Hi ,
Today I want to share with you a sort of off the cuff, stream of consciousness perspective on the current state of the music licensing business, as I see it. The good, the bad and the ugly. I've been submitting music on an essentially daily basis for several months now to music libraries, music publishers and music supervisors. Some of my own music, but mostly music from the artists I represent at Renegade Music Marketing, the marketing company I run. I have learned a lot about the business as a result of running Renegade Music Marketing, and today I'll share a few of the insights I've gained in the hopes that it will help you in your career.
Let's start with the good news first. Music licensing is a HUGE business. Both ASCAP and BMI reported record payouts to their members last year and a big chunk of that revenue is generated from music licenses. Since we all know that CD sales have taken a big hit in recent years, it's encouraging to know that there is an aspect of the music industry that is very much alive and vital, at least in terms of money being exchanged. Businesses, like TV and Film Production Companies, need music and since they have a budget for music and it's illegal to just steal music, they pay for it. That's good news for people like you and I, since much of the music they buy comes from independent musicians.
Here's the bad news. Actually let's not call it bad news. Let's reframe it and call it "what you need to know". And since I'm telling you it's actually good news. The music licensing business is comptetive. There, I said it! I got an email recently from someone asking if the music licensing business had become "over saturated". My response was that the music business has always been over saturated, at least in terms of there being a surplus of people wanting to create music and get paid for it, relative to consumer demand.
Music licensing is similiar, in that there are a lot of musicians interested in licensing their music and there are only so many opportunities. Don't misunderstand me, there are a LOT of opportunities. But at any one time they are limited and it' safe to say there are more musicians trying to get there music licensed than there are opportunities.
So... that's the semi bad news. Now for some more good news. Music licensing is a BIG and potentially lucrative business. There is and will continue to be many licensing opportunities and they will be awarded to someone. The question is will it be you.
There is a lot to know about the music licensing business and what you can to do get the edge you need to succeed. If you haven't already I suggest getting my program, The A To Z Of Music Licensing, which is an in depth program about how the business works and how you can successfully license your music. (For more info visit
http://www.howtolicenseyourmusic.com/programol ) But for now I'll leave you with three things that I see over and over that the writers who are successful share:
1) REALLY well produced songs. To license music in tv and films your songs need to sound great. You can get the results you need in a home studio, but you, or whoever is recording you needs to know what they're doing. Crappy home made four track studio demos won't suffice.
2) Great, memorable songs - What makes a song great is, albeit, subjective, but the songs that I see getting consistently placed in libraries and projects have a certain quality about them. They're good songs! Come on you know a good song when you hear one right?
3) Motivation - The most succesful musicians that I know both in terms of music licensing and in general are really motivated people, Probably no surprise here. The people that I see taking action and working hard get rewarded. Yes, I know to varying degrees. But if you persevere you will acheive success.
Member Spotlight!
I'm going to be adding a new section to my newsletter called "The Member Spotlight" where I feature artists who are readers of my newsletter who have had success in licensing their music, signing publishing deals, etc. So if you're a reader of my newsletter and/or you've purchased one of my products and have had success with your music please let me know. Send me an email with your success story and a link to your music and I will include you in a future edition of my newsletter so everybody else can check out what you're up to. Email me at
aaron@howtolicenseyourmusic.com
