Recording - September 2011 - 72

Guest editorial by Michael Nickolas

Can There Ever Be Too Much Music?
The good news is, as you can see from the pages of Recording Magazine, that there are many tools available that make music creation a simple and easy process. The bad news is that there are many tools available that make music creation a simple and easy process! There is no doubt that these tools and the relative ease of creation they afford have resulted in a glut of music available on the market. You’ll often hear composers lament that “everyone and their brother” now has a recording setup in their bedroom and are cranking out music tracks at a furious pace. 200,000 pieces of music for customers to choose from. There used to be a time when the libraries I had contracts with would email weekly if not daily their needs. As in, “I have a music supervisor looking for...”. Not any more! Those request emails have all but dried up, and if I do get one it is for something very oddball. I think the libraries now have plenty to choose from, and therefore have no pressing need to ask for something new from the composers. Not all, but some libraries compete in this saturated market by no longer charging their broadcast clients sync fees. They let their clients air the music at no charge, content to earn only the “back end royalties” from the performing rights societies like ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. This might work out for a large library if they place 50 or so cues each in multiple cable TV shows. But if just one or two of those cues are yours, well, you’re only going to see a couple of bucks on your performing-rights society statement. What’s the answer to the scenario offered above? Can there really be too much music out there? I would say No... not if a lot of the music is yours!

Starting composers might think they will do just one scoring project for free, just to get their foot in the door, then charge the client for the next project. But the client won’t come back—because the bar has already been set to “free”.
This overabundance of tracks has devalued music—supply and demand, right? An old-timer used to get $1500 for a piece until a youngster came along and undersold him or her by offering similar music for $500. Now the youngsters are complaining because the latest group of creators are offering music for free. It seems bragging rights and being able to say “my music was on a TV show” suffices for them. Or they think they will do this one scoring project for free to get their foot in the door, then charge the client for their next project. The reality? The client isn’t coming back if they will be charged for their next project. The bar has already been set to “free”. So the client goes and finds another free provider. I do a lot of creation for music libraries, and the excess of available music tracks is very evident here. New libraries are sprouting up left and right, and some of the established libraries offer over
72
RECORDING SEPTEMBER 2011

It’s a matter of quantity now. 200 tracks can earn you more than 50, and 2000 tracks more than 200.You’ll have to create in multiple genres, and the more genres in which you can create good convincing tracks, the better. Spread them out, this is no time to have all your eggs in one basket from a creative standpoint. And there’s more you can do besides merely creating more quality tracks. If you really want to compete, you can still stand out. Think about creating something unique, something the average person with a bedroom setup can’t do. I recently paired up with an upright acoustic bass player to create some Bluegrass and Country cues, mostly done with live instruments and microphones. Probably less competition there than with Pop and Hip Hop cues... although you’ll have to make those too and be represented there when the music supervisor comes a-shopping. Can the solution to the problem of too much music really be to create more music? It may seem counterintuitive, but if the resulting music is diverse, unique, and well-made, it helps raise the bar... and we can all have fun trying. Michael Nickolas (nickolas@recordingmag.com) continues his conquest of the airwaves with recent TV placements of his music in The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Biggest Loser. Go to www.studionineproductions.com and click on the Examples link to listen.

http://www.studionineproductions.com

Recording - September 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - September 2011