I recently was
working with one of my clients who is trying to get their music licensed. This client asked me an interesting
question. He has tracks that are pretty
strong but they're not quite ready as is.
He asked me if I thought it was a "good idea" to finish mixing and
mastering his tracks before he starts trying to license them. My response was that it was sort of like a
guitar maker asking if they should put a headstock on their guitar before
trying to sell it. Should you "finish"mixing
and mastering your tracks? Of course!
If you are a
freelance songwriter trying to license your own music, you are in business and
you are creating a product. Your music
is your product. Your music and your "product"
need to be finished and ready to be
presented to the marketplace WHEN YOU PRESENT IT. In the same way a guitar manufacturer or a
car manufacturer or any other manufacturer can't send out incomplete and
unfinished products and expect people to buy them, you can't either!
Whose job is it to
know when your product is finished? It's
your job. It's not the publisher's job,
it's not the supervisor's job, it's not your mom's job.... It's yours. You need to know what the industry standards
are for music that is licensed and you need to know and be confident that your music
meets those standards.
How do you know when
your music is ready? The same way you
would make this determination for any other industry. You research the market. You listen to music that is being licensed
and listen to what shows and what supervisors are picking for their
productions. Stylistically there are a
lot of variables and trends change. But
production quality remains the same in the sense that it always need to "great"
and needs to be what's considered "broadcast quality".
Comment on my blog:
http://www.howtolicenseyourmusic.com/blog/how-good-should-your-tracks-be-
For an in depth
education specifically on how to produce music that meets the production
standards required for licensing in tv and films, check out my program "How To Produce
Music That Will Get Licensed And Make You Money". This is the most in depth program available
specifically on the topic of music production as it relates to music
licensing.
Get the program this
weekend only for just $39.97 (Normally $49.97)
More info here: http://www.howtolicenseyourmusic.com/production-course.php
