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A reader suggested this topic and I thought it was a good idea.
How do you keep track of your submissions to the various music libraries and projects? Who accepted and who rejected? What songs are placed with what companies and the alternate titles for each song? What other relevant data do you track?
I built a relational database (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relational_database) using Alpha 5 Software (http://www.alphasoftware.com/). I like going this route as it so easy to massage the data. When I need to I can export the data in whatever format someone needs, Excel, PDF, etc. I also use it to create addendums to contracts as I add music to their catalogs.
So what do you use?
Reader Bobby Cole has been kind enough to post his solution. Thanks Bobby, awesome job! Right click on the below links to download.
Hi Bobby,
I second that! Would be great to see the template.
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by MusicLibraryRpt: New Comment: Very interesting Thread.. Maybe there should be a way of selling templates of our systems to other … http://bit.ly/bUqGfU…
All very interesting comments so far!
I will put together the spreadsheet as a template and upload it somewhere, will post the link here when I am done
Hi Bobby,
You can send to me and I will post for download here if you want.
Art
Bobby that would be amazing, looking forward to seeing it.
Great topic! Thanks for the info, I’m assuming Alpha 5 is only for PCs though? How does it compare to File Maker? I’m pretty much a noob when it comes to this type of software!
Currently I have a massive word doc (I know I know!) with all the info that I need to keep track of all the libraries / renaming, but I REALLY want a more streamlined database. I actually prefer my word doc to an Excel spreadsheet… excel does funny things when copy and pasting etc.
It’s probably a very niche customer base, but maybe you’d be interested in developing a database tailored to music library composers, that we could download for a small fee?
Thanks again Art!
Yes, I think Alpha only runs on PCs. Word is a hard way to go. Excel does have some quirks but I use it all the time. If you want a spreadsheet a little less quirky try OpenOffice (free and open source) at http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/.
A database is a more efficient way to go as you are not storing a lot of redundant information. It’s series of tables (think spreadsheet) all interconnected by common identifiers. From Wikipedia: “In a relational database, all data are stored and accessed via relations. Relations that store data are called “base relations”, and in implementations are called “tables”. Other relations do not store data, but are computed by applying relational operations to other relations.”
As far as developing a database to sell, something to think about but a lot of work to implement into a viable product.
Very interesting Thread..
At the moment I just use an excel spreadsheet with the following information. It has been used for the last 2 years and has developed into a really useful tool –
TAB ONE – DISTRIBUTION
This tab contains coloumns for the company name (with the hyperlink so that it takes you directly to the log on page), your user name and password for each of these companies, then as I upload my music in batches I include the status of the batch name. This way I can see what files I need to upload to what websites, and nothing ever gets lost or missed! I have over 280 companies on here all set up with hyperlinks. The ones that I am currently working with start out at the top, and the ones that I am trying to get on start at the bottom. When a company accepts my music it gets moved up.
TAB TWO – INCOME
Here I put my monthly incomes for each site. This way I can quickly see what I make each month from each site, each sites to date total, and the overall monthly total, and the overall income total.
TAB THREE – TRACK DETAILS
Here I include details regarding all of my tracks and meta data (Track name, description, primary keywords, secondary keywords, primary genre, secondary genre, composer, instruments, length, file size, file name, affiliation). This way when a company needs meta data in the form of CSV I can quickly copy and paste it into a new sheet and re format it specifically for that company.
TAB FOUR – GENRE KEYWORDS
Primary and secondary genres with primary and secondary keywords. Very useful for copying and pasting in the keywords, and to have them all set out.
TAB FIVE – OVERVIEW
This is where the magic takes place. I have linked in all the formulaes from the other tabs and have a chart showing the overall income from each site (so I can quickly see which company has made me the most money), and another chart showing me the monthly income. I then have various other text information such as monthly income, average income, number of sites that I am on, average income of each site, average monthly income, average income per track
TAB SIX – GENERAL INFO
Anything else goes in here. I have included my FTP log in details, my other online account information (with hyperlinks to each company such as you tube, facebook group, myspace page, PRS account, e.t.c.) affiliate schemes, PRS CAE number, hosting user name and password, and anything else that you want.