Longtime MLR member and composer Michael Nickolas sent me a copy of his 2012 edition “The Independent Artists Guide To Pricing Music”. I thought it was a great resource and well worth $9.99. Full transparency here: I don’t participate in any of his revenues but he did send me a free copy. Here’s Michael’s blurb: Continue reading
In the past threads have cropped up regarding the viability of contacting film and TV production companies (or networks) with ones own music library, thus bypassing having to deal with the middlemen of a traditional music library.
Setting aside the difficulties of contacting these entities and actually making a deal I’d like to explore the “nuts and bolts” of preparing ones own music catalog for delivery to a potential production company or network.
Some of the things I’d like to explore, in no particular order, are:
1.) How large should your library be?
I would think you would need at least 500 unique pieces of music covering many different genres. I would also think you would need alternate mixes of each, including a full mix, DnB and a bed. What do you think about the average length and mixes beyond that? 10 second, 30, 60, loops? Some people advocate 30 and 60 second mixes but wouldn’t a music editor rather cut their own?
2.) Deliver via web or hard drive?
3.) How would you set up your hard drive as far as file structure?
4.) aif or wav files? 48k – 16 or 24 bit?
5.) Best way to Embed metadata in aif and/or broadcast wav files.
6.) App for searching metadata. iTunes, Soundminer or?
7.) What would a blanket license fee be for our 500 song library? Pricing for a low cost network such as Scripps or a higher end network.
8.) What would the license terms include?
9.) How would you label each track? Composer name and title? Underscores in place of blanks in the file name?
Just a few questions and I’m sure there are more!
As you know I’m a big fan of Tunesat so it’s nice to hear that they are growing. Also I did not know that they monitored uses on the Internet.
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TuneSat LLC Secures a $6 Million Funding Round Led by
General Electric Pension Trust
May 19, 2011 (New York, NY) – TuneSat LLC, an audio fingerprinting technology company that enables music rights holders to track the usage of their music on TV and the Internet, announced today that it has raised over $6 million in a funding round led by General Electric Pension Trust, advised by GE Asset Management. Scott Jones, Founder and CEO of ChaCha and former CEO and Chairman of Gracenote, together with several existing TuneSat investors, also participated in the round. Jones and Carlos Monfiglio of GE Asset Management will join TuneSat’s Board of Directors. TuneSat will utilize the new equity capital to expand the global reach of its content monitoring services.
“TuneSat is revolutionizing the music industry by giving content owners the tools and business intelligence to take total control of where and when their music is performed,” said Scott Schreer, CEO, TuneSat. “We’re thrilled to be partnering with GE Asset Management and Scott Jones to help us fulfill our vision.”
“TuneSat’s robust technology makes them an indispensable partner for content companies,” said Carlos Monfiglio, GE Asset Management. “We see this as a critical piece to the new media distribution landscape.”
Scott Jones added, “TuneSat’s ability to monitor the use of music in difficult audio environments is unparalleled, and this new equity financing will give the company a big boost to significantly expand its services.”
Founded by BMI award-winning “NFL On Fox Theme” composer and producer Scott Schreer, along with composer/producer Chris Woods, TuneSat provides rights holders with near-real time visibility into when and where their music is being performed on TV and the Internet. TuneSat utilizes a proprietary audio fingerprint technology and monitors hundreds of broadcasters and millions of websites across the globe. An intuitive web interface gives its subscribers unprecedented knowledge about their audio performances, even in the noisiest of broadcast environments. Using TuneSat data, content owners can ensure that they are properly paid for licensed music while protecting themselves against its unauthorized use.
About TuneSat LLC
TuneSat employs its exclusive audio fingerprint technology to deftly detect music use on television broadcasts and the Internet. Led by tech-savvy composers and producers Scott Schreer and Chris Woods, TuneSat detects music in even the noisiest of broadcast environments, including under dialogue, sound effects, or voiceovers, and provides unrivaled, accurate reporting to its clients. With a TuneSat subscription, access to worldwide detection data is available 24/7/365 through a secure online portal within an hour of its broadcast. Detailed reports provide valuable information about when, where and how much music was used. TuneSat is actively monitoring more than 200 channels in the US, UK, France, Germany and Italy, with more territories to come, and is crawling millions of websites daily. TuneSat LLC is based in New York City. For more information, please visit www.tunesat.com
About GE Asset Management Incorporated
GEAM is a global asset manager wholly owned by GE, an advanced technology, services and finance company taking on the world’s toughest challenges. Built on an 80-year heritage of investment experience, GEAM, along with its subsidiaries, today manages approximately $122 billion (as of March 31, 2011) in total assets. Portfolios managed by GEAM and its subsidiaries include client assets for leading institutions around the world, and the $47 billion GE Pension Trust. Investment strategies are offered across all major asset classes, including U.S. and non-U.S. equities, fixed income, and private equity and other alternative assets. For more information please visit www.geam.com
I just received this e-mail today so I thought I’d pass it on. Two of the instructors are Mark Northam and Gael MacGregor. I know them both and they are extremely knowledgeable as well as nice folks. I don’t think you can go wrong here. Most long time readers know Gael from her many postings on MLR. I have no vested interest, just passing the news on.
MUSIC BUSINESS COURSES NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE
Featuring Online Courses in Music Supervision and Licensing, Music Royalties, Composer Contracts and Agreements, Accounting and Bookkeeping for Musicians, and more.
Global Media Online is excited to announce the launch of The Music Business Institute (http://www.mbischool.com), a new online learning destination featuring music business courses designed to deliver practical, usable knowledge and cutting-edge industry experience from industry pros to participants worldwide interested in working in the film and television music business. MBI is launching with 5 core online music business courses, with more planned in coming months. All courses can be taken by participants on their own schedule, at their own pace, from their own location.
