimes music libraries are run from home by one person, or can consist of a huge team

of staff in an office in LA., for example. Music library sizes (and popularity/turnover) vary widely - getting
your music into a good music library can create a great source of passive income for you when there are
no projects to work on.
Production music - This usually refers to music that is written specifically for licensing through a music
library, and can be used in a wide range of projects. It can be in any style or genre - other terms for
production music include “Media Music”, “Library Music”, or “Stock Music”.
Upfront fees - When you or your publisher licenses your music on your behalf, you can sometimes be
paid “upfront fees.” This is money paid in order to purchase a license to use your music - often you will
be entitled to further income generated from TV royalties later down the line as well.
MCPS - Mechanical Copyright Protection Society - an organisation which collects mechanical royalties
due to you.
Hybrid - “Hybrid” is a term becoming more popular in the music licensing industry. As people are
getting bored of hearing the same styles of music in productions (in particular, epic film trailers),
composers are now starting to mash musical genres together - for example Dubstep Orchestral hybrid
music.
Samples - A sample can have a couple of different meanings. If you take a portion of someone else’s
music and use it in your own track, you have just “sampled” their music (and need a license to do so).
“Samples” can also refer to select music creation software that contains sampled sounds.
Dev - A developer - this can refer to a music software developer, video game developer, website
developer, etc.
Term - Used in contracts to describe the amount of time being agreed upon. For example - some
contracts agree on a term of 3 years, meaning the contract is valid until 3 years elapse.
Territory - Used in contracts to describe any regional laws under which a negotiated contract is subject
to.
Licensor - The person who is providing someone else with a license or permission. This is a common
term in music licensing contracts - as a composer, you are the licensor, providing a music library or
publisher (licensee) with permission to provide others with a license to use your music.
Licensee - The person/company who is being granted a license - by you - to become your publisher.
Work on Spec - Writing a piece of music without a guarantee that it will be used, and thus without
guarantee of payment. If they like what you write, they will pay you. If if not, you get nothing.

The Basics of Music
Licensing
M
usic licensing is a great way to earn extra income as a musician. Whether you write music
as a hobby in your spare time, or compose full time, licensing your music can provide you
with an additional stream of income ranging from a couple of hundred dollars per year, up
to hundreds of thousands of dollars (yes seriously!). Unfortunately, the music licensing world seems to be
relatively unknown to many musicians for various reasons. Hopefully, this book well shed light on what is
possible for you.
What is Music Licensing?

Music licensing is the practice of providing someone with a license to use your music in their project in
return for a fee. Sometimes this fee is given to you straight away (upfront fee), or sometimes you’re not
given any money upfront, but get paid when your music is aired on TV instead (royalties). A typical music
license can cost anywhere from between $1, all the way up to $100,000 or more depending on the
license, the music, the composer, the film, the budget etc.
An Overview of the Industry

The following licensing industry overview comes from Mark Petrie of http://www.royaltyfreekings.com/,
who offers this assessment:
I like to think of the music business like a pyramid.

He then goes on to explain...
At the wide bottom of the pyramid are:
✦ Low-ball micro licensing sites [author’s note: I would personally avoid these] who license tracks
for $1 - $10
✦ Royalty free sites that charge $20 - $150 per track but let the customer re-use the track without
paying again. The quality of these libraries have improved greatly over the past 5 years, but some
are still plagued with a lot of very amateur and dated sounding tracks. This is an area of the
business where a lot of re-titling is taking place, as almost every royalty free library is non-exclusive
(with a few exceptions).
Only a very small percentage of music in this section of the business ends up airing somewhere that
would generate any performance royalties for a composer, so the name of the game here is sales /
license fees.
In the middle of the pyramid are:
✦ Companies that do 'needle drop' licenses of instrumental production music to TV, films,
commercials. These libraries are often buy out, i.e. larger companies with deep pockets that pay
the composers upfront a nice fee but then keep all the licensing income. Quality is overall quite a
lot stricter in these libraries. Examples: Killer Tracks, West One, Ole, MegaTrax.
The libraries at this level that aren't buy out libraries often are non-exclusive, and composers will re-title
their music for these types of libraries, or the library will simply put a prefix in front of the track name to
identify them as the publisher. Example: Getty, Audiosocket.
✦ Numerous small 'boutique' libraries, many of which are based in Los Angeles (often owned by a
composer that amassed a large catalog of his own music over the years). Most of these small
libraries don't have the funds for buy out fees, so they either expect a composer to give up the
copyright for free, or give them a small fee (and sometimes even expect all the licensing when
they pay a fee). A few of them still re-title, doing non-exclusive deals.
A composer makes their money in this mid range of the pyramid through buy out fees ($200 - $1000 per
track) and/or performance royalties (the bigger companies have very good international distribution as
well US based connections).

At the top of the pyramid are:
✦ Trailer music libraries - companies that specifically target big budget film trailers and video game
ads. They focus less on volume and more on very high production value. The fees here range from
$2000 for a short TV spot to more than $30,000. Examples: Immediate Music, AudioMachine, Two
Steps From Hell, Full Tilt.
Composers interested in this area of the business need to understand that the expectation for
production value and having the latest 'sound' mean years of honing the craft and keeping up with the
latest studio tools.
✦ Also straddling the top are some of the companies that are in the mid range of the pyramid -
these needle drop companies occasionally get huge licenses from international ad campaigns, TV
shows (Curb Your Enthusiasm's theme is actually a library track) and a featured track within a big
movie. Fees can be more than $50,000.
Composers at this level sometimes still do buy-out deals, but most of the time trailer music companies
don't pay upfront, instead sharing the license fees (40% - 60% with the composer (which is a gamble, but
one that can pay off very handsomely)
Separate from the licensing pyramid are those libraries that don't charge anything for use, instead
focusing entirely on getting airtime on TV shows to make performance royalties. This is where a lot of
composers make their living. Examples are: MusicCult, FreePlay, JinglePunks, ScoreKeepers and a lot of
smaller boutique companies.
Most of these companies are non-exclusive, but there is a sea change in the business happening, where
more and more TV broadcasters are insisting on only working with exclusive libraries (because of
incidents where more than one library was submitting the same music). Some of these libraries are
already making moves to convert their catalogs to list only exclusive / non-retitling tracks.

How much can I make?
If you’ve read the definitions at the start of this ebook, you will have seen there are a number of different
areas of income in music licensing - for example:
✦ Upfront Fees - money paid to you straight away when your music is licensed
✦ Performance Royalties - income from your music being used on TV
✦ Mechanical Royalties - income from your music being sold on physical media (CDs etc.)
When you begin licensing your music for the first time, the majority of your income will be made up of
upfront fees. Performance royalties can take anywhere from 6 months to 2 years to be paid to you, so
don’t expect to start getting money from your Performance Rights Organisation straight away - also,
don’t forget not everyone is buying your music to use it on TV!
When I first began trying to license my music, I made $8.75 in my first month. That year, I made around
$5,000 in music licensing income (upfront fees). The following year, I made $8,000 and the next year I
made around $15,000 - all this while I had a full time job and was just writing music in my spare time.
When I made the move to writing music as a full time living, my income increased exponentially, and I’ve
been able to live pretty well on my income from just music licensing. I’m not giving you these figures to
brag, but rather to show you that anyone can earn money from music licensing, even when they’re
writing music as a hobby.
How much money you can earn from music licensing really depends on a number of factors:
✦ How many tracks you have
✦ The quality of your tracks
✦ Who your publishers are
✦ What projects your tracks are being licensed in
✦ The genres/styles of your tracks
Taking above factors into consideration, it’s reasonable to say that you can make anywhere from $100
per year, to $40,000 per year, by focusing on the long term goal of ensuring you’re always writing tracks
with licensing in mind (not just tracks you like to write). I know of a couple of composers who earn more
than $100,000 per year from music licensing - and most of that is passive (i.e. money comes in and
requires no work to maintain). Of course these composers have been writing tracks for around 10 years
or more, and they got into the industry early. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t earn a great income
stream from it as well.

Here are some stats gathered from a few websites where I sell:
✦ An average track will have a listen/purchase ratio of 0.25%
✦ A good track will have a listen/purchase ratio of 0.50%
✦ An excellent track will have a listen/purchase ratio of 0.80%
✦ A “best seller” track will have a listen/purchase ratio of 1.00%
These percentages probably look pretty meek but they’re actually quite good. Generally, people will
listen to your track a couple of times, add it to their favourites, and then send it to others before
deciding to purchase. If you’re on a website that shows your track views, for example, you can usually
figure out how much you’ll make per month (it’s not a mathematical certainty, but it gives you a good
idea.):
Lets say your track is an “average track” and it’s getting around 200 views per month:
✦ 0.25% (listen/purchase ratio) X 200 (listens) = 0.5 sales per month.
✦ $19.99 (track price) X 0.5 (sales per month) X 12 (months of the year) = $119.94 income per year
Don’t forget however, most libraries take 50% commission on all sales:
✦ $119.94 / 2 = $59.97
So there you have it – you’ve just discovered that on average, you’ll make around $60 per year from one
track on that website. Again, this is not an absolute formula, but it does provide a good idea on how
much you can potentially earn. If you wish to then calculate how many tracks you might need to live on
each year, start by determining the least amount you can comfortably get by with. Let’s assume you’re
single, and that figure is be around $10,000 (I know that’s not a lot, but you have to start with a
reachable number first):
✦ $10,000 / $60 = 167
If most tracks will make you $60 per year, you need at least 167 tracks to be able to live on your income.
Don’t forget though, this is only per music library. You have to start the formula again for each library
you are with, and add up the totals.

How much time will it take?
Simple answer - It won’t happen overnight.
Nowadays, it’s technically possible for anyone with a laptop to make music. This means the music
industry (and music licensing industry) has become saturated with music from everyone and anyone
creating music. Many music libraries are overflowing with tracks, while others are very picky about what
they’ll accept. However, because of so much music available for consideration, many composers and
musicians believe that this marketplace is now too crowded to make much, if any, money out of it.
Personally, I believe that assessment is false. Think about it: with technological advances and the rise of
cheap music production hardware and software, has also come a huge rise in amateur film makers, game
developers, animators, and other mediums that rely on music tracks. There might be more music
available for licensing than ever before, but there is also more media than ever which requires audio too.
So how much time it will take to actually earn money from music licensing? The same considerations I
offered when asking “How much can I make” apply here as as well:
✦ How many tracks do you have?
✦ How good are your tracks?
✦ Who are your publishers?
✦ What are your tracks being licensed for?
✦ What genres/styles are your tracks?
As I mentioned before, during my first year of music licensing, with around 25-30 tracks, I made
approximately $5,000. Now you might earn a lot less or a lot more, but this gives you an idea of what's
possible. Don’t forget though, it depends entirely on the above considerations of how much time and
effort you are willing to invest.
If you write one track a week, for example, at the end of the year you’ll have 56 tracks. Upload these to a
number of popular non-exclusive music libraries over the course of the year and you should begin to
start earning a small amount of income. As they say, “success breeds success”, so from there keep
writing and uploading music until you begin to earn enough to allow you to go part time in your day job.
From there, continue writing and you’ll notice your income will start to snowball - music you wrote five
years ago will continue to earn licensing fees for you.
Many composers I know who write music solely for music libraries have said it has taken them around 5
years of constant composing - and sending music to their publishers - before they began to make a full
time living out of it. It varies for everyone, of course, but the most important thing is to start now!

Where do I license my music?
Quite possibly, THE most asked question I get is “where should I license my music?” There are
thousands of places - both online and offline - where you can get your music licensed. Places that work
for me will not necessarily work for you since our music might be different. So then, the answer varies
depending on a number of factors, including the particular style of music you create. Later, I explore
“What are the Best Music Libraries to Work With?” where I provide a provisional list of music libraries, as
well as additional information on that subject.
Where should I pitch my music?

If you are looking to pitch your music directly to productions companies (i.e. “Hey I have this track,
would you like to use it in your film?”), there are a number of places where you might begin your query:
✦ Variety Magazine - Look on their website to see what’s currently in production
✦ IMDB Pro - See what’s currently in production and who is working on it
✦ Hollywood Reporter - look on their website to see what’s currently in production
✦ Your local/national film magazine - you’ll find lots in here about film festivals, films that are in
production, interviews with national/local directors etc. Great place to find names of people to
contact so you can pitch your music to them.
✦ Your local/national production companies - No matter where you live, there will be plenty of
production companies in your country.
✦ Your local/national advertising agencies - Many large advertising companies create adverts
which are shown on TV. I’ve got music I had already written into adverts, by simply contacting
advertising agencies and asking if they needed any particular music for anything they were
working on at the time.
How do I find a publisher?

Sometimes publishers will contact you, other times, you’ll have to contact them. Before looking for a
publisher, ensure that your music is ready to get licensed by doing the following:
✦ Checking you don’t already have it licensed exclusively somewhere else
✦ Make sure your music is broadcast quality - the levels are right, it’s mastered to a decent level, the
instruments don’t sound fake, etc.

Do a google search for “Royalty Free Music”. Visit the top 20-50 websites that come up on the google
search, then contact them asking to join. Chances are, if they are on the first page of Google for “Royalty
Free Music,” they will have good sales - as that’s most likely what buyers are also searching for!
Another option is to to look at services that provide you with music library listings. For example:
Music Library Report is an online repository of hundreds of music libraries, with comments and ratings
by composers who work with them. Pretty cool service I think.
How to License Your Music has a Music Library and Music Supervisor directory available to purchase
which gives you a massive list of supervisors and music libraries you can contact.
Music Registry – I have not used this service personally, but list them as an established service.
Taxi.com - Taxi can provide you with a way-in to some music libraries that are otherwise hard to get into.
Film Music Network – You can sign up for the free newsletter at least – they send this out a few times a
month, along with listings of different job offers – some from music libraries looking for music in certain
genres. The big libraries don’t use this service though, so bare in mind if you submit your music to them,
it will be a low to mid-range library you’re getting into. It does cost to submit to libraries through this,
though I personally hate having to “pay to submit” or “pay to play”.
Either way, you should always research the publisher before signing any contracts. Be sure to read my
chapter on “Avoiding Music Licensing Scams”, for some practical things to look for when avoiding scams
and other pitfalls.
Should I use my real name, or a pseudonym for my music?

Before deciding on this, you need to ask yourself a number of questions as to why a pseudonym might
be warranted:
✦ Do you want to be associated with your music library writing, or is it just something small you do
on the side that you don’t want or need anyone to know about?
✦ Is your website domain name named after your name or your pseudonym? Likewise with your
Facebook/Twitter accounts.
✦ Do you have a very common name that could be confused for others?
Some benefits of using a pseudonyms are:
✦ If you need to disassociate yourself from your other work in the music industry easily; if people
Google search your name, they won’t find your personal website (NB. some music libraries do
have the option to contact the composer directly, but the majority do not).

✦ You can use multiple pseudonyms if you have music on a number of non-exclusive websites. In so
doing, people won’t necessarily be able to search Google for the track name to find the lowest
price for that track.
✦ People can often remember pseudonyms better than real names. This means if they are looking
for music again in the future, there’s a better chance the might remember you as someone they
bought music from and become a return customer.
✦ You’ll increase your online presence when people do a Google search for your name. A small
amount of people when they use your music will actually credit you in their project, even if it’s only
music bought from a stock music library. Having your actual name in credits can be quite useful –
especially if people are kind enough to credit you on IMDB for “Additional Music”.
✦ A pseudonym may help stop and/or dissuade stalkers, when personal information and privacy is
a concern.
Some downsides of using a pseudonyms to consider are:
✦ Anyone liking your music may not have access to your personal website, hence limiting potential
opportunities (like asking for a customize a track they bought, or to commissioning to write more).
✦ Potentially, a pseudonym could mean decreased opportunities because your online presence is
not readily apparent. When doing a Google search for your name, for example, you could risk
losing out on being adequately and properly credited by name for some projects.
When considering all the above, be aware that some music libraries will not accept your music if it is
already being licensed by other companies who offer it under a “micro-pricing” model - i.e. very cheap,
or if it is in the Youtube Content ID system. For this reason, I would suggest that you DO NOT use
multiple pseudonyms on different websites in order to get around this! There is a good reason why
some (decent) libraries won’t accept your music if it’s already being sold for $5 elsewhere: customers are
more than likely going to google search the name of that track - or your name - in order to see if they
can get it cheaper somewhere else. If that’s the case, the website selling it for $5 will get the sale every
time, and there’s not much point in anyone else representing your music. You can read more about the
Youtube Content ID system later in this book, where I explain why this can lead to potential issues across
multiple libraries.
Can I remove my music from a library?

This depends entirely on the contract you’ve signed with that library. Some music libraries will just have a
button you can click which will delete your track immediately. Others will require you to email them the
request before your contract auto-renews. In short - read your contract beforehand so you understand
what you’re agreeing to.

What type of music should I write?
If you only write Death metal/jazz hybrid songs, for example, you might find they don’t get licensed as
much. More to the point, there are certain styles which are licensed more than others, so it can be
worthwhile to study these trends by observing what kind of music is being utilized commercially. For
example, if you want to get your music in adverts, watch adverts on TV and see what music they use.
Take a notepad and pen, and jot down the main aspects of the music being licensed. Here are some
familiar trends I’ve noted with respect to both instrumentation and style:
✦ Piano in a lot of songs
✦ “Cheesy” melodic lines (you know it when you hear it)
✦ Overly happy and upbeat - (predictably: a major key, the melody soars, bouncy rhythm, etc.)
✦ Ukulele and clicks/hand claps used often
✦ Pop style drum kit used
✦ Predominately instrumental; limited and/or no vocals with lyrics (see below).
No matter what style of music you like to write, it will have a place in the music licensing world.
If you do write music with vocals, make sure and keep the lyrics fairly universal (i.e. fitting the mood, not
describing the obvious). For example:
A movie scene where a man is driving a red ferrari down the road with his girlfriend hanging out the
window. It’s more likely that a song with lyrics based on “loving life” would do better than something
along the lines of:
“Driving in my red ferrari, while my girlfriend hangs out the window sayin’ where are we.”
When using vocals, the more generic your lyrics, the more potential licensing opportunities that track will
have. Also, I would suggest against using any swear words in your vocals - this makes them less
licensable, again.
In my experience, instrumental music is licensed far more than lyric-based vocal music, as it has more
potential end uses.
Should I diversify or write in one style?

Different libraries sell different genres better than others. From my experience, I found that it was better
to write in a couple of different styles so as to increase the chances of licensing my music.

The best selling genre of music on lower to mid-range music libraries is “Corporate Music”. We are all
familiar with this by now: Happy, upbeat music (some musicians might say ridiculous), or ukulele
accompanied by claps in the background, or whistling with finger clicks. I recommend trying to write in
at least one or two best selling genres as a means of potentially boosting income. Some libraries,
however, intentionally focus on only one type of music, such as Ambient Music Garden which sells
relaxation and meditation music. In that case, where the library is more limited, there’s no point in
diversifying if you are writing for them.
The best way to find what genres of music are selling is to browse the listing of the music library you are
working with, and sort the tracks by “best selling”. Then, take a look at the location for each genre.
Audiojungle, for example, lists weekly/monthly top selling tracks. By auditioning these listings you
can hear exactly what kind of music is currently selling well, and use that as a gauge to inform the style of
music you should be writing.
If your strength lies in writing a particular type of music, then by all means look for a music library that
focuses on selling that genre, but don’t completely rule out some of the other genres too.
How many tracks do I need?

In order to start making any money from music licensing, all you really need is just one licensable track.
The number of tracks for making decent money from music licensing varies hugely however; some
composers have reported making $20,000 per year from just 60 tracks, while other composers have said
they had around 1200 tracks before they made their first $10,000. Unfortunately, it’s a question that
cannot always be answered definitively, and again, it depends entirely on the same considerations I have
mentioned before:
✦ How good are your tracks?
✦ Who are your publishers?
✦ What are your tracks being licensed for?
✦ What genres/styles are your tracks in?
I suggest creating at least 10 tracks in a style you feel you work well in, and then upload these to a
number of different non-exclusive websites. This is the best way to start, as it gives you an idea of how
the industry works, what types of tracks sell well (and which don’t), and which libraries are the best (for
you) in terms of your personal time and effort.
So like I said, there is no specific number of tracks you need - the more you have, the better, as long as
they are well produced.

What/how should I submit?
Once you have found a music library you would like to submit to, visit their website and click on
“Contact Us” or “Submit Music”. Most music libraries will have a “Composer Submission” drop down
tab on their contact form as well. As another option, look for the owner of the library and contact them
via Linkedin, when possible.
Each music library will have different submission rules. Some will ask you to provide 3-5 links to different
tracks which demonstrate the quality and style of your work. Others may ask you to send them a physical
CD with the tracks that you intend to submit. Either way, the most important thing is to make sure you
follow their submission rules!
If you are sending an email from your own email address, rather than using their contact form, here are a
couple of tips:
✦ Send your email from your professional email address – for example info@yourdomain.com. It
simply sounds more professional compared to something like l33tc6mp653rz@hotmail.com
✦ DO NOT attach mp3s to your email as it will be deleted pretty much instantly. Instead, provide
links to Soundcloud, or a music player embedded in your email or on your website.
✦ Tell a bit about yourself, being sure to list any high end past placements you’ve had. This will help
to assure them that your music is good enough to be licensed in the first place. Success breeds
success.
✦ Lay out your email in a clear and easy to read fashion. Use good grammar, keep the email concise
(they don’t want to read your life story), and make sure you come across as a person who is easy
to work with.
✦ Ensure the music you submit has been mastered/mixed properly. Though this may be an obvious
point, it bears mentioning, nevertheless.
Here is a good template that I often use for music library submissions:
Hi there,
I am a full time music library composer, and would love the opportunity to submit my music to your
library. I specialise in contemporary piano tracks, but also write in a number of other styles ranging from
epic trailer music, to emotional underscore.

My music has been licensed by Ralph Lauren, Sony Playstation, The Cartoon Network, NBC, CBS and the
Biogprahy Channel, to name but a few.
Attached, you will find five Soundcloud tracks that I feel demonstrate my varying styles. If you would like
to hear more demos, please let me know and I can provide you with more links:
"Fluidity": (Minimal piano/Philip Glass inspired):

https://soundcloud.com/emmettcookemusic/fluidity
"Decay in the Void" (Nine Inch Nails/Silverchair inspired):

https://soundcloud.com/emmettcookemusic/decay-in-the-void/s-kqJkE
"Like a Dream" (Hangdrum, percussion + vocals): http://soundcloud.com/emmettcookemusic/like-a-

dream
"Constant Motion" (Contemporary/minimal piano): http://soundcloud.com/emmettcookemusic/

constantmotion
"Solar Flare" (Minimal underscore):

http://soundcloud.com/emmettcookemusic/solar-flare
If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to ask. Thank you for your time.
Kind regards,
Emmett Cooke
I prefer to use Soundcloud, as it’s simple and easy for people to click on a link and listen to my music
without having to navigate elsewhere. Other resources for sending music to a potential library include
Box.net and Yousendit.com.
You might be wondering if should show that you can write in multiple genres, or simply focus on one
good one? This varies from library to library. Again, I recommend first looking at what type of music a
particular library sells to determine whether they focus on one or several genres. If they only feature one
genre, you’re better off only sending music of that particular style. Alternatively, if they specialize in a
cross-section of musical genres, then by all means send several examples demonstrating your work in
those styles. Don’t overdo it though – it can sometimes be detrimental to try and write in too many other

styles, particularly if some are not a strong point for you. Focus on showing them your strengths, and
stay with that – they won’t want a composer who is good at classical music to try his hand at hip hop!
If you are submitting a CD, make sure you include the following:
✦ Cover Letter. Outline the music you’re submitting, providing short descriptions for each of the tracks.
✦ Contact details. Be sure to write all your contact information on the CD!
If you have the budget, it’s worthwhile having a couple of CDs professionally created with good quality
artwork and design. This will help your CD to potentially stand out from the hundreds other people are
submitting.
Tip: A neat little strategy I learned from a book called Likeable Social Media - when you are having
difficulty getting in touch with a potential publisher - is to use micro advertising on Facebook. If that
person has a Facebook account, you can access additional details in their “About” section, from which
you can create a custom Facebook advert that will only be displayed based on a specified set of criteria.
When they log in, your advert will appear. While a neat strategy to draw attention to your music, it’s
probably wise to only use this sparingly; certainly stop if you don’t get any responses (you don’t want to
harass anyone).
Registering with a Performance Rights Organisation

If your music is being used on TV, you will need to ensure that you are registered with your national
Performance Rights Organisation (sometimes called a Performance Rights Society or PRS). In Ireland,
IMRO (Irish Musician’s Rights Organisation) is our PRO which collects performance royalties for
composers. In the US, ASCAP, BMI and SESAC are the most popular PROs. Here’s a list of other PROs
around the world:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_rights_organisation#Organizations
In order to register as a writer with your PRO, you will need to have at least one song and other
information which varies between PROs. For IMRO, you have to have proof your music has been
broadcast or used in a performance at least once before - each PRO is different, but registration should
be fairly quick and simple.
Once registered, you can then begin registering your tracks on their database. Most PROs now have an
online member area where you can login and register new tracks. A number of years back it had to all be
done by paper, so count yourself lucky! Once your tracks have been registered with your PRO, they are
then placed in a worldwide database which all PROs share.

Basic information that you’ll need when registering a track will usually include:
✦ Track length
✦ Instruments used
✦ Genre/style
✦ Vocals
✦ Writers/co-writers
✦ Royalty split
Registering your tracks with your PRO can be a bit of a mine field if you’re unsure about what you’re
doing. If you have an exclusive publisher, they should be registering tracks on your behalf. Also, keep in
mind that if you have a number of non-exclusive music publishers, some of them might decide to re-title
your tracks so they can collect separate performance royalties, and hence avoid any mixups - this means
you might have multiple registrations for the same track, but under different names. Alternatively, you
can set yourself up as a publisher if you want to publish your own tracks and collect the full share of
performance royalty income.
There are a whole host of other options here, so I’d suggest you discuss it with your PRO if you’re
unsure, or read Making Music Make Money by Eric Beall, and The Musician’s Guide to Licensing Music
by Darren Wilsey.

Types of Music
Licensing Deals
W
hen you begin licensing your music for the first time, you’ll find there are a wide range of
licensing deals you’ll come across including:
✦ Exclusive
✦ Non Exclusive
✦ Buyout
✦ Blanket deal
✦ Retitling
It’s important to know what each of these are, as well as their benefits and downsides.
Exclusive - you agree to allow this music publisher to be the exclusive publisher of this track for X
amount of years (the “term” in your contract) with X royalty split. This means you cannot give this track
to another publisher (i.e. upload it to another library for sale).
Non exclusive - you agree to give this music publisher the non-exclusive right to be the publisher of
your track. This means you can have other publishers licensing this song on your behalf too (i.e. you can
upload it to multiple music libraries for sale)

Buyout - you agree to sign over your copyrights to the publisher for an upfront fee (they will
recouperate this on their end through long term sales of the track). They will then split performance fees
with you (i.e. you get a lump sum for the track, then no more licensing fees ever again apart from
performance royalties)
Blanket deal - You or a publisher may wish to fashion an agreement to provide a large amount of tracks
for a fee (sometimes no fee). Money will then be made from performance royalties when the music is
used on TV and in other media.
Retitling - This is a practice non-exclusive music libraries partake in. Some people believe it devalues
your music, others believe it’s fine, while others think it’s downright dodgy. It’s best to use an example to
explain it:
Say you have a track called “Thunderdome”. It is already being published by “Publisher A” but then you
want “Publisher B” to try license it for you as well. However, if “Publisher A” and “Publisher B” submit it
to the same licensing opportunity (say a TV show), and it gets used, which of them are supposed to get
the publisher’s split of performance royalties? How do they know who actually licensed it?
Thus, some publishers have figured out another way of working the system in order to ensure they
always get their own split of performance royalties. “Publisher A” has your track “Thunderdome” in their
library - “B publisher” decides to include your track in their library, but in order to distinguish it from any
other publishers with the same track, they re-register your track with the PRO under a new name, lets say
“Lightening Dome”. Now you have the same track, in two music libraries, under two names:
✦ “Thunderdome” with “Publisher A”
✦ “Lightening dome” with “Publisher B”
Like I said, retitling is a bit of a headache, and it’s hard to cover all the ins and outs of it here. I’d suggest
reading a number of different articles on it in order to get a couple of different perspectives from
different angles. Here are some articles that I have found useful:
http://www.musiclibraryreport.com/music-retitling/should-i-sign-with-a-retitle-library/
http://thedeanofmusicpublishing.com/musicbizblog/?p=120
http://www.sonicscoop.com/tag/retitling-libraries/
http://thesongwriterguy.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/re-titling-and-the-non-exclusives/
http://www.musiclibraryreport.com/music-retitling/a-voice-from-the-dark-side-confessions-of-a-
retitler/

Exclusive vs Non-
Exclusive
S
hould you have your music exclusively with one publisher or non-exclusively with a number of
different ones? Well, each option has its merits:
One exclusive publisher:
✦ Less work to upload music
✦ Possibility of upfront money
✦ They have more invested in your music compared to a non-exclusive company
✦ Large networks are now going only with exclusively represented music
✦ Generally no blanket license deals, so you'll get paid upfront and backend money
✦ A better chance of higher-profile placements
Numerous non-exclusive publishers
✦ Better to have multiple streams of income in case anything happens
✦ Larger audience/customer base

✦ Increased chances of licensing through different companies
✦ You can sell your music on iTunes/via your own website
✦ You can market your music directly to music supervisors
Buyout Libraries are another option you might consider as well:
There are some libraries out there that will pay you upfront to create albums for them (sometimes using
live players). They "buyout" your rights to the album and you don't get any further upfront income from
sales, but generally retain a portion (usually 50%) of the performance royalties - meaning anytime that
music is played on TV, you'll get 1/2 the royalty cheque from it. Buyout fees range from anywhere from
$100 - $1200, but generally average around $200-$400 I have found.
From my own experience, I recommend working with both exclusive and non-exclusive publishers. Mix
your music between different companies, starting off with lots of non-exclusives companies and then see
how you get on. Once you find some decent non-exclusive companies to work with, then spend some
time finding a really good exclusive company to work with.
However, I don’t advise having all of your music with one exclusive company, as I don’t think it’s
financially secure. Consider a scenario where, if they were to go under tomorrow, or even sell their
business, you’re literally out of work (the potential income from your tracks) within 24 hours. Hence,
mixing and matching between non-exclusives and exclusives keeps your options open for safeguarding
at least some of your investment. Don’t forget having your music with a couple of libraries also increases
the chances of customers contacting you for custom work.
Even though I’ve found that I actually made a LOT more money from one exclusive company I’ve worked
with the past couple years, I still would not place all of my eggs in one basket.
It can also be a good idea to ask for a reversion clause in your contract if you are unsure about working
with an exclusive company. A reversion clause in a music library contract generally means that should the
track never sell within a certain period (say 3 years), then the rights revert back to you, meaning, your
song won’t be stuck with that library for eternity.

Cue Sheets
A
cue sheet is a document filed with a PRO, which contains a detailed list of all of the music
used in a film or TV production. It is usually prepared by the music editor involved with a
particular production, and contains information for each piece of music being used, including:
✦ The title
✦ The writer of the music
✦ The publisher for that track
✦ The purpose for which it was used (background music, theme song etc.)
✦ Duration (be it the entire track length or a portion of the track).
Bearing in mind that your music could be used in a production anywhere in the world, it can take
anywhere from approximately 6 months to 2 years to receive royalty payments once your music has been
used. Income generated from performances of your music on TV, radio, and other media can vary widely
- anywhere from a few cents to thousands of dollars. The great thing about performance royalties is that
they can actually increase over time . If you have your music placed in a TV show that repeats on multiple
channels over a number of years, for example, you will continuously receive an income from those
performances.
You can find an example of a cue sheet online here: http://www.Soundtrack.ie/eBook/Cuesheet.xls

Avoiding Music
Licensing Scams
T
here are a number of “pay to play” websites online which allow you to pitch your music to
libraries or opportunities requiring music in return for a fee. I personally avoid these: at best
they are slightly dodgy, and at worst, massive scams. Some websites will even post a fake
requirement deadline once a week in order to get a couple of extra bucks from you. Other potential
music licensing scams - masquerading as legitimate emails - can access your email information from any
number of sources including any Soundcloud listings. Any unsolicited emails asking you to consider
being published, or which solicits terms that seem a bit questionable, should be considered suspicious.
Another thing to consider - with respect to any questionable terms - is that copyrights are one of the
most important rights you have to your music. Ninety-nine percent of the time you should NOT sign
them away. If someone else secures ownership to the copyrights for your song, they basically OWN that
song; you no longer have control over it.
That being said, there are exceptions, and one exclusive publisher I work with actually asks for the
copyrights of any tracks they accept into their library. When I was originally signing with them, alarm
bells went off straight away. However, they have been by far the most profitable publisher I have ever
worked with, and I have no regrets. As with any contractual endeavors, common sense and discretion are
always advised when anything questionable or curious arises regarding a potential publisher. And while
not all of these will be scams, pay attention to any situation where you are even the slightest bit unsure!

Here are a number of things you can do to determine both legitimacy, and the best contractual terms for
yourself:
✦ Google them - This is always the first thing I do. Google the name of the person contacting you
and the name of the company they are representing. Go to every link on at least the first 10-20
pages of search results. If others have been scammed by them, there is a good chance they will
have spoken out against them on forums somewhere. Their company website should be on the
first page of Google when you search for them - if they don’t have a website for their company, I
would be very wary.
✦ Check their social media accounts - Any reputable company should have Facebook and Twitter
accounts. Check them out and see how many followers/likes they have - if they have a small
number, then they could be a new company or might not be able to increase their follower count
as they’re not reputable. See what messages are being posted on their Facebook and Twitter
accounts by others. Are people calling them out, or happy with their service?
✦ Is it an email or phone call? If they are emailing you, this may be done in bulk. A phone call is
more personal, but not as common. You can get a good idea about someone when you speak to
them over the phone, so if possible, request a phone call or a skype/google chat call.
✦ Are they referencing actual names of your songs? If they’re not using the names of tracks they
are interested in, it might be an indication that they’re just using an email template to mass email
people. If they reference the name of some of your tracks in their email, it means they have a keen
interest in those tracks and it’s a personalised email you are being sent rather than as part of a
bulk email.
✦ Check if they have a physical address - Many reputable companies will have a listed, physical
address. Of course many people also work out of their homes - including a great publisher of mine
that lists his house address as a business address - so use discretion when determining if it is a
legitimate business address and/or location.
✦ Are they asking for money to represent your music or listen to it? If the company is asking for
money upfront in order to represent or listen to your tracks, run far away. No reputable company I
have ever come across should or will ask for money before licensing your tracks. If they are asking
for money in order to represent your tracks, it suggests they’re not sure of their own ability to
license your tracks.
✦ Are they a new business? Generally speaking, a new music licensing company will have a far
harder time licensing your tracks compared to a company who has been in business for 5-10 years
with an established customer base. If they’re new in business, they’ll most likely have to spend
time marketing, building their brand and building ties with the right people. What this means for

you is you’ll be waiting a lot longer (or maybe forever) in order to get any tracks licensed through
them.
✦ Ask what their plans are/their marketing strategy/previous success stories - Not all companies
will share their plans/marketing strategies with you, but all should share their previous success
stories. If they have no previous success stories, well then...thats a bit like a film director hiring a
composer with no credits - risky! If they tell you their marketing strategy is to “build a following”
on Twitter and Facebook- or have a great, easy to use website -well...we could all do that, couldn’t
we?
✦ What rights are they looking for? Publishing rights? Copyrights? - As I mentioned before,
asking you to sign over copyrights to your tracks can be VERY risky. I recommend considering all
the above before making any such a choice, and at the very least, ask others you know who ma
have also worked with a particular publisher.

Dealing with Custom
Requests
O
nce your music is out there in the vast wilderness that is the internet, it’s possible that
potential customers may want something changed before using it, or even want you to write
something similar to the original track. So what happens then when you do get a request for
changes or commissioning a new piece, and what do you charge?
Well, the first thing is do not undervalue yourself or your music. This is so important, that I’m going to
say it again: Do not undervalue yourself or your music.
There are a couple of reasons you should not undervalue yourself and the services you offer:
✦ Firstly, when you charge very little, people tend to devalue both your work and their respect for
your craft.
✦ Secondly, this sets up a precedent where you may be regarded as someone at the lower end of
the industry, associating you with “budget” work, rather than professional quality work.
✦ Thirdly, by devaluing your own services, you are also potentially devaluing the market, including
the music and services others in the industry provide.
✦ Fourthly, consider this: Would you not prefer to get rejected 4 times out of 5 for charging too
much, but still earn money doing one project at a rate on par with your services, than several
projects at a devalued rate?

”But I’m afraid that I’ll ask for too much money and they won’t hire me!”. Bullshit - sorry! They’re
contacting you because they like your work - Charge double what you feel is a fair price for your music
and for your services. When (or if) they come back and say they can’t afford your rate, ask what they can
afford. You can decide if you want to work for that price or not.
“I have no idea what price to charge. Should I use an hourly rate or overall project rate?”. Well
what is your time worth? Are you busy with a constant flow of work, or have you got nothing on at all?
Do you have a lot of overheads that you need to factor into your hourly rate? If you were to ask one of
your peers to do the same work, what do you think they’d charge?
Choosing Your Hourly Rate

I can’t tell you what your hourly rate should be - that’s completely up to you. However, here is a great
calculator which can be used by freelancers to figure out what their hourly rate should be:
http://freelanceswitch.com/rates/
Sealing the Deal

Once you have agreed the price or hourly rate with the client, sign a contract! Most people won’t do
this as they feel it will upset the client, or make it look like they don’t trust them. However, if you don’t
have a contract and the client doesn’t pay you when you’ve sent over the music, you’re potentially
screwed: At that point, they have no legal obligation to pay you, since you haven’t agreed the terms in
writing. Even if you are considering a small project that takes only 1-2 hours, I would seriously advise you
to consider putting a contract in place, nevertheless. Have a contract for every situation. A useful book
detailing typical examples of music industry contracts is Music Business Contract Library by Greg
Forest.

Increasing Music
Licensing Income
T
here are a number of simple ways to increase your income from music libraries. Here are some
strategies to help make this a reality:
Before composing:
✦ Go to the most popular music libraries and see what their most popular tracks are. You can’t do
this on all of them, but a number of them have this option. DON’T copy other people’s tracks, but
analyse them - see what instrument combination, styles, etc. are popular, and which ones are
selling well.
✦ Watch TV during lunch and listen to the music used in adverts, trailers, and various TV shows. Jot
down some of the important points about the music - e.g. tempo, instrumentation, structure,
mood and so forth.
✦ Create DAW templates. A template is when you create a blank project in your DAW, load all of
your most used instruments, setup your routing and basic EQ settings, (as well as any other setting
you find yourself using often) and then save it. When you next open your DAW, you can just open
this template, put on the coffee, and when you come back, you’ll be ready to just start writing
music rather than having to load each instrument one by one. Some composers create multiple

templates for different genres of music, while others prefer to just have one massive template with
everything pre-loaded. Either way, using templates really helps speed up your workflow.
Here is a great article on how to make your templates load faster: http://www.scorecastonline.com/
2012/09/26/optimizing-load-distribution-for-large-templates/
When composing:
✦ Keep it between 2-3 minutes long (5 – 10 minutes if it’s meditation music).
✦ Don’t bore people with 1 minute of a build up – get into the track as quick as you can.
✦ If it’s a vocal cue, get to the chorus quickly
✦ If you’re writing a song, follow this structure: Verse 1/Chorus, Verse 2/Chorus, Bridge/Chorus.
(It’s used in 70% of song placements)
✦ Avoid specific names, place names, and dates in vocal music otherwise you’re limiting your
licensing opportunities
✦ Avoid fade out endings – finish on a proper ending with a chord or note ringing out.
✦ Don’t include sound effects in your mix if possible – buyers can add them themselves if they want
✦ Don’t write genre specific music. Simple piano music sells well as it has hundreds of different uses.
Indonesian gamelan music, has less possible end uses so will sell less.
✦ Use live instruments - they can breath life into a dull track with virtual instruments. If you play an
instrument yourself and are using it in a composition, you should always try to record it live, rather
than using a virtual instrument. Nothing can capture emotion and breath life into a track more
than live players. Collect any instruments you play on ebay, Craigslist, yard sales, etc., and keep
them in your studio so you can use them on tracks.
When mixing:
✦ Compare and contrast your track alongside a playlist of similar commercial music. If it sticks out,
then figure out why: A/B it against other commercial tracks and/or high selling tracks and see what
you can do to improve it. Production value is important and if your tracks don’t sound
professional; your sales will suffer.

When exporting your track:
✦ Include an instrumental version of any vocal cues
✦ Include a 15 sec, 30 sec and 60 sec edit of every cue if the library allows for it.
✦ Include around 5-10 loops of each cue.
✦ Include a stinger version and bumper version of each cue
✦ Export in multiple formats and bit rates. Some music libraries will ask for 16bit, others will ask for
24bit. Some will ask for 128kbps MP3 while other will ask for .aiff. I would suggest you export
your tracks in the following formats in order to ensure you cover all of the bases:
1. WAV - 16bit + 24bit
2. AIFF - 16bit + 24bit
Once exported in those formats, use an audio converter to convert the .wav files into the following MP3
bitrates:
✦ 1. 320kbps
✦ 2. 192kbps
✦ 3. 128kbps
When uploading:
✦ Spend some time writing a decent description for your track. You need to capture the buyer’s
attention as quickly as possible so keep it simple and straight to the point. They want to know
what instruments are being used, when the chorus comes in, and other important information of
how your track might best work with their cues.
✦ If the music library you are associated with allows you to set your own price, don’t price it so low
as to undercut everyone else. Price it mid-high compared to the rest of the market. Generally,
when people see a higher price, they tend to also think higher quality.
Tips:
If you have the budget, hire players to record remotely for you. One great website where I’ve
encountered quality performers is www.sessionexchange.org - I’ve used a cellist from there on a short
film that I scored recently, and was blown away by just how easy it is to work with players over the
internet, not to mention just how good they can be. Additionally, get to know other composers who

write production music, and offer to perform on their tracks in exchange for performing on yours (“pro
bono”).
There are other online services to consider, though the caliber and quality of these may vary, depending
on what you are willing to pay.

What are the best
music libraries to
work with?
O
ne of the biggest questions I am always asked is "which library is the best to work with"? My
answer is always the same: "It depends completely on you and your music”. For various
reasons I’ve discussed throughout, the library that sells a lot of my music might not be as
successful at selling your music for you.
There are literally hundreds (actually thousands at this stage) of music libraries in existence, each of them
offering different types of licenses for different types of music to different types of clients. Likewise, there
are also plenty of free and paid resources out there that can provide you with a list of many of these
companies. Music Library Report is one of the best ones that I’ve found
(www.FilmandGamecomposers.com/Musiclibraryreport)
A simple google search will bring up the majority of these sites (if they aren't in the Google search
results for "production music" or "royalty free music”, they are probably not worth your effort). Also
worth noting is that the music libraries that show up on the first and second page results, as well as the
libraries that show up in the "sponsored adverts" columns, are going to be some of the most popular
ones out there. Why?
Well, firstly, if they are in the sponsored ad sections, it means they are investing in adverts to begin with,
and a good indication their marketing efforts are also getting a return in some shape or form. In short,
they are getting their music sold!

Secondly, if they show up in the first or second pages of Google search results, this is an indication they
are getting a lot of traffic, hence potentially higher sales rates than the other libraries listed further down
in the results (of course this isn't necessarily foolproof, but still a good place to start, particularly when
their listing shows up at top). Below is a list of just some of the music libraries out there to consider:
✦ APM - http://www.apmmusic.com/
✦ Music Loops - http://www.musicloops.com
✦ Partners in Rhyme - http://www.partnersinrhyme.com
✦ Audio Network - http://www.audionetwork.com/
✦ Revostock - http://www.revostock.com
✦ Audio Sparx - http://www.audiosparx.com
✦ Production Trax - http://www.productiontrax.com
✦ Boom Music - http://www.boommusic.tv/
✦ 300 Monks - http://www.300monks.com/
✦ Music Dealers - http://www.musicdealers.com
✦ Pond 5 - http://www.pond5.com
✦ Couldb Entertainment - http://www.couldb.com
✦ Magnatune - http://www.magnatune.com/
✦ Muziko - http://www.muziko.com/
✦ Audio Socket - https://www.audiosocket.com
✦ Jingle Punks - http://www.jinglepunks.com/
✦ Audiojungle - http://www.audiojungle.net
✦ Megatrax - http://www.megatrax.com/
✦ Rumblefish - http://www.rumblefish.com/
✦ Pump Audio - http://www.pumpaudio.com/
✦ You License - http://www.youlicense.com/
✦ Crucial Music - http://www.crucialmusic.com
✦ Sonoton - http://www.sonoton.com/
✦ NeoSounds - http://www.neosounds.com/
✦ ACM Records - http://www.acmrecords.com/
✦ 5 Alarm Music - http://www.5alarmmusic.com/

✦ Dewolfe Music - http://www.dewolfemusic.com/
✦ Vanacore Music - http://www.vanacoremusic.com/
✦ Songs To Your Eyes - http://www.songstoyoureyes.com/
✦ Killer Tracks - http://www.killertracks.com/
✦ Firstcom - http://www.firstcom.com/
✦ West One Music - http://www.westonemusic.com/
✦ Moonlab Music - http://www.moonlabmusic.com/
✦ Liquid Cinema - http://www.liquidcinema.com/
✦ Point Classics - http://www.pointclassics.com/
✦ Riptide Music - http://www.riptidemusic.com/
✦ Warner/Chapell - http://www.warnerchappellpm.com/
✦ Twisted Jukebox - http://www.twistedjukebox.com/
You can also purchase lists of music libraries, music supervisors, and related information from a number
of places online (though to be honest, a bit of Googling will get you the majority of this information as
well). One such pdf list available for purchase can be found here:
http://www.howtolicenseyourmusic.com/music-licensing-directory.php
Another option is to sign up for an account at Music Library Report. There you can see the most popular
libraries rated by composer, as well as comments that have been posted for each:
http://www.musiclibraryreport.com
To help you get started, I’ve put together a fairly long list of music libraries and deal boards at the end of
this ebook. Since I obviously do not have my music with all of these libraries, I cannot offer a definitive
opinion for each. And, of course, your experience might differ from mine as well. The above mentioned
http://www.musiclibraryreport.com is a great resource to read what other composers have to say, and
perhaps help you determine which might work best for you and your style.

Meta tagging
M
eta-tagging is one of the most important things you can do when uploading your music to
library websites. In short, it is the process of adding a description, keywords and categories
(genres/instruments etc.) to your track so it can be found when searching amongst other
tracks in a library. You might have an excellent song, but unless a customer can find it when searching a
library, you won’t make any money from it!
So how do you add meta tags? Firstly, look at the library’s meta tag rules; some libraries only allow you
to add 20 keywords, others only allow a description of 200 characters. A word of advice: Do not try to
pack in as many keywords and genres as possible in order to try and show up in more search results.
Make sure all of the metadata you enter is relevant to your track. Here are the metadata categories you
will often be asked to fill in on a number of music library website:
Title
Now first a word about strategies for titling tracks: Some believe when writing a track - purely with the
end goal of getting it licensed - you should give it a generic title that includes the keywords describing
that track e.g. “80’s pop rock tune”. I am strongly in disagreement with this for a couple of reasons:
Firstly, a number of music libraries can actually ban you for distorting search results that include too many
related keywords in your title. Secondly (and more importantly), when a potential purchaser sees your

track, they are more drawn to cues with proper names, rather than generic labelings (a painting in a shop
is more likely to sell with a title like “The Wind Between the Flowers”, as opposed to “Happy Flowers
Scene”).
Examples of a good description for a dark/broody/horror cue might be:
“Lurking in the Shadows” - or - “Movement in the Dark”
Examples of a bad description for the same cue would be:
“Scary horror scene” and “Dark horror cue”.
Description
A description is the second thing a client will see after the title, and like an appealing title, a great
description for your tracks is also essential in order to draw people in:
“Pulsing and bright, featuring breathy female lead vocals, gritty electric guitar and warm electronic
textures that create an introspective and reflective mood.”
There are, of course, several ways to write a great description for a track that will help you sell more
licenses. If possible, you should always try to include:
✦ The texture of the track (e.g. bright/jangly or smooth/warm)
✦ The main instruments (e.g. fuzzy guitar, atmospheric piano)
✦ The mood/image/setting the track evokes (e.g. happy and upbeat)
✦ Potential end uses (e.g. great for a love scene, romance or a bar)
A good description based on the above options would then read as follows:
“An aggressive and driving adrenaline-filled cue, with fuzzy guitar, booming drums and roaring vocals.
Dark and disturbing - perfect for a heavy music scene, extreme sports, or teenage romance”.
BPM
If your track has a constant tempo, be sure to list its beats per minute. If it’s something like an ambient
cue, it probably won’t have a BPM, in which case you would write “free” or “N/A”.
A word advice: It’s important to list the correct BPM, as people may search for tracks based on their BPM
requirements; if the BPM is incorrect, they won’t be happy.

Primary & Secondary Keywords
Your keywords are the second most important metadata for your tracks - if you don’t have enough
keywords, or they are not relevant, your sales will most likely suffer.
Again, different music libraries are setup in different ways with different metadata rules - some will ask
you for just a list of keywords, others will ask you for “primary” and “secondary” keywords. The most
important thing when choosing keywords is to ensure they are relevant to that track. It’s one of the less
interesting aspects of music licensing, but one of the most important things you can do to get your
tracks licensed.
Here is an example of primary and secondary keywords that I would use for a sad piano piece:
Primary: Piano, sad, sombre, melancholy, loss,
Secondary: Lonely, contemporary, instrumental, sentimental, tranquil, enchanting, duet, longing,

thoughtful, pensive
Different libraries allow different amounts of keywords, so when you first create your keyword list for that
track, you’re best off writing more than enough. I usually do a list of “Top 10 keywords”, “Top 20
keywords”, and “Top 50 keywords” for each track.
PRO/Writer/Publisher
When you first register with a Performance Rights Organisation, you will be given an IPI number
(sometimes called a CAE number) - a unique 9 digit number that can identify you internationally
amongst PROs. Keep this close at hand, as you will need to provide it to most libraries when submitting
music.
Here is an example of the information you might use when uploading a cue (sometimes you are asked to
provide this when signing a contract as well):
Writer: Emmett Cooke (IMRO - IPI: 987634512)
Co-writer: None
Publisher: John Doe (IMRO - IPI: 978634512)
Here are some additional tips for meta-tagging:
✦ Research other composers who are licensing lots of tracks. Look at what they write for their
descriptions and keywords and see how they use them.
✦ Always use the maximum amount of keywords and characters possible.

✦ Put together a list of keywords that you normally use. Get to an online thesaurus, and add more
words that describe those keywords.
✦ Have a master spreadsheet where you have all of your track info saved so you can quickly copy
and paste it to different websites.
✦ Use different iterations of the same word - e.g. dark/darkness; fuzz/fuzzy.
You can find an example of a spreadsheet that I use here: www.Soundtrack.ie/eBook/

ExampleSpreadsheet.xlsx

Using a Virtual
Assistant
U
ploading music to libraries can often be a long a tedious task, depending on the library. One
way to cut out the amount of time spent on uploading/writing descriptions/tagging etc., is to
hire someone else to do it for you.
There are a number of places you can hire a “Virtual Assistant” online. Some popular ones are:
✦ http://www.oDesk.com
✦ http://www.elance.com
✦ http://www.yourmaninindia.com/
✦ http://www.fiverr.com
✦ http://www.taskbullet.com/
The benefits of hiring an assistant online compared to hiring someone locally are:
✦ Price - Hiring someone online can be very affordable, and even cheap in some cases. You can
even find VA’s starting at $1.50 per hour. Bear in mind - the more you are willing to pay, the
chances are the quality of work will be higher as well.

✦ Space - You won’t have to set aside a table in your studio for someone to work - instead they’ll be
working somewhere on the other side of the world!
✦ More time to compose - Being able to delegate some of your “administrative” workload means
you’re able to spend more time focusing on the work you want to - i.e. composing music!
✦ No set minimum hours per week - You can hire someone for 1 hour per week or for 40 hours per
week. There is no set minimum, so you can easily scale up or down as needed.
Hiring a virtual assistant can be very worthwhile, though it can also be a tedious process at the same
time when finding the right fit. There are always inherent risks when in hiring anyone online, especially
someone who will be in charge of part of your livelihood. So read any reviews and/or comments about a
potential hire, if available, and ask any relevant questions of a potential VA to ensure it’s going to be a
good working relationship.
For more information on hiring a virtual assistant, I invite you to read my blogpost entry here:
http://www.filmandgamecomposers.com/blog/10-lessons-i-learned-in-hiring-a-virtual-assistant

The Youtube
Content ID System
T
he Youtube Content ID System is a digital fingerprinting technology that “automatically
identifies your content, and then applies an owner-specified policy: monetize, track, or block. If
you place your music in this system, anytime someone uploads a video to Youtube using your
track (or part of it), they will automatically receive a notice informing them they are not the rights holder,
and an action will be taken based on which policy you choose:
✦ Monetize - Ads will be placed on the user’s video and you will receive the income generated from
these adverts.
✦ Track - The video will remain unaffected, but the analytics for the video will be viewable by you.
✦ Block - The video will either be blocked or the audio will be muted.
As you can see from the above options, the youtube content ID system can impose some fairly restrictive
options for those uploading videos, and it’s not particularly liked by many. In my opinion, production
music (i.e. music licensed through music libraries) should not be included in this system, as the system
itself was not originally designed to handle such information. Specifically, it can cause a lot of problems if
your music is in the content ID system and you license that music non-exclusively on a number of
different websites. Here’s why:
Let’s say you sell your tracks non-exclusively on 2 music libraries - Lib 1 and Lib 2. Your same tracks are
for sale on both libraries.

Lib 1 will upload all of your music into the youtube content ID system automatically when you join,
allowing You Tube to make extra money anytime your music is used, specifically, by placing ads on
videos posted by those using your music.
Lib 2 will not upload any of your music into the system, as they don’t want their buyers to get annoying
ads on their youtube videos or get copyright notices whenever they use your music on youtube
Since Lib 1 has already uploaded all of your music into the system, if someone purchases one of your
tracks from Lib 2, they will still get a copyright notification on youtube, and their video will have ads
placed over it.
Now you’ve just pissed off the buyer as they’ve just gotten a scary looking copyright notice on youtube.
So they’re going to send a complaint to Lib 2, saying that they bought your music, used it in a youtube
video, and were told they don’t own the rights to the music (even though they purchased a license to
use it!). This is already starting to cause havoc among many non-exclusive music libraries, as some
partake in this system, while others do not. Some libraries will not allow you to join them if your music is
in the content ID system, while others will force you to join the content ID system if you upload your
music to them.
As you can see from the mess above, the content ID system should only ever be used by music libraries
who are selling your music exclusively for you (i.e. your music is only for sale with them and nobody else).
Youtube actually even states this as well:
“This program is designed for exclusive rights holders whose content is frequently uploaded to YouTube
by the user community”.
I know many composers who have joined the system and have no problem with it. Personally, I won’t
touch it with a bargepole - my music was included in it once by a non-exclusive library I work with and
this caused lots of problems with many other libraries who sold my music. My advice on the subject
would be to know exactly what you’re getting yourself into, and think about how you’d feel if you got a
big copyright notice and ads placed all over your videos. You can read more on the Youtube Content ID
system here:
http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2797370
http://www.youtube.com/t/contentid_more

Libraries involved in Youtube Content ID program are:
✦ AudioMicro
✦ AudioSocket
✦ AudioSparx “Internet royalties” program
✦ CDBaby “Sync licensing” program
✦ Crucial Music
✦ GoDigital & Social Media Holdings
✦ IODA: Independent Online Distribution Alliance
✦ Kontor New Media
✦ Magnatune
✦ The Orchard
✦ Rumblefish
✦ The Music Bed

Tunesat
I
t’s worth mentioning Tunesat in this guide, as it can be a great tool a little further down the line
when your music is being licensed frequently on TV around the world.
Tunesat is an online system that allows you to track when your music is used on TV and/or on a website.
You upload your music to Tunesat, and they create a unique digital fingerprint of the waveform which
can then be automatically detected anytime it’s used fully - or in part - on television broadcasts or a
website. It can be used to check your performance royalty payments against what Tunesat detected. For
example, you might have only been paid for two show placements, but your music was actually used on
five shows a number of times, and you’ve never been paid for them.
Like I said, it can be expensive, but I’ve found that it’s generated more profit for me than what I’ve paid
for the service. Each month I export my Tunesat detections as a spreadsheet, and send them onto my
PRO. Since I began doing so, my royalty payments have doubled - and even tripled - each month. To
learn more about Tunesat, go to their website http://www.Tunesat.com.

The 3 Year Plan
T
o earn a good steady income through music licensing, you need to focus on the long term. Like
I said earlier in this ebook, earning decent money from your music won’t happen overnight, and
it’s good to have a long term plan in place that focuses on what you’re doing and why you’re
doing it. Here is the plan I recommend:
Year 1:
✦ Write 25 tracks in a style you enjoy working in.
✦ Register these with your PRO.
✦ Research 10 non-exclusive websites where you want to sell your tracks.
✦ Upload your 25 tracks to those 10 non-exclusives.
✦ Put together your master spreadsheet - including all of your metadata - and update this each time
you create a new track.
✦ Write another 15 tracks in a different genre, and then another 10 tracks in yet another genre - for
example, orchestral, rock, corporate etc.
✦ Upload these to the same non-exclusive libraries.
You should average around 1 track per week over the course of the first year.

Year 2:
✦ Look at which of your 50 tracks from Year 1 have sold the most. Analyse their keyword
combinations, genres, instrumentation, etc., carefully noting any patterns.
✦ Research another 10 non-exclusive websites where you can sell your tracks.
✦ Write another 50 tracks during Year 2, and upload those to all 20 non-exclusive websites.
✦ By the end of that year, you should have approximately 100 tracks, as well as 20 non-excluisve
publishers.
Year 3
✦ Look at which tracks have sold the most, and on which non-exclusive websites, to see if there are
any patterns. Are some websites selling more than others for you? Are some tracks selling better
than others?
✦ Research three exclusive publishers you would like to join, and send them an email based on the
template in the “What/How Should I Submit” section.
✦ Try to join three exclusive publishers during Year 3. By that time, you should have a good
understanding of the industry, having already sold many tracks with non-exclusive publishers.
✦ At that point, start to refine your team. Look at which non-exclusive publishers have made you
nothing at all, and decide if you still want your music with them. Having your music with too many
non-exclusive publishers can really water down your music, and some publishers will refuse to take
your music if it’s licensed with too many others.
Like I said, music licensing is a seriously long term endeavour, so just because they haven’t sold anything
yet, doesn’t mean they won’t in the future. As a personal rule, however, I stop uploading to any publisher
that has not made anything at all for me after three years. And if they’ve not sold anything after five
years, I’ll remove my music completely.
After following this three year plan, you should have a great understanding of the industry, and a solid
idea of what sells and what does not. Just remember to try and have a decent mix of exclusive
publishers for some tracks, and non-exclusive publishers for other tracks - don’t put all of your eggs in
one basket with one publisher!

Suggested Reading
H
ere are a several great books to get you started on the subject:
✦ Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting: 126 Proven Techniques for Writing Songs That Sell by Robin
Frederick
✦ Cash Tracks by Jeffrey P Fisher
✦ The Musician’s Guide to Licensing Music: How to Get Your Music into Film, TV, Advertising,
Digital Media & Beyond by Darren Wilsey
✦ Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio by Mike Senior
✦ The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich (Expanded and
Updated) By Timothy Ferriss
✦ If you write write vocal music:
✦ The Complete Rhyming Dictionary: Including The Poet’s Craft Book - Clement Wood, Editor.
Revised by Ronald Bogus.
✦ Writing Better Lyrics by Pat Pattison
If you only get one book on the subject, I’d advise Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting by Robin Frederick, as
it’s FULL of useful tips and info! Seriously, the thing is a freaking gold mine!

Useful Resources
FREE Software
Evernote – The best note taking software out there. It’s cross platform, so you can take notes on your
iPhone/Android phone when you’re out and about, and it’s synced up when you hop back onto your PC
at home.
Helium Audio Converter – I was using a couple of audio converters that range in price from $2.99 to
$24.99 and this one outdoes all of them…and for free! Handy for converting .wav to .mp3 when you’re in
a rush (rather than opening up your DAW and exporting it manually as .mp3).
Teracopy – The Best description of this from their website: “TeraCopy is designed to copy and move
files at the maximum possible speed“. Useful for new windows installations when you have to transfer
lots of files from one hard drive to another, or from DVDs to a hard drive.
MP3Tag – Free and easy to use metadata tagging software for mp3s. Useful if you don’t want to use
iTunes!
Dropbox – Online storage that’s super easy to set up and also cross platform, so you can have it on your
PC/Mac as well as your iPhone/Android. Handy for backing up DAW source files (on the basic account
you get 2GB free and another 500MB per person you refer)

Flux – “During the day, computer screens look good—they’re designed to look like the sun. But, at 9PM,
10PM, or 3AM, you probably shouldn’t be looking at the sun. F.lux fixes this: it makes the color of your
computer’s display adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day”. It’s free and
helpful for those of us who are night owls!
Filezilla – Free FTP program for uploading files to servers – handy for uploading to music libraries,
specifically.
Rocketdock – Basically gives you a simple task bar like on a Mac with editable icons to drop into it.
Saves you time on a PC by having all your most used icons in it, and not cluttering up your desktop.
Truecrypt – Free disk encryption software. Keep your spreadsheets/files etc. safe by using this – also
works on USB keys!
Sync Toy – Handy little piece of software from Microsoft that lets you sync folders. Setup an automated
folder sync daily using Sync Toy and you’ll have your files backed up automatically each day without
having to worry about it.
Google Drive – An alternative to dropbox and cheaper – I use both. 10GB of storage for free and 25GB
of storage for $2.50 a month! Incredibly cheap in my opinion and simple to use (although upload speeds
can be quite slow)
PAID Software - Utilities

Norton Ghost - if you’re a PC user, Norton Ghost is a no-brainer. Basically it takes a snapshot of your
hard drive and saves it, so if you need to reinstall or have problems booting up, you just re-load the
snapshot using Norton Ghost and you’re back up and running exactly as before. I would suggest you
take a snapshot of your hard drive when you’ve just reinstalled your operating system and have
everything running normally. The Mac alternative is Clonezilla.
PAID Software - Plugins

Komplete - The Komplete bundle is one of the best value software bundles out there in my opinion. It’s
jam-packed full of useful instruments and plugins, including the full version of Kontakt that you will need
for use with the majority of quality sample libraries. www.native-instruments.com
Fab Filter Plugins - The Fab Filter plugins are just plain awesome. They have most of the bases covered
with EQ, Delay, Limiter, Compressor, Distortion, Filter and De-esser and use what I feel are the best

plugin interfaces currently out there. (They also give a 50% discount if you’re a student which is handy).
www.fabfilter.com
Here is a list of companies who I feel produce great sample libraries:
✦ Soundiron: www.Soundiron.com
✦ Sampling Arts S.L. (Eduardo Tarilonte): http://www.samplelibraries.com/
✦ Embertone: http://embertone.com/
✦ 8Dio: http://8dio.com/
✦ Ilya Efimov: http://www.ilyaefimov.com/
✦ Sample Oddity: http://www.sampleoddity.com/
✦ VSL: http://vsl.co.at/
✦ Imperfect Samples: http://www.imperfectsamples.com/
✦ Precision Sound: http://www.store.precisionsound.net/
✦ Heavyocity: http://www.heavyocity.com
✦ Camel Audio: http://www.camelaudio.com/
✦ Synthogy: http://www.synthogy.com/
✦ Impact Soundworks: http://impactsoundworks.com/
✦ Orange Tree Samples: http://www.orangetreesamples.com/
✦ ProjectSAM: http://www.projectsam.com
✦ Cinematic Strings: http://www.cinematicstrings.com/
✦ Orchestral Tools: http://www.orchestraltools.com/
✦ Rhythmic Robot: http://www.rhythmicrobot.com/
✦ Sample Logic: http://www.samplelogic.com/
✦ Sonic Couture: http://www.soniccouture.com
✦ Spectrasonics: http://www.spectrasonics.net/
✦ Spitfire Audio: http://www.spitfireaudio.com/
✦ Synthogy: http://www.synthogy.com/

✦ UVI: http://www.uvi.net
✦ Wavesfactory: http://samples.wavesfactory.com/
✦ Audio Bro: http://audiobro.com/
✦ Cinesamples: http://cinesamples.com/
✦ Sonokinetic: http://www.sonokinetic.net/
✦ East West: http://www.soundsonline.com/
Useful websites
Tunesat – Tunesat is a service that lets you track your music on TV. They take a audio fingerprints of your
cues, and add them to their database, which then detects any usages on hundreds of channels. Useful if
you know you have some tracks that are being used a lot and want to make sure your PRO payments are
right! Pricing here
Music Library Report - If you’re interested in selling your music online through music libraries, MLR is a
hugely valuable resource. It’s a directory of hundreds of music libraries that are out there, with comments
and ratings from composers who sell through them.
Soundcloud – Pretty much one of the most used online audio players out there right now with a big
community. Many composer use Soundcloud to send tracks to music supervisors, as well as embed the
player on their website.
Thesaurus - When you’re writing your meta keywords and descriptions, you’re probably going to run out
of words you can think of that describe your track. Use an online thesaurus to get similar words to ones
you already have used.
Groove3 - Training and tutorial videos for most popular music software and recording techniques.
Film and Game Composers - Another website that I run. I post interviews with popular composers, as
well as useful tutorials, guides and software reviews.
VSTBuzz - Also a website run by myself - each week there is one different VST, sample library, soundset
or plugin on discount at up to 70% off. Worth signing up to the mailing list at the very least!
Pensado’s Place - Mixing engineer Dave Pensado (worked with Beyonce, Elton John, Michael Jackson,
Mariah Carey etc.) discusses mixing and engineering in a series of videos.
Vi-Control - A great forum for interacting with other composers who write music for film/tv/games and
music libraries.

Gearslutz - Another forum but more of a focus on mixing/engineering compared to Vi-Control
KVRAudio - New software releases, as well as resources and information on the software industry. There
is also a forum with a large user base here too.
Dribbble - Bit of a strange one to include, but if you’re getting any design work done (website, logo,
artwork, branding), it’s worth looking on here. Some of the best designers hang out on here and it’s an
absolute gold mine.

Music Library List
1000 Tracks http://www.1000tracks.com/
300 Monks LLC http://300monks.com
425 Music Group http://425musicgroup.com
5 Alarm Music http://5alarmmusic.com
615 Music http://www.615music.com
7 OUT MUSIC http://7outmusic.com
9 Lives Music http://www.onlineprodmusic.com/
909 Music http://909music.com/
A&G Sync U.S. http://agsyncmusic.com
Absolute Music Library http://www.absolutemusiclibrary.com/
Access Music http://access-music.net/
ACM http://www.acmrecords.com
Action Media Music http://www.actionmediamusic.com/

Adrenalin Sounds http://adrenalinsounds.com/
Affix Music http://affixmusic.com
Agoraphone http://www.agoraphone.com/
AirCraft Music Library http://www.aircraftmusiclibrary.com
AKM Music http://www.akmmusic.co.uk/
All Media Music http://www.all-mediamusic.com/
Altitude Music http://www.altitude-music.com/
Ambient Music Garden http://www.ambientmusicgarden.com/
Amusicom http://amusicom.com
Anti-Hero Music http://antiheromusic.com
Aperture Music http://www.aperturemusiclibrary.com/
APM Music http://www.apmmusic.com
Artists First Music http://artistsfirstmusic.com
ARU http://www.aruchicago.com
Asche & Spencer http://www.ascheandspencer.com/
Atlantic Seven http://www.atlanticseven.com/
Atrium Music http://www.atriummusic.com/
Audio Addiction Music LIbrary http://audioaddictionmusic.com
Audio Houndz http://www.audiohoundz.com/
Audio Network PLC http://www.audionetwork.com/
Audio Network USA http://audionetworkplc.com

Audio Socket https://www.audiosocket.com/
Audio Sparx http://www.audiosparx.com/
Audiomachine http://www.audiomachine.com
AudioMicro http://www.audiomicro.com
AudioSparx http://www.audiosparx.com
Auditive Network http://www.auditive.net/
Back Door Music http://www.bdmusicinc.com
Bandwagon Productions http://www.bandwagon-productions.com
Banshee Music http://www.bansheemusic.com/
Beach Street Music http://beachstreetmusic.net
Beatclock http://www.beatclockmusic.com/
Beatdock http://beatdock.com/
Beatpick http://www.beatpick.com/
Beatsuite http://www.beatsuite.com/
Bed tracks http://www.bedtracks.com/
Beyond Music http://www.musicbeyond.com
BHP Music http://bohemianproductions.net
Big Green Radio http://biggreenradio.com/
Big House Publishing http://www.bhpnewyork.com/
http://www.bigsciencemusic.com/
Big Science Music
home.html
Big Score Music http://bigscoremusic.com/
Black Market Music http://blackmarketproductions.org
http://www.myspace.com/
Black Sand Music
blacksandmusicla

Black Toast Music http://blacktoastmusic.com
Bleach Music http://bleachlondon.com/
Blindfold Sound http://www.blindfoldsound.com/
Boom Music http://www.boommusic.tv/
Boost Music http://www.boostmusic.com/
BossHouse Music http://bosshousemusic.com
Brand X Music http://www.brandxmusic.net
Brand X Music http://brandxmusic.net/
BrassHeart Music http://brassheartmusic.com
Bright Mind Music http://brightmindmusic.com/
Brilliant Music http://www.brilliantmusic.co.uk/
Catooh http://www.catooh.com/
Chicago Music http://chicagomusiclibrary.com
Cine Cue http://www.cinecue.com/
Cinematic Tunes http://www.cinematictunes.com
Cinephonix http://www.cinephonix.com/
Cinetrax http://www.cinetrax.com
CMD Music Group http://cmdmusic.com
Conexion Media http://mcsmusic.com
Country Music Foundation http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com
Crucial Music / Point Classics http://crucialmusic.com
CSS Music http://www.cssmusic.com

CuePop http://cuepop.com
d2 Music http://d2music.com
De Wolfe Music http://www.dewolfemusic.co.uk/
Deadly Dreams Music http://deadlydreams.com
Deep East Music http://www.deepeastmusic.com
DeepMix http://deepmix.com
Dennis Music http://www.dennismusic.com
Disk Eyes Productions http://diskeyes.com
Dittybase http://www.dittybase.com
DL Music http://dl-music.com
Downright Music http://www.downrightmusic.com
Drama King http://dramaking.com
Ear Goo http://www.eargoo.com/
EH Side Music http://www.ehsidemusic.com/
Elasticmusic http://elasticmusic.com
Epidemic Sound http://www.epidemicsound.com/
Epitome Music http://epitomemusic.com
Extreme Production Music http://www.extrememusic.com
Fable Music http://www.fablemusic.com.au/
Feature Sounds http://www.featuresounds.com
Felt Music http://www.feltmusic.com/
Fidelity Wave http://www.fidelitywave.com/
FirstCom / See Music http://www.firstcom.com
Flatline Music Licensing http://www.flatlinelicensing.com
Focus Music http://www.focusmusic.com/

Freeplay Music http://freeplaymusic.com/
Fresh Music http://freshmusic.com
GBA Music http://gbamusic.com
Global Graffiti Music http://globalgraffiti.com
GMP Music http://www.gmpmusic.com
Grand Slam Music http://grand-slam-music.com
Groove Addicts http://grooveaddicts.com
GrooveWorx http://grooveworx.com
HD Music Now http://www.hdmusicnow.com/
Heavy Harmony Music http://heavyharmonymusic.com
Hest & Kramer http://hestkramer.com
Hollowstone Music http://hollowstone-music.com
ImagemPM http://www.imagempm.com/
Indigi Music http://www.indigimusic.com/
IndyHits http://www.indyhits.com
Jazz Planet http://planetjazz.net
Jeco Music http://jecomusic.com
Jingle Punks Music http://jinglepunks.com
JRT Music http://www.jrtmusic.com
Killer Tracks http://killertracks.com
LakeHouse Sound http://lakehousesound.com
Latin Music Specialists http://www.latinmusicspecialists.com
Licensemusic.com http://licensemusic.com
Lindemark Music Collection http://lindemarkmusic.com

Liqiud Cinema http://liquidcinema.com/
Magna Carta http://magnacarta.net
Magnatune http://magnatune.com/
Mainstream Source http://mainstreamsource.com
Mamalahoa http://www.mamalahoapublishing.com
Manhattan Production Music http://www.mpmmusic.com
Manifest Media http://manifestmedia.net
Maryatt Music Group http://www.maryattmusic.com
MasterSource http://www.mastersource.com
MCS http://www.mcsmusic.com
Media Music Now http://www.mediamusicnow.co.uk/
Megatrax http://megatrax.com
Moophonix http://www.moophonix.com
Morning Music http://www.morningmusic.ca
Music Blender http://musicblender.com
Music Box http://www.musicboxmx.com
Music Dealers http://musicdealers.com
Music for Productions http://www.musicforproductions.com
Music Licensing of Hollywood http://mxlicensing.com
Music Supervisor http://www.musicsupervisor.com/
MusicBox http://musicboxmx.com
MusicLoops http://musicloops.com

MusicSupervisor.com http://musicsupervisor.us
Nightingale Music Productions http://nightingalemusic.com
Non-Stop Music http://www.nonstopmusic.com
Omnimusic http://www.omnimusic.com
OpTic NoISe http://optic-noise.com
Opus 1 http://www.opus1musiclibrary.com
Opuzz http://opuzz.com
Partners in Rhyme http://partnersinrhyme.com
PlayItLoud http://playitloudmusic.com
PopMusic4Synch.com http://popmusic4synch.com
Poste Haste Music http://posthastemusic.com/
Premier Tracks http://www.premiertracks.com
Primary Elements http://primaryelements.com
Primrose Music http://www.primrosemusic.com
Princess Blue http://princessbluepublishing.com
Production Garden Music http://www.productiongarden.com
Productiontrax.com http://producitontrax.com
Propeller Music & Sound Design http://propellermusic.com
Pump Audio http://www.pumpaudio.com
Ren Music http://renmusiclibrary.com
REPS Music Group Inc. http://www.repsmusicgroup.com
Revostock http://www.revostock.com/
RipTide Music http://www.riptidemusic.com

River City Sound/3rd Coast Music http://rivercitysound.com
Rocket City/Times Square Prods http://www.rocketcityrecords.com
RRHOT/Radical Entertainment http://www.rrhot.com
Rumblefish http://www.rumblefish.com
SBI America http://www.sbiamerica.net
Selectracks http://www.selectracks.com
Shockwave Sound http://www.shockwave-sound.com/
Si Music http://www.simusic.pl
SmartSound http://smartsound.com
SmashTrax http://smashtrax.com
Song Catalog (LA Office) http://songcatalog.com
Songs for Film & TV http://songsforfilmandtv.com
Songs To Your Eyes http://www.songstoyoureyes.com
SoperSound Music http://www.sopersound.com
Sound Dogs http://sounddogs.com
Sound Ideas http://www.sound-ideas.com
Soundfile Productions Inc http://soundfileproductions.com
Soundrangers http://soundrangers.com
Soundtrax Music Services http://www.soundtraxmusicservices.com
Source/Q http://www.sourceq.com

Splashy/Wanky Entertainment http://swanky-ent.com
Standard Music http://standard-music.com
StockMusic http://stockmusic.com
Sweetersongs http://sweetersongs.com
The Composer Collective http://thecomposercollective.com
The Decibel Collective http://thedbc.net
The Diner http://thedinermusic.com
The Hollywood Edge http://www.hollywoodedge.com
The Music Bakery http://www.musicbakery.com
The Music Bed http://www.themusicbed.com/
The Music Case http://www.themusicase.com/
The Music Collective http://themusiccollective.com
The Music Kitchen http://themusickitchen.com
TheTapMusic http://thetapmusic.com
Think Music http://thinkmusic.net
Timeless Entertainment/Goldisc http://www.goldisc.com
TM Studios http://tmstudios.com
Trakwerx http://www.trakwerx.com
Transition Music http://www.transitionmusic.com
Trax Connection http://traxconnection.com

TRF Production Music http://trfmusic.com
Triple Scoop Music http://triplescoopmusic.com
True Music http://truemusicpro.com
TunEdge Music Services http://tunedge.com
Twisted Jukebox http://www.twistedjukebox.com/
Uncommon Trax http://uncommontrax.com
Unique Tracks http://www.uniquetracks.com
Unniversal Publishing Music http://www.unippm.com/
Uplaya http://uplaya.com
Urban Authentic http://www.urbanauthentic.com
Valentino http://www.tvmusic.com
VersusMedia http://versusmedia.com
Visual Concept Entertainment http://www.vce.com
Westar Music http://www.westarmusic.com
Wild Whirled Music http://www.wildwhirled.com
Zebra Music http://zebramusic.com
Zero Fee Music http://www.zerofeemusic.com
Zoo Street Music http://www.zoostreet.com
Zoophoria Music http://zoophoriamusic.com

Disclaimer: This ebook was not written by a lawyer and the information is the opinion of the author only.
This ebook is not intended as legal advice or counsel. The author does not make warranty or
representation as to the accuracy of contained statements.

The Business of Music Licensing Generating Revenue Through Your Music PDF

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Titolo originale

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

The Business of Music Licensing Generating Revenue Through Your Music PDF

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

1 The Business of Music Licensing

The Business of Music Licensing

Copyright © 2013 – Emmett Cooke

2 The Business of Music Licensing

Basic Licensing Terms ..............................................................8

Types of Music Licensing Deals ..............................................27

3 The Business of Music Licensing

What are the best music libraries to work with? ...................41

Using a Virtual Assistant ........................................................48

Suggested Reading ...............................................................56

Music Library List ...................................................................62

4 The Business of Music Licensing

5 The Business of Music Licensing

It IS for you if...

✦ You enjoy writing music.

✦ You want to earn a small side income.

It ISN’T for you if ...

✦ You expect to earn money straight away.

✦ You are unable to stick to a long term plan.

✦ You don’t want to write “commercial” sounding music.

✦ You don’t like emailing people, administrative work or exporting stems.

6 The Business of Music Licensing

7 The Business of Music Licensing

8 The Business of Music Licensing

9 The Business of Music Licensing

10 The Business of Music Licensing

11 The Business of Music Licensing

What is Music Licensing?

An Overview of the Industry

I like to think of the music business like a pyramid.

12 The Business of Music Licensing

At the wide bottom of the pyramid are:

In the middle of the pyramid are:

13 The Business of Music Licensing

14 The Business of Music Licensing

✦ Performance Royalties - income from your music being used on TV

✦ How many tracks you have

✦ The quality of your tracks

✦ Who your publishers are

✦ What projects your tracks are being licensed in

✦ The genres/styles of your tracks

15 The Business of Music Licensing

✦ An average track will have a listen/purchase ratio of 0.25%

✦ A good track will have a listen/purchase ratio of 0.50%

✦ An excellent track will have a listen/purchase ratio of 0.80%

✦ A “best seller” track will have a listen/purchase ratio of 1.00%

✦ 0.25% (listen/purchase ratio) X 200 (listens) = 0.5 sales per month.

✦ $10,000 / $60 = 167

16 The Business of Music Licensing

✦ How many tracks do you have?

✦ How good are your tracks?

✦ Who are your publishers?

✦ What are your tracks being licensed for?

✦ What genres/styles are your tracks?

17 The Business of Music Licensing

Where should I pitch my music?

✦ Variety Magazine - Look on their website to see what’s currently in production

✦ IMDB Pro - See what’s currently in production and who is working on it

✦ Hollywood Reporter - look on their website to see what’s currently in production

How do I find a publisher?

✦ Checking you don’t already have it licensed exclusively somewhere else

18 The Business of Music Licensing

Should I use my real name, or a pseudonym for my music?