I recently recorded a new episode of my podcast, Music,
Money and Life. In this latest episode I
interviewed The Irish songwriter/composer Emmet Cooke. This was one of my best interviews yet,
perhaps my best ever, and I was really excited to share it with you. Unfortunately when I listened back to the
audio I recorded, it was completely corrupted.
Almost the entire interview is unintelligible. Doh!
So I've decided that instead of re-recording the entire
interview I would give you some of the main points we covered here. Here are some of the key take-aways from the
interview:
1) It takes time to generate substantial
revenue - Emmett has been licensing his music for eight years
now and it took him time to generate substantial revenue. His first few years were lean but over time
he's built his catalog up to where it generates substantial revenue. Several years ago he was able to quit his day
job and focus on music full time. His
story is very similar to others I've interviewed that are doing well with music
licensing. It almost always takes a
couple years to get going. As you move
forward you'll have a better sense of who will be able to market your music and
what styles are most in demand. This
process simply takes time.
2) Focus on more than just music libraries -
When Emmett first started licensing his music he was working primarily with
music libraries. One of the music libraries he worked with licensed his music
to an ad agency for use in one of their campaigns. He was contacted by the ad agency to make
modifications to his track and discovered there's also a demand for music from
ad agencies. Since then he's branched
out into more and more ad work and has ongoing relationships with multiple ad
agencies.
3) No opportunity is wasted - A
lot of Emmett's ad work is done on spec.
In other words, he knows what the project he is writing for is in
advance. Not everything he writes gets
used. Sometimes he writes for a project
and they go with somebody else's music in the end. Rather than looking at this as a waste of
time, Emmett takes those pieces and places them with various libraries for
future licensing opportunities.
4) A mix of exclusive and non exclusive
deals - Emmet works with both exclusive and non exclusive
libraries/publishers. Over the years
he's been able to determine which tracks he writes are best with specific
companies and he's developed a strategy to maximize his income. This took a little trial and error in the
beginning, but like a lot of writers I work with, he's been able to devise a
strategy that is effective based on his experience working with different
companies.
5) Supplement income through side projects -
Like myself, Emmett also supplements his income through educating other musicians
about his experience. Emmett runs the
website www.filmandgamecomposers.com
where he interviews film and game composers about their experience. Emmett looks at his income online as
supplemental income, his focus is on music, but by generating extra income
online he's able to make up for the inconstancy of his licensing income.
For more information about
Emmett visit http://soundtrack.ie/
Related
resources:
The
Complete Musician's Guide To Creating An Online Empire - An in
depth guide on how to make money online.
Geared specifically towards musicians who want to supplement their
income on the internet. More Info:
http://www.howtolicenseyourmusic.com/online-empire.php
The
A To Z Of Music Licensing - Learn how to make money licensing
your music in tv and films. The original
program from How To License Your Music.com founder Aaron Davison. More info:
http://www.howtolicenseyourmusic.com/the-a-to-z-of-music-licensing.php
For
a complete list of products and resources we offer, visit http://www.howtolicenseyourmusic.com/online-store.php
