If you want to maximize the amount of money you make from licensing your music you need to not only focus on the quality of music you are making but also on the quantity of music you are making. At this point you should be well aware that in order to license your music you need to write and produce high quality music. Your music needs to be both well written and well produced in order to meet the standards of music supervisors who select music for the projects they work on.
Another important factor is not only the quality of music you are making, but the quantity. The amount of money you make from licensing will generally be directly correlated to the amount of music you have available in your catalog available for licensing. If you have a small catalog, you will have fewer available options for supervisors to choose from and therefore your music will fit the needs of fewer projects. This should be fairly obvious. If you only have three songs about three different subjects it`s going to be much harder to find projects where your music fits than if you have three hundred songs about a variety of topics in a variety of genres. All of the supervisors and publishers I have worked with have echoed this idea. Generally speaking, more music correlates to more money.
On a fairly regular basis I get people submitting music to my company, Renegade Music Marketing, who have "one great song" they just finished that they want me to shop for them. Although there aren`t any rules per se about trying to shop one song, this approach is not usually the best approach to take in the long term. If you`re a musician and you`re actively writing and recording music, you should have lots of music and the more established you become, the larger your catalog will become.
I have often said that licensing should be a long term endeavor. If you have a few songs, or one album that you feel great about, by all means shop your tracks around to licensing opportunities. You have to start somewhere. But keep focused on the big picture. The more songs you create and the longer you are at this, the more licensing opportunities you will find.
Music often times ends up being used more than once as well. So as your putting out new songs you can continue to make money from your existing catalog. I've had several placements this year from songs that I wrote over five years ago. By building an extensive catalog of music that is used regularly and continuing to create new music for licensing opportunities you can build a significant revenue stream from your music.
2012 TV/Film Music Business Directory - The most comprehensive directory of contact information for the TV and Film markets on the planet. Period. Over 1000 up to date listings for music supervisors, publishers, music libraries and video game companies.
The A To Z Of Music Licensing
- The original program on music licensing that includes The 2012 TV and Film Music Business Directory, A Songwriter's Guide To Music Licensing Ebook, How To Audio Program,Three Audio Interviews with music licensing professionals, sample contracts and much more! The entire program is accessible online upon checkout.
A Songwriter's Guide To Music Licensing Ebook
This new 50 page ebook by How To License Your Music.com founder Aaron Davison includes his best thoughts and ideas about how to get your music in TV and Films. Learn how the business works and the steps you need to take to get your music licensed. 